Shock and Awe Customer Service for Pest Control Businesses
Webinar Date: March 5, 2025
Speaker: Hal Coleman, Coleman Consulting
Moderator: Dr. Dan Suiter, Extension Entomologist, University of Georgia
Duration: 1:33:00
Series: Structural Pest Control
CEU Categories: TBD
CEU Information
Applicable Category: Category 35 — Industrial, Institutional, Structural and Health Related
Credit Hours: TBD
Viewing Format: Asynchronous — archived video with chapter markers
Assessment: TBD (Moodle quiz available when certificate course is active)
Session Overview
Hal Coleman, a pest control industry veteran with 52 years of experience, Georgia Pest Control Association Hall of Fame member, and founder of North Fulton Exterminating, presents customer service as the most powerful marketing tool available to pest control businesses. This is a business operations session — not a technical pest management topic — focused on client retention, referral generation, and professional service delivery.
Coleman introduces his framework of “Shock and Awe Customer Service” (SACS), grounded in the psychological law of reciprocity: when you exceed expectations for a customer, it creates both appreciation and a sense of obligation that can be channeled into referrals. The presentation covers nine specific strategies for building customer loyalty, each illustrated with stories from Coleman’s own business and coaching experience. Key data point: the average pest control customer stays approximately ten years and spends around $6,000 — a relationship Coleman argues is worth protecting through flexible policies and exceptional service.
The nine strategies covered are: (1) Be easy to do business with, (2) Be fun to do business with, (3) Always give more than expected, (4) Always respect their time, (5) Call them by first name often, (6) Love their animals, (7) Continually show appreciation, (8) Give surprises from time to time, and (9) Never assume an adversarial position concerning family, religion, politics, sports, or sex.
Coleman closes with cautionary examples of businesses he has personally stopped patronizing due to poor customer service, reinforcing that customers who feel unappreciated will take their money elsewhere.
Note: The final segment (1:29:58–1:31:55) features Dr. Dan Suiter discussing the North American Termite Survey (NATS), a citizen science project tracking Formosan termite distribution in the southeastern U.S.
Viewing Instructions for Asynchronous CEU Delivery
This archived webinar is suitable for asynchronous viewing by pest control professionals seeking Category 35 CEU credit. The presentation is structured around a clear nine-point framework, making it easy for viewers to follow at their own pace using the chapter markers below.
Total viewing time: Approximately 1 hour 33 minutes
Break: A short break occurs at approximately 51:45; the presentation resumes at 52:30.
Video Chapters
0:00 Introduction and 20th Anniversary of GTBOP
2:17 Hal Coleman’s Background and Career
7:45 Marketing Made Easy Series — Customer Service
8:53 The Restaurant Story: It’s Not About the Egg
14:45 Dead Bugs Get You in the Door, But Won’t Keep You There
15:45 SACS: Shock and Awe Customer Service
16:30 The Law of Reciprocity
18:55 Training Customers to Send Referrals
22:00 Nine Ways to Make Customers Fall in Love with You
23:00 #1 — Be Easy to Do Business With
26:00 Customer Lifetime Value: 10 Years and $6,000
28:05 Easy to Find: Truck Signage and Visibility
29:00 Nido Qubein and the Paved Path Story
31:00 Answering the Phone with Energy
34:00 #2 — Be Fun to Do Business With
36:00 The Burmese Python Publicity Stunt
38:20 #3 — Always Give More Than Expected
38:30 The Cabela’s Air Rifle Story
44:20 #4 — Always Respect Your Customer’s Time
47:00 Showing Up Exactly on Time
48:00 #5 — Call Them by Name Often
51:45 Break
52:30 Return from Break
52:50 #6 — Love Their Animals
55:10 #7 — Continually Show Appreciation
57:25 Handwritten Notes and Dan Kennedy on Thank-Yous
58:15 #8 — Give Surprises and Happy Day Presents
1:01:00 The Coffee Mug That Closed a Deal
1:03:15 Give Them a Break When the Chips Are Down
1:04:25 #9 — Never Argue About Family, Religion, Politics, Sports, or Sex
1:05:00 The John Elway Joke in Wyoming
1:09:00 Review of All Nine Ways
1:10:00 Businesses I’ve Fired — Real-World Customer Service Failures
1:19:15 Audience Q&A and Discussion
1:20:00 Free Book: How to Grow a Pest Control Business
1:22:30 Coleman Consulting — Coaching and Contact Information
1:29:20 Closing Remarks
1:29:58 Dan Suiter — North American Termite Survey (NATS)
1:31:55 Sign-In Sheet Reminder and Wrap-Up
Key Takeaways for Discussion
These points summarize the actionable content from the presentation, useful for agents facilitating group viewing or follow-up discussion:
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Customer service is marketing. Coleman’s central argument is that exceptional service generates more business than any advertising spend — through referrals driven by the law of reciprocity.
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Lifetime customer value justifies flexibility. At $6,000 over 10 years per customer, rigid policies (payment methods, scheduling inflexibility) can cost far more than they save.
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Phone answering sets the tone. An enthusiastic, personalized greeting creates an immediate impression — Coleman cites a $22,000 account closed partly on the strength of a receptionist’s phone manner.
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Small gestures compound. Dog treats, handwritten notes, first-name relationships, and “happy day presents” are low-cost tactics with outsized retention impact.
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Punctuality is a selling point. Arriving at exactly the promised time — not early, not late — demonstrates respect and professionalism that customers notice and value.
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Avoid adversarial topics. Family, religion, politics, sports, and sex are off-limits in customer interactions — the risk of alienating a customer far outweighs any conversational benefit.
Speaker Resources (Mentioned in Presentation)
- Free book: howtogrowapestcontrolbusiness.com
- Podcast: pestcontrolmarketing.live
- Website: PestControlMarketer.com
- Contact: hal@halcoleman.com / 770-993-0004
Getting the Best of Pests (GTBOP) — Structural Pest Control Webinar Series
UGA Center for Urban Agriculture / UGA Cooperative Extension
Processed for GTBOP Archives
Source: Stage 2 Archive Package — GTBOP_Archive_Summary_2025-03-05_Coleman_CustomerService.md