The Principle of Change and How it is Limiting Your Company’s Growth

2020 brought with it some of the biggest changes the world has gone through in quite some time. Overnight our day-to-day as we knew it changed, possibly forever.

Change is never comfortable and it is human nature to avoid it whenever possible. While this isn’t a huge issue in some areas of life, this aversion to change can be detrimental to the success of a business.

The Principle Of Change

Change is something that psychologists have studied to great depth. How does change affect human behavior? Why are people so averse to change? What are some methods for effectively dealing with change?

All of these questions have been researched and written about for decades.

So what is the principle of change? 

Change only occurs when the pain of staying the same is greater than the pain of changing

You can likely see this in your own life if you stop to think about it. People tend to only start a diet when their weight or health has reached a point where food restrictions are less painful than their waning health.

Among the many changes you have likely considered as a pest control owner, changing softwares can be one of the most intimidating.

Many people assume that the change will be more painful than staying with your current provider (or staying on paper).

Hopefully you’ll forgive me for saying so, but if you fall into this group of people, then you are most likely wrong.

If you are like hundreds of other pest control companies who have adopted the Briostack platform, then you are likely in pain you aren’t even aware of.

Let’s explore some of these pains.

Ineffective Route Optimization

One of the most common challenges that pest control companies are still facing today is ineffective route optimization.

Every day you are sending your techs out to service jobs, and every day your office staff is taking hours to plan and (attempt to) optimize these routes.

Software is not only better at planning and optimizing routes, it also does so at the click of a button.

Effective route optimization improves efficiency, increases customer satisfaction, reduces mileage, and improves your tech’s safety.

Make sure that the software allows you to:

• Re-optimize routes on the fly
• Pick a specific starting location
• Move appointments in bulk from one tech to another
• Optimize your route using the Manhattan method, as opposed to the more common “as the crow flies”

If your current software provider doesn’t give you these options, you’re in luck… I know of one that does! (Hint: it rhymes with Priostack)

Expensive Credit Card Fees (AND Hidden Fees)

Unfortunately, credit card processing fees are one of the costs of doing business in the digital age. Only 26% of consumer payments in the US were made with cash in 2019.

That said, you are likely paying too much for your processor. Briostack has partnered with one of the lowest cost (and most secure) processors on the market.

Not only that, we don’t have any hidden fees.

Next time you are up for renewal, be sure to ask your software provider about their vaulting fees. You might be surprised how much these fees are costing you.

(Some Briostack customers saved thousands of dollars per month on vaulting fees alone)

New Feature Expenses

Pest control software has evolved dramatically over the last few years. Route optimization, customer communication, CRM features, business intelligence, and deeper integrations with other business applications are some of the new features many of the providers have added.

One of the ways Briostack sets itself apart from other providers is that we don’t charge you for new features we release. In addition to this, we don’t layer on usage fees for adopting features.

If you are currently paying every time your techs click to optimize their routes, then not only are you overpaying for your software, you are also creating friction in your techs’ process.

They are being forced to choose between costing the company money for using a feature, or potentially having an inefficient route.

Neither of these are good options. You need a provider that gives you and your team access to all the features they need to be as effective and efficient as possible.

Unbalanced Office To Tech Ratio

Slow, manual processes are causing many pest control companies to maintain a larger office staff than necessary. In addition to the labor intensive processes like manual route creation, call volume alone requires a large number of office staff to manage.

Did you know that an average of 24% of all calls into a pest control office are from their own techs?

These calls are being made due to software limitations keeping techs from being able to view appointment history, upsell in the field, or schedule new appointments.

It becomes increasingly important to maintain a healthy office staff to tech ratio as you begin scaling your business.

This pain may not be immediately apparent when you have a single tech out in the field, but come talk to us when you have 10.

It’s Time For A Change

These are just a few of the pains you are likely already experiencing in your day-to-day. Slow and inefficient processes on antiquated systems is causing you more pain than you realize, and it is limiting your growth. It’s a new year, and it is time for a new software provider.

We are committed to being strategic partners for all customers that come on board and we would love to talk to you about how easy it is to migrate to our platform.

Click here to get started.