You may ask yourself; will my pest control business be around in the next ten years? You may answer yes to these questions because you believe you have a great business plan and reliable financial forecasting. However, have you thought about what value you offer to your customers? Do you still believe that your pest control business will be around in the next ten years without knowing what value your pest control business brings to your customers?

Business value is an informal term that includes all forms of value that determine the health and well-being of a company in the long run.

Your leadership can add or even take away from your business value, and your employees can add value to your business. But what about outside of your company? Are there external organizations that can add value to your business? If we are not adding value to your clients' services, you may eventually not have any clients.

What external organizations can add value to your business, and are they essential to the growth and longevity of your pest control business?

What if I told you that being involved with your state pest control associations and the National Pest Management Association brings measurable value to your company and your services.

Why, may you ask?

In this age of government restrictions, legal requirements, and green policies, the tools we use in the pest control industry continue to disappear or be limited. How do we combat these issues? How do we as individuals and business owners make our voices heard to those policymakers? Most industries create organizations that hire lobbyists. Depending on who you talk to, these lobbyists can sometimes have a bad reputation. However, lobbyists can effectively communicate your business values and priorities to the decision-makers on the state and federal levels. The pest control industry has the National Pest Management Association at the federal level. Each state may have associations with its state lobbyists, such as California, with the Pest Control Operators of California, commonly known as PCOC.

Why is this important?

Because if we do not have lobbyists that understand the priorities, values, and needs of the pest control industry talking to our government officials, the pest control industry will continue to have fewer options on how we perform services and run our businesses.

One example of what lobbyists do for the Pest Control Industry is with the COVID lockdown restrictions. In California, the Pest Control industry was not on the list of essential services 24 hours before this approval list went into effect. The state organization, PCOC, had lobbyists they worked with to ensure that pest control was on this final approval list. This would have been devastating for many California pest control businesses. Not to mention what would have happened to pest populations. Think about that for a moment.

Many companies would have lost their businesses if forced by the government to shut down and not provide any services. Because we were told the shutdowns were only going to be for a short time, however, they were continually extended. Many of us, if not all, had friends who lost jobs or companies due to these lockdowns. The pest control companies would not have been any different. However, PCOC had lobbyists who could meet with the appropriate people in government and explain why we needed to be on the list of essential services. Consequently, we all kept working, and many businesses grew fast due to many people working from home.

This is only one example that shows how important it is to be a member of your state pest control organizations. These organizations need our support. Without us, they won't exist. The Pest Control industry could lose the ability to perform fumigations, use rodenticides, and other beneficial products needed to perform pest control services correctly and effectively. Ultimately your company suffers, your employees suffer, and your customers suffer.

To assure that your pest control company will be around for the next ten years and longer, you must get involved with your state pest control associations. This will bring more value to your company and the services you provide to your clients. Remember, if we are not adding value to your clients' services, you may eventually not have any clients.