Earn glowing reviews for scorpion black light service

Photo: Steve Adams/iStock / Getty Images Plus/Getty Images

Almost 40 years ago, much of the MTV Generation first became aware of Scorpions. Because in 1984, the German hard rock band, Scorpions, released its hugely successful ninth album. Titled Love at First Sting, the album peaked at No. 6 on the Billboard charts and ultimately went triple-platinum. It was the band’s most successful record, containing the smash hit “Rock You Like a Hurricane.” What many new listeners didn’t know was that Scorpions had been around since the mid-1960s and remain active today, with worldwide record sales topping 100 million copies.

Just like a 1980s MTV viewer, experiencing Scorpions while watching Duran Duran, Madonna and Huey Lewis videos, I recently had a brand-new scorpion experience. While attending the Arizona Pest Professional Organization’s (AzPPO) annual conference in March, I spent an evening with some pros collecting dozens of scorpions with a black light.

Jim Fredericks

It turns out “black-lighting” for scorpions can be an extremely effective way to provide customer satisfaction and reduce callbacks for this difficult pest. In addition to providing exclusion and perimeter residual treatments for scorpions, some companies include nighttime add-on services during which trained technicians will visit a client’s home or business to physically remove scorpions, which fluoresce under the beam of a black light.

These services, which often garner an additional charge for the technician’s time, help re-sell the importance of continued service by demonstrating how many scorpions are lurking on the property at night. In addition, physical removal reduces the number of scorpions on a property, which decreases the potential for callbacks.

It pays to experience new things and share ideas with industry peers. Just like Googling a band’s name because it fits the topic of a magazine column, only to find out that what you thought was an
’80s-era one-hit wonder actually is one of the most successful bands of all time, remember to ask questions, seek out new experiences and be open to new pest control techniques. It might earn you some glowing reviews from your customers.