PMP survey: Cockroaches persevere

PHOTO: ANANALINE/ISTOCK / GETTY IMAGES PLUS / GETTY IMAGES

As long as there is food and water, cockroaches will proliferate in your customers’ homes and businesses. A pandemic cannot stop a pest that has existed for the past 140 million years, according to the Entomological Society of America, and for that, pest management professionals (PMPs) should be thankful.

For this year’s Pest Management Professional (PMP) 2020 Cockroach Management Survey, we asked PMPs whether customers canceled or delayed cockroach control services because of the coronavirus pandemic. The responses were close, although the answer “customers neither canceled nor delayed cockroach management services” narrowly edged out the other answers.

Nearly three-fourths of respondents projected cockroach management revenue to increase this year over 2019. Customers have little tolerance for cockroaches — even during a pandemic — our data show.

Callbacks are just one of the challenges PMPs face when providing cockroach control services. With cockroaches, follow-up calls often are necessary. They should be built into the cost of each job. Doing so helps ensure the control methods you employed are working, particularly if you use monitors to document your efforts.

PMPs who answered our survey this year report fewer callbacks than last year’s respondents. This year’s survey results show a combined 63 percent of respondents had a callback rate of less than 5 percent. Last year’s survey showed that figure was 50 percent.

Proven cockroach control tools and techniques work, no matter what is happening in the world around us.

MOST-REQUESTED COCKROACH MANAGEMENT SERVICE FREQUENCY

1. Monthly
2. Weekly
3. Quarterly

TOP 3 COCKROACH MANAGEMENT DRIVERS

1. Repeat business and referrals.
2. Increased awareness of public-health risks.
3. Control solutions are more effective today.

TOP 3 COCKROACH MANAGEMENT OBSTACLES

1. Do-it-yourself (DIY) products.
2. Educating home and business owners and municipalities on related public-health risks.
3. Fierce pricing competition.

PROFITABILITY BY ACCOUNT TYPE

1. Single-family homes
2. Restaurants
3. Apartments & multi-family housing
4. Food processing plants & warehouses
5. Resorts & hotels
6. Schools & daycare centers
7. Healthcare facilities
8. Planes, trains & buses

SOURCE: PMP ONLINE SURVEY CONDUCTED MAY – JUNE 2020; ILLUSTRATION: MOJOJE/ISTOCK / GETTY IMAGES PLUS /GETTY IMAGES

SOURCE: PMP ONLINE SURVEY CONDUCTED MAY – JUNE 2020; ILLUSTRATION: BROWNDOGSTUDIOS//ISTOCK / GETTY IMAGES PLUS /GETTY IMAGES

SOURCE: PMP ONLINE SURVEY CONDUCTED MAY – JUNE 2020; ILLUSTRATION: DENYS/ISTOCK / GETTY IMAGES PLUS / GETTY IMAGES

SOURCE: PMP ONLINE SURVEY CONDUCTED MAY – JUNE 2020; ILLUSTRATION: RAMBO182/DIGITALVISION VECTORS / GETTY IMAGES

SOURCE: PMP ONLINE SURVEY CONDUCTED MAY – JUNE 2020; ILLUSTRATION: P_WEI//DIGITALVISION VECTORS /GETTY IMAGES