Streamlining The Internal Training Process

What makes the training process a success in the pest management arena? What are the best techniques to use when training and mentoring new hires? Few pest management companies have the time or budget to employ extensive training sessions for their staff. Rather, they often look to existing employees to use solid and succinct ways of educating and mentoring new team members while also passing along the know-how to get the job done.  

Historically Speaking 

The focus on transforming skilled technicians into effective trainers has evolved significantly within the pest management industry. During her time in the industry, SueAnn Jensen, director of human resources at Fox Pest Control, based in Logan, Utah, has seen a shift in the emphasis placed on technicians and their long-term roles in the pest industry.  

“We recognize that experienced technicians are ideal candidates for training and leadership roles because they bring credibility and practical insights,” Jensen says. “In the past, a technician role has inherently been a role with expected high turnover. Changing the focus to building our internal team members with a clear pathway for a long-term career makes it so much easier to retain and keep these team members in the pest industry.” 

With technician shortages and high turnover, Jensen notes that building this internal training pipeline is also a retention strategy. Fox Pest Control uses skilled lead technicians, service managers, and branch managers to help onboard new hires.   

“This is much more effective to reduce errors, improve job satisfaction, and create a relationship of trust with the new team member,” Jensen says. “We want to have team members who are invested with the company and our culture right from the start and continue to see the advantage of staying and building a career here at Fox Pest Control. Training is a strategic asset to shape culture, improve retention, and ensure compliance.”  

According to Scott Hornemann, field training, quality, and safety director at Adam’s Pest Control in Minnesota, as companies continue to grow, the need for consistent, high-quality service has never been greater.  

“Pest management has evolved beyond simply ‘getting the job done’ to emphasizing responsible pesticide use, consistent service delivery, and ethical practices,” Hornemann says. “Customer expectations have risen, and companies that don’t adapt risk being left behind.” 

At the same time, the workforce itself is changing. As Hornemann explains, today’s employees want opportunities to learn, grow, and advance. They expect clear development paths.  

“This shift has made internal training pipelines more important than ever,” Hornemann says. “Companies are realizing that their people are their most valuable asset, and without strong internal training and development, they risk losing top performers and struggling to attract new talent. Investing in building effective internal trainers has become essential for long-term success.” 

According to Jeremy Bradley, director of learning experience at Arrow Exterminators, based in Atlanta, training that is created and facilitated by the people who’ve “bloodied their knuckles and smelled the roach poop” has a greater chance of being rooted in empathy and experience. Identifying and empowering emerging leaders to instruct, coach, and mentor their teammates is essential to long-term prospects of employee retention, customer satisfaction, and company growth.  

As Bradley explains, training, at least for many companies, now focuses more on job-preparedness and career growth, not just “meeting minimum criteria” or “cramming for a state exam.” 

“State agencies and associations are great foundations for ‘getting legal,’ but may not provide enough flexibility or resources for job-preparedness and proprietary processes and protocols,” Bradley says. “The earlier a company invests in meaningful training and career development of its team members, retention rates follow a more positive trajectory. The importance of an internal training pipeline, with emerging trainers and mentors, is a whole-of-the-company initiative that requires a suitable environment: a culture of growth, excellence, and innovation, as well as dedicated energy and investment in people and tools and development and deployment.” 

Arrow Exterminators has a four-week onboarding program designed for all new team members and a six-month program designed for emerging leaders who have been selected as potential branch managers.  

In the company’s Rockstar Academy, the first two weeks include coursework aligned with QualityPro’s accreditation framework, assignments, and quizzes. In addition, two days are designated mentor days, when the new team member is paired with a qualified mentor to be trained in the role for which they’ve been hired. 

During the next two weeks, in Arrow’s Service Professional and Customer Care Training Academies, new team members focus exclusively on the role they’ve been hired for. This includes four days of specific classes and six designated mentor days.  

“There absolutely should be a pairing of experienced team members with new team members,” says Bradley. “Here’s where your hard workers can make the biggest ripple. … They may not enjoy—or be suited for—teaching, but they’re eager to have someone help them, someone to work with them in the context of training new team members. Also consider compensating the mentors for their extra effort and contribution.” 

Building Internal Training Pipelines 

Hornemann suggests that to attract and retain quality talent, companies must do more than claim they have a growth path—they must demonstrate it. Employees want to see tangible movement, even if the steps are small.  

