Put us to work for you

Heather Gooch takes in an industry conference meeting, circa 1996. PHOTO: PMP ARCHIVES

When I joined the magazine staff as an assistant editor in late 1995, our motto seemed strange to me. Then known as Pest Control, the line under our stationery, business cards, media kits and the like was “Put us to work for you.”

At first, I was taking it literally — and believe me, you wouldn’t have wanted to subcontract your technical work to me, then or now! I might have been passable scheduling customers on the phone, but the majority of “routing systems” back then still comprised a lot of maps and push pins. The idea of computerized programs was still new, and geography is not my forte.

It didn’t take long, however, for me to realize we were talking to the industry on a completely different level. We were making ourselves available to readers, to feel comfortable calling, mailing, faxing(!) or telling us in person what they liked about the magazine, and what they wanted to see more of.

Heather Gooch

From the beginning, we have tried to meet industry needs — whether it is keeping you in the loop of what meetings are going on and when, to what the latest research and product news items are, to providing business and technical information that you can use to make informed decisions. Nothing warms my heart more than hearing how you ripped certain pages out of an issue to make copies and share with your team for training. Go ahead, tear us apart — if it means an ever more knowledgeable, well-rounded industry!

Nowadays, our official tagline is “Pest Control’s Most Trusted Technical Resource Since 1933.” But rest assured, we continuously look to you, our readers, to put us to work on what you need to take your businesses to the next level.