7 mistakes pest control owners make when preparing to sell

For many pest control owners, selling the company they’ve spent years building will be one of the most significant financial decisions they’ll ever make.

Stuart Aust

Yet many owners don’t begin thinking about what buyers are looking for until they’re ready to retire or actively consider a sale. By then, costly mistakes already may have reduced the value of their business.

The good news is that most of these issues can be addressed well before the sale. Whether you’re planning to sell in one year or five, avoiding these common mistakes can help maximize your company’s value.

1. Waiting too long to prepare.

One of the biggest mistakes owners make is waiting until they’ve lost motivation for their business or are ready to retire before planning for a sale.

Selling your business shouldn’t be rushed or unplanned. Buyers want a stable, well-managed company with consistent financial performance. Planning ahead gives you time to improve operations, strengthen your financial position and prepare your business for the best possible outcome.

2. Having poor financial records.

Daniel Aust

Buyers expect accurate, consistent and organized financial records. Clean financial statements build confidence and help speed up the due diligence process. Investing in professional bookkeeping and accounting services before you sell often is money well spent.

3. Losing key employees.

Experienced and tenured managers, salespeople, office staff and technicians are all valuable assets. If key employees leave before the sale, buyers may see additional risk. Strong company culture, ongoing training and competitive compensation help retain employees and make your business more attractive.

4. Being too dependent on the owners.

Many successful pest control companies are built around the owners’ relationships and daily involvement. While that dedication is admirable, buyers prefer businesses that can operate without an owner managing every detail.

Ask yourself: If I were away for several weeks, could my team successfully run the business without me? If not, strengthening your leadership team should be a priority before bringing your business to market.

5. Not building recurring revenue.

Recurring service agreements are one of the greatest strengths of the pest control industry. Companies with a high percentage of recurring customers generate predictable revenue, making them more attractive to buyers. Focusing on customer retention and long-term relationships can significantly increase your company’s value.

6. Waiting until revenue declines.

Too many owners hold onto their businesses until performance begins to decline. Buyers are willing to pay more for companies that are growing and consistently performing well. Declining revenue raises concerns about future performance — and often leads to lower offers.

7. Choosing the wrong advisor.

Not every broker understands the pest control industry. Working with an advisor who has industry experience, valuation expertise and established relationships with qualified buyers can have a significant impact on both the sale process and the final purchase price.

Selling your pest control business is about more than finding a buyer. It’s about protecting the value you’ve built, your employees, your customers and your legacy. Early planning, strong financial records, employee retention, recurring revenue and reduced owner dependence all contribute to a more valuable business.

FACT: Even if a sale is years away, understanding what buyers value today will help you make better decisions now — and maximize your options and your company’s value when the time comes.

Stuart Aust and Daniel Aust can be reached at stuart@theaustgroup.com and daniel@theaustgroup.com.

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Sacramento CA

J.T. Eaton: Red Puffy D Insecticide Bulb Duster

Achieve precise and professional insect control with the J.T. Eaton Puffy-D Bulb Insecticidal Duster, designed for effortless application of insecticidal dust into hard-to-reach areas. Featuring a convenient 12-inch extension rod, this duster lets you easily treat cracks, crevices, wall voids, and tight spaces where pests hide.

With a capacity of 14 ounces, the durable Puffy-D reduces frequent refills, making it ideal for extensive treatments. It’s designed for use around baseboards, behind appliances, plumbing and other common insect entry points for thorough coverage. A simple bulb squeeze delivers accurate and even dust distribution, providing an efficient and reliable tool.

Now available in red (#512-RD) as well as the original green (#512), the dusters can be color-coded for specific dust formulas, such as J.T. Eaton’s Kills Bedbugs and Crawling Insects Powder (#203) and Answer Boric Acid Insecticidal Dust (#365).

About J.T. Eaton

Founded in 1932 by Jasper T. Eaton as a mail-order house for pest control products for professional use, J.T. Eaton was brought to prominence when Pest Management Professional (PMP) Hall of Famer Stanley Baker (Class of 1999) purchased it in 1949. Before his death in 2005 at the age of 87, he built it up to a multi-million-dollar company. Baker was a lifelong innovator, and is credited for creating the paraffin rodent bait block in 1962. He is also credited with developing the modern glue board design, in 1980. In 1999, he helped patent an ant and cockroach product that uses just 1 percent boric acid. Still family-owned and -operated by the Baker family, J.T. Eaton’s product line includes products for rodents, wildlife, bed bugs, mosquitoes and other flying insects and more.

