Adam Bennett: One of our pest control clients took more than 500 calls last quarter. Miss just one in four, and that's about $4,000 a month going to the next company on Google. Most owners think they have a lead problem. They don't. They have an answering problem. And the fix doesn't take a new hire.
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 20 years we've helped pest control companies stop wasting money and start growing.
Adam Bennett: And Emily Porter is back with us. She builds and fixes our clients' websites. She's the expert in all things websites.
Emily Porter: Thanks. Which means I'm also the one who finds the chat bubble sitting right on top of your call button on mobile.
Adam Bennett: It's a great point. Today's episode is ChatBots and Live Chat: Converting Website Visitors 24/7. Three questions we're going to answer today.
Elisabeth Pallante: First, how many leads is your phone losing, and can chat catch them? Second, what should a chatbot actually say, and what should it never say? Third, what has to happen in the 15 minutes after a chat lead comes in?
Adam Bennett: Okay, let's start with that number I just threw out. If customers come to your site and they can't call you or talk to you right then, you're going to lose a lot of them. Maybe something happened at 11 p.m. and your office is closed. How are you going to convert that customer?
So before the math, let's do a quick test. We each wrote down a guess to the questions we're presenting today. Out of every 10 calls, how many does a typical pest control company miss? What do you all think?
Elisabeth Pallante: Out of 10, my guess is at least half. I'd say at least five.
Emily Porter: I'd guess two to three.
Adam Bennett: I was going to guess about half as well. And here's why this number matters. The client I mentioned takes about 170 calls a month. Say they're better than average and only miss one in four. That's about 40 calls. If one in three would have booked, that's 13 jobs. At $300 for a first service, that's about $4,000 a month. That's before you count any renewals. That's just new business coming in.
Elisabeth Pallante: And most owners never even look, right? CallRail and most phone systems already show missed calls, and nobody opens that report.
Emily Porter: And say you missed the call, and then your callback to the customer goes unanswered too. An automatic text goes out: "Sorry we missed you, how can we help?" And now it's a dead conversation. It just leads to nothing.
Adam Bennett: Absolutely. That's where website chat can come in. There are so many good options that help nurture that customer even when nobody is physically there to talk. A customer just wants to know, "I've been seen, and here are my next steps." Instead, a text goes out saying "We've got your message," and the customer has no idea what's going on or what happens next.
Elisabeth Pallante: This is owned demand. You already paid for that call with your site, your reviews, and your truck. Dropping it at that point is the most expensive thing in your marketing.
Adam Bennett: And some people are not going to leave a voicemail, right, Emily? Some people just don't want to leave a voicemail and wait for someone to contact them. Personally, I'd rather move on to the next place, one that will connect with me and say, "You've got an appointment at such and such," or tell me when to expect a call back. If I just leave a voicemail, I don't know if anybody's going to call me back. So my problem's still not solved.
Emily Porter: I will literally hang up on a voicemail and go to the next company.
Elisabeth Pallante: For those people who hang up, like ourselves sometimes, it's way easier to type a couple of lines. It's an easier access point.
Adam Bennett: And you've already paid for that lead, right, Emily?
Emily Porter: Yep.
Adam Bennett: So dropping it is probably the most expensive thing in your marketing. You've already paid for that Google ad, or for SEO or AI mentions, and somebody reached out and nobody's there.
Emily Porter: And then you're losing money on the job and on your ad at the same time.
Elisabeth Pallante: So the takeaway here is that you really don't need more leads until you stop dropping the ones who are already calling you. Patch the hole in the bucket first.
Emily Porter: For sure. So say you fix the phone. There's still a group of people who will never call. They'll type two lines at 10 p.m., or they'll leave. That's who chat is for. And most chat widgets I open start with the worst first question: "How can I help you?"
Elisabeth Pallante: It's true, because at that point the customer has to do all the work. There's no lead-in.
Emily Porter: Right. So here's what we build instead. Three questions. What's bugging you? Because it's bugs. Where's the property? What's the best number to reach you? And then it stops talking.
Elisabeth Pallante: We have a couple of other quick questions we each wrote our answers to. Should a five-truck company have a bot or a live person on chat? And should the bot ever type a price? What did you say?
Emily Porter: I think a bot for a five-truck company, for sure. Not only a bot, but as a catch-all. You may not have someone available 24/7 like a larger company with a call center. If it's a smaller company, have a net there. That's my opinion.