“A strong internal training pipeline allows companies to follow through on those promises and remain competitive in a tight labor market,” Hornemann says.  

Adam’s Pest Control has had success developing internal training programs that create solid career mobility. Many technicians have advanced to roles such as trainers, assistant managers, regional managers, directors, quality assurance personnel, IT professionals, and various office roles.  

“By focusing on internal development and knowledge sharing, we’ve built a strong culture of growth and opportunity,” Hornemann says.  

Jensen adds it is critical that companies know and define their core competencies to identify the teaching potential in mentors. She says these will show up in day-to-day behaviors long before someone is asked to mentor or teach. The competencies could include the ability to clearly communicate, a patience and coaching mindset, a positive outlook, the ability to align with organizational goals, technical mastery, and an interest in developing others.  

“As we identify these types of individuals, it is critical to provide the opportunity for training and mastering these skills,” Jensen says. “Structured pairing, or we often call it mentorship or ride-along programs, are the most effective ways to accelerate onboarding and reduce early turnover in pest management. When we can have an excellent onboarding experience that is well thought out and planned, it will lead to knowledge transfer, culture and safety reinforcement, and confidence building. All of these impact our retention. Employees who feel supported during onboarding stay longer and perform better.” 

Of course, identifying teaching potential can be difficult. Hornemann says the first step is simply listening to employees who want to advance and understanding how they view their own strengths.  

“From there, leaders need to determine whether those strengths align with the skill set required to train others. Knowing your people is essential. If you see teaching qualities—patience, communication, leadership—tell them,” Hornemann says. “Ask whether this is a path they truly want, because passion matters. A disengaged trainer will never inspire new technicians.” 

Developing instructional skills also varies by company. Some hire or designate a dedicated training director, while others purchase training materials or outsource components of a program. In Hornemann’s experience, a hybrid model works best. Internal expertise drives the training structure so it aligns with the company mission, while external resources support more general skills such as soft-skills training. 

Finally, as experienced workers approach retirement, there are key knowledge transfer challenges that emerge.  

This is an issue that Adam’s Pest Control knows well. Recently, six longtime technicians—representing 127 years of combined experience—retired in the same week. When that much institutional knowledge walks out the door, the challenges are significant. 

“Long-tenured technicians often have deep, relationship-based knowledge of their accounts,” says Hornemann. “To many customers, the technician is the company, so transitioning trust to a new technician requires careful planning. Even with strong documentation processes, many critical soft details—special expectations, historical issues, small nuances—live in the technician’s head.” 

Capturing that information is one of the hardest parts of knowledge transfer. Hornemann says there’s also the challenge of practices and expectations. Longtime technicians may have developed their own processes that don’t always align perfectly with updated standards.  

“Getting new technicians up to speed—and preparing customers for changes—can lead to difficult conversations if the transition isn’t handled well,” Hornemann says.  

Ongoing Efforts 

In evaluating the effectiveness of internal training programs, Jensen says companies should provide pre- and post-training assessments. These could be short quizzes or practical demonstrations done before and after training to measure improvement or observation checklists used during ride-alongs to confirm correct application, safety compliance, and documentation.   

“A company should see a reduction in errors and improvement in across-the-board metrics if the peer-to-peer training is successful,” Jensen says. “Having a system to document will be critical to measure the success of this type of program.”  

Companies should also establish key performance indicators, or KPIs, for their training programs. These can include: 

• Multistage trainee reviews
• Skills assessments or testing at checkpoints
• Retention rates of both trainees and trainers 

“Creating career pathways that also reward mentorship efforts is a powerful way to strengthen culture, improve retention, and build leadership pipelines,” Jensen says. “Companies could add some practical strategies to implement. For example: formal recognition in career ladders, include mentorship as a competency, mentorship stipends or bonus, require mentoring for leadership tracks, and recognize outstanding mentors.” 

Fox Pest Control is starting a program to give lead technicians responsibilities that have traditionally been handled by service managers. The company is taking that program to the next level by also giving service managers responsibilities that have traditionally belonged to branch managers.   

“This will ensure internal training and mentorship and the transfer of knowledge, while building our internal succession plan,” Jensen says. “We want to raise the level of each of these incredibly important positions in our branches. We will gain more depth in the branch but also individually be building future leaders.”