Behind the Scenes of Pest Perspectives | PestTech 2026, Live Panel & AI | EP88

0:00 Hello and welcome to Pest Perspectives episode number 88. A solo episode today so I thought I'd have a chat to you. Thanks to Powered Now, it's a business management software that's been supporting the podcast since May 2026. You can schedule pest control reports, email clients, schedule them in, keep them updated. Pretty much anything you need for pest control. So, yeah, thank you to Powered Now for supporting the podcast. Also, our new sponsor, Periscope CFO, Dan Treanor, CFO and author of Pest Control by Numbers, turning busy pest control firms into profitable ones.

0:49 So, sponsorship allows me to fund better equipment. Got a microphone here, so brand new microphone. I hope you can tell the difference. this software we've got stream yard um i paid for a year so far so helps with the website and helps with me to try and grow this platform so we can help educate and entertain many more pest control technicians so today i've just wanted to explain about the podcast and various different things to do with pest control my opinions thoughts and feelings so yeah so it's me sean mother for Mocham Pest Control and Pest Perspectives.

1:30 So here's a question. So why did I start the Pest Perspectives podcast? I've been podcasting for many years. I started podcasting in 2020 under gaming. So it was a gaming podcast. I did one called Stubbcast because I was called Stubb Gaming. and then that was like interview based different content creators etc never got big it was never about that I started a podcast called A Midweek Gaming which was my most popular one you can't find a lot of these they may still be on YouTube they may not be but there's no I was never on camera so it wasn't in that way it was not that kind of podcast yeah all about gaming etc it's quite popular the panel six six person panel in the end but um that ran for quite a while um then i ended up with gaming a gaming a podcast called gaming with friends that was quite good but in the end i got bored um i could see an opportunity within pest control uh to bring a different kind of show um to the pest management industry to interview guests to i'm now doing it's took me a long time but i'm now doing solo podcasts as well to get my opinion out there more uh because i don't always say on the podcast what i think and feel about certain subjects i leave it down to the guest i'm i'm chatting to so hopefully people and get more of a gist of what I think about certain topics within the industry.

3:24 So it was really made to, so pest control industry in the UK had more of a different podcast because you've got Kill Germs podcast. They do them every so often. They release a batch and then that's it for a while. Then they release another batch. So that's good. There was the Beauties and Beasties before. Shout out to Hugh. Sean and Alex is an incredible podcast if you don't watch it, go and watch it and there's his live mine was live for a long time but I've come to a place where it's really not going to be live I prefer the recorded element now so just so you know they'll be released on a basis once a week they will be so that's basically why I had the experience as well of podcasting before so I never had a fear of live podcasting in general.

4:20 So yeah, so that's kind of why I did it. But I just wanted to offer fresh perspectives and try and reach different audiences just to help. If someone can take just one finger away from a podcast, I've done my job. I have. And this is CPD authorised podcast with the BPCA, Basis Prompt and the British Press Register. I do do quizzes on there. They're all updated now.

4:48 So you might wonder how I approach and find guests for Pest Perspectives. Never really struggled to get anyone on in general, but certain, there's a lot of, just in case you wondered, I don't, a bit of a peek behind the curtain. so when you get guests i have tried to get um people from chemical companies i'd love to get them on have a chat i'll be they don't the big the big companies you all may know do not like their staff on podcasts because they cannot control the situation of what happens i have i have even tried to record it offered to record and then let them hear it and say yay or but that's still just a lot that they don't often reply to the request the person have asked so there was a number of people i'd love to get on but it's just not it's not going to be possible only if they move jobs or wasn't for such a big company but i have tried i have tried to get many people on and it's just one of them things you just yes or no it's not something i'll get offended about um i just try and get people on that i think can add to the conversation of pest management any forms i've got had people from america

6:17 hawaii uh i'm just trying to think all the i've had a lot of guests on I am but although all over the world we have listeners we do just try and offer a fresh perspective I like I like the ones with the canine dogs having people to talk about dogs within pest control because I do think going forward within the industry in years to come it will be a big thing because I think the way the world's going with the environment and being more eco-conscious about pester management that using canine dogs dogs for ratting will be a bigger focus it's not something we do in our business currently

