Trash Talking the Competition

It seems there is a new branch of a franchise in Southern Wi. And the kid running it is not too clued in on friendly competition or how it works. We work together for the most part here. If I cant get to a job in the southern part I send it to a guy who can, and visa versa. This kid isnt underselling, but talking a bunch of cheep trash about every other business out there to his customers. (A sure sign of a rookie) He wont be getting any help from me until he sees the light, and the customers see rite through that drama, and call me back to set the appointment. When you are good, the people can hear the confidence in your tone, and the same the other way too.

Good post Mike. I have the numbers for the closest 5 WCO's in my phone and in my logbook in the truck. I refer callers to at least one or two of them DAILY due to my busy schedule. When a guy opened an A-All Animal Control office in Springfield a few years ago, I e-mailed him and told him I did a TON of bat work in Springfield, but it was too far to do any type of critter jobs requiring trapping (due to daily trap check law). I told him I would be glad to send him all the calls I received for raccoons, squirrels, skunks, or other 4-legged furry critters in Springfield. I sent him a LOT of work, though he is no longer in business. Not sure what happened, but I now send all the Springfield calls to another WCO who is fairly close to the city (30 miles). Had a guy (WCO) from 35 miles south of me call last week... he came up short on collection bags while doing a clean-out. He drove up and picked up a couple bags from me so he could finish the job. I was glad I could help him out of that bind. The new guys often have some horrible ideas in their head about running a business. They try to undercut prices and bash those who have established businesses. It NEVER works for them.

We have a guy doing removal and exclusions for 159.00 dollars with 6 month warranty but no drama going on I know of

I network alot with another wco in my area...he has been here longer in wildlife although i have more years in wildlife control work than he does. However i respect his tenure in the area and i get asked about him on a regular basis...i have nothing bad to say...i build him up.

For example, couple weeks ago i get a call for moles...said she has moles again and for me to come out again...i didnt recognize the name so started asking her about the company that did her work...when i mentioned names she still wasnt sure so i said i would call a guy and see if he knows your name. Turns out half hour later she calls back and remembers it was this other guy. My point is i could easily have taken over that contract but i dont operate that way...

My family owns a small diner in our local area. On any given day at lunch time, there may be anywhere from two to half a dozen local NWCO's having lunch together inside. Sometimes the parking lot looks like a seminar, with all the pickup trucks... We are all friends, and stay in contact daily, referring calls to each other as to who is best qualified for the jobs, or who's back yard it is in. Many of us have been together for almost 25 years doing this, and it has been a great time. We know each others strengths, and weakness's, and continually refer work back and forth throughout the day( and nights),as to who can respond promptly to the calls that come in. Many times we will get calls from customers that are looking for the person that did work for them in the past, and like Josh, we do our best to figure out who it was, and get them back in contact with them.

I view anyone trash talking, showing pictures of competitors work, or just talking bad about another company means that person is not secure in their own business.

Ron has even sent us business up here. Our biggest competition is my son's best friend so that takes care of any problems we might

have. One of the guys I liked the most used to have the Critter Control franchise and we would often trade jobs. Too bad he got hurt;

that franchise has never been the same since he sold. I don't have to talk bad about the competition. The bad ones are all gone.

All I will said is I give a big thank you to the guys in my area. if we work together we will make a better business

I don't know any of the other companies, but man do my customers trash talk a
lot of them.

Today I was told that a company have a bid to dump gas in ground squirrel holes and light it!

Over here in the UK everyone seems to be doing pest control work.It's a vastly over-subscribed business. However, there's lots start up each year but they don't seem to be able to last and the next time you hear about them they're doing farm labouring or gardening or something like that.
this year in spring I got a couple of great farms to mole trap, apparently the guy who usually does the land was busy doing sheep farming so didn't have time. I made some good money out of his change in career!

Most companies use the same products, or ones very similar. I've been shown labels left by my competitors and when they aren't the same product, they generally have the same active ingredients.

Here's a good comparison of two different companies that could just as easily be competitive ADC companies. We have had AT&T Uverse,

a highly regarded company, for our TV, Internet, and personal phone for several years. For months now we have been having

interference on our TV. Uverse came out at least three times and tried to fix it but the interference always re-occurred. We finally

gave up and got Time Warner, a not very highly regarded company, to install their TV, Internet, and personal phone line. So far so

good and although we have as many features, we will probably save $800 bucks or so with Time Warner. Now if things don't work well

with either the pricing or the quality of service with Time Warner, there is nothing to prevent us from going back to Uverse or any

other company for that matter. This is also true of our industry, so try to keep solving your customer's problems and keep them happy!

