Back in March 2025, PWIPM and TPCA hosted the webinar Marketing 101, Best Practices for Small Business Owners. It was presented by Jackie Lott, Marketing Manager of Bug Busters. Across the next several issues of this TPCA newsletter, Jackie's marketing wisdom will be featured.
Win-Back Marketing Strategies: Reclaiming Lost Customers
"This (win-back campaign) has been successful. We've been running this now for over a year. It's one of the first campaigns that I launched when we started using HubSpot and it's been successful. We've had quite a few customers that we've gotten back using the win-back strategy." - Jackie Lott
Customer churn is a reality for every service business, but in the pest control industry—where seasonality, pricing sensitivity, and perceived service value often cause customers to drop off—having a strong win-back marketing strategy is essential. Unlike acquiring new leads, which can cost 5–25x more, winning back a former customer often requires fewer resources and delivers faster conversions. With strategic timing, personalized messaging, and tiered incentives, pest control companies can turn “goodbye” into “welcome back.”
The Critical Timing Window for Win-Back Success The first 30 to 60 days after cancellation is the most crucial window for re-engagement. According to data from Invesp, companies that reach out within this period are 3x more likely to recover a lost customer than those that wait longer. Another study by HubSpot reports that 45% of customers who re-engage with a brand do so within the first month of their cancellation. The key is not just speed, but structure—well-timed, thoughtful outreach that reminds the customer why they signed up for your services in the first place and what they’re missing now.
"For folks that have limited marketing budgets and staff it really does the lion share of the work to take some of those colder leads and drive them down the funnel." Jackie emphasizes the use of automated platforms which can free up your staff's marketing workload. Platforms such as HubSpot, Mailchimp, or Klaviyo are just a handful of products on the market that range in costs and some are even free. Always do your due diligence in researching the platform that best fits your needs and budget. At Bug Busters, Jackie uses a hybrid, cost-effective method of manually pulling reports of cancelled customers and dropping them into a targeted win-back drip campaign.
Win-Back Campaign Timeline: A Proven Email Drip Sequence
Here’s a sample win-back campaign that pest control companies can implement :
Day 1: "We Miss You" Email Friendly and simple: Acknowledge the cancellation, thank them for their past business, and express that you’d love to help again. Include a small incentive (e.g., 10% off next service). Subject line example: “We’re sorry to see you go – here’s 10% off if you come back.”
Day 5: "Did Something Go Wrong?" Email Ask for feedback. This builds trust and gives insight into why they left. Reiterate the incentive. Subject line example: “Can we fix this?”
Day 10: "Why Our Customers Come Back" Email Include a testimonial or case study. Focus on value and peace of mind—highlight your results, guarantee, or proprietary process. Subject line example: “What our returning customers say...”
Day 17: "Final Offer" Email This is your strongest offer—possibly 20–25% off, a bonus add-on, or a free inspection. Use urgency with a deadline. Subject line example: “Last chance – this offer ends in 48 hours!”
Day 30: "Still Thinking About It?" Email Optional: A gentle nudge for those who didn’t respond. No discount—just a reminder and a contact link to speak directly with a service rep.
Measuring and Optimizing Your Results A good win-back campaign can recover 10–30% of churned customers, depending on how long they’ve been inactive and how targeted the message is. Be sure to track open rates, click-through rates, and conversions at each email step. For best results, segment customers by type (e.g., residential vs. commercial), service history, and reason for cancellation when possible.
For pest control companies, win-back marketing is not just a good idea—it’s a high-ROI strategy that keeps your customer pipeline healthy and reduces acquisition costs. By acting quickly, creating a clear 3–5 email sequence, and offering meaningful incentives, you can turn cancellations into second chances—and keep your routes full!
Want to hit the easy button on creating win-back emails? CLICK HERE for samples to stir your creative juices, or copy and paste into your email platform and implement IMMEDIATELY.
