Small business owners take on a lot of responsibility in their business operation, as well as their own lives. It often seems like there’s no such thing as work-life balance when you’re working around the clock to manage your employees, schedule new jobs, and grow your business. And to top it all off, you’re likely working on a limited budget—so hiring more helping hands may be out of the question. But the good news is, with new applications and tech to make life easier for pest control professionals and service-industry pros alike, a new day of proper work-life balance is on the horizon! We’re going over some of the top advancements in service technology to make small business ownership make more sense for you.
Table of Contents
Remote pest monitoring is the way of the future
Many pest control businesses are already using remote monitoring to make their services more efficient and ultimately, more effective. By sending photos of the lured pests, these smart traps alert the business immediately, and archive the images in a cloud-based storage system. TRAPVIEW uses a mobile application to collect trap data and help professionals monitor traps installed at various locations. Incorporating a smart app into your service could help eliminate the need to make continuous service calls throughout the job and instead, allow technicians to focus more on strategic visits. Plus, by tracking data related to your traps, you can see what’s working and what’s not—which could be a huge time-saver for your pest control company.
Run your small business operations efficiently
Like we said before, there is a lot to handle when you’re a small business owner in the service industry. You’re constantly doing something— scheduling jobs, processing invoices, and cycling through day-to-day procedures. With the structural pest control software from Housecall Pro, you can manage your business all in one place. If you’re looking for a way to improve your efficiency, this is a great addition to your pest control business. Process payments, schedule jobs, and communicate with your staff and customers from anywhere—even if you’re out of the office.
Equip your technicians with the right tech
From documenting job information and signing contracts to filing customer service surveys, your technicians need to have the right technology to do their jobs in this modern age. Invest in a tablet for technicians so that they can access important information right from the job location.
Look toward the future of small business HR
Maxed out on your labor budget but need someone to manage your human resources processes? Try using an HR management software solution like Zenefits to help you process payroll, keep track of time off, and file important hiring documents. This HR solution can eliminate the need for a professional HR department if your business is small enough—like most pest control companies are. If you’ve been running your own HR processes in the past, you’ll be happy to find a little more flexibility in your schedule when you use a tool to help.
Use your customer feedback as important data
Customer feedback is probably one of the most important pieces of information you can gather to grow your business. Their experience can give you useful insight into customer service, strategy, and ultimately, their satisfaction with your business. Whether or not you feel like you need to adjust your customer service process, it’s a good idea to continuously issue customer service feedback surveys to constantly improve your service strategy and grow your business.
Relevancy is built online
Not many people are using the Yellow Pages to find businesses these days—not the paper version anyway. In order to stay relevant and top-of-mind for your existing and potential customers, you’ve got to build a presence online. This marketing strategy often starts with a website build. If you’re on a budget, consider using Wix to build your small business’ website. It’s super user-friendly, free, and customizable.
And the online marketing doesn’t stop there! From creating Yelp profiles and Google My Business accounts to advertising on social media, there’s a lot to do online. Luckily, marketing your pest control service online is a lot simpler than producing the gigantic billboards and distributing countless print ads from the past!
In conclusion
Although running a small business operation is no small feat, it is definitely a rewarding experience to help customers and provide local jobs to your community. But with new developments in the service industry and small business technology, there are plenty of resources to help make running your own business a little bit more manageable!
About Carson Derrow