7:06 but it is one of them areas that i think some companies may grow in into the future um offering that because if you someone's house of rats rats in someone's house it's very difficult to sort it really unless you've got a dog a ratting dog i just think it'd be a growth area for the industry not saying it's gonna be on mass i don't think it will be it's still a niche within pest control but it was good to hear from kim it was uh from america uh that was a great one that was that was a good podcast to listen to we'll try and get more people on that use their dogs for ratting i will um because it's a good area just try and find different new ways like i've had the most popular podcasts if you do watch the podcast it's uh i've just realized i've blocked that off you see my name there i've blocked it off but there we go so um just so you can keep the ai so it knows on the platforms what what subjects to cut into so just different takes and i've learned loads i have um just things i know nothing about heat treatments when it comes to pest control nothing whatsoever so i've had richard barry on he offered a good talk go back and find that that's a good talk and brad harvey from trio pest control he's also part of the

8:37 Tales from the Crawl Space 2.0 in America, a great podcast. And he actually explained, I got amazing feedback because he went in-depth as to how he does heat treatments. And that's a very in-depth podcast. If you want to learn the full process about bed bugs, heat treatments, it is, hold on. It wasn't that long ago. So on Spotify and Apple, et cetera, I've got them all listed as numbers now. So that was episode 85.

9:13 And I'll tell you which one Kim's one was on.

9:19 She's been on, right. So that was episode 39, if you want to go back and find the one with Kim on. From, she was from Urban Canine Pest and Wildlife Solutions. so that's a good one to listen to. In fact, I'll keep my phone up. So I'm trying to do on YouTube and Facebook as well, the number at the start as well, because then people can find the content better when I mention it. That was an excellent one. I know a lot about heat treatments. It sounds very expensive to start with, but I think heat treatments are going to be a bigger part of pest control for bed bugs I do but there's also steam treatments so the biggest one I learned from was the I was highly skeptical so anyone that can highly skeptical about it was the not using insecticides for bed bugs because there was a massive resistance problem.

10:31 And quite frankly, these are my own opinions, okay? Just me alone. Nothing to do with anyone I'm affiliated with. There's a lot of resistance issues there is in general. So I do believe that I was sceptical and I gave him Francisco and that some stick, the CEO of Chin Chicks, and harder questions about can we use it, etc. But over time, I've turned around and I do use the Chinchicks product. It's a physical mode of action. And you only do targeted where around the bed frame, you know, light switches too, any way you feel you need to, more targeted.

11:23 and it's a much more effective program and a lot better for the environment. But as we spoke to Lee Darby from Complete Bedbug Solutions, it does make sense because in general, when you do bedbugs, if you think about it, if you really think about it,

11:45 you're told to use your insecticides, spray the carpets around it, and no you don't spray the bed where the actual bed bugs are you don't actually spray the bed you spray everywhere apart from the bed and 90 you know high percentage of times the bed bugs are in the bed and around the around the bed frame or within the bed but you can't spray the chemical on the bed which does not make any sense at all so if you want to listen to that on that episode 83 that was a good one with Lee Derby from Complete Bedbug Solutions but there was the biggest one that we had was episode 74 it was like the Chin Chicks round table where we had Dr Richard Naylor on from the Bedbug Foundation he's also part of the UK entity for Chin Chicks UK on the show we had Sarah who is the Bedbug Queen and we had Francisco, CEO of Chinchicks.

12:50 So it was a great talk and it's actually the podcast that... I listen to a lot of podcasts about the product and it changed my mind. So I've noticed a lot of big difference within the UK industry around Chinchicks and a lot of people are trying it, testing it and now using it. And there's been a big change within the industry because certain companies ain't happy about it and trying to find ways of trying to potentially get it removed from the market. I'm not saying which names, which companies, but I would imagine that it's, say, I don't blame them if a certain company was, say, somebody was buying loads of chemical for it and on a regular basis, and all of a sudden, like, them sales stop.