CLICK HERE to see samples of emails for a win-back email drip campaign. You can even copy and paste these emails for immediate use! Be sure to read the instructions about customizing the emails.
A high customer cancellation rate is more than just a metric—it's a red flag indicating underlying problems with customer satisfaction, pricing models, or service quality. When customers leave in large numbers, it suggests they're not receiving the value they expected, whether due to unmet expectations, excessive costs, or poor service experiences. This can erode trust in a brand and damage its reputation, making it harder to attract new customers in the future.
Customer satisfaction often plays the most significant role in retention. If a product or service fails to deliver on its promises, customers are likely to cancel. Poor onboarding, slow support response times, or unreliable performance can quickly push users away. Similarly, pricing that feels disproportionate to the perceived value—whether too high or confusing—can discourage long-term commitments. In competitive markets, customers have options, and even minor missteps can lead to churn.
Service quality is another critical component. Consistency, responsiveness, and the ability to resolve issues efficiently all factor into how customers perceive a brand. A service that works great one day and poorly the next undermines confidence. High cancellation rates in this context suggest a need for operational improvements, better training, or more robust infrastructure.
Keeping cancellation rates low is essential for sustainable growth. Acquiring new customers is expensive—requiring substantial investment in sales and marketing. When existing customers leave, those costs increase because more effort is needed to backfill the lost revenue. Reducing churn stabilizes income streams and allows companies to focus resources on innovation and improving the customer experience instead of continually rebuilding their user base.
In short, high cancellation rates should be treated not as an isolated Key Performance Indicator (KPI), but as a critical indicator of business health. Identifying and addressing the root causes—be it satisfaction, pricing, or service delivery—can lead to stronger customer relationships, lower acquisition costs, and a more predictable path to long-term growth.
In next week's post, the series: Marketing 101 - Best Practices For Small Businesses returns with valuable strategies for winning back cancelled customers.
Get ready to explore the best of Chattanooga with our 3-part series featuring a curated 3-day activity itinerary! Each day is packed with local highlights, outdoor adventures, and must-see attractions to help you make the most of your visit. The best part is that most of these adventures are FREE! Whether you're a first-timer or returning for more, this guide will help you experience Chattanooga like a pro.
Day 3
For the final day in Chattanooga, travel just outside of downtown and hit the rails. Train rails, that is, for all those train buffs the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum is a must-see! You can do more than just see, experience train rides of various lengths and locations to fully explore Tennessee.
This moving museum offers several ways to ride the rails. The popular Missionary Ridge Local, is a 65-minute ride to the East Chattanooga station where passengers travel through the famous pre-civil war Missionary Ridge tunnel, cross four bridges, and disembark to watch a 20th-century turntable in action for the ticket price of $25/rider. You can enjoy longer train rides, which can span six to eight hours round-trip .
Another great train adventure is at Lookout Mountain, which features one of the world's steepest passenger trains - Incline Railway. But Lookout Mountain is famous for the nation's largest and deepest waterfall, Ruby Falls. The journey begins with a 260 ft. descent down a glass-front elevator to journey deep inside Lookout Mountain where you will view the tallest underground waterfall.
Eye spy 7 states - Lover's Leap at Rock City is the spot to spot seven states from one viewpoint at Lookout Mountain. Rock City is 1700 ft. above sea level with views of High Falls, the 100 ft., man-made waterfall that cascades down the mountain, and the chance to cross the nearly 200 ft. Swing-A-Along bridge.
Want to explore from the clouds? Get your adrenaline pumping with a zip line adventure. Thrill seekers can experience stunning views and a 40 ft. climbing tower.
For the best prices and less wait times, it's best to pre-purchase tickets for these activities and to make reservations when available.
TPCA Summer Conference - DAY 3
July 25, 2025 - The TPCA Conference wraps with honors and connections. The TPCA Executive Board will honor distinguished members that have greatly contributed to TPCA and the pest control industry in Tennessee with the TPCA Lifetime Achievement Awards.
