Need Cheap Pest Control?

Psst…It doesn’t exist.

It’s the same with any service you care to mention: electricians, plumbers, carpenters and builders all have self-induced pressure to lower prices because they feel that that is what the ‘market’ wants. The ‘market’ is just a collection of people who have a problem. They have a need to get rid of the pests that are spoiling their feelings of safety and security. Some see the odd mouse in their house as no big deal whilst others can’t bear the thought of pests anywhere near them. We all want to live in a state where we’re safe and content.

This contentment comes at a price, though. Unfortunately, we have to pay money to professional pest controllers in order to proof our homes and kill our pest problems. When we are truly in pain, we will happily pay to get rid of our problems. Most are happy to pay and there are some who will always try to beat the pest controller down on price. I don’t particularly have a problem with this. If you’re in business, you have to expect that humans will always seek the most advantageous option for moving away from pain.

We often get asked: ‘How much will it cost?’

So, can I ask a counter question…’How successful would you like the treatment to be?’ or ‘Which part of the service do you not want?’

I’m not going to run through a huge list of everything it takes to train up and maintain a knowledgeable Pest Control Officer who will attend to you 3 times during a treatment programme and solve your problem: I’m sure you can guess 90% of it all. It’s summed up by something a Royal Marine once told me when I was doing my basic training in the Armed Forces: ‘If it was easy Gaskin, everyone would be doing it’.

© Acclaim Environmental – All Rights Reserved. An Original Blog by Dan Gaskin of Acclaim Environmental.

One problem we often encounter at Acclaim Environmental is when we’re contacted by people who are coming to terms with the fact that they’ve had someone charge them a very low price but who have failed to solve their problem. They’re annoyed. No, actually, they’re cross. They’re a business owner, facilities manager or home owner who has been let down. A promise was made to them but not kept. They still have the initial problem. So, why should they now pay again to get a real solution? And why will it work this time? Why can’t it be so cheap again?

Well, a large proportion of the pest control industry has been in a ‘race to the bottom’ for a while. We all know that ‘the main worry in a race to the bottom is that you might win it’ as the saying goes. If you are a ‘pest controller’ who doesn’t know how to do a job, you don’t know how to sell, you haven’t invested in decent equipment/training/insurance etc, what do you do? How do you win the business?

Answer: you discount. You discount like mad. In fact, you discount so much that you end up becoming a busy fool, racing round the countryside like crazy trying to fulfil promises that sounded great at the time but (because of your inexperience) you now realise you can’t possibly keep. And then you discount again to say sorry. ‘Sorry I didn’t know what I was doing. Sorry you trusted me. Sorry that I wasted your time and charged you for the privilege’.

The next time you have a problem and someone comes in desperately cheap with no obvious way they can make any money from the transaction, perhaps it’s worth thinking whether you trust that they can solve your problem. If you’re sure they can, great. If not, what could it cost you in the long run?

If you have any questions like those above, why not get in touch to see if it makes sense to explore the possibility of whether we could help. It could save you an awful lot of money. We don’t have to say sorry at the end of a treatment.

Call us on 0800 092 5259 or 07989 422469 or why not visit us at www.acclaimpest.co.uk. You can also email me personally at dan@acclaimpest.co.uk .

We are in easy reach on Northampton, Leicester, Kettering, Corby, Market Harborough and the wider East Midlands.

© Acclaim Environmental – All Rights Reserved. An Original Blog by Dan Gaskin of Acclaim Environmental.