Sales and Technology in Today’s Pest Control Industry
Webinar Date: February 11, 2026
Speaker: Jeff Dunn, Co-President, Northwest Exterminating (Rollins)
Moderator: Rich Braman, UGA Center for Urban Agriculture
Duration: 1:46:52
Series: Structural Pest Control — Getting the Best of Pests (GTBOP)
About This Session
Jeff Dunn, co-president of Northwest Exterminating and a 25-year industry veteran, delivered a wide-ranging presentation on sales leadership and technology adoption for pest control professionals. Drawing on his experience leading a multi-brand, six-state operation within the Rollins family of companies, Dunn framed effective selling not as a personality trait but as a learnable discipline built on three foundational elements: hardwired strengths, attitude, and skills.
The presentation opened with a practical case study of a fictional salesperson named “Sonny Day,” demonstrating how assessment tools like Best Work Data and Tony Robbins’ basic human needs framework can help leaders diagnose performance issues beyond simple metrics. Dunn emphasized the Pygmalion effect — the idea that people tend to become who their leaders believe them to be — and cautioned against both ruinous empathy and overly critical management styles.
Dunn introduced Matthew Dixon’s Challenger Sale framework, identifying five salesperson types — hard worker, lone wolf, challenger, relationship builder, and problem solver — and explaining why the challenger profile excelled during the 2008 economic downturn. He then outlined a seven-step sales process he calls the “7 C’s”: connect, control, Columbo (curiosity-driven questioning), criteria gathering, convey, confirm, and collect. Throughout, he stressed that sales should function as a team sport, with service professionals and office staff keeping their “antennae up” for unprotected customer needs and passing leads to salespeople.
A significant portion of the session addressed attitude management, including the relationship between behavior and attitude, the physical-intellectual-emotional dimensions of personal readiness, and the power of reframing negative emotions. Dunn shared Tony Robbins’ RPM (Rapid Planning Method) goal-setting approach, illustrating how purpose-driven goals outperform arbitrary numerical targets.
The technology segment covered CRM platforms including ServSuite, FieldRoutes, and PestPack, along with practical tools like digital contracts, crawl space inspection robots, internal lead-passing applications (iPass, iRefer, iRecruit), and AI-powered role-play for sales training. Dunn closed with a blue ocean perspective on the pest control industry, encouraging attendees to view market growth through a lens of abundance rather than scarcity, and offered his email for follow-up questions and resource sharing.
Video Chapters
0:00 Introduction and Speaker Welcome
3:01 Sales and Technology in Today’s Pest Control Industry
6:51 Hiring Assessments: Best Work Data and the Three Circles
12:54 Case Study: Coaching “Sonny Day” Through a Performance Slump
17:01 Tony Robbins Basic Human Needs Assessment
22:09 Unlocking Potential: The Pygmalion Effect
24:37 Vulnerability Moment: Northwest’s Sales Challenges
27:17 The Challenger Sale: Five Types of Sales Reps
34:47 Session Roadmap: Six Keys to Sales Success
37:53 Mike Rayburn: “What If” Thinking and 10x Goals
42:11 Managing Change and Finding Purpose
44:21 Attitude vs. Behavior: Which Drives Which?
45:46 Physical, Intellectual, and Emotional Dimensions
48:55 Break
50:12 The Happiness Formula: Happiness → Work → Success
53:12 Life Condition vs. Blueprint and The Gap and the Gain
55:01 The Power of Decision: Focus, Meaning, and Action
56:54 RPM Goal Setting: Results, Purpose, Massive Action Plan
1:01:36 Train and Hone Your Craft — Including AI Role-Play
1:03:28 The 7 C’s Sales Process: Connect, Control, Columbo
1:08:17 The 7 C’s Continued: Criteria, Convey, Confirm, Collect
1:11:53 Sales Tension Curve: Away From Pain, Toward Pleasure
1:14:50 Technology in Pest Control Operations
1:15:47 CRM Platforms: ServSuite, FieldRoutes, and PestPack
1:19:08 Internal Apps: iPass, iRefer, and iRecruit
1:20:33 Recap and the Blue Ocean Strategy
1:28:31 Q&A: Pygmalion Effect and Believing in Your Team
1:33:00 Q&A: Making Sales a Team Sport
1:36:09 Q&A: Getting Out of Your Own Head Before a Stop
1:41:18 Q&A: Reframing Emotions — Butterflies Mean You’re Ready
1:42:03 Q&A: Career Advice — Leaning Into What You’re Great At
1:44:03 Q&A: One Piece of Advice to His Younger Self
1:46:17 Closing Remarks
Questions & Answers
Q: What assessment tools does Jeff Dunn recommend for evaluating sales candidates during the hiring process?
A: Dunn recommends Best Work Data, an assessment that evaluates a candidate’s hardwired strengths such as persuasiveness, assertiveness, and communication skills. He also uses Tony Robbins’ basic human needs assessment, which scores individuals on scales of certainty versus variety, love and connection versus significance, and growth versus contribution. Together, these tools help leaders understand not just whether someone can sell, but how they’re wired to engage with prospects and teammates.
Q: What are the five types of sales representatives identified in The Challenger Sale, and which type performs best?