Then a networking opportunity to connect with TPCA leadership, hear key updates, and contribute to shaping the future of pest control in Tennessee.
CEUs such as, Mimicry and Deception in the Pest Control World, will be offered. CLICK HERE for the full schedule of sessions.
Scroll down for more information about conference attendee and sponsor registration.
Visitors to Walt Disney World often marvel at the park’s immaculate landscapes, thrilling attractions, and pristine environments—but few realize one of its most impressive features: the near-total absence of mosquitoes. Located in central Florida, one of the most mosquito-prone regions in the U.S., Disney’s success in mosquito control is no accident. It’s the result of a sophisticated, multi-pronged strategy that combines advanced drainage systems, strategic architecture, intelligent landscaping, and professional spraying programs. For pest control companies, Disney’s methods offer a powerful selling point and a proven model for success.
A key component of Disney’s mosquito-free experience is its drainage infrastructure. The parks are engineered to eliminate standing water, which mosquitoes need to breed. Even decorative features like swamps and ponds are designed with constant movement—thanks to fountains or flowing water—to keep the pests at bay. In addition to smart engineering, the park’s architecture avoids features that collect water, such as flat rooftops or poorly graded walkways. Every inch of the park is carefully built to reduce mosquito habitats before they ever begin.
Landscaping is another subtle but effective tactic. Disney uses plants that naturally repel insects and designs their green spaces to minimize hidden, damp areas where mosquitoes could thrive. But perhaps the most transferable strategy for pest control businesses is the use of professional-grade mosquito spraying. Disney employs safe, targeted fogging and larvicides to keep mosquito populations under control without disrupting the guest experience. This aspect of their strategy can be a compelling pitch for pest control services aiming to offer effective mosquito management.
What Pest Control Companies Can Learn From Disney
Pest control companies can take a page from Disney’s playbook by positioning their spraying services as part of a holistic, premium solution—one trusted by the world’s most famous theme park. It is essential to educate your customers about the vigilance to eliminate standing water at their residence. For those proactive customers, discussing conscientious landscaping can only enhance their mosquito defenses. However, make the point that these methods are utilized at Disney at the highest level, yet the need for commercial spraying is the greater part of the solution.
Day 2
Hope you had a full night's rest after Day 1! You'll want to start Day 2 with a hearty breakfast. So head to Milk & Honey for their iconic Milk & Honey Latte and a farmhouse biscuit. Another Chattanooga fave is Niedlov's - their baked goods are legendary. Day 2 is all about exploring Chattanooga via water. Begin on land with the Chattanooga Ducks kid-centric tour for all ages that winds through downtown streets before plunging into the Tennessee River for a cruise around Maclellan Island. The amphibious tour is made possible by the DUKW boat (AKA Duck), which was used in WWII for water landings with corny jokes and duck-billed noisemakers at no extra charge.
More water adventure awaits aboard the Southern Belle, a vintage steamboat, which boasts panoramic views of the riverfront and Lookout Mountain. After a leisurely cruise and learning about the Tennessee River's history and legends, explore Ross’ Landing and the Tennessee Riverpark. That is, if water cannons, a leisurely walk down The Passage stairs (a waterfall), and a small playground overlooking the river holds your interest. And that's just your morning!
The afternoon is for jaguars, snow leopards, and red pandas - oh, my! Visit the Chattanooga Zoo for a trip through an African forest, South American jungle, and Himalayan Passage. Touring takes about an hour to an hour and a half. Your not done with water fun yet. Head to the Creative Discovery Museum, where kids can splash in a manmade “river,” and dig for dinosaur bones in the sand.
For a classic American amusement park fun experience for the whole family, Lake Winnepesaukah Amusement Park is only a 15-minute drive outside of Downtown Chattanooga. And if you have dried off at this point, Lake Winnepesaukah features the SOAKya water park.
