Conscientious;
Main Entry: con•sci•en•tious
Pronunciation: \ˌkän(t)-shē-ˈen(t)-shəs\
Function: adjective
Date: 1576
1 : governed by or conforming to the dictates of conscience : scrupulous, conscientious public servant
2 : meticulous, careful, conscientious listener
A couple of things have been on my mind lately and that sparked this train of thought.
What do people really want from their pest control service provider?
Do they want a knowledgeable person who handles their bug problem with skill and efficiency?
Do they want the most effective service done in the safest manner?
Are they concerned with how he or she looks and what their bug truck looks like?
Or do they just want the peace of mind knowing that someone else is handling this chore and not them?
The answer is yes, yes and yes. But it is so much more that probably never gets noticed that makes all the difference. Much like a mechanic who has to change a simple gasket in your car but has to take half the engine apart to do so. There is unseen effort and training that goes into it but they make it look easy.
The definition say’s it all and that is what most people get when they hire a pest control professional, but it what you don’t see or the extra effort in solving a pest infestation that makes the difference.
When you call for wasps in the bathroom and your pest man crawls up onto the roof to treat the protruding vent. When ants are sneaking in from a floor vent and your gal enthusiastically crawls under the house with a flash light and a duster. On the 3rd trip out for some really stubborn German roaches you are greeted with a smile and an eager professional who’s willing to listen and work hard to solve your problem. Besides, he’s been thinking and talking to his peers about your situation and has brought a new bait product that looks promising. These are the times you know you have a conscientious tech.
With running a route comes so many responsibilities and different tasks that have to be done in any
given day. The pressure alone of being on time when you have 10 other tickets on your route sheet is enormous. Each home or business to be treated is unique and the pest control pro has to be on top of their game to provide efficient effective service. Always searching for the root cause of an invasion of pests and working around or through difficult situations is the life blood of a great technicians mind. He or she cannot just spray and pray in order to eliminate unwanted bugs but must dissect each quandary and play the part of a detective or their efforts will yield unsatisfactory results.
These are the moments where the endless hours of training come into play. For the employees of larger companies they may sit through long hours of training classes each month while the one man operator has to self motivate to go online or read each article of the monthly pest control magazine he subscribes to. Every great tech also relies on what he’s learned in the past and what works well or what has failed him. Either way our industry is constantly changing and growing and in order to stay current and be more effective, the conscientious tech is always learning.
The job of pest control technician is truly a rewarding one. You see so many different things in one day and are exposed to many wonderful people all who live and work in the area you are in charge of. Conscientious techs take great pride in their work and tend to their customers like a Sheppard does his sheep. They’ll work hard, study and apply everything they know that will be the safest and most 
effective ways of reaching the goal of a pest free environment for them. If they lose a customer they feel they have lost a part of what was theirs and take the loss to heart. When customers are added they quickly bring them into the fold and give them the professional courteous attention that the hundreds of others on their route enjoy.
The conscientious techs job never ends as each day has to be a repeat performance at a high level. Anything short of that and the problems mount and service will begin to slide. They know that they are in a ‘complaint’ business by nature and any sub standard effort is easily spotted by the calls that come into the office. To be successful in the pest control industry there are a lot of things you must do right. Competition is high and there is always another service company that’ll be glad to take your place. Behind every successful pest business and growing route there is always one common denominator, the conscientious tech.
