PestBossPro Blog — Running a Pest Control Business

The Pest Control Business Owner's Weekly Routine

Owners of small pest companies rarely run out of things to do. They run out of time to do the right things. The phone rings, a technician calls about a dog, a customer wants a same-day visit, and suddenly it is Friday and the overdue accounts never got scheduled. A weekly routine doesn't make the interruptions stop. It makes sure the important work happens anyway, because it has a set time each week.

The Habit That Prevents the Mistakes

Most of the problems in Mistakes to Avoid When Growing a Pest Control Business are caught by the same thing: an owner who looks at the business on a regular schedule. The routine below is a starting point. Adjust the days to fit your company, but keep the pieces. Whether you run one truck or five, the shape is the same.

Monday: Build the Week

Start the week with recurring service, because it is the base of the business.

• Open the Waiting List map. Look at what is due now and what is overdue past the 7-day grace.
• Circle clusters of due accounts, build routes and schedule them to trucks and days.
• On the dispatch board, auto-route each truck Closest First or Furthest First from the shop, then adjust for customers who need a certain time.
• Leave room in each day for one-time jobs and re-services.
• Reschedule any stops skipped last week that don't have a new date yet.

If you are still on a truck yourself, do this Sunday evening or early Monday before the first stop. It is the most important hour of the week.

Every Day: A Short Check

A few minutes at the start and end of each day keeps small things from becoming big ones:

• Morning. Check that every truck's route is set and the technicians have what they need loaded for the day's stops.
• During the day. Glance at tech GPS on the office map and the dispatch board when you have a moment. Reply to customer texts.
• Evening. Look at skipped stops and their notes. Answer new website requests in Form Responses and convert sign-ups into clients.

Midweek: Sales and Follow-Up

Set aside time midweek for the work that brings in tomorrow's customers:

• Review open estimates. Follow-up emails go out on their own, but a personal text to a promising lead often closes it.
• Call back anyone who rated a recent visit low in the customer app.
• Thank customers who sent referrals.
• Plan any marketing for the coming week, such as door hangers around new accounts.

Friday: Records and Money

End the week by closing it out properly:

• Chemical records. Check the “need a chemical record” button on the schedule and get every missing application record filled in while the details are fresh.
• Billing. Make sure every completed job was invoiced, including re-services and extras added as line items.
• Declined cards. Send customers a link to update their card in the customer app.
• Past due. Look at the oldest balances and decide who needs a personal call.
• Overdue accounts. Count the overdue pins on the Waiting List and compare to last week.

The numbers behind this check are covered in Weekly Reports Every Pest Control Business Owner Should Watch.

Time for People and the Field

Block a few hours each week for the people side of the business. Ride along with a technician. Look through recent photos and job notes. Give one piece of praise and, if needed, one piece of correction. Once a month, pull chemical reports and compare product applied to product bought.

Also keep a regular hour for planning: prices, the next hire, the next program, the next season. If planning only happens when there is spare time, it never happens.

Adjust the Routine for the Season

The same routine looks different in July and January. In the busy months, the Monday scheduling takes longer, the daily checks matter more and the planning hour may shrink. Protect the Friday records and money review no matter what; that is when leaks are easiest to catch. In the slow months, flip the balance. Spend more time on planning, training, pricing and marketing, and use the extra hours to clean up client records, update service notes and get ready for spring.

Keep It Simple and Keep It Going

A routine works because it repeats. It doesn't need to be perfect, and some weeks will get interrupted. What matters is coming back to it every week, through the busy season and the slow one. Over time, it becomes the way the company runs. This is the last article in the series on running a pest control business. To see how PestBossPro supports each part of the week, visit the PestBossPro pest control business software page.