The most important tools are a technician’s intangible skills

The advent of such effective, pest specific products in our industry has been nothing short of a godsend. But in the pest management world, inspection still reigns supreme, and the most important tools are still a technician’s intangible skills.

I, like everyone else, have benefitted greatly from the advancements in technology in the pest control field. But a bad habit that can be developed is assuming the product you are using is a be all, end all. Sure, you could spray all the baseboards in a particular room, and it’s not a stretch to say that you could kill off a high number of your target pest. Your accounts may see a noticeable difference and praise you up and down. But the problem will remain. Finding the source, hot-spot, or breeding ground is how you truly mitigate a pest issue. The only way to do that, is perform a thorough inspection.

Time is a crunch for not only pest control technicians, but most people in general. Pest controllers in specific, you want to take the time to inspect, play the long game. If you spend the extra hour or so when you first take over an account, in the long run you could be saving hundreds, if not thousands on potential call-backs and product inventory.

Year in and year out products come and go, but a thorough inspection still remains key. All the bells and whistles can’t replace your technician’s most important tools, critical thinking, and attention to detail.