It is a great source of satisfaction to have ethical professionals, like Ron and a few others, who I can speak to about our shared area. Invaluable sources of information and support.
Ron, who's doing clean-outs in July?

Good friend of mine told all my reference sources that I moved and closed shop
Was wondering why the call had stopped .....lol. Thiswordisnotacceptabeonpauldobbinsfineforum

Can you imagine what Vinke's bad friends do?

This is my fourth year in the business full time. Everyday I am learning the power of networking. If I don't service an area I refer the job to someone that does. He in turn refers work for me in my area. It is a win win.

Does putting down the other guy make you look better in the eyes of a future client?

I agree that the more confident you appear/sound the more work one secures. It wasn't that long ago that I was hesitant to ask for a deposit, or ask for a referral, or sell myself on a job now it comes naturally and my success rate on acquiring work has increased. My goal is to make the client happy and keep him/her happy. If I leave the client happy he will refer work to me and that client will come back again if he needs my services.

Chuck

This is it in all business services offered to homeowners, I've only been ADC WORK since April but having spent 15 years selling and completing home improvements, this is the best way to grow business too. I am still doing construction as I grow the ADC business, but only doing work for past clients, they know me, and kelp me busy enough. But I remember when havingto sell against other companies how much business I got because they other guy would bad mouth every other contractor. The ones I lost to these kind of guys where actually the type of customers I didn't want anyway.

So far, I will say I have not heard of any of the local guys bad mouth , and I will not bad mouth them, I don't even know them, so it would be even more asnine for me to bad mouth them

Now the one exception I have to this rule is in construction and would be In ADC, is if I KNOW someone is very bad and I just say "do your homework, on both of us, like BBB reports or references"

If a said company is doing crummy work, not following through, and taking quick money/overcharging for junk work why can't we make this apparent to customers? If u don't know what ur doing, stop... Figure it out, learn the right way, then proceed.... p.s. I/we hate foam hacks........

I'd like to talk trash about a customer. He and his wife owe my over $400 and they just declared bankruptcy. And they spell their

name just like Bud, only with an i instead of an e. I wish I could figure out who's going to declare bankruptcy next so I wouldn't

lose more money. The lawyers actually tell these people to run up as many bills as they can and then leave everybody high and dry.

Because customers are not being told, the telling is for folks in the same business. On here, on the face book wildlife pages, on wildlife sections and outings where wildlife folks are going. I don't see anyone putting full page ads in the newspapers saying company abc does bad work, or is a rip off. I don't see anyone going after the roofing companies that are telling folks to put on a whole new roof and it will stop the bats and squirrels only to have them back in in a week. I don't see anyone bad mouthing the chimney sweeps that cap a chimney and block in young chimney swifts or young raccoons. I only see folks bashing competition in the same field. if a company is doing bad then turn them in to the folks that can take the lic or put them out of business. and while we are at it lets turn in the roofers, lawn care, carpenters chimney sweeps, heater guys and the handyman

Gabby should read this post and it may better help him understand his heroes are braggarts.
Mac

If you run your yap and bad mouth folks it turns off a large majority of people. It does me. A lot of the world is "smaller" than it used to be. There may come a time you might "get" or "give" some business.
I know it is hard for a lot of people to understand, it pays to be impeccable with ones word, and it pays to be nice.

Mac

20 years ago, when I first started trapping in this area, there was a trapper that had a section of the county tied up. A neighbor trapper of mine contacted him for me to take my beaver. Fur was of no value (for the beaver), and I was catching for the Bounty. He would meet me every few days and take my beaver minus the tails to use for "coyote bait". That went on for about two years until I was talking to a few farmers at the local gas station. I ask them if they had any beaver I could catch. One farmer spoke up "James Smith catches my beaver", "why he caught 25 in one pond. "I pay him $5 dollars a beaver and the county pays $25". "I saw them on the back of his truck", Charles said.

I ask him "Did they have tails"?

I eventually got "Lying James'" areas to trap but it took over 5 years before the spoof was seen through. Lost a lot of needed income because of him.

He was actually given the title "Lying James" in the county, but his gift of gab was so great he was not shunned.