TPCA Summer Conference - DAY 2
July 24, 2025 - Pack away your bowling shoes from the bowling fun on Day 1, and put on your learning hat. This conference day is packed with CEU's and educational sessions that range from Insects and Light to AI in Action Marketing. CLICK HERE for the full schedule of sessions.
The stakes are raised when the first conference day is wrapped with a Casino Event that includes dinner. Not all will win prizes, but fun will be had by ALL!
Google Business Profile
The first marketing tip can be implemented immediately, and at NO cost! It is essential to setup a Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business).
Jackie emphasizes that: The storefront for your pest control business is on Google. When people search locally for a business using search terms like 'pest control service near me' or 'pest control company' or just 'pest control near me', various things like that often takes them to a Google Maps search result. And if you don't have a Google My Business page or it's not properly optimized, people are not going to find your business.
If you have already completed this first step, don't get too comfortable just yet. Things to consider:
Jackie advises the following: When you're optimizing your Google My Business page, you want to make sure that you fill it out fully; adding things in like the hours you do business, descriptions of your services.
You also want to include real photos in this part of your marketing as well. Again when people get to your Google My Business page, they don't want to see a bunch of stock photos. This can throw red flags for potential customers and Google doesn't like that either. So use real photos of your technicians in action, and take them horizontally (landscape). You can easily use smartphones, which is a great way to do it; and often it will even add a location to where the photo is taken to help you show up locally when you post those photos in your service area. And just make sure these photos are taken with good lighting.
SEO optimization is the buzz word that still continues to buzz. According to Jackie: When they use this type of search, local SEO is extremely important and something you want to focus on.
The next step is to continuously maintain and update your profile and virtually interact with customers and potential customers. This can easily be done by adding Google Business to your social media marketing list. You can utilize the same post from your Instagram, Facebook and X on Google Business. Each post type can provide your audience with specific details about your business (e.g. adjusted business hours or new services offered) and allows you to add a call to action button.
Learn more about setting up and maintaining your Google Business Profile.
Day 1
Start your Chattanooga adventure at the Tennessee Aquarium, which opens daily at 10AM and takes at least two hours to explore. One ticket grants you access to both of its impressive buildings, where you’ll encounter everything from playful penguins and otters to alligators, sturgeon, and a rooftop garden filled with fluttering butterflies. For a more immersive experience, consider the Deeper Dive guided tour—an exclusive behind-the-scenes look that offers close encounters with the animals and insights from the expert caretakers who look after them.
Stroll across the Walnut Street Walking Bridge – one of the world’s longest pedestrian bridges. to arrive at the North Shore historic district, the best place to experience the "Small, Local, and Cool" of Chattanooga. The NorthShore is filled with one-of-a-kind businesses owned by passionate locals. CLICK HERE to explore all the great places to eat, shop and play on the NorthShore.
For an afternoon adventure, head down to Coolidge Park and explore the expansive green lawn. While you are there, be sure to ride the beautifully restored Coolidge Park antique carousel for only $1! If the summer heat gets to you, pack bathing suits and splash around in the water play fountain.
Explore the bustling Northshore on the available free shuttle. CLICK HERE for detailed shuttle routes. The shuttle ride is free, but parking at designated pick-up lots charges a fee.
TPCA Summer Conference - DAY 1
July 23, 2025 - If this is your travel day to Chattanooga, you will be treated to a casual and fun night before the "business" of the conference begins the next day. After checking into The Chattanoogan Hotel, join us at Southside Social for cocktails, food and fun - bowling fun, that is! The fun begins at 5PM. If you "can" bring canned goods to the event to contribute to TPCA's giveback project supporting The Chattanooga Area Food Bank.
Need to register for the summer conference? CLICK HERE
If you've been in the pest control industry for a while, you’ve likely dealt with the fallout from aggressive door-to-door sales tactics. These "door knocker" pest control companies often rely on pressure sales and misleading claims to win over unsuspecting customers. The result? Confused, skeptical homeowners and businesses who may already be under contract with your company—or worse, ready to cancel based on false information.