Elisabeth Pallante: And do you think the bot should ever type a price, Emily?
Emily Porter: I think that one depends. If you have your price listed on your website and the bot can back that up, maybe. But it's a fine line.
Adam Bennett: I think the company should have a chatbot with some AI built into it. A lot of people don't want to interact with AI, but if you do it right and tell people, "You're interacting with our AI, but we're here to help. We're here to get you scheduled and tell you our pricing," and let them know those are estimates, because that's really important.
If a customer knows the information is going somewhere, and somebody's going to reach out to confirm an appointment, and they know when that confirmation is coming, that works. Say this is happening in the middle of the night and the bot says, "Somebody will reach out by 9:30 in the morning." I think that's perfectly acceptable. The customer says, "Okay, I can go to bed. I know somebody's going to reach out." You're taking care of them.
Elisabeth Pallante: It's like putting a load of laundry in. You can sit back and wait. You know it's going to come out clean. Something's happening on the other end.
Adam Bennett: That's great. And by giving them a pricing structure, it lets them know what to expect.
Elisabeth Pallante: I agree with both of you. A five-truck company should probably have a bot. It's going to help fill those gaps, like we discussed. Pricing is always a touchy point, but we push our pest control operators to publish some kind of pricing, even if it's just a "starting at" price for general pest control. So, Emily, to your point, if you've got pricing listed on your site, the bot should share it too. Not as a quote for that person, but as "this is the starting price." If you don't have pricing yet, add it to your site, and then, like Adam said, include it in the bot.
Emily Porter: I will absolutely go to a company where I can find pricing on the website. I skip over the companies that don't have pricing. I want to know what I'm getting into.
Elisabeth Pallante: And that's what the studies show. We did an entire episode on how much better that converts. I think it's about 40 percent, if I remember correctly.
So what about the design side of chat, Emily? Do pre-designed buttons work better than typing? What have you seen?
Emily Porter: We said a minute ago that a lot of chatbots open with "How can I help you?" or "What do you need today?" That requires you to type, to spell, and to think hard. So the more options you can give people as buttons, the better. Ants, termites, wasps, the specific things your company covers. Then you just tap a button instead of typing out your answer.
Elisabeth Pallante: I'd even say if the buttons are there, people might click more. Maybe you have a big ant problem, but then you think, "I have seen holes in my deck. I think I have carpenter bees," and you click on something you might not have thought of in the urgency of the other problem. What about mobile? How does that work?
Emily Porter: Just make sure your chat button doesn't cover your best lead source, which is click-to-call. Keep it well spaced out and easy to use. One thing I've seen on mobile is I'll scroll into a site and the entire chat pops up and covers at least half my screen. It annoys me. So keep it on mobile, keep it smaller, but don't make it extremely prominent. That's the best way to go.
Adam Bennett: I'd even add a button up front. You already know somebody might be looking for residential or commercial, so maybe you start there. Residential or commercial? Then list the top pests they're looking to treat. Maybe even have a "call me back" button that takes their name, email, and phone number and passes it to a live person or a technician who can pick up in the truck. We use a system called HubSpot with a lot of our customers that can pass that information directly to a live person while the visitor is still on the website.
I did want to back up for a second, though. If you're a two-truck company, can you afford to lose some of these calls? With a bigger company, five, 10, 15 trucks, maybe losing a lead every once in a while isn't a big deal. But if you've got two trucks and not enough people to answer everything, maybe a chatbot is a good solution for you.
Elisabeth Pallante: Absolutely, especially with how accessible they are now. With AI, it's a very different game, and it's much easier to add. And it should sound like your office manager, not a robot, which is also easier now with how fast AI is moving. Keep it short and friendly, and mention your company's name.
Emily Porter: For sure. And like we said, fast response is one of the big things. Regardless of where the lead comes from, if you let it sit and don't follow up, you've got a higher chance of losing it. Making sure you have a fast response time is huge in all of this.
Adam Bennett: Absolutely. Okay, so what about when your chatbot makes stuff up? You've probably been on other websites where the chatbot answers your question, but it's a little off, and you think, "I don't think that's actually your policy." That can be risky. But if you make sure your chatbot only answers questions the right way, it can be really valuable. It comes down to setting up the chatbot correctly.
Elisabeth Pallante: So here's where it gets uncomfortable. The new AI chatbots don't just ask three questions. They answer. And sometimes they answer wrong.
