Adam Bennett: We ran Cube Scores on twelve pest control companies that land commercial accounts, property management firms, restaurant chains, and multi-family housing. Their residential pages scored fine. But the pages aimed at commercial buyers? Almost every one scored below 200 out of 600. They had service pages built for homeowners and expected property managers to do the translation work themselves.
Adam Bennett: Welcome to Pest Control Marketing That Actually Works, the podcast for pest control operators who want real growth, not empty promises. I'm Adam Bennett.
Elisabeth Pallante: And I'm Elisabeth Pallante. We're from Cube Creative Design, and for over twenty years we've helped pest control companies stop wasting money and start growing.
Adam Bennett: We've also got Hannah Kilpatrick with us today. She's our social media manager, because this episode is as much about where commercial buyers find you as what they find when they get there.
Hannah Kilpatrick: Happy to be here. I've been watching what property managers actually engage with online, and it's not what most pest control companies are posting.
Adam Bennett: Today's episode is all about commercial accounts, the content that wins property managers. Here are your three key takeaways, framed as questions.
Elisabeth Pallante: First, why does the content that closes residential jobs actually push commercial buyers away? Second, what does a property manager need to see on your website before they'll pick up the phone? And third, where do commercial buyers actually discover pest control providers, and how do you show up there?
Adam Bennett: So here's the uncomfortable part. Most of you already have commercial-ready service skills. The gap isn't in your trucks, it's on your website. Let me set this up with what we actually found. We ran the Cube Score, our proprietary scoring system for pest control sites, across a dozen companies actively trying to win commercial work. Restaurants, property management groups, HOAs, multi-family housing. The pattern was really consistent.
Elisabeth Pallante: That gap is wild. It's the same company, same domain, and the commercial side scores less than half. The residential pages have service details, pricing ranges, local proof. The commercial pages are usually one paragraph that says "we also serve commercial properties" and then a phone number.
Adam Bennett: Right. And the property manager reading that page isn't thinking, "Let me call and find out more." They're thinking, "This company doesn't actually do this," and they just move on.
Hannah Kilpatrick: It's the same thing I see on social. A pest control company posts a great before and after of a residential crawl space treatment. It gets tons of engagement from homeowners. But a property manager scrolling past that doesn't see themselves in it. They need to see a restaurant kitchen walkthrough, a multi-unit hallway treatment, a report being handed to a building owner. The visual language is completely different.
Adam Bennett: Elisabeth, what's driving this gap? Is it just that nobody builds these pages?
Elisabeth Pallante: Partly. But it's also that the commercial buyer has a completely different decision process. A homeowner sees a bug, panics, Googles, and calls whoever looks trustworthy in five seconds. A property manager has a vendor approval process. They need documentation for their files. They need to justify the spend to an owner or a board. Your website has to serve that process, or you never even make the shortlist.
Adam Bennett: I've talked to operators who say they win commercial work purely on relationships. The property manager knows a guy. Does content actually matter for commercial, or is it all referral?
Elisabeth Pallante: It's both. But here's what's changed. Even when a property manager gets a referral, the first thing they do is check your website. If the site looks residential only, the referral loses credibility. The site has to confirm what the referral promised.
Hannah Kilpatrick: And I'd add that LinkedIn is where a lot of those referral conversations start now, not just a phone call from a buddy. We'll get into that in segment three. But the point is that your online presence is part of the referral chain, whether you built it that way or not.
Adam Bennett: Alright, so the gap is real. Let's get specific. What does a commercial-ready page actually need?
Elisabeth Pallante: I think of it as five layers, and most companies have zero or one of them. First, a dedicated commercial services page. Not a bullet in a sidebar. A full page with its own content, structured for the commercial buyer.
Adam Bennett: What goes on that page that's different from residential?
Elisabeth Pallante: Property types you serve, specifically. Multi-family, restaurants, offices, retail, HOAs, whatever you're servicing. Name them. Then the compliance and documentation angle. Do you provide service reports? Can you meet health department standards? Do you carry commercial-grade insurance? A homeowner doesn't ask those questions. A property manager won't hire you without the answers.
Adam Bennett: That's layer one. What are the other four?
Elisabeth Pallante: The second layer is case studies or portfolio proof. Not testimonials from Mrs. Johnson about her ant problem. A short write-up that says "we service 14 multi-family properties in the metro area," or "here's how we reduced pest complaints at a 200-unit complex by 60% in one quarter." Those specifics really help frame what you're doing for potential clients.
Number three, a clear service agreement or proposal process. Property managers want to know how contracting with you actually works. If they have to guess, they'll pick the company that spelled it out.
Hannah Kilpatrick: Can I jump in on the proof piece? Because that's where social content plugs in too. A case study on your website is great, but a 60-second walkthrough of a commercial property you service, posted on LinkedIn, gets the same proof in front of property managers before they ever visit your site. The content does double duty.
Adam Bennett: Hannah, that's a really great point. What about layers four and five?
Elisabeth Pallante: The fourth layer is pricing transparency for commercial. This is where I know some operators will push back, but at minimum, show starting ranges or a "most contracts start at" figure. Commercial buyers are comparing three to five vendors in a spreadsheet. If you make them call just to learn the ballpark, a lot of times you're the one they skip.