13:40 then I do get it. I do. In general, you're going to not be happy because that would be a lot of money. Chinchicks is a fraction of the price for what you pay. So I get it. I do. But I have actually licked topics by mistake, just by talking. So what else do I have lined up? so what else so right here we go so so obviously how much does it cost to run a pest perspective how much does it cost to run the podcast now don't obviously say but like it's not free if I do love it and it's a passion project and it's We are independent, but I take, I took on sponsorship, so it wasn't coming out of my own pocket.

14:45 Now, none of the sponsors have any say over what topics I do, what I say, any of my opinions. No one has any power over what I say at all or any of our guests It completely they just happy to support the show and support Pest Perspective So say a year of StreamYard's probably 300 quid. The package I've got, I think it was 300 quid.

15:17 And then you've got like a microphone here that I've got here. That's nearly 300 quid. camera I think I got a £50 one things like the website I think that I've upped the package I think because I've got all the transcripts so if you ever want to know without watching the podcast sometimes if you want to know the exact thing I said or the exact thing you wanted to know just ask ChatGPT or whatever it is whatever Google you use and put the episode and it should crawl the best perspectives website and and actually get the exact section of what was said on that podcast because it's so ai enabled with it with the website i think that's 22 or 25 pound a month so there is lots of cost to running a podcast it's it It is, in essence, my time's free, but there is ways and means to grow the podcast.

16:23 Because I spend a lot of time on analytics and looking at what's working and discovering new platforms. I am getting the podcast onto a platform called Rumble now. So it's slowly getting onto Rumble. It is. it's on pretty much every podcast platform available and YouTube and Facebook. It does very well on. It does. And I'd like to pick up on something Hugh mentioned on last week's beauties and beasties that I heard because there was a comment about AI. Does AI make you lazy when you do artwork? like say the thumbnails because they take you know it's not easy well i do more than this podcast i help the mptai work on the own business open press control i'm very very busy and ai yes it does i use ai and if you look at this background here this overlay ai made this and didn't it didn't change the sponsors logos or anything so astra six made this so it's good in a way it makes most of the podcast uh thumbnails i make now uh it just speed up time i wouldn't say ai is lazy i say ai assists you do you like 100 perfect not always but you can refine it it doesn't always do what you say it tell it to and i sometimes tell it to do it a different way then it works you have to learn how to talk to it properly and ask it what to do so that also costs money having ai because you don't use the free version not if you want to use the good tools um so no that's just my point it doesn't make anyone lazy i just think it assists you doing a better job at your marketing or whatever you got to learn because obviously you got to do make sure it sounds like it's human as well because like take the hashes out take the stars out take all that out and you've got you've got to work on it you have and you've got to work out you've got to work on

18:44 it in general you have it's not an easy thing but it's something you've got to learn it is so if If you're not using AI, give it a go. Honestly, in a business sense, I could go on about it for a while. But if you're not using your pest control business, you're really going to get behind. I think I'll make a solo edition just on that alone. I've got a lot to say, a lot more than I previously have on podcast roundtables. There's a lot more I've been playing with. It does a lot more than you think it does.

19:19 It really does. I could do a solo one on that I could so so with so with where are we so what makes a good guest so guests are good you've got to know how I have a lot of questions a lot of the time and it don't get a lot of the questions never come up because if you're rolling the podcast sorry if you're rolling the podcast and it's a good conversation you ask them what they're on sometimes people open up and talk about something you didn't expect so you have to go on the fly and go with what they're talking about because it might be really good so you should lean into what they're talking about so don't get me wrong a lot of people want to come on the show because it's not their thing it's scary because once you're out there you're out there you are and someone might not agree with what you say i don't think anyone everyone agrees what i say half the time but that's that's why we have a conversation it doesn't mean i'm right and you're wrong we all have different view on how we do things you just it's the way of the world it is but what makes a great guest is when they see sometimes you can feel when the guest is going to be easy i can um and like when you have questions if the guest asks answers them too fast yeah i'd rather they don't because it's not as simple then

21:06 but in general, I think I've got better over time with doing the Pest Perspective podcast, far better than I ever was within the gaming sphere, to be fair.

