The Importance of Knowing Your Accounts
Understanding the accounts you service is critical—not just for new technicians but for seasoned professionals as well. Whether you're taking over a new route, inheriting accounts, or working through changes in client sites, the principles we’ll discuss today apply to everyone. Even if you've been servicing the same accounts for years, this is an opportunity to reflect and ensure you're providing the best possible service.
Ownership and Accountability
When you take over a new call, the natural tendency is to follow what’s already being done. You find the traps, inspect them, and move on, often assuming your predecessor had everything in place for a reason. But buildings and accounts evolve—walls are added or removed, rooms change purpose, and pest pressures shift. To truly take control of your accounts, you need to assess the situation with fresh eyes and ask, "Does this make sense?" If the answer isn’t clear, it may be time to rethink placement and strategies.
Strategic Placement and Purpose
Traps and monitors serve two essential purposes:
Indication of pest pressure: They help identify when and where pests are active.
Interception and prevention: Properly placed devices reduce the chances of pests establishing themselves.
For example, if a trap or monitor has consistently been empty, ask yourself if it's in the right place. An insect monitor under a counter that is never active might be better placed near a sink or fridge where conditions are more conducive to pest activity.
Every device should earn its keep. If it’s not catching pests or providing valuable data, consider repositioning it for maximum impact.
Building Relationships with Decision-Makers
Knowing your account goes beyond the physical structure—it includes knowing the people involved. Ensure you’re communicating with the key decision-maker, not just the front desk staff or whoever happens to be available. Take the time to ask who you should be communicating with. It may feel awkward initially, but establishing a direct line with the right person can generate immense benefits. Strong relationships with key contacts foster trust, protect your accounts from competitors, and enhance job satisfaction. When you see firsthand how your efforts benefit the client, it reinforces your sense of purpose—a key factor in job fulfillment.
Knowing the Building, Not Just the Address
Truly knowing an account goes beyond recognizing its address or floor plan. It involves understanding the building's structure, its vulnerabilities, and its surroundings. To manage an account effectively, you need to understand the building itself:
Where are the structural gaps or access points?
How do environmental factors like landscaping, dumpsters, and delivery schedules contribute to pest pressure?
Are there areas where pests are likely to congregate, such as poorly sealed doors or pooled water?
This level of familiarity allows you to predict issues before they arise. Pests don’t enter buildings randomly—they follow predictable behaviors and exploit specific conditions. Over time, incremental steps—inspecting one more area per visit or taking an extra walk around the building— add up to a thorough understanding of the account.
Identifying Patterns and Trends
Pest activity often follows predictable patterns:
Rodents tend to move indoors in the fall.
Ant populations surge in the spring.
Extreme weather events can push pests into buildings seeking shelter.
Recognizing these trends allows you to adapt your strategies proactively. For example, increasing bait levels in the fall or scheduling exterior sprays ahead of heat waves can significantly reduce pest pressure and callouts.
Adopting a Beginner’s Mindset
As we gain experience, it’s easy to fall into routines and assumptions. This complacency can lead us to overlook obvious solutions. A beginner’s mindset—approaching problems with curiosity and openness—can help identify opportunities we might otherwise miss.
Consider the story of a bakery plagued by chronic cockroach issues. After exhaustive efforts to locate the source, a manager with a fresh perspective suggested inspecting the drop ceiling even though it was 30ft high and likely dry as a bone. Although not the usual place to find cockroaches, it revealed the hidden harborage, resolving the problem. The takeaway? Expertise is valuable, but it should never overshadow the willingness to ask simple questions and look with fresh eyes.
Avoiding Complacency and Driving Continuous Improvement
Complacency can sneak into anyone’s routine, often unnoticed. Blindly following established patterns may save time in the short term but can lead to unresolved issues, increased stress, and dissatisfied clients. Instead, strive to remain proactive. Regularly ask yourself:
What’s causing this issue?
What could I do differently?
Is there an opportunity to propose a more comprehensive solution?
Proactively addressing these questions can save time, reduce stress, and strengthen client relationships.
A Call to Action
As you service your accounts, challenge yourself to take a closer look at one or two that could benefit from a fresh perspective. Whether it’s engaging with the right contact, re-evaluating device placements, or examining a structure with new eyes, small actions can lead to meaningful progress. Remember, knowing your accounts better not only improves your effectiveness but also strengthens your relationships with clients and fosters a deeper sense of purpose in your work. Let’s aim for progress, not perfection, and take pride in delivering the best possible service.
Corinne Down is a Technical Support Auditor with Abell Pest Control and brings nearly two decades of experience in the pest management industry. She holds a Bachelor of Environmental Studies from the University of Waterloo and a Technical Diploma in Ecosystem Management. In 2017, she earned her Associate Certified Entomologist (ACE-I) designation and later completed Purdue University’s Advanced Urban/Industrial IPM program.