JTEatonPMP.com

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Must-see Exhibits: Skyhawk Trapmate eliminates unnecessary trap inspections for PMPs

Every pest management professional (PMP) is looking for the same thing: greater efficiency, stronger customer relationships and profitable growth. Yet many businesses still rely on inspection models that require technicians to spend valuable time driving to properties simply to confirm that nothing has happened.

Photo: Skyhawk Trapmate

Skyhawk Trapmate changes that. Our purpose-built remote monitoring platform helps PMPs eliminate unnecessary trap inspections, improve operational efficiency, optimize service routes through actionable data and scale their business volume without compromising service quality. By combining intelligent sensors, live monitoring and a centralized digital platform, Trapmate gives business owners the visibility they need to make smarter decisions, demonstrate measurable value to customers and build a more scalable operation.

Time savings and value

One of the biggest transformations happens in the field. Instead of spending hours checking empty traps, technicians receive real-time alerts only when activity occurs. That doesn’t eliminate service visits; it makes them more valuable. Time once spent performing routine inspections can now be invested where technicians create the greatest impact: identifying exclusion opportunities, preventing infestations before they escalate, strengthening customer relationships and applying their expertise. 

Trapmate allows more time for investigation and problem-solving. It enables PMPs to focus on higher-value work while improving operational efficiency and creating capacity for growth.

Trapmate doesn’t replace technicians. It empowers them to spend more of every service visit doing what only a trained professional can do.

Continual expansion

Our growing ecosystem of rodent, wildlife, insect and environmental sensors gives PMPs a single digital platform for monitoring more of the environments they protect. Through integrations and collaborations with leading industry partners, Trapmate continues to expand what’s possible with remote monitoring, helping businesses streamline operations while delivering even greater value to their customers.

Visit Skyhawk Trapmate at Booth 224 during PestWorld to experience its complete remote monitoring ecosystem and discover how purpose-built technology can help your business work smarter, deliver greater value and grow with confidence.

Logo: Skyhawk Trapmate

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Sacramento CA

Practical field tips for rodent control, dusting and bait station placement

When it comes to rodent control in particular, remember that a quick, in-person training session can work better than two hours of video training. It’s good to take 15 minutes with all your technicians, old and new, and go over some basics.

Select different technicians to demonstrate simple but important techniques in different situations. For example, how to bait and set a snap trap or how to determine where to place an exterior rodent bait station (RBS). For the latter:

Place your RBS in the most likely locations rodents will be trying to approach a building,
not merely every 10 to 20 feet around the building.

Place your RBS near low-lying bushes and other objects rodents can hide behind.

Each time you initially install an RBS, take a photo of where it is placed, properly labeled and anchored. File this information. Sometimes a person unintentionally (or intentionally) destroys the station and spills rodenticide. I saw this happen — and the state agency cited the pest control company for pesticide misapplication.

Inspection tips

Before you open an RBS, stand back and look at the surrounding area. There’s a chance that an active burrow is within 30 feet of the station — maybe multiple burrows, too.

Remove old rodent bait and replace with fresh bait. Never throw it on the ground.

Check to see whether ants or slugs have eaten the bait. Slug baits are available to add to the RBS to protect from this issue. With fire ants, the bait could be gone in less than an hour after
you place it. 

Musts for dusts

This goes for insect pests as well as rodents, but here are some helpful hints for dusting treatments:

In areas where humidity is a problem, place two marbles in each duster. The marbles keep the dust from clumping.

Color-code your dusters for different products. Make sure a color key is posted prominently for everyone to check against.

Store each duster in a resealable plastic bag so it can be labeled as to contents. Any label you place directly on a duster wears off or falls off. Often, a new technician is issued the previous technician’s vehicle with products. They have no idea what is in the duster, although the color coding should help some.

Avoid the risk of electric shock by using a piece of plastic tubing over your duster’s metal tip. If the plastic tip is a few inches long, it can even be used as a flexible tool to dust in different directions in a void. You can obtain this plastic tubing in pet stores, in the tropical fish department.

When injecting a pressurized tip into a crack, bounce back can be common. The bounce back can hit you in the eye and even leave pitted spots on furniture and appliances. As a precaution, slip a fast food plastic cup lid over the tip of the applicator in the cutout meant for a drinking straw. If any bounce back hits the cover, you will see it immediately.

Rodent control: Expect the unexpected

Your company should know its accounts well enough to know some of the inner workings. For example, I was called in to troubleshoot for an old, shabby-looking warehouse that was under contract for rodent control. There was an active mouse infestation that was hiding somewhere in the dense inventory of wooden pallets.