21:20 So with that, have I made any mistakes with the podcast? Yes, I have. Of course I have.

21:31 At the end of the day, certain guests have been on here and they ain't what they say they are. I'm not saying names or anything, but there's a few podcasts that have been removed by myself over time saying that they are who they say they are. Then you find out that a lot of the information that would have been incredible stories, you find out that it's nothing but a pack of lies. So two of them podcasts have been removed. I'm not going to say the names of them but that's just the way it is and I try to do a bit more detail or research and try and find out a little bit more sometimes when I'm unsure because yeah, it's very annoying but what can you do?

22:23 Have you ever noticed a number skip? That's why because it's been removed but I do have all of the podcasts just you can't see them so i still have copies of them um there was one where i was told to take it down i know i did but that was a bit yeah i didn't do anything wrong but end of the day i still got a copy of that i have but yeah the three mistakes i made in podcasting when it comes to guests but you live and you learn you can't you can't change the past but i have i have took them down. I have.

23:05 It's just one of them learning experiences, that's all. It's just how it is, to be honest. So, with the world of obviously trying to grow a niche podcast, ways I've tried to grow the podcast is you've obviously got to, you've noticed that the podcast don't always they used to start with i don't know say say jasmine from photolek and then it would be the podcast but if you go back and look you'll see that it says is the efk ban real now things like that so it's like a search term so someone searches for that particular topic the podcast will show up and then they'll get that result so that's how you have to do it with podcasting and trying to get as high volume on your podcast because we are in a very niched area and I've been approached to go on a podcast actually about sponsorship within the area that I'm in because he's very interested I managed to get two sponsorships within press control because it is a very niche area according to him it is but I do a lot of research in the background about new platforms that are emerging.

24:32 I look into analytics a lot. I spend a lot of time. People don't realize how long I actually spend a lot, too much if I'm honest. And you also notice that there's also short clips coming out, like 10 to 19, 20, 30 minutes of great topics because that can help. It can find new audiences. because a lot of the old content is evergreen, which means it will always be there and it's content that people search for as such. So that's part of it, that is. Also, as well, right, here we go. That one. so how do you know whether a podcast is successful so although numbers are great to look at it's all well and good i get a lot of feedback off people that message me now that feedback means more to me than the views because you can find out the retention which means did someone watched the entire podcast or did they turn off after four minutes or something um but i get a lot of good feedback uh this year seems to be the year of the bedbugs on the podcast all the podcasts that i've done bedbug wise have done very incredibly well it's just a year i don't know you with it sorry yeah with the bed bugs basically um it seems very simple it does people seem to be searching for bed bugs and the bed bug podcast seems to be blowing up i don't know why but i have received loads of feedback so i i would call a lot of successful podcasts one where people give higher feedback because not everyone tells you they don't they don't all tell you if they like that some people i didn't know who watched the podcast i was surprised because some not everyone tells you in general um they don't so kind of where do you want the podcast to be in five years so i want the podcast to grow into a platform not just a podcast i want it to have

27:06 a lot more i've got a lot of part lands in the pipeline and it could be linked to articles and becoming an outlet if anyone's interested let me know but it may not become that but i would like it to become more known as a platform where people could come for pest control news or advice, rather the content from a lot of the content that I produce within pest perspectives, a lot of that could make very good content, you see. So I do want it to become more than just a podcast, because I think it does some good things for the industry.

27:46 Well, people keep telling me that's all they do so that's where that's where I'd like to see it in you know in five years if I'm still doing it I should be because I absolutely love doing the podcast I do the doing the solo episodes is something very different for me though that is it's it's not as easy when you you've got no one to bounce off yeah but it's just it's just you need to know that you can do a solo episode now i think i'm coming off betting i did first time i did one where that was only 20 minutes in that was so um so i i do like what have i learned about promoting podcast the podcast not as easy because i do put clips up and i was doing very well on facebook like going to other sites but you used to be able to put unlimited links on facebook it seems now they're charging per links now charging for links it's like a business to them now so if you notice i rarely ever put links on facebook at all so that's why because it's like they wanted 42 quid a month or something to put links on facebook it's like no it's not worth that at all um so yeah that's why that happens i mean it's not on linked the podcast isn't linkedin anymore because i don't do the live element so you can't upload a long video to facebook uh to linkedin sorry it has to be live

