I woke up with a start the other night because I heard this random scratching from underneath the bed. I did what anyone would do and I started shaking Mike laying next to me. I said, “Mike! Wake up! There’s something disgusting underneath the bed!” He’s like, “What are you talking about? He rolled over and he didn’t hear anything, so he rolled back over and went back to sleep. Well, a few seconds later he heard it…the scratching noise. He grabbed his phone flashlight checked out the bed and convinced me that there was nothing underneath there because there was, quote “no tracks and the 3 inches of dust underneath the bed.” Excellent detective work. 

The next day in the office, I hear more scratching. And then I hear more scratching…and I hear more scratching…so fast forward to the point that we, my friends, have a rodent problem. Or I should say our house, built in 1920, that we rent that has open vents everywhere has a rodent problem. The landlord sent over a pest control company and this is where the story gets interesting. I don’t know if you think of a pest control guy (we’ll call them) what image comes to mind? Perhaps I was completely biased because I was not expecting what we got. 

Our first specialist’s name was Quinton. He went up in the attic and, oh yes, he confirmed that a rodent problem is exactly what we had. When he came back down, I started asking him questions because I was curious. How does one get into the rodent removal business? He was a younger kid, probably 22, and we had this amazing conversation. I like to ask questions and I asked him question after question and he responded like he had all the time in the world. 

One of my favorite parts of the conversation was what Quinton said when I asked him, “Isn’t it disgusting dealing with this?” He was like, “Ah, at first it was kind of gross. But then I realized the damage that these rodents do to people’s houses and so now it’s a personal quest to get them and get rid of them!” And I thought, “How amazing! There’s his ‘why’ for what he does.” 

Two days later Daniel came by to set more traps, to check on the rodent situation, and to deal with all sorts of shenanigans I’m not even going to tell you about. Well Daniel, in his time here, set traps and made sure to put them away from the dog. He noticed that we had a dog–not because Steve, the dog, was here, but noticed his crate. He proceeded to explain to me the rodent tendencies and the next steps. He educated me on their services, and what we need to do to eradicate this situation. This is where the story gets interesting for you. After Daniel left, what do you think I got a text message about? Of course! Lindsey Pest Control asking me for a review. What was interesting is that I had already written a review.

Now I have to tell you, I’m kind of anti-review these days and I know testimonials are important. I know it’s a way to build credibility. But in the past few months, I’ve been dealing with some human rats that have taken messages that I’ve written emails and posted them as testimonials. I’ve seen this incessant back-and-forth of friends giving friends testimonials that aren’t true and I’ve kind of gotten over the entire situation. But what Lindsey Pest Control made me realize, and why I’m sharing this story with you, is it made me think about those human rats. It made me think, you know, perhaps if they spent time, like Lindsey did, paying attention to the circumstances around them, connecting with their customer by asking questions and by telling stories, educating their customer about their services, about maybe not the rodents but about the whys behind what they do and making sure that they felt comfortable with the experience in the situation, they wouldn’t have to beg and lie and make up testimonials. Instead, their customers would be willing to share their praise.

So there you have it. My story about how a pest control company made me realize that, with their caring and their questioning and their education about how their whole system works, they got a raving fan. They didn’t ask for that review–I already gave it to them. So my challenge for you is to look at how you’re doing business. Are you educating? Are you caring about your customer? Are you doing those basic things that people might not expect, and in doing so, wowing them so they write your review? That’s my question for you.