It turned out this warehouse was storing rare art paintings and artifacts for a very famous museum. When the customer was asked what the inventory was worth, their answer was “priceless.”

The pest control firm was owned by a good friend who had no idea what was in his account. I called him and told him to get his best crew down there immediately to eliminate the mice. What would a claim cost for this account? I’d bet “priceless” had a price tag. — A.F.

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Sacramento CA

Innovative Pest Control Products: Gourmet Ant Bait Gel

Gourmet Ant Bait Gel has been an effective tool for pest management professionals to use for ant and cockroach control for more than two decades. The product is sold in Canada as Green Way Ant & Roach Bait Gel.

Gourmet Ant Bait Gel’s exclusive formulation is attractive to sweet- and protein-feeding ants, as well as German cockroaches (Blatella germanica). The gel is clear when applied, stays clear, and won’t get runny even at temperatures of 140 degrees Fahrenheit for four hours. There is no documented resistance to the active ingredient, disodium octaborate tetrahydrate, the company says. The competitively priced product is packaged six syringes and six plungers to a box.

About Innovative Pest Control Products

Based in Gainesville, Fla., Innovative Pest Control Products was founded in 1999 by pest management professional and entomologist Alan Bernard to provide high-quality products for the professional pest control industry. Today, his daughter Sarah is the president of the company; she holds a degree in entomology from the University of Florida. Notable products include:

• Gourmet Ant Bait Gel
• Green Way Liquid Ant Killing Bait Pre-filled RTU Bait Stations
• Green Way Liquid Ant Killing Bait
• Bug Bar Insect Bait Station
• Ant Cafe refillable bait stations
• ANTOPIA 6 Bait Station 
• KM AntPro (sold on behalf of KM AntPro LLC)
• Canadian product: Green Way Liquid Ant & Roach Killer
• Canadian product: Green Way Ant Bait Gel 
• Canadian product: Green Way Ant & Roach Bait Gel 

AntCafe.com

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Sacramento CA

Anticimex Carolinas appoints new president

Jeff DeAngelo has joined Anticimex Carolinas as president. The Matthews, N.C.-based company’s family of brands includes Killingsworth Environmental, Clark’s Termite & Pest Control and Strand Termite & Pest Control.

Per a news release announcement, DeAngelo brings more than 20 years of experience as a “transformational operating executive, with a proven record of leading large-scale, multi-site businesses. Throughout his career, he has focused on operational performance and organizational transformation. Known for disciplined execution and a people-focused leadership style, DeAngelo has built strong teams and fostered cultures centered on continuous improvement, accountability and lasting growth.”

“I’m excited to welcome Jeff DeAngelo as president of Anticimex Carolinas,” Bryan Cummings, COO of Anticimex North America, said in the news release. “I look forward to working with Jeff as he builds on the strengths of the organization, supports our people and continues to deliver outstanding service to our customers across the Carolinas.”

DeAngelo noted in the release that he is “excited to lead this team and build on our organization’s solid foundation. Our people are at the heart of everything we do, and I look forward to supporting our teams, serving our customers, and driving continued growth across the Carolinas.”

About Anticimex Carolinas

Anticimex Carolinas is a union of three long-running Carolina pest control companies — Killingsworth Environmental, Clark’s Termite & Pest Control and Strand Termite & Pest Control — that share a parent company, Anticimex. Founded in Sweden in 1934, Anticimex operates more than 20 countries worldwide with more than 8,000 employees. In the United States, Anticimex has a presence in 25 states through 17 brands.

Anticimex Carolinas is certified in the National Pest Management Association’s QualityPro, Public Health, GreenPro and Schools programs.

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Sacramento CA

Standard Pest Control joins Certus

Tampa, Fla.-based Certus Pest Inc. has partnered with Standard Pest Control, which is based in Puyallup, Wash., 35 miles south of Seattle. Standard will incorporate into the existing operations in Puyallup and Seattle of Certus’ trademarked PURCOR Pest Solutions brand.

“The Greater Seattle area has more than 4 million residents and lots of visiting tourists,” Patrick Kelly, Certus’ senior vice president of corporate development, said in a news release. “This makes the area a strong business market for pest control between its thousands of homes, offices, hotels and other public places. Standard Pest Control has literally set a standard for what great pest control looks like, and I’m delighted to have them join forces with PURCOR Pest Solutions to set an elevated standard together.”

About Certus

Founded in 2019, Certus is a home services company operating pest control, lawn service, and swimming pool maintenance and repair brands in 11 U.S. states, including Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Utah and Washington.

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