29:24 then it will stay on linkedin it's not the other way around it's not um in general it's not so so the pressure of finding new guests there is that don't get me wrong but i have got for next few weeks quite a few people booked up i have uh this week unfortunately i haven't but here i am answering some questions that i think oh sorry i think people would like to know about the podcast i would and it a busy week Let have a look Where else have we got? So, I don't really think there's much more to talk about in regards to the podcast.

30:15 I might bore you all. But I may make some episodes on my favourite episodes. The ones that I've learned the most with. I think that might be quite an interesting topic. I do. Let's have a look. Where are we? It's so different when you haven't got a guest on, you see. It is. Obviously, the people wonder how I do the podcast while running a pest control business um i'm just i'm just one in people that doesn't switch off when it comes to pest control um i just yeah i think about stuff all the time whether it's the podcast or ideas how the MPTA can get better or how the pest control business that I run and are part of can improve.

31:25 I cope quite fine with it but I appreciate that a lot of people would struggle with that. So yeah, that's kind of how I deal with it but I'm fine with it. I will admit that going to record it has helped it has helped a lot it has it's easy to record it and set it to release rather than go live and then you have to be live i haven't so far edited edited them yeah i have got the chance to edit them if i want to so there might be some bits that are edited in or out but so that's just that's an option as Well, although I have took on sponsors, I don't want the podcast to become a sales platform because if there's a product that I like or believe in, I will tell people about it.

32:31 I will, in general, the two sponsors I've got, I'm pretty happy with. I am, but it's to help them push the podcast forward. it is because there's a lot more tools i could be getting on with that will help grow the business grow the podcast sorry grow the podcast i was looking at a different question there um they can grow the podcast and as long as they align with pest control and it's not like

33:02 you know you hear an advert come up it's non-related to pest control or has no nothing relevant to pest control or it doesn't interlink then i would never do that because that that's disjointed so it's got to be aligned with the podcast to a degree to do a pest control it has so i don't deem it a salesy podcast because it's not uh in general so so also right so obviously just give you a view on this like with pest control should pest control be more clearly labeled as public health professional goodness sorry I'm yawning so much a long week so yes is the answer when people hear pest control they think oh he's just you know just kills rats and mice and squirrels oh bless them and things like that but when you frame it in it's in because it is in the interest of public health, first and foremost.

34:27 But when you call it pest control, it sounds different, you see. When you call it public, like a lot of companies like to not call themselves pest control. They like to word themselves as environmental. It's the same. I told somebody one day, what do you mean? It's environmental and pest control is the same thing. they might offer some different services to what pest control offers but we can both offer the same in general you can it's basically the same thing but the wording sounds better if you say environmental but i do believe if we were to shift from when you mentioned to people it's in the interest of public health, it gets seen in a lot better light.

35:16 Because a lot of jobs can be solved by basic proofing. Basic holes in the wall filled properly, not with the filler, polyfiller. I just eat straight through that. But they can be solved with basic things, they can. um like like but base basic things like that you don't even need to do a treatment sometimes if you can prove the rodents 18 at the time you can do that um it's not always the case if you're the rat catcher goodness sorry you're the rat catcher you're the rat killer you're the mice the mice killer it doesn't have to be that way it's just a lot of the old stereotypes it's like we don't we don't use glue boards anymore really i mean i never have actually but sadly you can still buy them in shops that's mental to me my local shop around the corner sells them i don't know how i don't think anyone buys them because they're right at the top like looks like they've got dust on them but in general it is crazy it is but i think if we shaped it in public health terms it would come off a lot better um i think that's one of the way we could get recognized more compared to other industries it's set it in the public health way but i don't know how you've got to like reframe your messaging and the whole industry has i think the whole industry does try and frame it in terms of public health in general but way of delivering your message or educational because a lot of content now is educational when it comes to social media social

