Advice on how to build a pest control business from mark porter from porters pest control!

How so say you were to give any anyone star in like a business,

a pest control, any voice to like growing or trying or put

yourself out there, what would you, what would you say to them?

What would be a good idea? That don't don't sell your soul.

What we offer is a specialised service.

If you don't have, if you can't believe in yourself that what

you're going to do is going to make a difference, then now is

the client going to believe in that?

We you'd be stunned how many projects we walk away from

because at the end of the day, people are paying for my

expertise and know how, not my time.

It's amazing how many people ask how much would you charge for

this? It's not about that.

It's about what that value is worth and that I think people

out there need to really research into what is what is

value and what is value worth to someone.

Value is more than money. It's not what you're willing to

pay. It's what that what, what is it

valued to you out. So if, if anyone's a bit sort of

twisted by that, I think at the end, if you can't convince your

client that what you're offering is going to be the best value

for them, then that's where these struggles are going to

start. If you're selling value without

selling value, then you're going to be on your merry way.

That's great advice because I've obviously trying to expand more

to get more commercial and I've got to offer the value and do it

the proper way because I scenario you've got to learn to

be honest, it really is. And I think you just need to

keep your ears and your eyes open.

I mean, I've, I'm, I've always been known as being quite vocal.

And you know, that's why I'm one of the admin moderators on the

British pest control group as well.

But at the same time, I'm never afraid to say, hey, guys, like,

can I have some advice on this? And I think don't be don't be

frightened to ask questions because it's better to ask 10

questions than to than to not ask and get something badly

wrong because you can fall quicker than you build in this

industry and get a really bad name for yourself.

So, you know, make friends, get to know who your local.

I've got I'm surrounded by competitors, but most of them I

get on with. We don't, we don't interfere

with each other. We all know what our we all know

what our selling points are and I don't slag off my local

competition with the exception of maybe a couple, but that's,

you know, that's due due to the fact that they just don't like

what we do because we're we're doing all right.

But on the whole, I've got a I've got a lot of the respect

from our competitors and we help a lot of them out where we can

as well. So I think it's don't make

yourself an enemy by by those around you because at the end of

the day, it's better to be like than loathed.

Exactly that. I mean, I have, I know all the I

know pretty much all of the pest controllers in my area and we

get an all right if we see each other out on the road be.

Yeah, you wave. Pull over by sometimes.

Sometimes. Pull over and have a chat

sometimes, yeah. Exactly.

And I think that's how it should be.

You know, there's enough work out there for everyone.

And I think, like I said, I think it's just it's creating an

image of yourself for yourself. Oh, I've definitely done that in

recent times. Yeah, and.

That's. And that's what's important.

So yeah, that's, that's the only advice I can give really is

just, you know, you've got to have faith in what you're doing

and you've got to believe in what you're doing.

Because at the end of the day, if you're, if you're going in

really cheap, you know that that's not believing in

yourself. That's, that's you.

You're disbelieving in yourself. You've got to be able to.

I've had people that fall over with us, some of the prices that

we charge our clients. But at the end of the day, we

get the results. And a lot of the time, if it's

getting the results, then it's worth it's money well spent for

our clients. Oh, it definitely is.

But sadly a lot of what gets me is when like I've done work

really, they show you around, they're fine.

And a couple of businesses I've tried to get, obviously I'm not

saying a name, but they have a national and I thought we

offered more value in that one then and then they didn't.

What gets me is they never actually give you feedback or

anything if you get nothing. Unless you get it.

Yeah, but it's never going to change, is it?

Well, it's not, I mean, I'm not, I'm not, I'm not going to preach

to you. I mean, you're, you're doing the

right, you're building. So I'm not preaching to you how

to do it. But I think that's where the,

the, the real, the, the, the selling techniques really

evolves around what their needs are.

Really understanding that the, the client needs because I've

been around people where they go on site.

Yeah, we can do these metal boxes.

Yeah, we can do this. Yeah, we can.

Whereas it's a case of what your concerns what, what is it you're

looking for? What do you need?

Do you want someone that's purely dedicated to your site or

do you want it 2 free? I've won massive contracts

because the one problem that that facilities managers got is

he's fed up of someone different every time turning up at his

site and he's getting pulled away.

So I've won a contract before purely on the basis of saying so

if I gave you one dedicated technician and we've won in

reserve that knew your site inside out, he said I'd give you

the contract. So again.

That's going back. That's going back to rather than

turning up on the site and doing anything.

What, what's your biggest problem?

What, what your, what are you looking for?

What do, what do you need from a service provider?

And that client was a, a huge customer.

What, what is now a huge customer because he couldn't

believe that my opening question was what are you looking for?

What, what do you want? What do you want?

And he actually said, he said, he said, I want someone that can

turn up every month that knows where the site is, that knows

where the boxes are. I said, what if I gave you two

people? I'll give you 1 dedicated tech

and I'll bring in another one in reserve on the same day that we

set up. So God forbid anything happens,

they'll know the site. That's great.

I'll be honest, that's great advice for myself.

I'm going to try that next time. So again.

I'll try that. I will.

It's, it's, it's just, it's just trying to sound like you say, if

you don't get feedback at times, I'm not saying you're on a

personal level, but sometimes it might be because we've not asked

the right questions. It might be that we've gone in

and trying to do XY and Z, whereas what they've wanted us

to establish is what their needs actually are.

We might. We might want someone that's

able to come at weekends. We might want someone that comes

with me. We ain't asking those questions

specifically. What are you looking for?

What? What is going to?

What is going to make me Max maximum appeal to you?

OK. It gets food for four, doesn't

it? It does.

It definitely does. It is.

