Talking Pest Management

By Talking Pest ManagementBusiness

Talking Pest Management episodes

March 10, 2021 Technology led growth 🎙️ with Brian Monaghan
Technology led growth In this interview, the continued growth in the value of pest management is debated. Growth in both the appreciation of its value to society, but also in the financial value to those businesses operating in this sector. Although the technician on the ground remains king, the use of digital technology continues to expand. Brian Monaghan is CEO and co-founder of Pest Pulse (https://www.pestpulse.com/), a technology-led pest services company headquartered in Dublin, Ireland but also offering services to commercial customers in the UK. Asked what makes Pest Pulse different, Brian explains the company always leads with remote monitoring as part of the package at a price equal to any regular contract. Pest Pulse was formed three years ago when Brian linked up with his old friend, Tim O’Toole, formerly of Pest Guard. Although Tim has pest management experience, Brian did not, having previous worked for online companies such as Paddy Power, an international currency operation and a food delivery firm. However, the two of them could see opportunities to ‘offer something different’ in pest management due to a mix of regulatory changes, particularly rodenticides, coupled with increasing demands from customers for technology-led service offerings. Looking for cash to develop the business, interest was shown from two venture capital firms, but the business was bought in 2019 by US-based Terminix (then ServiceMaster). As Brian explains: “This link gives us access to Terminix’s infrastructure and to resources that we otherwise wouldn’t be able to get.” Pest companies trading at high multiples An interesting discussion emerges between our TPM host, Daniel Schröer and Brian regarding venture capitalists, technology stocks and the increasing overlap into the pest management business. Pest control, as a value stock, has always traded at a high multiple – the industry is pretty recession proof, grows annually with a good revenue to cash flow generation and now trades more like technology stock at a high multiple ratio. As technology becomes increasingly available to this industry this will further improve multiples, growth and servicing – so raising the desirability of venture capitalists to invest. “Pest control is an in vogue industry, maybe for the first time, but we still need to capitalise on these opportunities,” Brian explains. Future market consolidation As to the future, Brian predicts further consolidation in the market with more acquisitions of medium to large servicing companies by the big four – notably Rentokil, Rollins (Orkin), Anticimex and Terminix.

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If you want to be part of Talking Pest Management email us at [email protected] and join the conversation @ Futura Germany
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Or on every other platform: @Talking Pest Management

40 min
February 16, 2021 Opportunities from training with Jorge Galvan
Having been in the position of Deputy director at the Asociación Nacional de Empresas de Sanidad Ambiental (ANECPLA), the Spanish pest control trade association, for just over a year, Jorge Galván is passionate about training. In particular, the opportunities those within the industry have to raise not only their own profile, but also that of professionalism for the industry. Based in the Spanish capital, Madrid, Jorge has a PhD in architecture plus experience of working in the field of wood protection, in particular promoting wood as a construction material. For ten years, before joining ANECPLA he worked as a teacher at the Centre for Environmental Health Studies (CEDESAM) in collaboration with ANECPLA. So his passion for training can easily be understood. Asked for his view of the industry at the moment, Jorge explains how we now live in a changing world. The industry needs to prepare for reductions in the number of available biocides, to look for alternative methods of control, plus climate change and travel has caused the arrival of new invasive pest species. But, now in particular, we all faced change with the arrival of the coronavirus pandemic. But this can offer opportunities with the addition of disinfection services. The industry may well come out of this crisis in a stronger position. Training supports change To prepare for change, Jorge stresses the need for training – at all levels – not just technicians, but right through the industry, from those who answer the phone right up to the managers. For pest control companies, the majority whom are small & mid-sized enterprises (SME), management training must not be forgotten. As an industry, it is good at training on technical matters, but less so for business orientated ones. For the future, he once again stresses the need for training and its harmonisation across Europe, an objective CEPA contributes to. Pest management is an important role that often gets overlooked by public health as a whole – that is until something goes wrong. Technicians need to view themselves as consultants and to value their service. However, the first person anyone must value is themselves. Recognise the important role you play.