A: The five types are the hard worker (self-motivated, goes the extra mile), the lone wolf (self-assured, follows own instincts), the challenger (offers different perspectives, pushes the customer), the relationship builder (generous with time, builds strong connections), and the problem solver (detail-oriented, responds reliably to stakeholders). According to research conducted after the 2008 economic crash, the challenger outperformed all other types, particularly during difficult market conditions, because challengers engage customers by questioning assumptions rather than simply accommodating requests.
Q: What is the RPM goal-setting method, and how does it apply to managing salespeople?
A: RPM stands for Rapid Planning Method (or Results, Purpose, Massive Action Plan), a Tony Robbins methodology. The process starts with defining a specific result (e.g., $600,000 in annual sales), then identifying a personal purpose behind that goal (e.g., funding a child’s schooling), and finally creating a massive action plan with specific behaviors and activities. Dunn emphasized that when a salesperson’s goal is anchored to a deeply personal purpose rather than an arbitrary number, their motivation and follow-through increase dramatically.
Q: What are the “7 C’s” in Jeff Dunn’s sales process?
A: The 7 C’s are connect (building rapport and trust through body language and intentional engagement), control (establishing upfront contracts about what the inspection or visit will involve), Columbo (staying curious and asking questions rather than talking at the customer), criteria (gathering information about decision-makers, budget, and pain points), convey (presenting findings and solutions only after listening), confirm (playing back everything learned and confirming the agreement), and collect (securing payment at the point of sale).
Q: How does Dunn describe the relationship between attitude and behavior for sales professionals?
A: Dunn argues that attitude does not always have to drive behavior — behavior can drive attitude. He uses the example of athletes who don’t feel like practicing but go through the motions anyway, and once they break a sweat, their attitude catches up. He encourages salespeople to commit to positive behaviors and routines (morning margin time, exercise, gratitude) even on days when their attitude is poor, because the consistent actions will improve their mental state. He frames this as “embrace the suck.”
Q: What technology platforms does Northwest Exterminating currently use across its operations?
A: Northwest currently operates across nine different instances of software spread among three main CRM platforms: ServSuite, FieldRoutes, and PestPack. This complexity results from growing through both organic revenue and acquisitions. Dunn noted that ServSuite is being sunsetted into FieldRoutes. Beyond CRMs, the company uses UKG for HR (formerly on ADP), Microsoft Office 365 for communication and data sharing, and credit card processing platforms. They also employ internal mobile applications called iPass (for service techs to pass leads to salespeople), iRefer (for customer referrals), and iRecruit (for employee referral hiring).
Q: What does Jeff Dunn mean by a “blue ocean” in the pest control industry?
A: Dunn uses the blue ocean concept to describe the pest control industry as one with abundant opportunity rather than cutthroat competition. He points to recurring new pest challenges — stink bugs, kudzu bugs, the resurgence of bed bugs — and service diversification opportunities like sanitization services during COVID as evidence that the industry continually generates new revenue opportunities. He encourages operators to avoid “red ocean” thinking that focuses on price-cutting and competing against one another, instead recognizing that the rising tide of industry growth lifts all boats.
Q: How does Dunn suggest making sales a team-wide responsibility rather than just the salesperson’s job?
A: Dunn advocates building an environment where service professionals, office staff, and salespeople all share responsibility for identifying unprotected customer needs and generating leads. Practically, Northwest uses large sales boards in every office tracking daily appointments and dollars proposed — not to shame salespeople, but to create awareness across the team. He cited a Rollins sister company that aligns its digital marketing campaigns with frontline talking points so everyone is looking for the same things, such as standing water, firewood stacked against houses, or ivy growth that signals mosquito opportunities.
Q: What self-coaching question does Dunn recommend salespeople ask themselves before each customer interaction?
A: Dunn recommends asking, “What would an extraordinary inspector do right now?” or “If this were my mom, what kind of inspection would she want? What would she deserve?” These questions shift focus from personal fatigue or self-interest to customer service, helping salespeople approach each stop with renewed commitment to finding and solving problems rather than going through the motions.
Q: What advice would Jeff Dunn give to his younger self entering the pest control industry?
A: Dunn said he would tell his younger self that “it’s all going to work out.” He reflected that his early career was consumed by anxiety about what was coming next, when there was a plan unfolding all along. He encouraged attendees to practice being content and present, to focus on gratitude rather than regret about the past or fear about the future. He also noted the importance of shifting from a self-focused mindset to one centered on serving others, which he said would have accelerated his growth.
Additional Resources
- Speaker Contact: jdunn@callnorthwest.com
- Books Referenced: The Challenger Sale by Matthew Dixon; The Gap and the Gain by Dan Sullivan and Benjamin Hardy
- Assessment Tools Mentioned: Best Work Data (hiring assessments); Tony Robbins Basic Human Needs Assessment; Enneagram personality profiles
- Speaker Referenced: Mike Rayburn, keynote musician and motivational speaker
- Organization: Northwest Exterminating, celebrating 75 years in business, operating 60+ offices across six southeastern states as part of the Rollins family of companies
About GTBOP
The Getting the Best of Pests (GTBOP) Webinar Series is a continuing education program for pest management and Green Industry professionals, hosted by the University of Georgia Center for Urban Agriculture. The Structural Pest Control series targets licensed pest control operators with sessions on industry best practices, business management, and technical topics.
Processed for UGA Center for Urban Agriculture / GTBOP Archives