Adam Bennett: I might disagree a little on this. Commercial pricing is so variable, a 12-unit complex versus a 200-unit high-rise, that I worry a starting number creates sticker shock or undersells the work. Some operators I talk to won't even touch commercial pricing on the site, and they still win bids.
Elisabeth Pallante: That's fair. And honestly, I've seen it work both ways. The ones who show ranges tend to get more qualified inquiries, fewer tire-kicker calls. But if the range is too wide, it can backfire. I think the sweet spot is showing pricing for your most common commercial tier and saying "custom quotes for larger properties." But I get why some operators hold off on the commercial side for pricing.
Adam Bennett: What's the fifth layer?
Elisabeth Pallante: A direct line to a commercial contact. Not the same form every homeowner fills out. Even just a separate "Request a Commercial Proposal" button that routes to a different inbox or CRM pipeline. It signals that you treat commercial as its own business, not an afterthought.
Adam Bennett: Hannah, where are property managers actually looking for pest control providers?
Hannah Kilpatrick: Three places, and they're not where most pest control companies are spending their time. First, LinkedIn. Property managers, facility directors, and HOA board members are on LinkedIn daily. They're not scrolling Instagram looking for pest tips. They're on LinkedIn looking at vendor recommendations in property management groups and reading posts from people they trust professionally.
Adam Bennett: How active does a pest control company need to be on LinkedIn for this to work?
Hannah Kilpatrick: Less than you'd think. Two posts a week is plenty. But here's the key. The content has to speak commercial, not residential. A post about "five signs you have termites in your home" does nothing on LinkedIn. A post about "how we reduced pest complaints at a 150-unit property by 40% in 90 days" gets shared in property management circles. The frame is everything.
Elisabeth Pallante: And that ties straight back to the Cube Score. The Authority side, which measures content depth and expertise signals, gets a huge boost from that kind of commercial-specific content on LinkedIn. It's not just social engagement. Search engines and AI systems pick it up as a credibility signal too.
Hannah Kilpatrick: The second place is Google, but different searches. Commercial buyers don't search "pest control near me." They search "commercial pest control for property management," "restaurant pest control service agreement," and "multi-family pest management company." If you don't have pages targeting those phrases, you're invisible to them.
Adam Bennett: Elisabeth, that sounds like a content play. How many commercial-focused pages does a company need?
Elisabeth Pallante: Start with three. A main commercial services page, one page for your highest-volume commercial property type, like multi-family or restaurants, and a commercial FAQ page. That's enough to rank for the long-tail searches Hannah just described. You can add more later, but three strong pages beat ten thin ones.
Hannah Kilpatrick: Third place, and this one surprised me. Local business associations and property management group directories. A lot of property managers use their local apartment association or chamber of commerce to find vendors. If you're a preferred vendor or listed in those directories, you show up where they're already looking. It's not flashy, but it converts.
Adam Bennett: Let me throw in a complication. Everything we've said assumes you want commercial accounts. And some operators shouldn't chase them yet. If your residential operations aren't tight, if you're not fully booked in your core market, going after commercial can dilute your focus and your margins. Commercial work is bigger contracts, but longer sales cycles and more demanding clients. It's not automatically better.
Elisabeth Pallante: That's an important qualifier. This episode is for the company that's ready to add commercial, not the one that should be fixing residential first.
Adam Bennett: Alright, here's your one thing to fix this week. Takes less than 15 minutes.
Elisabeth Pallante: Go to your website and search for the word "commercial." If it only appears as a bullet point on your main services page, or if it doesn't appear at all, write a 200-word paragraph describing the commercial property types you serve, the documentation you provide, and how a property manager can request a proposal. Publish it as its own page, even a simple one. That's the first layer. You can build from there.
Hannah Kilpatrick: While you're at it, post that same paragraph on LinkedIn with a photo of one of your trucks at a commercial property, with permission of course. Tag your city. That's two touchpoints in 15 minutes.
Adam Bennett: Hannah, that is such a great reminder that people are not taking content from their website and copying it over to social media. That seems like a really quick win. Well, here are three things you can take on your next drive.
Elisabeth Pallante: Number one, the content that wins homeowners actually pushes commercial buyers away. Property managers need different proof, different language, and a different path to contact you.
Number two, a commercial-ready website needs five layers: a dedicated page, case studies, a clear proposal process, pricing transparency, and a separate contact path. Most pest control sites have none of these.
Number three, commercial buyers find you on LinkedIn, through commercial-specific Google searches, and in local business directories, not the same channels that bring residential leads.
Adam Bennett: If you want help building the commercial side of your website, visit marketingthatactuallyworks.ai to get your free pest control marketing audit. We'll show you exactly what's working and what's costing you money.
Elisabeth Pallante: And get your Cube Score at thecubescore.com. It takes 60 seconds and shows you how your site scores across all six sides, including the Authority and Transparency dimensions where commercial pages usually fall short.
Adam Bennett: Subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts or Spotify so you don't miss next Tuesday's episode, Cube Score in the Wild: Reading Real Pest Control Sites Live.
Elisabeth Pallante: And if you got value today, leave us a five-star review. It helps other pest control operators find the show. And while you're there, let us know what you'd like to hear about next.
Adam Bennett: Thanks for joining us, Hannah.
Hannah Kilpatrick: I appreciate being here.
Adam Bennett: Thanks for listening to Pest Control Marketing That Actually Works. We'll see you next Tuesday.
