As a business owner, you’re used to hearing how the latest software, technology or active ingredient can help your business retain and grow your customer base and be more efficient and more profitable.
But Certified Sentricon Specialists® (CSSs) know something other pest management professionals don’t: The Sentricon system isn’t just a proven tool in the fight against damaging subterranean termite colonies. Sentricon also provides powerful tool benefits that can help businesses like yours boost revenue, improve monthly cash flow, and establish and maintain long-term customer relationships. And CSSs like Rusty Prewett, Prewett Pest Control, Auburn, Alabama, are taking advantage.
“We’re not trying to be the low-cost leader,” he says. “We provide a premium service, with premium products, all at a reasonable price. Sentricon gives us flexibility, and that allows us to serve our customers the best way we can while offering the best product on the market.”
Helping Boost Revenue and Improve Cash Flow
For Prewett and many other regional and local operations, the seasonality of pest control makes monthly cash flow a near-constant challenge. High renewal fees, often a one-time annual expense, can make it difficult for homeowners to maintain their year-round termite protection.
“One of the biggest challenges for a small business is managing cash flow,” Prewett says. “But we know with a degree of certainty what our retention looks like for our termite customers; it’s not necessarily tied to an annual inspection or contract renewal. So it’s a lot easier to predict our cash flow on a monthly basis.”
Prewett says service bundling is critical to that predictability. Prewett offers a subscription model that makes it easier to sell multiple services, helps regulate monthly cash flow and allows customers to avoid a high annual renewal fee by spreading payments out over 12 months.
“Our goal is to protect a customer’s whole house,” Prewett says. “We can take care of roaches and ants, but we feel we’re doing a disservice if we’re not asking about termites. So, we focus on bundling services and providing options for pest, termite and mosquito control. That not only allows us to give a discount to the customer but also helps us sell our services on a monthly subscription model, just like streaming TV. And that makes it a lot easier to predict our cash flow month by month.”
Eddie Brewer Jr., Redd Pest Solutions, Gulfport, Mississippi, uses the flexibility of the pricing and payment structure of the Sentricon system to offer bundled services — and a convenient monthly autopay program.
“Previously, we’d sell most of our termite services during the same four or five months out of the year, so our income during those months was high,” Brewer says. “Through our service bundling and our monthly autopay program, we spread that payment out over 12 months. That’s really helped smooth out the peaks and valleys in our cash flow.”
Attract, Maintain, Retain
For Prewett and Brewer, that payment flexibility and bundling ability of Sentricon not only help create a more stable monthly cash flow but also attract and retain the kinds of customers they’re looking for — customers who recognize the value of preventive termite and pest control and who are committed to protecting their homes and properties throughout the year.
“We don’t necessarily want to do a lot of one-time treatments,” Prewett says. “We want to work with customers who will stay with us for a long time. Whether it’s pest control, mosquito control or termites, our mission is to develop long-term relationships with multiservice customers. Plus, we’ve seen our retention numbers go way up when we move from one service to two, and Sentricon fits in beautifully with that model.”
Brewer has seen the same effects. While he estimates the retention rate for his liquid termiticide customers was somewhere between 70% and 80% — and Brewer admits that may be high — his customers using Sentricon stick with the program at a significantly higher rate.
“With Sentricon, our retention rate is over 90%,” he says. “So more than 9 out of 10 customers are staying with us. And that’s certainly the path I want to be on.”
In the end, Prewett, Brewer and countless other CSSs across the country credit Sentricon with helping them attract and retain more customers and build more profitable, more resilient businesses.
“We believe in Sentricon,” Brewer says. “We believe in the system. It’s truly helped us grow our business, probably more so than anything else we’ve done.”
