Deepen your connection with customers

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I you have been following this column for the past year, you know ABC Home & Commercial Services has diversified into many new areas.

gMy brother Bobby led that charge with his business in Austin, Texas, and I’ll admit that I was not always in favor of diversification. (Editor’s Note: For a refresher, please check out Pest Management Professional’s June 2020 issue for Dennis’ column and the September 2020 issue for Bobby’s column.)

I eventually got on board, however. In the Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) area, my business has almost the same number of service lines that Bobby has in his markets. Our brother, Raleigh, also offers additional services such as holiday lighting, pool cleaning and lawn care at his Houston-based company.

There are several good reasons for expanding your service offerings, and even better ones for making sure you are providing multiple services for your customers.

If you are providing more than one service for a customer, you are able to grow your business, even in a market that is not the biggest. In Bobby’s Austin market, there are 2.2 million people. In the DFW metroplex, there are almost 8 million people. Yet Bobby’s office in Austin is more than four times the size of mine. Now, he had a pretty big head start: He is the oldest brother and he took over an existing office. But what he has built in his markets is nothing short of amazing. He talks about the limit that a market can put on a company if you are only providing one service, because there are only so many people who will use your company. The goal is not only to gain customers, but to do more for every single customer.

Another benefit to doing more for each customer is that they become more “sticky.” In other words, it is harder for your competitors to take them away from you. If you not only offer general pest control, but also termite, mosquito and wildlife control, for example, then you are making it harder for a competitor to steal customers from you.

Go outside of pest control — into disinfection, lawn care services, handyman services, etc. — and you tether your customers to you even more. The only caveat is that you have to make sure your service delivery in any area you add is just as strong and friendly to do business with as any other line.

The bottom line is that when you are doing more for a customer, they become more of “your” customer — and you have even more of a reason to deliver world-class service. This is truly the magic of what we do. With a repetitive business model, you develop deeper relationships with your customers over time.

Look at it this way: Your customers already love doing business with you. What else can you take care of for them? Find that need and fill it.

JENKINS, who rotates this column with his brothers Bobby and Raleigh, is president of ABC Home & Commercial Services, Dallas, Texas. He can be reached at djenkins@abcpest.com.