PestBossPro Blog — Pest Control Software

Setting Up Pest Control Software in Your First Week

The first week with new software decides whether it sticks. Spend it clicking around without a plan and you'll still be on paper in a month. Spend it on the right things in the right order and you'll run a real route by Friday. Here is a day-by-day plan that fits around a normal work week.

Before You Start

If you're moving from another system, follow the export steps in Switching Pest Control Software Without Losing Accounts or Records first. If you're coming from paper, gather your customer list in a spreadsheet, your product labels and your current prices.

Set aside about an hour each evening. Most of this week is setup you do once and never again.

Day 1: Company, Services and Prices

Start with your company information: name, address, logo, phone, business license number and sales tax. The business license number appears on every application record, so get it right.

Then build your service list. Add each service you actually sell with its price: initial service, quarterly plan, bi-monthly and monthly plans, mosquito program, rodent program, termite or WDI inspection, one-time ant, wasp and bed bug work, and commercial monthly. Price services off property measurements where it makes sense. This list drives every estimate and invoice.

Day 2: Products and Mixes

With your labels in front of you, add the products you use. For each, enter the name, active ingredient, EPA reg. no., application method and rates, and turn on Track Chemicals for products that need application records.

Then build your mixes: the perimeter mix, the mosquito barrier mix, any spot-treatment mix, each with rates per gallon. Name them the way your techs talk about them. Details are in Product Mixes in Pest Control Software: Building Tank Mixes Your Techs Can Load From.

Day 3: Import Customers and Set Plans

Clean your customer spreadsheet and bring it in with a CSV import. Imported addresses are placed on the map automatically. Spot-check a few rural or new-construction addresses.

Then set recurring plans on each account: 90 days for quarterly, 60 for bi-monthly, 30 for monthly. Set the last service date so each account comes due at the right time. Look at the Waiting List map when you're done. The spread of due and not-due pins should look like your real schedule.

For commercial clients with several locations, make sure each location is an address under the client, and set the client to Monthly billing for one statement.

Day 4: Measurements, Techs and Alerts

Measure properties on the satellite map, starting with the accounts due in the next week or two: home square feet, perimeter linear feet and mosquito yard area where it applies. You don't have to measure everything this week.

Add your techs as employees with personal PINs and assign them to trucks. Add office users with roles that fit their job. Then set up customer communication: night-before, when-you're-next and arrived alerts, and post-treatment instruction emails for your main services. Check the instructions against your product labels.

Day 5: Run a Real Route

Pick an area with due accounts on the Waiting List and circle it. Assign it to a truck for tomorrow, auto-route it Closest First or Furthest First from the shop, and adjust the order if needed. Print a route sheet as a backup if you like.

On route day, techs sign in to the tech app with the company login and their PIN. Work the stops: navigation, notes, Start, treat, record what was applied, photos, Complete. At the end of the day, check the “need a chemical record” button. If it's empty, every record is done.

Day 6 and 7: Review and Fix

Look back at the first route. Did any address land in the wrong place? Were any notes missing? Did any customer get a text they didn't expect? Fix what you find on the property or in the settings, not in your head.

Then start collecting cards on file from recurring customers. Mention it on the next visit, or send a text asking them to add one in the customer app. Turn on auto-charge on completion for customers who add a card.

What Can Wait

Not everything has to happen in week one. Tags and custom fields, saved views on the dispatch board, package plans for the mosquito season, website sign-up forms and detailed reports can all come in weeks two through four. Get the core loop running first: accounts come due, routes get built, techs treat and record, customers get billed.

The 14-day free trial is enough time to do this whole plan and run a second week on top. Plans are $59, $89 or $199 a month after that. For how everything fits together, see the PestBossPro pest control software page.