Adam Bennett: That's right. Here's an example from Air Canada. They found out the expensive way. Their website chatbot told a grieving customer he could claim a bereavement discount after the trip, but that wasn't their policy at all. The AI made it up. The airline argued the bot was responsible for itself, and the tribunal said no: it's part of your website, and you're on the hook.
Elisabeth Pallante: So ultimately, the bot speaks for you. That leads to the fourth question we all did blind takes on. Would you let an AI bot answer "Is this safe for my dog?" It's a common question.
Emily Porter: Definitely not everything. I'd be careful there, for sure.
Adam Bennett: "Is this pesticide safe for my dog?" I'd probably load that information into what your chatbot uses. But I'd also have the chatbot say, "Just double check," and put a disclaimer on there. Or do you even let your chat talk about that? Is that what you're asking? Do you let the chat give that kind of information, or do you say, "We'd rather you talk to one of our technicians, and we'll give you more information"?
Elisabeth Pallante: Right, exactly. That was my take, because I feel like there's a gray area here, and I'm not sure how AI would run with it. A pretty typical answer is that we apply everything according to the label guidelines, which usually means some level of safety. But depending on the treatment, you'd need to talk to a tech about the details, and about how you might prefer to have it done. So I'd be careful with that one.
Emily Porter: I think so too. Kids and pets are things that could be a liability, and you have to be careful. Loading the information on the front end is good, but use disclaimers for sure.
Adam Bennett: Some of the chat systems we use on our sites let us say, "Only train your model on what's on the website." So it pulls the information from your website. You can also say, "Only use the information I give you." So we can load in frequently asked questions or a set of information and tell it, "Stay within these guardrails. Don't venture off. And if there's a question that isn't answered here, tell them to talk to us directly, and we'd love to set up an appointment."
Elisabeth Pallante: And to be fair, it's the same thing AI search does. ChatGPT reads your site to decide whether to recommend you, and your own bot reads it to answer customers. So one set of pages is feeding both.
Emily Porter: You really want to point it at your website, for sure, like you said.
Adam Bennett: Back in Episode 38, we talked about an AI-built site that scored really high on the Structure side of our Cube Score because it was answering exactly the questions people wanted answered. That's really important in your marketing. Make sure you're answering every question a customer would ask on your website. If you are, your chatbot is just one more extension of the content you already have.
Emily Porter: And you never want it to quote a treatment, guarantee, or promise anything. Same with safety questions. If those come up, use the disclaimer or send them to a person.
Elisabeth Pallante: What would you say is important to do before launching the chatbot, Emily?
Emily Porter: Have your office manager ask it at least 20 real questions your phone team hears every week. If you have someone who answers your phones regularly, have them ask the questions the way customers ask them, and see what it answers. Make sure it's all accurate. Maybe 20, maybe 40. Test it thoroughly before you launch.
Elisabeth Pallante: So the bottom line is that your bot speaks for you. Limit what it says, have it pull accurately from your site, set limits on what it's allowed to answer, and only let it say what you'd actually sign off on.
Adam Bennett: And if your chatbot hands off to somebody, make sure there are guardrails there too. If you don't want to be called at 10 p.m., pick the time you stop talking to people in person, and have the bot say, "Somebody's going to contact you at this time." Then that person knows they'll hear from you and can go to bed knowing it'll be fixed in the morning.
Okay, so the bot did its job. It has a name, a pest, and a phone number. But now it's 9 p.m., and like we said, you really don't want to take a call. Elisabeth, what happens when somebody can't talk to a person?
Elisabeth Pallante: This was another question we all wrote answers to. A chat lead comes in at 9 p.m. When do you respond? I struggle with this one. I grew up in a small business, and I know how hard it is to carve out time for your own life. So there's a mix here. If you've set up this bot to help save your sanity and you're not looking at it, then it's okay to let it sit. If you've already seen that message come through at 9 p.m., I think it's fine to send a text that says, "We'll get to you first thing in the morning," at 8 a.m. or whenever you open. So I'm splitting the difference. If you're not looking, it's great to take a break as a small business owner. But if you've seen it anyway, it's not a big deal to send a text, and then it's off your mind. What do you think?
Emily Porter: I think there's a fine line, like you said. It depends on how you want to run your business, and on setting expectations: these are our business hours, and we'll contact you in the morning. Instead of sending a manual text, you could have an automated text after 8 p.m. that says, "We'll follow up with you by 8 or 9 a.m.," or whenever your start time is. But the biggest thing is making sure that follow-up happens and doesn't get forgotten.