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For more breaking news, white papers, videos and more: www.futura-germany.com
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Instagram: @futuragermany
acebook: @futuragermany
If you want to be part of Talking Pest Management email us at [email protected] and join the conversation @ Futura Germany
Futura Germany Podcast Listen on Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2KPaC4u
Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2xmJqkZ
Or on every other platform: @Talking Pest Management
19 min
February 08, 2021 Digital Pest Control in Finland | Interview with Lars Schauman, CEO S-Tuholaispalvelut Oy
In this interview we hear about pest control activities in Finland from Lars Schauman, the managing director of S-Tuholaispalvelut Oy. Based in Espoo, the second largest city in Finland, Lars is an early adopter of new ideas and is well known internationally for his search of new innovations. For rodent control, the devices provide the control, so does a technician need to be there? The task becomes one of measuring and recording it, so the use of remote digital monitoring and recording devices provides the solution. For the future, he is now considering switching all his remaining analogue clients to digital systems – not just for rodent control, but for all types of pest control.
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For more breaking news, white papers, videos and more: www.futura-germany.com
Follow us on social media: LinkedIn: @futuragermany
Instagram: @futuragermany
acebook: @futuragermany
If you want to be part of Talking Pest Management email us at [email protected] and join the conversation @ Futura Germany
Futura Germany Podcast Listen on Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2KPaC4u
Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2xmJqkZ
Or on every other platform: @Talking Pest Management

7 min
February 03, 2021 Mergers and Aquisitions updates 🎙️ Talking Pest Management with Paul Giannamore
The addition of Certus in the US to the acquisitions market is discussed. Operating only since spring 2019, this company has a declared intention of growing by acquisition so as to reach a top 10 position in the PCT top 100 company listing in the next few years. But as Paul highlights, this is a tough call when pitching against the existing four majors with their deep pockets. Regarding more practical advances, Paul predicts the use of digital technology will continue to grow albeit slowly and steadily by the smaller companies. He acknowledges that many of the activities of the pest control companies are based on the ‘old’ way of doing things, however the uptake of digital technology by the larger clients will drive acceptance forward.

Talking Pest Management is a leading worldwide source of pest control news and opinion. It is designed for business leaders and opinion formers around the globe and explores current market situations and also innovative new technologies. Our videos feature interviews with prominent industry figures to bring you market-affecting insights, with the aim of helping people make informed business decisions in our industry and beyond.

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If you want to be part of Talking Pest Management email us at [email protected] and join the conversation @ Futura Germany
Futura Germany Podcast 🎧 Listen on Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2KPaC4uListen on Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2xmJqkZOr on every other platform: @Futura Germany Podcast #talkingpestmanagement
56 min
January 14, 2021 Novel solutions and new tools 🎙️ Talking Pest Management with Dr. Michael H. Parsons
Subscribe on the latest insights on the pest management industry.
For more breaking news, white papers, videos and more: www.futura-germany.com
Follow us on social media: LinkedIn: @futuragermany
Instagram: @futuragermany
acebook: @futuragermany
If you want to be part of Talking Pest Management email us at [email protected] and join the conversation @ Futura Germany
Futura Germany Podcast Listen on Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2KPaC4u
Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2xmJqkZ
Or on every other platform: @Talking Pest Management
26 min
January 14, 2021 Closing off 2020 and new year resolutions - a personal note from Daniel Schröer
Kicking-off 2021, your Talking Pest Management host, Daniel Schröer, welcomes all listeners and wishes each and every one a happy new year. There is something of a change, as Daniel has no industry guest to interview....only a personal and heartfelt message. “The industry is my hobby and my passion. It means a lot to me that you let me be your host and that you like what I do. Thank you for all the support and positive comments you have sent me over the past year.” Daniel congratulates the industry as a whole for the way it has responded to the events of 2020 – a roller coaster year when business was turned upside down. The industry has proved itself to be a critical service and should rightly be proud of all its activities. He says: “When I retire I want to say I have done something good for our industry.” Reflecting on the activities of Talking Pest Management (TPM), Daniel explains how it began – to help fill that gap created when personal conversations and interactions were lost with the cancellation of all events and conferences. Over the months there have been thousands of TPM viewers, listeners or readers, ranging from technicians wanting to learn more about their industry, to research staff hearing about new developments, to company owners and CEOs keeping in touch with commercial activities. Thank you for your commitment and feedback. For the future, TPM interviews will be released every two, three or even every four weeks. It is quality rather than quantity that is important. The aim is to encourage people to ‘think outside the box’. What will our industry be like in 10 or 20 years time? Suggestions of topics and interviewees are always welcomed. Send these to Daniel. As Daniel says: “At the end of the day, we do this for you.”

Subscribe on the latest insights on the pest management industry.
For more breaking news, white papers, videos and more: www.futura-germany.com
Follow us on social media: LinkedIn: @futuragermany
Instagram: @futuragermany
acebook: @futuragermany
If you want to be part of Talking Pest Management email us at [email protected] and join the conversation @ Futura Germany
Futura Germany Podcast Listen on Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2KPaC4u
Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2xmJqkZ
Or on every other platform: @Talking Pest Management
8 min
December 07, 2020 Pests need Passports with Håkan Kjellberg
The logistical and legislative problems caused by invasive pest species are discussed in this interview with Hakan Kjellberg, technical director of Anticimex. Pests don’t need passports nor do they read labels!

