How does a pest control company turn a one-time treatment into a recurring plan?
A customer who called about one pest often did not know a recurring plan was an option, so the offer has to be made clearly and at the right moment. She picked up the phone to solve a problem she could see, and once it is solved she has no reason to think about you again. The company that tells her a plan exists, while the visit is still fresh in her mind, gives her a choice she did not know she had.
Why don't one-time pest control customers ask about a recurring plan?
A homeowner who calls about ants in the kitchen is thinking about ants in the kitchen. She found your company in a hurry, she wants the problem gone, and she thinks of pest control as a call you make when something shows up. Nobody in her family has ever had a plan, so it does not occur to her to ask whether one exists.
From your side of the counter a recurring plan is an ordinary product. From hers it is invisible until someone mentions it. The technician is thinking about the next stop, the office is thinking about the invoice, and the homeowner is relieved the visit is over. Everyone does their part well, and the one conversation that could have turned a single visit into a steady customer never happens.
When is the right moment to offer a pest control plan?
Make the offer while the customer still remembers the problem and can see that you solved it. At that point she trusts your company more than she ever will again, and the reason for a plan is still sitting in front of her. An offer that arrives weeks later, after the visit has faded, lands on someone who has moved on to other things.
Here is one example of what that moment can look like. A technician finishes a visit for ants and is packing up his gear when the homeowner asks at the door whether they are going to come back. That question is the opening. The technician who can tell her plainly that the company offers a recurring plan, and that the office will send her the details, has put the choice in front of her at the one time she was already thinking about it. Whether a plan suits her home is a judgment for your licensed technicians, and this article does not cover treatment.
What makes a recurring plan offer clear to a homeowner?
A homeowner can only say yes to something she understands. If the offer is a quick mention at the door with no details to follow, she has nothing to think over and nothing to show anyone at home that evening. If the details arrive in writing, in plain words, she can see what she would get and what it costs, and she can say yes when she is ready.
Clarity also means the offer does not feel like a trap. A homeowner who has been burned by a contract she did not understand, with another company or in another part of her life, will be cautious. Terms she can read in a minute, and a company that answers her questions without pressure, make the decision feel safe.
What happens when nobody makes the offer?
Six months later, the homeowner from the example above sees something new in the garage and searches for pest control again. She may remember your company and call you, or she may call whichever name comes up first, and your technician's good work in her kitchen has no say in it.
Across a season that adds up. Every one-time customer who was never offered a plan is a customer you won once and then left for any company to win the next time. Once someone is on a plan, the next visit depends on a reminder going out before it is due, which is covered in how to remind customers when their next service is due.
What a fix looks like
Soon after a one-time visit, the homeowner has the plan details in writing and can read the terms at her kitchen table before she decides. The owner opens one list and sees which one-time customers have heard about a plan, who signed up, and who said not yet. Plan customers hear from the office before each visit is due, so more of each technician's route is homes he has already treated.
The Home Service Guild Marketing Operations System keeps one-time customers on a list of their own, sends them the written plan offer, and sends service reminders to plan customers, as part of Word of Mouth.
Questions owners also ask
Should the technician or the office make the recurring plan offer?
Both have a part to play. The technician is the person the homeowner just watched solve her problem, so a mention from him carries weight. The written offer should come from the office afterward, so it does not depend on a tired technician remembering at the end of a long day.
What if the customer says no to a recurring plan?
Record the answer and keep her on your list of past customers. A polite offer that she turned down still leaves her with a good impression of your company, and she knows who to call when the next problem shows up.
Is it worth offering a plan to a customer who called about a single pest?
Yes, as long as your technicians think a plan suits the home. A customer who called once has already shown she will pay to solve a problem, and she may simply not have known there was another way to buy the service.
