20 Years of Raising the Bar by Holding the Line

Griffin Voltmann, Certification Program Manager, QualityPro

2024 marks the twentieth anniversary of the most recognized and accepted credentialing authority of the professional pest management industry. While the technology we all use has changed, the core of what we do, our professional standards, have remained constant. Accredited companies represent the best of our industry across all standards of excellence, internal and external.

COMMUNICATING WITH CUSTOMERS

The heart of what we do as an industry is building relationships on trust with customers as we protect them from pests. Communication is key and QualityPro companies have been on the forefront of adopting new best practices as they become available.

Over the last two decades, we’ve seen greater reliance on new communications technology to build and maintain customer relationships. Sales teams have moved from phone calls to email to texts to interacting with customers every step of the way through apps. QualityPro requires our companies to keep to strict standards for communication with customers requiring integrity, consistency and documentation that remain just as applicable now as when they were first written.

Companies training new sales staff have seen enormous success through creating and maintaining digital repositories of account information, process documents and company policies so that all employees have the same pool of information at their fingertips and are all trained to the same standard. Our customers expect a professional, transparent and uniform experience regardless of which specific technician is performing the service. To put it another way, you want the client to be loyal to your company, not your employee. While technology has made providing that for them easier, the guiding principle at work has always been true.

What has also remained true across 20 years is the value of QualityPro accreditation as a selling tool for your company. Accreditation and cobranding allow sales staff to communicate to customers how your company meets the highest standards for employee training and business operations.

COMMUNICATING WITH EMPLOYEES

As teams have moved from in-office to remote to hybrid and back again, technology and innovation have raced to bridge interpersonal gaps and bring teams closer together. Pest management companies have been on the cutting edge of this race since the nature of our business has always meant managing a team of technicians in the field from an office. Our companies have adapted to and overcome challenges that crippled other industries, relying on clear internal communication practices to maintain engagement among a spread-out workforce, and adopting technology solutions like more sophisticated route-management software and SDS apps to make it easier for field employees to maintain consistent quality across all service appointments.

Technology can only do half of the job. Once those gaps are bridged, people and principles have to take the work the rest of the way. Excellent sales cultures start with excellent office cultures, and QualityPro companies lead the pack in creating cultures of recognition and achievement.

The steps taken to professionalize through QUALITYPRO ACCREDITATION ARE BASED IN A DEEP UNDERSTANDING of what it takes to be excellent in our industry, and that's why they've stood the test of time.

PROMOTING EMPLOYEE SUCCESS

Training certificates through QualityPro are an individual’s achievement, not a company’s, which is why they follow an individual throughout their career. In a very real sense, the individual achievements of your employees contribute to the achievements of a company. QualityPro’s training exams began as and remain an investment in the professionals that make a company work, helping them develop professionally. While not a technological solution, the proof is evident in every QualityPro company that has received accreditation since 2004: if you show your pride in employees’ work, they will show it too.

This improvement compounds with each new training certificate an employee earns, proving that the more a company invests in an employee, the more that employee will feel invested in the work they do. We’ve seen study groups form at companies where employees who have already taken the exams have turned around to help others earn their own certificates, and then celebrate their peers’ achievements alongside the company. They understand the level of work and personal achievement, and want to pass that along to others to keep raising the bar. Look up certificates of completion at NPMAQualityPro.org/certificate.

LOOKING FORWARD

The steps taken to professionalize through QualityPro accreditation are based in a deep understanding of what it takes to be excellent in our industry, and that’s why they’ve stood the test of time. Our standards have helped companies of every size overcome challenges because while times and tools may change, principles and best practices do not. Technology presents new opportunities to make and maintain touchpoints with customers, but professionalism is eternal, and the tools a team uses can only get them so far if that team is not using proven principles that we’ve known work for years.

QualityPro is administered by the Foundation for Professional Pest Management, an independent organization that has been developing good business practices and standards since 2004. Designed specifically for pest management companies in the U.S. and Canada, we are proud to certify over 500 of the best companies in the pest management industry. QualityPro is endorsed by the National Pest Management Association (NPMA). For more information, contact us at QualityPro@pestworld.org.