It is food for four. And I've been there, I've been

there where I've gone in and I and I've walked away and I'm

thinking, Ouch, like I've really overdone that because I'm

telling them how good, you know, not as much how good we are, but

we can do this and we do that. But over, over recent years, you

know, my opening, my opening questions have been, look what

you, what, what do you need? What, what is it that you're

looking for? What, what's making you want to

change? What aren't, what aren't you

getting what, what you needed or what's being failed and what you

agreed. And people will open up and tell

you that because we're all quick to sort of want to open up and

say what's making us unhappy at times, especially as a, as a

potential client. Well, they turn up at 3:00 in

the afternoon or, well, you know, I normally get John, but

I've not been having John turn up.

So by listening to those needs and homing in on those needs,

you're able to give clear and precise answers to those

problems straight away that they've, you know, you're at the

forefront of their mindset. Yeah, no thanks.

That's, that's really good. That's really good advice.

Because we've got one site where they, they, they'd love us to

turn up at like 9:30 because the basically the guard, guard

people work on the gardens and that they have to meet at 9:30

and that's when they turn up. And he says because they're not

bothered, they're not bothered way in the month, but as long as

I turn up in time for their meeting.

Exactly. And that's what you said.

That's what you said, he said. I want someone to turn up half,

half 9 roughly when they're having the tea break, basically.

And that's what I do every time with that one.

I do. So, yeah, I think, I think, I

think really that's it. It's, it's just understanding

and, and doing a bit of research on your customers, you know,

doing, you ain't got to go too crazy, but just going in and

sort of saying, oh, I see, you know, you've recently opened up

a new branch in Bayswater. How's that going?

You know, just taking a general interest in that brand and

knowing a little bit about them, doing a little bit of research

sometimes. Sometimes it's really good.

Even when I've done cold calling before, I've managed to bypass

the receptionist because I'm saying is, is John in this

morning? Oh, is he expecting you?

I said, well, he said for me to pop in.

You know, you blog it a little bit, but you're bypassing

someone who would otherwise show you the door because you've got

a name. Yeah, Linkedin's quite powerful

as well. You can get names off there

usually. Oh, I've, I've, I've, I've, I

mean, I, I don't use LinkedIn as as nowhere near as much as I do

my social other socials, But I tell you this, I've managed to

find out who's who through LinkedIn and I've, I've managed

to breakdown doors that would otherwise have been firmly shut

in my face because you're I'm going direct to these people.

That's. That's that's also, I do feel.

I do feel Linkedin's become very Facebooky unfortunately, but at

the same time it is there is a good tool to find out who's who

it within the organisations. It's true because it has.

It has made LinkedIn bigger by being more Facebook because I

post my gym pictures and all sorts on there.

Yeah, I've seen, but people like people like it.

But you are right, it has changed.

It's changed, but I think it's made LinkedIn bigger because

it's not just a job site or where you get business.

It's a little bit more than that.

But I spent too much time on it, I really do.

That's the problem. Yeah, but but again, I think you

get, you report you. So if you put the hours in and

you put the research in, I mean, we, I'm not afraid to say who,

you know, we, we've recently acquired a relationship with the

Marriott Hotel Group. You know, we're, we're now doing

2 of their hotels. You know, they're, they're,

they're an international brand. So we, we, by no means are we

going to be managing hundreds of site up and down the country.

But we're now as an established service provider where we're in

two key parts of London, Canary Wharf and in Mayfair, where

we're really starting to make an impact.

And we're tidying those sites up.

And we've got the GMs now that are going to, they're going to

be networking for me. That's, that's really good

because see, I didn't think you'd be able.

I thought brands like that would literally just say no, we'll

have one company that covers the entire country.

So that's that's different. Times are changing, Sean.

I think a lot of these companies now are starting to see, and

it's the word that I used earlier, where is the value

lying? And a lot of our, a lot of our

smaller companies, these bigger organisations are seeing what,

what we're able to offer. And it's, it's what's starting

as a ripple with start is is starting to cause a bit of a

stir now, you know, because I think people are seeing the

value of local companies. That's it's good to hear that.

It's because obviously you, you know more than you have more

relationships for these kind of bigger brands and and they can

see the value in more of a smaller family business that

they can probably be relied on more than calling out another

say big company who probably won't come till next day.

Well, it's, you know, again, it's, and it's asking the

questions, you know, in certain instances I've had we've, we've

won a big restaurant trade because we was able to go in

2:00 in the morning until 7:00 the next morning.

And we had that window where we had six of us proofing through

the night. We had everything.

We had all the chairs taken out, was able to RIP out all the

expanding foam that the previous company put in.

And we was using metal plates and mouse stops.

So it's being able to adapt to the, to the needs of that

business. We're not disrupting that

business. We're working through the night,

we're charging accordingly. But it, you know, it's a, it's

been like a chameleon. You've got you've got to adapt

and understand what those clients problems are.

Yeah, it's, I'll tell you, it's been really I I have been

talking to you because them questions I've never asked

before. And I'm still learning, like you

say, you know, I really hope that people aren't looking and

thinking. He's very cock sure of himself.

It's not. I'm very confident in what I do.

But like I say, it's you're forever learning and I'm always,

I'm the no one is a bigger critic of myself than myself.

You know, I push myself all the time and you know, we are doing

really well. But I still, I still scrutinise

my month. Every month.

I at the end, last day of the month, I get home and I'm like,

right, what more could we have done?

Why haven't we done this? Why haven't we got that, You

know, and it comes down to having that drive and hunger and

a mentor, like I said, that always cheques in on me.

Yeah. It's really good to hear that

even every year I mentor, so it is good to hear.

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