What’s the Protocol?

“Fleas are a ‘pet’ no one wants in their home,” said Luis Arroyo, All Pro Pest Control. “When they’re inside and biting, people are anxious to get rid of them.”

But as PMPs know, shooing fleas out of a home or yard is not an overnight process. To keep customers happy, they must know how the service works and what their job is to improve control efficacy.

“We live in an instant gratification society and if you don’t explain the service, customers will think after you leave the problem should be gone,” said Chet Miles, Miles Pest Control. “I tell them upfront, when I come in, the fleas don’t say, ‘Shoot! Chet’s here, I’m gone.’”

The majority of PMPs agree that getting rid of fleas usually requires a multi-faceted service approach and more than one visit. Ninety-two percent of survey respondents reported using general-use insecticides and/or insect growth regulators (IGRs) to knock down the parasite.

The average callback rate for flea control services is 4.1%, and time spent on a typical residential flea job is 1 to 2 hours for 35% of respondents and ½ hour to 1 hour for 51% of respondents.

For these reasons, Capitol Exterminating sells flea control as a stand-alone service — as do 44% of PCT survey respondents, with 36% staging it as a one-time, as-needed visit. Ten percent bundle flea control with services targeting other yard pests, such as mosquitoes and ticks; and 10% include flea service with general pest control.

“We sell it as a stand-alone because it requires so much customer cooperation and the client has to take care of their pet,” said Capitol’s David Bonett.

At South Plains Pest Control, Louis Dorton sells flea control as a monthly offering from March to October. Letting customers know the exterior treatment also knocks down mosquitoes is a selling point.

“We explain the reason they aren’t seeing more fleas is because of the service. If you can keep them engaged in the service, flea control is successful,” Dorton said. “But If they stop after the two-treatment service, 60 days later they call back with an issue and then we’re starting from scratch.”

PREP TALK. “This is a partnership,” Bonett reminds customers, engaging them from the moment they call in to inquire about flea control. “We let them know, the better they prepare, the better treatment we can perform.”

Bonett finds out how many pets are in the household, if any, and he instructs them to please remove the pets from the house during the service for at least four hours, until the product dries. But the biggie is vacuuming and not missing a spot. This includes drapery, upholstery — removing couch cushions and the like — along with carpeted stairs, underneath kitchen appliances and inside vehicles.

He adds another often-neglected point: empty vacuum bags or cannisters in the outdoor trash. Otherwise, customers are simply relocating fleas and eggs to an appealing moist, dark environment to fester.

Before stepping foot on a property, Craig George, Planet Pest Solutions, coaches his team to discuss pet flea preventives with customers. “If we are going to do flea work, the pet needs to get treated either by a vet or with an over-the-counter preventive first,” he said. “Otherwise, you’re fighting a losing battle.”

SERVICE STEPS. The majority of PMPs that PCT interviewed separate flea control from general pest services and plan on more than one visit, usually a primary treatment with a follow-up. The initial treatment, often with a general insecticide and IGR, wipes out the adults while limiting egg and pupae survival rates if they are exposed to the product.

Still, customers must vacuum daily, George said. This agitates fleas and prompts them to emerge from hiding places. Plus, the vacuum swallows up dead fleas, eggs and pupae in its path, gradually thinning out the population.

“The flea activity won’t diminish as quickly if they aren’t moving around to pick up the residual insecticide,” George relates to clients.

After the first service, George also instructs customers to wash all pet bedding, blankets, plush toys and so on.

“Additionally, we do an exterior perimeter treatment to create a barrier to keep additional fleas from getting into the house,” George said. “We treat wall-to-wall on the interior, and we schedule a 10- to 14-day follow-up to repeat the same service.”

Bonett said, “We stress to let the dog or cat roam the house like they usually do. If the animal is left to go where he normally travels and he has been treated, any fleas that bypassed our product will jump on the animal, feed, then die.”

Managing and then containing the lifecycle is ultimately how effective flea control is accomplished — and importantly, treating pets and addressing culprits. George said, “Taking all these steps will really do a number on the flea population.”