By Mark Hummel | Inspector Empire Builder | Pest Empire Builder
Before you invest more money into ads, SEO, or lead generation, ask yourself this: ‘Is your sales process actually ready to scale?‘ That’s the core message from our friends at Inspector Empire Builder (IEB) and Pest Empire Builder (PEB).
They work with inspection and pest control companies across the country, and the pattern is always the same. Businesses want more leads, but they’re leaking trust, conversions, and revenue because of broken internal processes and a lack of sales process optimization.
In this guest post, Mark shares where most businesses go wrong and what to fix before you start scaling.
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What to Fix in Your Sales Process Before Spending More on Leads
If your sales process is broken, more leads won’t fix it. That’s the truth most inspection business owners avoid. It’s easy to blame a lack of growth on lead flow, but the real problem is usually what happens after a lead arrives.
If your team isn’t converting those leads into paying clients consistently, you’re wasting money.
Before you invest another dollar into advertising, SEO, mailers, or agent visits, make sure your sales system is solid. Otherwise, you’re pouring water into a bucket with holes.
At IEB, we see this all the time. Businesses come to us thinking they need better marketing. But once we dig in, it becomes clear they’re losing leads due to unclear messaging, slow response times, or no follow-up at all.
Below are some common roadblocks when it comes to sales process optimization.
Start with intake.
What happens when someone calls your office? Who answers? What do they say? Do they sound confident and helpful, or do they rush through the conversation with nothing more than a price?
That first point of contact matters. It’s your moment to build trust. If a potential client doesn’t feel confident on that first call, they’re likely to move on. You need someone who can clearly explain your service, why it matters, and why it’s worth the price.
Next is your value story.
If your team can’t communicate why your service costs what it does, or what makes you different from the inspector charging seventy-five dollars less, you’re just another option on a list. And when clients don’t see a clear difference, they shop based on price.
That’s not a game you want to play.
The goal isn’t to lower your price. It’s to raise your clarity. When your team can explain your unique value with confidence, you start winning more jobs even when you aren’t the cheapest option.
Then comes the follow-up.
Most inspection companies lose leads that could have been booked with just a little persistence. If someone doesn’t commit during the first call, they’re often forgotten. But most people aren’t saying “no.” They’re just busy, distracted, or undecided.
This is where a simple follow-up process can change everything.
At IEB, we teach companies how to follow up using a combination of text, email, and phone. It doesn’t have to be aggressive. It just has to be consistent. A second or third touchpoint is often the one that seals the deal.
What happens when you fix intake, messaging, and follow-up?
You start converting more of the leads you already have, thanks to stronger sales process optimization.
You stop wasting opportunities. Your close rate goes up, your marketing becomes more efficient, and your calendar stays full more often.
That’s when it makes sense to spend more on lead generation. Not before.
At IEB, we call this “build before you scale.” It’s one of our core principles. If you scale too soon, you’re just magnifying the mess.
Sales systems that perform well are built on speed, clarity, and confidence. If your phones aren’t answered quickly, or your team can’t explain what you do, or they don’t sound sure of themselves, the client won’t be sure either.
Fix the backend. Then increase the volume. Sales process optimization helps ensure your backend can handle growth before you scale.
Take a hard look at your current sales process. Review calls. Track conversions. Ask yourself if your team has what they need to succeed. If the answer is no, start small. Write a new phone script. Create a simple follow-up email. Improve one part of your system this week.
You don’t need more leads. You need to close the ones already coming in.
What Most Pest Control Companies (And Probably Others) Get Wrong With Advertising
While inspection businesses struggle with closing leads, many pest control companies are wasting money before those leads even arrive.
It’s not that advertising doesn’t work. It’s that most pest companies do it wrong…they overlook messaging, targeting, and sales process optimization
They throw money at Google, Facebook, or direct mail and wait for the phone to ring. When it doesn’t, they blame the platform. But the problem isn’t the ad. The message is off. The targeting is too broad. The follow-up is missing.
Here’s what needs to change.
Most ads are too generic.
Saying things like “fast, affordable, family-owned” doesn’t make you stand out. In fact, it makes your ad invisible. It blends in with every other company saying the same thing.
You don’t sell pest control. You solve real problems. The person with ants in the kitchen. The homeowner who spotted a rat in the garage. Speak directly to one person with one problem. That’s how you get attention and build trust.
Many ads try to say too much.
Listing every service you offer in a single ad usually does more harm than good. When a message is overloaded, people get confused and scroll on.
People aren’t looking for a menu. They’re looking for a solution.
Pick one message and stick with it. Clarity converts.
Follow-up still matters here, too.
Just like in the inspection world, most pest companies stop after the first contact. Someone calls or fills out a form, and that’s the end of it. But people get distracted. They forget.
If you don’t follow up, you’re probably losing leads that would have booked with a little more effort.
Call them. Text them. Send a helpful reminder email. It doesn’t have to be complicated. It just has to exist.
And don’t forget to track results.
When we ask pest control owners which ads are performing best, most don’t know. They’re guessing.
That’s risky.
If you’re not using call tracking, unique landing pages, or asking callers how they found you, your marketing decisions are based on assumptions. That can cost you a lot more than a few clicks.
The bottom line: Don’t scale chaos.
Advertising works when your systems are ready. If your phones aren’t answered quickly, your booking process is slow, or your team isn’t trained to handle leads, you’re just speeding up the breakdown.
At PEB, we help pest control companies clean this up before they scale up.
Because real growth comes from better systems, not just more leads… when your messaging is focused, your processes are strong, and your follow-up is reliable, your marketing finally starts to work like it should.
Before you spend another dollar, ask yourself: Is this ad speaking to one person with one problem? Do we know what happens when they respond? Are we ready to handle that call?
If not, stop. Fix the foundation first. Then go build.
That’s how you stop wasting and start winning.
