In Florida, home pest control really is a pre-requisite. When I first bought my home it was a few years old. After living here for a few months, I received a call from a pest control company. They explained that they had been servicing the house previously, and would like to continue - I just needed to take over the bill.

I fought it...explaining that I saw no pests, so didn't understand why I needed to pay them. The guy wisely explained that the reason I didn't have a pest problem was because they had been treating the house heretofore - and if I would like to continue having a pest free home, I should keep the service going.

Good point. Come on out.

That was 2 years ago. I never hear anything from them - except every 2 months a bill appears on my door. It's easy to forget about them - and start to wonder why your paying that bill.

Well, the other day I got a knock on my door. It was Dave from the pest company. "Mr. Miller, just checking to see if you're having any pest problems."

"Hmm...I did have a small problem in the garage, but that was because I had a small leak - I think I took care of it."

"Well, I'll take a look..."

Fine.

About 15 minutes later, as I'm pulling out of my drive way to head to the office, I notice the guy using a mop like tool to swab away cobwebs from under the soffit and eaves.

"Wow! I didn't know they did that!"

When I returned home that day, I glanced at the bill. The bill detailed the service - including the fact that he not only sprayed in the garage, but baited. He noted that he swabbed the eaves for webs. And he noted that he gave a 16 liter treatment of Termidor.

Termidor? I didn't know they did that too! Wow! I've been meaning to call someone to do preventative treatment for termites - I didn't know I've had that covered all this time.

Anyway, I was so pleased that I filled out the comment form with excellent marks and fired it back. Then, to my surprise, I checked my voicemail tonight and there was a message from the company following up on the service - making sure everything was fine.

Man...these folks are getting serious.

Here's the take away. First of all, the value of their service went up 3 fold for me - and they secured my business for at least another year.

Second, maybe they've been doing this all along - but never caught my attention.

That could be a critical point for your small business.

Are you exceeding expectations? More importantly, do your customers know about it? Are they so busy that they just pay your bill without noticing what you do for them?

How could you highlight the excellent work you do?

These could be important questions to ask of yourself.

I would recommend detailing the steps you take and providing that list to your clients - to be sure they fully understand the effort you make.