For pest control
Nobody who rings you about a wasp nest is willing to wait.
Pest calls are driven by something the caller wants gone today. That urgency is the whole reason they will not sit on your voicemail.
- Price
- $50 a month, no contract.
- Your number
- Stays exactly as it is.
- Setup
- Two minutes. We do it.
- Reply time
- Seconds, not this evening.
01 The moment
Why pest control miss calls
Not because you are careless with the phone. Because of where your hands are.
You are in a suit and respirator halfway into a roof cavity with a duster. Even if you heard the phone, you are not answering it. Meanwhile a woman with a wasp nest above her back door is ringing every pest controller in the shire.
02 What they get
The text that goes out
Within seconds of the call dropping, in your words, with your name on it.
Your business
It’s Kate from Border Pest Control — I’m suited up on a job and can’t answer. Text me what you’ve seen, where in the house, and your suburb. If it’s wasps or bees near a doorway, say so and I’ll ring you first.
The caller, a minute later
Rats in the roof, hearing them at night, been a week. Wanneroo. Also want a termite inspection while you’re here.
That reply is the job written down. You ring back knowing what it is, where it is and whether it is worth stopping for.
03 What changes
What it changes for pest control
- 01
You find out what you’re dealing with
Rats, termites, wasps and cockroaches need different gear, different time and different pricing. Knowing before you ring back means the callback is a booking, not a diagnosis.
- 02
Genuine urgency identifies itself
A wasp nest over a back door and a general spray next month are not the same job. Let the caller tell you which one they are, and you will ring the right one first.
- 03
Inspections get added on
People who text back have room to mention the second thing. Termite inspections in particular tend to surface in a written reply when they would never come up in a rushed call.
04 Questions
What pest control ask
The questions that come up on the phone, answered the way we'd answer them there.
Do I need to be licensed to say that in the message?
You do not need to say anything you would not say on the phone, but including your licence and that you are insured lands well in this trade specifically, because callers are letting a stranger into the house.
A lot of my work is real estate and property managers.
They are the easiest group to convert to text, because they are managing many properties and would rather send you an address than talk. Written enquiries with an address attached are also easier for them to forward on.
Termite inspections are booked weeks out. Does speed matter?
The booking is weeks out, the decision is not. They ring three companies on a Tuesday and book with whoever gets back to them first, then wait three weeks for that one.
Can I set different messages for different times of year?
Yes. Most pest businesses run a summer message that mentions wasps and spiders and a different one the rest of the year.
See what you’re missing before you pay anything.
The audit counts the calls to your business that went unanswered last month, from your own records. It costs nothing and nothing changes on your line.
05 Read next
Related
- Trade Cleaning businesses Cleaning enquiries are decided fast and by whoever replies. Almost nobody rings one cleaner and waits.
- Trade Roofers And the day after a storm, it rings forty times while you are up there.
- Trade Plumbers Plumbing is the trade where the caller is least willing to wait. Something is leaking, and they are working down the list until someone picks up.
- Explainer How missed-call text-back works The mechanism, plainly, including what it does not do.