I recently wrote a blog post on how to know whether Rentokil is the right pest control provider for you. In it, we touched on the fact that choosing the right service provider can be difficult, and with many providers wanting customers to sign a two year agreement, we understand that before you make that sort of commitment you need to be sure that it’s a match made in heaven.
Rentokil offers pest control solutions suited to our customers needs: if our customers only need a once-off (ad hoc) pest control service for their homes, then that’s what we provide. But we do believe that there are definite benefits – for audited businesses especially – to signing a longer two-year pest control agreement.
We understand that especially in the current economic climate, many customers are averse to the idea of signing a two year agreement for something like pest control. Averse, or sometimes simply unable. I’d like to try and convince you that it can be better for your business to take the plunge and commit, by looking at 3 reasons we believe a long-term relationship with your pest control provider will ultimately benefit your business.
The 3 benefits of having a long-term relationship with your pest control provider:
- A long term partnership builds trust:
- Trust forms the basis of real teamwork (and teamwork means better pest control):
- Reassurance that you’re getting the best service at the best cost:
A long term partnership builds trust:
Ask any councillor, therapist or relationship guru what the bedrock of a good relationship is, and I’m certain they’ll all say the same thing: trust.
In a romantic relationship, trust means you can rely on your partner, confide in them and feel safe with them. And just like a romantic relationship, business partnerships should be based on trust for the same reasons. You must be able to rely on the partners with whom you choose to work.
We believe this is especially true for businesses that are audited, as the financial consequences of failing an audit can be immense.
But trust doesn’t just happen overnight, it has to be earned over time. That’s the number one reason we prefer to enter into long-term relationships with our customers: so that we can develop trust over time on both sides.
2. Trust forms the basis of real teamwork (and team work means better best control):
Whilst we want to earn our customers’ trust by providing a world-class service tailored to their specific requirements, we also want to develop a relationship in which we can trust our customers to implement the solutions, recommendations, and housekeeping requirements we suggest. These recommendations form the bedrock of a successful integrated pest management strategy.
Which brings me to my second point: without trust, you can’t have true teamwork, and teamwork – as I have just mentioned – is essential for effective pest control. And nowhere is teamwork more important than in a high-risk, audited environment; such as food processing or pharmaceutical manufacturing sites, where the financial and reputational costs of a pest control problem can be crippling.
If you are a customer that gets audited, you’ll appreciate the necessity of teamwork from every player that has a role in your audit process. A long-term partner is able to develop in-depth knowledge of your audit requirements and is invested in ensuring that you pass your audits successfully. It’s in our best interests that you pass!
We don’t believe that it’s possible to offer a quality pest control service to an audited customer on an ad hoc basis. There is just too much specialised knowledge of the site and its specific pest issues required to pass an audit, and too much at stake (for us and the customer) if the customer doesn’t pass.
3. Reassurance that you are getting the best service at the best cost:
When you trust that your partner has the best interests of your business at heart, then you can rest assured that that they will act in a manner that demonstrates this, and that means getting the best solution at the best cost.
Customers who sign up for a pest control agreement with Rentokil automatically get access to our online pest management system myRentokil at no additional cost. myRentokil that was designed so that customers have a multi-device reporting and analysis application that is easy to use and provides real-time data that is accurate and always available. The biggest benefit our customers gain from the myRentokil system is the ability to be more prepared for audits.
Customers in long-term pest control agreements can also rest assured that the technician (or technicians) assigned to their account know their site, know their employees, know their specific audit requirements, and – most importantly – know the pest risks likely to present themselves at different times of the year or at different points in the business process.
This means that not only do you get a quicker, more efficient service, but you also benefit from the historical knowledge of pest issues on site that our technicians bring to bear in preventing future problems. And this means fewer call outs. Whilst additional call outs are included in a pest control contract, they aren’t always included in an ad hoc treatment, which means that you may land up having to actually spend more to get your pest problem under control.
Why Rentokil?
Romantic relationships are seldom perfect, and the same goes for business partnerships, but when you trust the partner you choose, you have peace of mind that they have your best interests at heart. At Rentokil we are keenly aware that trust must be earned. It takes time. It’s not automatic. And it definitely can’t be demanded.
But the good news for us is that with effort, trust can be built. We believe that every pest-control agreement that our customers sign with us is an opportunity for us to earn that trust, and for our customer’s to benefit from the advantages that come with it.
If you think Rentokil’s the right long-term partner for your business, we’d love to hear from you.
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