Why does my pest control company come at their convenience instead of mine, and what can I do about it!?
Here are the 3 most common complaints we get about scheduling. I will tell you why it is hard for your company to do what seems simple to you…And what you can do about it!
Why do you wait till the day before you arrive to tell me you are coming? I need more time to prepare!
Why don’t you give me a time window? I can’t sit around all day!
Can you at least text 30 minutes before you show up? I need a heads up to make sure I am home (or to make sure I am not home), etc.
Why do you wait till the day before you arrive to tell me you are coming?
"I need more time than that to prepare!" Some customers want a one or two-week notice, and others want to have a set day like the 10th of every three months or the 4th Thursday, etc.
Even others would like to schedule the next service after each service. If they get serviced on May 4th then we would pull out their calendar and lock in the next service for the 7th of August.
There are 2 reasons we do not plan and confirm appointments that far in advance.
We do what is most convenient for most people. The farther in advance that we notify customers the more of them will forget that we are coming! If they forget to unlock their gate they will have to come home from the grocery store to unlock the gates. And put the dogs in the house.
Or, they have to reschedule and then feel guilty when they have to reschedule. Either way, it is inefficient. Inefficiencies cost the company money. Eventually, those inefficiencies get passed to the customer.
We are aware that some people do plan well in advance. Our approach is inconvenient for those customers. But the way we do it is much more convenient for most customers!
For most people, it is more convenient for us to be more flexible and less structured. For example, in a heat wave, we need to be prepared to handle hundreds of bug emergencies in a single week.
If we have our schedule booked for the next month then we cannot be flexible enough to meet customers' needs. We will soon be pushing off emergency customers for a couple of days and then a week. And then 2 to 3 weeks. If you have a bug emergency then you need us there tomorrow, not 3 weeks from tomorrow!
In order to do that we need to be flexible. We will move customers' regular service back or forward by a week. We do this by waiting to confirm appointments till the day before!
I hope those reasons make sense. But if you have a busy schedule or you plan weeks in advance that still might not make it any more convenient for you. So what can you do!?
When you get notified that your bug guy is coming “tomorrow.” Just reply to the text or email telling us that tomorrow does NOT work for you. And please let us know what day DOES works for you.
The flexibility for MOST customers makes it so that we can more easily work around the needs of the FEW! So, when you get notified that we are coming “tomorrow” don’t stress. Just use that as your invitation to tell us your availability!
I remember about 12 years ago I had a customer who switched to us because we could get out there the next business day. She told me that she was with her company for over ten years and she never needed anything special. But now she needed them to help with an ant invasion. They scheduled her for 2 weeks later.
She was very upset because when she finally needed them they were not there for her! We keep our schedule flexible. When our customers need us then we want to be there for them!
Scheduling inconvenience. Why don’t you give me a time window? I can’t sit around all day!
For most customers, it is more convenient if they don’t have to coordinate their schedules with ours. We do a thorough exterior service to prevent bug problems. So we rarely need to spray in the house.
We can even kill some interior bugs by spraying the exterior! (especially ants and sometimes spiders).
In most cases, you do not need to be home when we are doing the service. This allows convenience and flexibility for you and for your technician.
And for the people who do need to be home, it allows him to be able to be flexible for them and work around their schedule.
In other words, we do not give a time window unless a customer requests it. This is more convenient for most customers and more convenient for the technician.
And more efficient for the company. This allows us to continue to try to provide the best service at the best price.
If you do need a time window, then let us know! The flexibility that we gain by not giving everybody a time window allows us to be flexible. It allows us to work around the few people who do need a time window!
From time to time we all need extra accommodation! We focus on being efficient so that we can accommodate those who need it!
We do a two-hour time window. We have found this to be a great balance. If the time window is too large, the customer has to waste too much of their day waiting around. If the time window is too small, then the technician is not able to deal with all of the variables.
The technician needs flexibility. This allows him to give every customer the attention they deserve. And deal with changing traffic patterns and still show up in the time window promised.
So what can you do if you need a time window? Just ask for it! What are the reasons that you would need a time window? If you need to be home for any reason. For example, you’re not able to leave your gate unlocked. Or you need the inside serviced.
If you don’t need to be home, it’s actually more convenient to NOT know when your technician is coming! Because you can just leave the gates unlocked and you can continue on with your day. You don’t have to coordinate schedules.
Can you please give me a heads-up when you’re about half an hour away?
Sometimes you are helping out at the school just down the road. And you don’t need a time window, but you do need a quick 20 to 30 heads up. This can be a great option to provide flexibility for customers and technicians!
A few years ago, we realized how convenient this is for every customer. Not just for the customers who requested it. So we now notify every customer about half an hour before we show up at the house.
We also realize that it is much easier to do it all the time instead of some of the time!
I hope this helps you as a customer to realize some of the frustrations that you can have with scheduling. And gives you some ideas to help minimize those frustrations.
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