Based in Stockholm, Sweden Hakan Kjellberg is the technical director of international pest control servicing company, Anticimex – a global leader in preventative pest control.

Taking the brown marmorated stink bug (Halyomorpha halys) as the example, this insect is now an established pest in orchards in Northern Italy where it causes problems attacking trees and rendering the fruit unsalable. However, Hakan reports that just a few weeks ago a colony was found and identified within containers in a logistics warehouse in Sweden. The risk is, just as it is with other invasive species – will this pest become established and cause a problem in Sweden?

Hakan stresses that across Europe a common approach, throughout the EU, should be adopted for these types of invasive species.
As for control of this pest in this specific indoor Swedish location, Hakan points out that there are no pesticides registered for this use – only for outdoor agricultural usage. He explains how Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is the approach and in this situation physical removal is the key, for example by vacuuming. Just one of the many ‘tools in the pest controllers’ IPM tool box.’

With climate change there are a likely to be more and more invasive species arriving, which run the risk of becoming endemic. Hakan stresses what a significant role professional pest controllers can play in providing an early warning system of invasive arrivals.

Subscribe on the latest insights on the pest management industry.
For more breaking news, white papers, videos and more: www.futura-germany.com
Follow us on social media: LinkedIn: @futuragermany
Instagram: @futuragermany
acebook: @futuragermany
If you want to be part of Talking Pest Management email us at [email protected] and join the conversation @ Futura Germany
Futura Germany Podcast Listen on Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2KPaC4u
Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2xmJqkZ
Or on every other platform: @Talking Pest Management
20 min
November 10, 2020 Why Integrated Pest Management (IPM) has been misunderstood!
The actual control of pests for clients needs to become the target for the industry, rather than technicians simply acting as pesticide applicators is the key take home message from this interview with Dr Dini Miller.

For the last 21 years Dr Dini Miller has been involved with urban pest management based within the Department of Entomology at Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia, USA. She specialises in structural pests and insects within the house – in particular bed bugs, cockroaches, ants and termites. She has worked extensively in low income housing with the US Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) winning their inaugural Healthy Homes Hero award in 2018. She is also a co-editor of Advances in the Biology and Management of Modern Bed Bugs.

To begin, Dr Miller talks about Integrated Pest Management (IPM) and how this phrase, so frequently used within urban pest management, initially came about. IPM owes its origins to agriculture back in the 1970s following the wide scale use of DDT on a very broad range of pests after World War II and the subsequent build up of genetic resistance – as captured by Rachel Carson in her book Silent Spring.

Basically, farmers inspected their crops for pests and assessed the economic value of them applying a pesticide to reduce pests to a manageable level. The term has been taken up by those in urban pest management where it is less appropriate – what is the manageable level of a pest such as a bed bug? Nil. People don’t want a single insect.

Dini proposes the term should be changed to Assessment Pest Management – clients then know their problem is going to be assessed. Numbers of pests would be collected both before and after treatment. Customers will then be able to understand what the results are.
Dini describes her work within the HUD low income housing. Here cockroach problems can be so severe that she can catch 16,000 on three sticky board traps over one single night. Contract pricing comes under discussion – with the lowest taken and the maths applied as to how much time can be spent in each apartment (two to three minutes), this means that technicians literally have time only to dash in and spray. This is pesticide application NOT pest control. Time and persistence is required to eliminate pests.

A debate follows between Dini and our Talking Pest Management host, Daniel Schröer, regarding the use of the IPM term, particularly its value in differing environments, the food industry being one in particular, where it is more appropriate, than say in an apartment.
The interview finishes with a heartfelt plea by Dr Miller that the industry must change its perception with the public. A perception which basically hasn’t changed for 50 years. New young people have come into the industry, new methods and technologies are employed yet the image is still one of simply spraying insecticide. Technicians are professionals, they are trained, thinking human beings making decisions – they must be presented and perceived differently.