37:09 media does you better to offer a bit of education rather than go oh i'm so and so i can sort your was nest now which is needed sometimes because people ask for companies i've got a was nest and than the recommendations but i think when it comes to social media you should try educate people a bit and you can build a nice reputation that i've what i've done i've built a quite good reputation over a number of years and it helps people recommend me um and things like that it all it all helps it does um that helps in the public health sense it does we would get viewed in a much better light i believe um

38:00 it's just one of them just one of them things it is i do believe though that um yeah the public health view is needed is it aside from waffling i am it's a lot harder when when you're just on here by yourself. It is.

38:20 So, what else was I going to talk about as well? So, if you want to like and subscribe on the platform you're on, Facebook, Rumble, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, press subscribe. It all helps the show. It does grow. thanks for following or liking or subscribing if you do so I've already covered that one about is this only a struggle to switch off because yeah I covered that already but there are a lot of people in pest control there are pest controllers that can't switch off I don't know what it is but I don't ever really switch off I'm always doing something because i do so much within the industry but also what i will say is if you're if you're coming to pest tech um national pest technicians association um on on wednesday i'm going to share the screen now let's not share the audio where are we let's have a look so So it's this Wednesday, isn't it?

39:45 I'll have to double check. I'm sure it is Wednesday. It says it just needs to get it right. Wednesday. Wednesday.

39:57 Calendar.

40:04 Oh, yes, this Wednesday. so the 4th of november it's at 9 a.m to 4 p.m it's at the mk arena in milton keynes it is so i'll tell you a bit more about it as it's fresh in your mind now you don't have to be an mpta member you don't have to be a bpca member you can be an m it can be a bpca member if you want you can be an mpta member you don't have to be any members of anything you can just be a member of british press register basis prompt you can all come you don't have to be a member of anything if you're interested in joining the industry potentially you can register it's free it's free for all it is it's a great integer show that there's many exhibitors um this is a new area here so it's called the wasp area so so so it is hold on it's a workshop and special presentation area so it's quite interesting that so on the first floor there's a sprayer servicing um sprayer servicing show and then there's stand three bed bugs bed bugs canine detection see there you go again then there's on stand five that's part the the Wasp area.

41:45 There's drains, and then there's a stand in the Wasp area, face-to-fit testing. And there is also EFK and LED retrofitting, which is good. Then there's sprayer servicing again at 1 p.m., and it looks like it circles around. So you've got an opportunity, if you miss them, to see them again, or if you haven't managed to get to them. You could see them again. You could. Also, on the second floor, seminars area. So 15, it basically starts straight away. So 9.15 till 10, there's a crew update from Dr. Matthew Davis and Richard Mosley from crew.

42:36 And then at 10.15 till 11, is pest control in agriculture from technical manager at the NPTA, Duncan Bosworth. And then, as you can see, 11... I've seen if you can see this, you can, she'll be able to. And then at 11 o'clock, 11.15 to 12 o'clock, My Pest Control Journey, Selling Your Business by John Dixon. And then also at 12.15, we've got the pest control in the countryside, the role of gamekeepers in rural pest management. From VASC. This is the one that I think would be really good. They're all good, but this one especially.

43:22 By Alex Wade from BASF at 1.15 till 2.

43:29 Insecticide formulations and mode of action. I think that will be an incredible one. I honestly do. I think that will be the actual, because he said on the beauties and beasties that it's a live demonstration he's got no slides he's actually having his lab coat on and he's doing live demonstrations so that's something different that is that you don't normally get to see something like that do you uh you don't so also there is wildlife management ideas by alan johnson oh look and then there is 315 to 345 pest perspectives a lot of discussion about the professional pest management industry so myself Sean Muller then we've got Matt O'Donnell from the IX5 group we've got Carl Robinson from HF Bird Environmental or HF Environmental I think it is now and then there's Dan Lucas from Smart Pest Solutions and Consultancy.

