Yelp Elite reviewer Rosie P. contacted Insectek Pest Solutions during one of the most overwhelming times in her life: Her father had just passed, and within two weeks, spiders began taking over the backyard at her mom’s house. Without her dad there to handle the issue, the responsibility fell to Rosie, who had some concerns about hiring a pest control pro.
“There’s a level of vulnerability that exists there, letting somebody into your home, seeing the deepest and closest places where you are,” she said.
However, Insectek’s team immediately put Rosie at ease. The technicians and administrative staff displayed empathy at every step of the process, making her feel comfortable and safe during a particularly hard period in her life. “I knew right away once I had those first few interactions with Insectek that this was a company I could trust and that actually cared about its customers, and I wasn’t just somebody in their paperwork,” Rosie said.
Rosie’s experience with Insectek is very personal, but according to owners Ben and Jenny McAvoy, it’s actually the norm for their industry. Dealing with emergencies in the home—especially pests—is a stressful process that can bring out difficult emotions for any customer.
Clients may come to Insectek for a service, but their emotional needs are just as important to Jenny and Ben. Insectek’s mission is to provide not only excellent customer service and speedy communication, but also to ease their stress with empathetic interactions.
“What I love now is we have clients that will give us their house code,” Jenny said. “They’re not even home, but they feel so comfortable that any one of our techs will come in, treat their home in the right areas and let us leave, and that shows so much trust in our company.”
Below, Jenny and Ben share four ways to practice empathy and put customers at ease throughout their experience.
1. Relate to customers from the first interaction
The most important part of Jenny and Ben’s mission is meeting their customers with empathy. When a customer is dealing with a pest problem, it’s not enough to just provide them with the service—they also need reassurance throughout the entire process. According to Ben, this starts with picking up the phone and listening.
“The first part of our training is to just listen to what [the customer’s] needs are. They’re really frustrated that there’s a bug that’s encroaching in their space, their living space, and it’s very upsetting. So we teach [our employees] to really relate to that customer.”
The day of her Insectek appointment, Rosie had to take her mother to the hospital for a health emergency. After communicating with Jared, an Insectek tech, Rosie was able to arrange a time for him to still come that day and resolve her bug issue.
“It was kind of one of those comedies of errors where all you could do was cry, and yet Jared was communicating to me via text, and he was very empathetic about the situation,” Rosie said. “He said: ‘If you want someone to come, we can get there. If not, don’t worry. We can reschedule it.’ So it was very much just that I felt like I was in the care of somebody who actually cared. That was huge.”
I knew right away once I had those first few interactions with Insectek that this was a company I could trust and that actually cared about its customers, and I wasn’t just somebody in their paperwork.
—Yelp elite reviewer Rosie P.
2. Provide easy communication on the customer’s terms
Beyond the initial phone call, Ben and Jenny said it’s important to provide regular updates and speedy communication so customers never feel neglected. They took a lot of lessons from their own frustrating experiences as customers and from their initial competitor analysis, which revealed a need for pest control pros that treat customers as more than just a transaction.
“We made sure when we were starting up [that you get a text] alert that [a technician] is coming or on their way,” Jenny said. “We wanted [to give customers] an exact appointment time. We didn’t want [customers] to wait four hours out of the day or take a day off or work from home for [a tech] to show up at the end of the four hours, or not show up at all. If we’re ever more than five minutes late, you’re getting a call, you’re getting a notice.”
This strategy paid off for Rosie, who had to navigate last-minute scheduling to accommodate her mom’s health emergency. “When I was talking with [my tech] Jared, it was all done through text message. That was another thing that I loved, the convenience. I didn’t have to be stuck to a phone or a specific time. It was on my terms,” she said.
Rosie said Insectek’s strength lies in these small gestures, like being able to easily reach Jared or feeling seen in her conversations with another tech, Kole.
“Hospitality was those little things: the fact that Kole remembered that my mom was in the hospital, the fact that he empathized with me when I told him that I’m having to take on all of the things in the house now, including the pest control, which was something that I hadn’t before because of my father’s passing.”
3. Hire for people skills and train for success
Seamless communication is nothing without the people behind it. At Insectek, Ben and Jenny hire technicians based on their people skills to ensure they know how to make customers feel at ease during a stressful situation. “We hire people that have good character traits, that have empathy, that take it personally when they have to go back to a home because bugs popped up,” Ben said.
It’s sometimes difficult to judge someone’s ability to relate to customers in an interview. Insectek’s strategy is to create an environment where candidates can show their authentic personalities. “By having a more laid-back, conversational interview, they let down their guard and maybe divulge things that they wouldn’t normally divulge in an interview, but that’s how it gives us insight into their character,” Ben said.
After hiring, training is equally important. Many customer support employees are used to combative phone calls, but Insectek’s administrative staff is trained to neutralize complaints with kindness. “When you treat [customers] with respect and give them good service, there’s nothing for them to be mad about. When you answer the phone call [being] so friendly, they’re not going to come attacking,” Jenny said.
This benefits employees too—it’s easier for your team to show empathy when they’re receiving the same trust and respect. “We want to make it an easy work environment. We want them to go home and enjoy their family life and still want to come back and handle customer support calls,” Jenny said.
4. Address feedback and complaints with a ‘rapid response’
Jenny and Ben apply the same empathetic, proactive approach to all of their customer interactions online. The couple responds to every Yelp review, whether positive or critical.
“The customer may not always be right, but you do need to listen to them, and usually there is some truth in what they’re saying, even if they’re somewhat unreasonable,” Ben said. “If we do get a negative review, I definitely trust and have faith in our employees, and I get their side of the story before we reach out to the customers. But we always listen. We always do what’s best for the customer.”
In cases when customers are unsatisfied, Ben said they’re quick to resolve concerns and provide refunds, regardless of who’s in the right. “We’ve had some instances where stuff accidentally gets broken around the home. Our strategy is rapid response, where we give them attention as soon as possible,” he said. “We let them know that they’re in good hands and that we’re going to take care of it.”
The customer may not always be right, but you do need to listen to them, and usually there is some truth in what they’re saying. There’s always something you can learn and improve.
—ben mcavoy, co-owner of insectek pest solutions
For Rosie, Insectek’s response to her review was yet another sign that the business cared about her as a person, especially since Ben checked in on her mom’s health. “To get that feedback, it lets me know just how invested they are in their business,” she said. “And not only that, but that they really want people to see that interaction [on their Yelp Page]—that this is not transactional. We’ve got a two-way street here.”
These lessons come from an episode of Behind the Review, Yelp & Entrepreneur Media’s weekly podcast. Listen below to hear from Jenny, Ben, and Rosie, or visit the episode page to read more, subscribe to the show, and explore other episodes.
The information above is provided for educational and informational purposes only. It is not intended to be a substitute for professional advice and may not be suitable for your circumstances. Unless stated otherwise, references to third-party links, services, or products do not constitute endorsement by Yelp.