and Using Technology to Create a Successful Pest Management Company

BY DANIEL S. GORDON, CPA The way you go about setting up your ofce is vital to enabling your organization. Everything from ling systems to intercom congurations can make your companys workforce efcient and productive. Think through every minute detail, from the ow of trafc through the ofce to the positioning of phone and data jacks. When youre a small company, what you do is pest control. Maybe youre a one-man show, so you organize yourself and your truck and your route and the world is pretty simple from the ofce prospective.

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If you can increase productivity with technology, then it is worth it. There are many great
nice-to-have technologies out there. The key is to make sure costs are under control and you dont spend a ton of time getting the technology to work. Dont be fooled because the price is right.
As you get bigger, you need to think about how you organize your ofce. Think about the workow of your business and how that impacts your ofce. Remember, there are two areas of consideration in ofce set up: 1. Its the physical setup, meaning ofce space, desks, chairs, water coolers, phones, faxes, computers, etc. 2. The other aspect of ofce set up is the dynamic ow of information. This means incoming calls, voicemails, emails, instant messaging, intercoms, escalating and ling paperwork, and other such activity driven facets of the ofce. As the information age matures, what weve noticed is that information moves quickly, the quantity has increased and it needs to be dealt with in a much more efcient manner. Setting up an ofce in a correct and efcient way is paramount to succeeding in the pest control business. So, where do you start? Ask yourself some questions about how your business operates: When the phone calls come in, whom do they go to and how are they answered? How is the technician or salesperson that goes out to the customer informed? How is work posted? What paperwork (or paperless information) comes back to the ofce after the service is performed? How do you le that paperwork (or paperless information)? How do you bill the customer? How do you process payments? This is merely a small sampling of the activities that needs to be considered. Think through your companys specic workow and plan your ofce accordingly. Whats all this about the Cloud? Everybody is talking about the cloud. What does it mean and what can it do for you? In the simplest of terms the cloud refers to computer programs that are available on the Internet. It allows small companies to utilize programs that were once available to only larger companies who could afford the purchase of the software and an IT professional to deploy the software on local computers. Usually these software programs are used to manage workow, perform accounting and mange your customers as well as other aspects of your business. They are usually purchased on a subscription basis paid monthly. Price is usually based on the complexity of the program and the number of users. What about backups, security and maintenance? If purchased from a reputable software as a service (Saas) provider, your data is safer than if you kept it in your ofce as it is usually hosted in a professionally managed server farm using data encryption. Remember though, as with any computer program, the weakest link in terms of security is sharing passwords. Cloud computing is the next chapter in the information age. Just look at some of the most popular software. Microsoft offers their ofce products online using the remote hosting model and bills usage monthly. The most popular accounting software for small businesses, Quickbooks has developed a browser based program call Quickbooks Online. At rst it only appealed to techies. Now many small businesses subscribe and in a few short years more that half of my accounting clients use this platform. If you are still using local versions of Quickbooks watch out. My guess is that within ve or so years, the online version will be the Intuits primary accounting package. Technology can be Your BEST Friend or Your WORST Enemy! Cell phones, PDAs, GPS devices, laptops you name it. There are all sorts of technology tools available that can increase productivity and enable your business. On the other hand, poor planning, lack of knowledge, or improper application of technology can sink your business. The key is nding the right places to implement technology solutions and determine the best way to implement it. If you can increase productivity with technology, then it is worth it. There are many great nice-to-have

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The ONLY reason to use technology should be to help improve upon your business. If the
technology doesnt move you closer to your business goal, then perhaps you should hold off on the initiative.
technologies out there. The key is to make sure costs are under control and you dont spend a ton of time getting the technology to work. This is an important point. Dont be fooled because the price is right for the software or hardware. Keep in mind that there may be hidden costs coming down the road when you have to hire a tech guru to install the system and maintain it. You cant have technology run your business. If you dont have will power and discipline, then you may just nd yourself implementing technology for the sake of implementing technology. This is not what you want to do. Technological solutions must be deployed to serve a business need. The ONLY reason to use technology should be to help improve upon your business. If the technology doesnt move you closer to your business goal, then perhaps you should hold off on the initiative. Develop Checklists to Cover All Your Bases Checklists are a business best friend! This is how you ensure that oversights and errors are eliminated. All systems need the proper controls in place in order to make them airtight and dependable. Its not enough to just cross your tasks off a list. You have to have a spot where someone initials it so you know who did it. You need to record the date when the task was completed. And then make note of any follow up thats necessary. Heres an example of the items listed on a checklist used to do a closeout at the end of each month: 1. Run a sales report that shows revenue by service. 2. Print out a payment report with all the deposits made. 3. Print a sales tax report to show which jurisdictions you have collected sales tax in and who you have to remit to. 4. Take all that information and journalize it into your general ledger system. 5. Look through each account step by step to make sure everything was coded correctly. 6. Once you know that all the work has been posted, create customer statements and send them out. 7. Make sure the renewals for the upcoming months get sent out. 8. After the close is done, produce all the reports that tell you exactly what youve produced, how much money you have, who owes you money and who you owe money to. Checklists can be used for many of your processes. For instance, a valuable checklist in the pest control business is an end-of-day checklist for technicians to submit when they come in at night. This will determine if everything that was supposed to be covered WAS actually covered. This will also point out any follow-ups that are necessary on the part of the technician, a manager, or anyone else. Checklists are a great way to take a lot of the stress out of the day. Any structure you can provide is helpful to both the individual and the organization. You want to make the day boring. Today has to be just like yesterday and the day before so that you dont have to reinvent your business everyday. Boring is good when it comes to processing repetitive tasks. The information age is well under way, its those companies that embrace it and gure out how to use it efciently to make more money that will prosper in the years to come.

Daniel S. Gordon is a CPA in New Jersey and owns an accounting rm that caters to PCOs throughout the United States. Visit www.pcobookkeepers.com for information about his rm, PCO Bookkeepers. He can be reached at dan@pcobookkeepers.com

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