44:40 So that's what we've got on the second floor as well. So let's have a look what else we've got for you, just to keep this fresh in your mind. If you weren't thinking about going, you might want to go. So there's a new thing called the Pest Tech Gallery that sponsored by Barentine Environmental it says there so what can ever wondered what pests we deal with every day In a close a new pest tech gallery the pest tech gallery sponsored by Barentine will give visitors the opportunity to see some of the UK's familiar pests from an entire different perspective.

45:22 Using highly magnified imagery, the gallery will reveal the extraordinary detail hidden within the insects and other pests encountered across the industry see what you normally can't a flee a bed book a fly a wasp we know what it looks like at least or we think we do but magnify magnification reveals an entirely different world tiny hairs complex eyes mouth parts claws into intricate body structures that are almost impossible to appreciate with a naked eye unless suddenly becomes visible the pest tech gallery will take some of the pests familiar to pest familiar to our industry and make them larger and like so that that sounds really good and it's something different it is or for 2026 it is so um yeah that definitely definitely one to go to that is definitely i'll be having a look at that i will um and then there's a cpd knowledge trail there's you can see it on the screen yep so there's a CPD knowledge trail British Pest Register and Basis Prompt so it's a total of 10 points if you're behind with CPD I know quite a few of you are I don't know how it's really easy to get points but so if you go to seminars it's one point per seminar so it's 45 minutes for a 45 minute presentation um subtotal is four it's capped at four if you see a wasp presentation it's half a point

47:16 per 30 minutes talk subtotal four knowledge taking part uh knowledge trail one point at each stand subtotal 4 cap so in total it says you can get 10 points for taking part in this knowledge trail which I really recommend you do because it does look good it does also there is a rage room so if you feel like getting some anger out I'm talking to you Kurt and Pete Andrews you can give that a go. You can't book for this. You have to just stand up and wait. So when I think they get smashed up, it's going to be fully recycled.

48:04 It's all recyclable. So everything gets put back and reused. It does with the rage room.

48:15 And kill germ I've got in the mix. I did it last year. When me and my wife did it, it's like they just teach you how to make a good cocktail so you can have it alcoholic or non-alcoholic it's great fun to be honest it's selling out well it's 11am slots still left 12 1 and 2 that's all that's left quite a lot of it sold out so get booking people it's well worth a go it is so and there's plenty there's the Pest Mines Pest Tech Caf Pest Tech Caf I mean sorry have a coffee on us there's that area there is let's have a look let's get the plan up where are we let's have a look floor plan so there's the floor plan I've just I've just hold on so there's the floor plan there's plenty of companies going to be there there's a lot of a lot of companies there Killgerm Mouth Stop International Pest Control there's all sorts our name was many There's Lodi, Deadline, Dealing Environmental, 1NV Solutions, MPTA, obviously.

49:58 There's TrustSmart, Pelgar, Pelsys, PoweredNow, PestFix, PestMines, PestWest. There's just loads. Loads and loads and loads for you to look at. Hopefully, there's some new products. Hopefully. it's always nice when you see a new product isn't it? It is so yeah, so if you are if you are coming it would be nice to see you it would Barra Products, Bradshaw and Taylor BPCA will be there there's more I'm not going to go through the entire list but there's a lot there so yeah, so that's registration is still open and it's open to all it's not sold out, it's just exhibitors is sold out.

50:49 So there's plenty of room. So if you want to book, go ahead and book. It's Wednesday 4th of November and that's 9am to 4pm. The location, Arena MK, Milton Keynes. And yeah, it's been a good time. I will be there Tuesday helping to set up as I'm part of the Pest Tech committee. I am. And I'll be there Wednesday helping in. So I think I'll be on the welcome bit. So please say hello. And if you do happen to support on the seminar floor at... I don't know what the seminar...