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For more breaking news, white papers, videos and more: www.futura-germany.com
Follow us on social media: LinkedIn: @futuragermany
Instagram: @futuragermany F
acebook: @futuragermany
If you want to be part of Talking Pest Management email us at [email protected] and join the conversation @ Futura Germany
Futura Germany Podcast Listen on Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2KPaC4u
Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2xmJqkZ
Or on every other platform: @Talking Pest Management
47 min
October 19, 2020 Can the Corona-Virus be transmitted by mosquitoes? - Talking Pest Management with Guy Hendrickx
The use of high tech data collection and the mapping of diseases transmitted by insects, in particular the Asian tiger mosquito, is the topic of this week’s interview with Guy Hendrickx of Avia-GIS.Based in Zoersel, near Antwerp in Belgium, Guy is the managing director of Avia-GIS, a small privately-owned research company founded in 2001. The company operates within the agricultural and animal health sectors, but the interview concentrates on Guy’s involvement with public health – in particular data collection and risk mapping via Vecmap of insects, in particular the increasing prevalence of the Asian tiger mosquito.
Discussed in this interview:·     The use of mapping and data collection in the identification of risks posed by disease carrying insects;
·     The role commercial researchers and NGOs can play in their monitoring, planning and then control;
·     Where to and how, the Asian tiger mosquito has spread over the last 20 years in Europe;
·     Whether mosquitoes can transmit corona-virus?See Avia-GIS at www.avia-gis.com

Subscribe on the latest insights on the pest management industry.
For more breaking news, white papers, videos and more: www.futura-germany.com
Follow us on social media: LinkedIn: @futuragermany
Instagram: @futuragermany F
acebook: @futuragermany
If you want to be part of Talking Pest Management email us at [email protected] and join the conversation @ Futura Germany
Futura Germany Podcast Listen on Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2KPaC4u
Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2xmJqkZ
Or on every other platform: @Talking Pest Management
10 min
October 12, 2020 Digital Marketing for Pest Control Companies 🎙️ Talking Pest Management with Kevin Smith
The secrets and successes of how digital marketing can be maximised in pest control is revealed in this week’s interview with Kevin Smith, Chief Marketing Officer for Rollins Inc.
Based in Atlanta, Georgia, USA Kevin seems to even surprise himself by revealing he has been with Rollins for 18 years. These 18 years, he explains, have been exciting years as it has been a period of constant change – from the previous era of marketing using Yellow Pages, the radio and TV to the new digital era which needs to appeal to Generation Z (those born between the mid-to-late 1990s and the early 2010s). A period where there has been something new to learn regarding communication all the time.
Maybe at first a reluctant scholar, his curiosity as to why people did what they did as new platforms came around made for a series of fascinating experiments as to what appeals to customers. This transformation started with the early days in the late 1980s of dialling up on the internet to now accessing on your phone – today Kevin estimates 70% of the company’s inbound residential traffic comes via the phone.
TV consisted of three channels only to advertise on. Interestingly Daniel, our host, checks with Kevin that there is a history of broadcasting within the Rollins family. Correct – there was a broadcast business prior to buying Orkin in 1964. Today Rollins has a studio in Atlanta used for training its teams to levels of excellence which are viewed as critical for success.
Kevin identifies the technician as the key to selling the concept – the absence of pests - to their customers. “Marketing accesses demand. However, the service technicians communicates with the customer. They are solving their problem. We are only as good as the experience that consumer has with the technician.”
Kevin continues by explaining he feels there are three types of marketers – surfers, snorkelers and scuba divers. Tune in to see which you might be!
As to the future, the world is moving from traditional terrestrial TV to digital. So to locate your customers, who are increasingly the millennials, is a challenge. How do we get in front of them? Kevin explains how data is used to assess the success of different channels – how to find a customer, what’s the cost of their acquisition and then how long do you keep them as customers – using the jargon the CLV – the customer lifetime value.
Google is identified as the provider of most customers, but Kevin stresses how important it is to optimise your value with Google – the question is ‘How do I make my brand more valuable in Google’s eyes’ Building content and relevancy is critical.
Getting customers off the search type platforms onto your own content is maybe the challenge of this decade. How to optimise search engine optimisation. Kevin uses the example of creating a series of videos, often amusing ones, which end in the result that this problem looks a little harder than a customer thinks, so maybe it’s time to call a professional.

Subscribe on the latest insights on the pest management industry.
For more breaking news, white papers, videos and more: www.futura-germany.com
Follow us on social media: LinkedIn: @futuragermany
Instagram: @futuragermany
acebook: @futuragermany
If you want to be part of Talking Pest Management email us at [email protected] and join the conversation @ Futura Germany
Futura Germany Podcast Listen on Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2KPaC4u
Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2xmJqkZ
Or on every other platform: @Talking Pest Management
21 min

About Talking Pest Management

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In Talking Pest Management our host Daniel Schröer speaks with renowned experts in pest control about the current status and future of this industry.

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Talking Pest Management

Talking Pest Management episodes

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