BugOut Service of West Florida, located in Pensacola, Fla., uses Royal Rewards sales training from the AO Resource Center to motivate its employees, increase sales and build stronger relationships with its customers. Co-owner Dwight Tate, who is always looking for ways to improve his company, began sharing the self-paced training modules with his employees at the end of 2010. Tate and his team watch the modules and participate in the group exercises regularly.

“We spent six hours going through sessions the first day,” Tate says. “My technicians showed immediate interest. I sat back and watched them engage with their thoughts and ideas.”

The sessions soon became a resource, offering the BugOut staff training on asset protection, customer service, keys of communication and professional growth — key issues affecting pest control companies across the country.

“When you have a small business, everyone is responsible,” Tate says. “That’s why I thought it was so important for my technicians to learn the sales side of our business.”

Sales training was developed exclusively to help Certified Sentricon Specialists^™ (CSSs) of the Sentricon^® System provide their employees with concrete strategies, effective communication techniques and credible key messages to share confidently with property owners.

“A lot of technical people are gun-shy in front of customers. They need this type of ammunition to get out and talk to people,” Tate says. “With the help of this program, I think technicians are better-trained to service the Sentricon stations, meet with the customer and handle sales all in one visit. This program is bringing things out in my technicians that I’ve never seen before. It’s making them bolder, more open-minded and more aware.”

BugOut has put the program on hold to manage its busy season, but Tate says the break will be short-lived.

“It’s easy to get rusty with sales lingo and protocol,” he says. “A lot of the information featured in this program was new, but it also served as a good refresher.”

They found the section on asset protection particularly beneficial. “It showed us a new way of looking at property protection from a homeowner’s standpoint. Our technicians really seemed to grasp this,” Tate says.

Overall, this program has helped increase his technicians’ confidence.

“They are communicating more with customers. Rather than turning in a lead, they are taking the initiative,” Tate says. “We’ve been able to close sales that we wouldn’t have been able to do without these sessions.”

Tate understands the importance of keeping his employees motivated and educated.

“CSSs are really missing the boat if they don’t incorporate this program into their training,” he says. “These sessions have taken the training of my employees above and beyond what I could have ever done. We’ll complete each module until we’re done with the program, and then we’ll start over. This information is invaluable.”

Royal Rewards sales training is a series of online educational training videos. For more information, contact your Dow AgroSciences sales representative.