51:33 So if you do happen to come and support me at 3.15 till 3.45, that would be great, that would. It's live in front of actual people because I'm here on the internet. It's very different to being live in person. So I'll look forward to seeing you. If you could support the podcast, that would be great. If not, no worries. But I'm sure there'll be plenty of people watching. There will be something new for the podcast. And I've new experience for myself and the people on the panel. but yeah so so uh i thought i'd show that off i would so there we go so yeah look forward to seeing you if you're going if you're going right how do we get rid of that that's it right so

52:38 sorry about that so yeah that's uh this week's podcast i might plug in an extra video but yeah see everyone at pestek and uh i have got more more guests lined up i'm going to do some better solo editions i'm not sure if this week's helped too much or not i'm not sure but i just thought i'd have a chat i did so um there is plenty if you want me to talk about ai which no let's do it let's do it let's do it all right should companies be leveraging ai so So, AI is incredible. Right. So, I'm not convinced on AI calling.

53:39 So, we trialed AI receptionists. We did. And I thought it was great to start with. But what I found was because we have a lot of our clients are from the older side of the spectrum. In terms of age, obviously. in the end we found more people hung up than actually left a voicemail to stare at the AI receptionist so we tried it maybe in the future if it gets better etc we may give it another go but we trialled it for three months and we found no, not great but I'll tell you where it is great obviously you have to proofread everything and check it so AI can make you cost reports it can make you any much anything you want so if you want to do a report and you want it to sound professional and a lot of work like say you're not very good at writing well typing not many people do it anymore not many people use pen and paper shout out to Jason mate I know you do fair play and quite a few people do as well.

54:56 If you're not that good at typing it out, etc., AI can make it sound much better and make sure it's in compliance with what would be done. Say you've got, I don't know, PLC or whatever compliance regulations it's under can make sure your writing's fine and perfect, to be fair. I think it's great in that term because I think that if you're not using it I think well most people would think well he's using AI everyone thinks it already so if you're not using AI and you spend hours doing these great reports they might just think you're using AI anyway so I think you might as well leverage it but it's a great tool for that it really is it can make you sound really good even if you're not the best in the world with spelling etc it can it will get it right for you it will um do you suggest the premium version of chat gpt if you're using that's the one you prefer um but i do think it's great it's also it could now you can make apps on chat gpt i've made an app as well i've been playing with it you can make you can basically do anything off reports, everything you can make your own but obviously you've got to check these things, I use powers now obviously, I've got the sponsor of the show but there is bits I've been playing with for ChatGPT you can do pretty much anything you can do personalised rams there's pretty much nothing you can't do it's uh it is good it is so i think that you should try it at least it's not it's everyone's using it so hold on i'll just pause yeah ai should be leveraged it's a tool and i think it's good

57:09 just be careful how you use it learn how to use it spend time it can help you write blogs it can help you with content ideas it can make you think about different strategies it understands seo aeo geo if you don't understand any of them words just find out via ai what they mean because it's highly useful in this day and age but i think ai you should give it a go So AI, you can talk to it. As I say, you're walking around the site, you can talk to it. It will remember. If you've got a chat GPT or a decent one, it should remember.

57:47 Then at the end, if you want, you can either copy or paste it into your pest report app. Or if you haven't got a pest report app and you just send them by email, it can even do the whole report. You tell it what you want, et cetera, and you can send a copy to your pest control contract if you want to do it. I'm not saying that's the best way to do it, but if you wanted to, you could. But every facet of pest control, apart from doing the job, it can't do the job, obviously. But I do think you should give it a go because I think that you are getting left behind if you aren't doing that.

58:32 I think is a great way of helping your business get better. It's not taking any jobs away, not as far as I'm aware. It may be in tech sectors. That may be the case, the AI agents, because you can get agents. You can get agents now that can make calls for you, book appointments, everything. I haven't looked into that stuff. We don't need that. But there is that kind of stuff you can get now. So that's probably going a bit far. But I say give it a go if you want to give it a go. Start off basics, but it will help your business, I promise you.

59:15 It will help your business with AI. Let me know what you think about that. If I'm wrong, please tell me. But I do think that it helps. Obviously, always check that AI is correct. don't just take it as correct because it can hallucinate and make mistakes and you can correct it but always proofread it don't just take AI's word for it so yeah so yeah so thanks everyone and thanks everyone and I will see you all at Pest Tech or I will see you next week so on the podcast. I have got guests back. So, all right, and thanks, everyone.