It’s frustrating, but here’s the good news: your team can become your most effective line of defense against this misinformation. With the right training, both your technicians and customer service reps (CSRs) can turn these situations into opportunities to build trust, reinforce your brand, and keep customers loyal.
Start by training your team on the most common tactics used by door knockers. These might include telling homeowners their current provider "doesn’t treat for certain pests," claiming to be "taking over routes" in the area, or offering steep discounts "only available today." The first give-away of an unreputable business is no clearly marked service vehicle with a professional company logo.
When your team knows what kinds of misinformation are out there, they can speak confidently and calmly to correct it—not with panic or defensiveness, but with professionalism and facts.
Next, invest in soft skills training for both techs and CSRs. Your frontline employees should be skilled in active listening, validating customer concerns, and calmly offering evidence-based responses. For example: “I understand why that might be confusing. Actually, we do treat for that pest—here’s how our service plan handles it.” A well-informed, confident answer can instantly dissolve the credibility of a door knocker’s claims.
Consistency is also key. Create a communication playbook or set of talking points that your staff can refer to when handling common objections or misinformation. Role-playing scenarios during training sessions can help reinforce these skills, giving your team the confidence to handle real-time objections without freezing up or sounding confrontational.
Make sure your CSRs are equipped to document and follow up on these interactions. If a customer calls in after a door knocker visit, your team should know how to reassure them, offer additional documentation, or escalate the call if needed. A friendly, solution-oriented tone can be the difference between a canceled account and a renewed contract.
Lastly, reinforce company pride. Door knockers might be loud, but your quiet consistency, quality service, and educated team speak volumes over time. Let your customers know they can always reach a real person—someone who knows their home, understands their concerns, and truly values their business. That kind of relationship can’t be sold in a five-minute pitch on the porch.
Corteva Agriscience, a valued partner-sponsor of TPCA, discusses 3 problems in the pest management/control industry and offer their solutions.
Corteva Agriscience™ (NYSE: CTVA) is a leading global agriculture company dedicated to enriching the lives of those who produce and consume, ensuring progress for generations to come. Established as an independent entity in 2019 following its separation from DowDuPont, Corteva combines industry-leading innovation, customer engagement, and operational execution to address the world's most pressing agricultural challenges.
The company's diverse portfolio includes advanced seed technologies, crop protection solutions, and digital services, all aimed at maximizing productivity for farmers worldwide. With a commitment to sustainability and innovation, Corteva continues to develop solutions that support both agricultural productivity and environmental stewardship.
The Sentricon System
Developed by Corteva, the Sentricon® System is a scientifically designed termite baiting solution that targets and eliminates entire subterranean termite colonies, including the queen. Introduced in 1995, Sentricon® has become the No. 1 brand in termite protection, safeguarding nearly 5 million structures across the United States.
Key Features:
Notably, Sentricon has been trusted to protect national landmarks such as the White House, the U.S. Capitol, and the Statue of Liberty, demonstrating its reliability and effectiveness in termite control.
For more information about Corteva Agriscience and the Sentricon System, please visit www.corteva.com and www.sentricon.com.
1. Customer Retention and Revenue Stability
Challenge: High cancellation rates can hinder a company's success, leading to lost opportunities and increased acquisition costs.
Sentricon’s Solution:
2. Bundling and Cross-Selling Services
Challenge: Bundling services is an effective strategy to increase revenue and customer satisfaction. By combining multiple pest control services into one package, companies can offer comprehensive solutions that appeal to customers seeking convenience and cost savings.
Sentricon's Solution:
3. Employee Retention and Engagement
Challenge: The pest control industry faces significant challenges in retaining skilled technicians and fostering a motivated workforce. High turnover rates can disrupt service continuity and increase recruitment and training costs.
By addressing these key challenges—customer retention, service bundling, and employee engagement—Corteva Agriscience and the Sentricon® System provide comprehensive solutions that support the growth and success of pest management professionals.
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