Welcome to the second post in our National Pest Awareness Month spotlight. This week we’re sharing tips from pest control owners and managers around the county on how to increase close rates during this year’s busy season.
Tip #2 Increase Close Rates With Less Work And More Support
We analyzed over 50,000 calls and found that, on average, close rates for pest control, are 8% higher after hours and on the weekends than they are during business hours. Being able to close deals before, during, and after quitting time can make or break the success of your pest control company this season, but what are the most productive ways to increase availability? We asked successful pest control owners for their perspectives.
Automate for Success
Solomon Airhart of Aruza Pest Control in North Carolina explains how his team is preparing to close more deals this season. “We’re focused on automated follow ups through texts to get leads back in the pipeline. Follow up is crucial and automation takes human error out of the equation and is much more efficient.”
Automation, specifically chatbots and IVR-to-text allows your staff to service more customers at a higher quality. If a simple or common request can be taken care of via a chatbot in a short conversation, transitioning a customer onto a text platform can alleviate your staff for more urgent customer needs.
If your staff isn’t bogged down with time-consuming tasks, they have more time to invest in their customer’s high touch needs and be there for the customer when their expertise and empathy are needed most. On the other hand, this also fast tracks smaller requests so they are taken care of immediately via a chatbot and scripting so customers don’t have to wait or be put on hold to complete tasks like reschedule an appointment, confirm account details, and more.
To learn more about how automation can streamline your customer communications and make life easier for your team, check out The 5 R’s of Automation.
After Hours Sales and Support
Will Haynes from Modern Pest Control in Maine speaks to the importance of 24/7 availability when wanting to increase sales. “We know that 60% of people visiting our website are visiting after hours. We want to be able to get those leads to a live person who can provide support and close those deals.” He continues, “We’ve hired more staff, specialized our customer experience and sales teams, and extended business hours especially on Saturdays.”
Standard business hours ended with the advent of the internet. Today’s consumers expect 24/7 accessibility from businesses large and small. Adding after-hours availability can help elevate your business across the board—ensuring that you’re not missing out on a new opportunity due to timing.
Conclusion
The increase in after hours close rates could be due to a number of factors: greater customer urgency when discovering an unwanted pest in the middle of the night, fewer pest providers available after closing time, or it could be as simple as people coming home after 5:00 and noticing the pests they’ve been missing while at work. No matter the cause, the demand is the same; customer’s need pest control services 24/7.
Automating systems that can follow up with leads, handle routine interactions and prioritize calls based on the their needs can free your staff to engage more efficiently with customers. Adding after hours support is crucial to catching more leads and closing more deals. You can do both this summer to make this your most successful season yet.
Next week we’ll tackle call abandonment rates and what you can do to avoid missing calls during times of heavy call volume.