Elisabeth Pallante: I like that. I like the automated text better.
Adam Bennett: Something some of our larger customers use is a call center. After hours, their phone rings to a call center, so they're not losing any of those customers. You can have your chat forward to that call center too. If somebody needs to talk to a person right away, the chat takes their information and passes it to the call center, who can talk to them immediately.
Elisabeth Pallante: You can also route by service. Termite chats go to whoever does inspections, and general pest goes to the office. That divides it up and helps the follow-ups actually happen.
Adam Bennett: Right. And I think it's really important to track these as chat leads. That way you know what's working. Are we closing more leads because the chat is there? If you're tracking leads through chat and you're not closing any, maybe it's time to rethink how your chat talks to customers.
Emily Porter: Making sure it's effective and actually hooks the customer at the end. Just like the text we talked about earlier, where it trails off and there's no follow-up. Make sure it's actually closing jobs.
Adam Bennett: Elisabeth, I was talking to you earlier about that Harvard Business Review study on lead response. Do you remember that statistic?
Elisabeth Pallante: Yes, I think it was from 2011. Companies that tried to reach a lead within an hour were nearly seven times more likely to qualify it than companies that waited even an hour longer. In that same article, they audited about 2,200 companies. The average response time was 42 hours, and 23 percent never answered at all. So if you're answering at all, you're ahead of the game, and it's going to help your numbers.
Adam Bennett: Right. So, Emily, if a chat comes in at 9 p.m. and you don't get back to them until 8:30 or 9 the next morning, you're doing great, especially if you've got a system in place. There are a lot of pest control companies that don't follow up on leads at all. Somebody emails or chats, and they just never follow up.
Emily Porter: The follow-up is the hardest part. It's not even getting the leads. We'll see great leads coming in and we're able to track them, but the follow-up is where it falls off.
Elisabeth Pallante: I'd also say part of the game here is sustainability. We've seen owners who hit it really hard, trying to answer really fast and working all hours. It's a busy job anyway, and then they try to follow up inside a really tight window. A lot of times that's like a crash diet. You can do it for a short time, and then you wind up binging later. That happens with owners who try so hard, so fast, and it's just not sustainable. So like you said, Adam, if you can follow up the next morning, that's wonderful. If you can keep that pace, keep it.
Adam Bennett: And just remember, a chat lead is a phone call that just hasn't happened yet. So make it happen as fast as possible.
Elisabeth Pallante: So if you're going to fix one thing this week, open your phone log or CallRail and count last month's missed calls. Just the count.
Adam Bennett: Then multiply it by your average first job. Write that number on a sticky note by the phone. That's what chat is competing for.
Emily Porter: And if you already have chat, open your site on your phone and make sure the chat bubble isn't on top of your call button, or popping open at the bottom of your screen and covering other things.
Elisabeth Pallante: Make sure it doesn't make you angry immediately.
Emily Porter: Yes.
Elisabeth Pallante: If this helped, follow the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. New episodes come out every Tuesday, and you won't have to go looking.
Adam Bennett: Okay, let's look at these again. Did we make the case on these three?
Elisabeth Pallante: Number one: fix the leak before you buy more leads. Count your missed calls, multiply by your average first job, and set up a text-back so an unanswered call becomes a conversation. Number two: use the Three-Question Bot. What's bugging you, where's the property, and what's the best number? Then hand it off. Your bot never quotes a treatment, promises a guarantee, or answers a safety question directly. Number three: a chat lead is a phone call that hasn't happened yet. Send it to a phone, not an inbox, and call back.
Adam Bennett: If you want help putting this to work, visit marketingthatactuallyworks.ai for your free pest control marketing audit. We'll show you exactly what's working and what's costing you money.
Elisabeth Pallante: And to see how your site reads to AI search, get your free Cube Score at thecubescore.com. While you're there, grab our 20-point Pest Control Marketing Checklist.
Adam Bennett: And if you got value today, leave us a five-star review. It helps other pest control operators find the show. Next Tuesday, we're talking about the year-end marketing push, our Q4 strategy episode. Emily, thanks so much for joining us today.
Emily Porter: Anytime. Go check your call button.
Adam Bennett: Thanks for listening to Pest Control Marketing That Actually Works. We'll see you next Tuesday.
