Innovation that Differentiates Smaller, More Nimble Firms from the Herd is the Unforeseen Benefit of Hiring Local Women and Minority-Owned Firms

NAWBO Chicago Member Rebecca Fyffe Shares Why Her Firm is Growing (And Outpacing the “Goliath” Firms!)

CHICAGO, IL / ACCESSWIRE / September 30, 2016 / Facility managers are seeking to diversify their supply chains by engaging local women and minority-owned firms to provide services and materials, and one unforeseen benefit is that these partnerships sometimes come with innovations that differentiate smaller, more nimble firms from the herd.

NAWBO Chicago member Rebecca Fyffe is a beekeeper and urban wildlife manager. Her firm, Landmark Pest Management, specializes in Integrated Pest Management (IPM) for the control of insects and rodents with a commitment to the environment and human health. As a research-based pest control firm, Landmark Pest Management uses scientific data and the results of field tests to inform their green pest control practices. The result is something that Fyffe’s firm calls “The Landmark Difference.” Leading with this has helped Fyffe’s firm grow. She’s expanded her operation to a full-time staff of 50 employees and 30 trucks on the road each day. “It’s exhilarating to know that as we grow, a greater number of people will work and live in greener, safer buildings,” she says.

Not your typical pest control technician, Fyffe operates a lab where she performs pesticide susceptibility studies to see which active ingredients she’ll use to treat a particular pest population. “The same species of cockroaches can be resistant to different products on opposite sides of the same block,” Fyffe explains. “I collect samples from any site where insects show resistance and I select the class of products to which the pests show the least genetic resistance. By testing representative samples of individual insect infestations, we can take a more targeted approach that ultimately reduces the amount of pesticides used and produces a better outcome for the facility.”

Fyffe says that national firms have scientists at their out-of-state headquarters, but generally not at their local branch offices, so facilities shouldn’t expect the same level of service from those firms that they can receive from her local firm. “Gigantic national firms change very slowly, so we find that we are five to 10 years ahead of them when it comes to methodology and research,” Fyffe explains.

Many institutions have come to rely on Landmark Pest Management, including; transportation authorities, public libraries, fire departments, police departments, water treatment facilities, courthouses, jails, school districts, airlines, downtown skyscrapers, grocery stores, multi-unit residential buildings, retail stores, and restaurants.

Fyffe’s firm has been called in to handle the most hard to treat bed bug infestations where other firms have failed. She says that Landmark’s ability to clean up the toughest cases is only partly due to its research-based approach. Managing the human component is equally as important as managing the insects.

Fyffe comments, “We have developed treatment protocols based on science and research. We target bed bugs inside cubicle walls and inaccessible wall voids where they hide. These techniques are part of why we can use less pesticides and still be successful where others fail. But, in order to be successful in treating a pest as complex as bed bugs, all of our clients’ stakeholders must also be engaged, and that’s where we really excel.”

Every Landmark program includes training regarding best practices for containment and response when pests infiltrate so that its clients have lean, systematic processes in place when pest issues arise. Fyffe says, “In the unexpected instance of a fire, facilities have an evacuation plan. Similarly, when bed bugs strike a workplace, a plan is needed for that too. We provide written plans and training materials to empower our clients with information they need to respond appropriately and avoid liability.”

When asked about how Landmark further differentiates itself from the larger firms, Fyffe frames her company’s approach as a David vs. Goliath scenario. “Policies change slowly in the giant firms, so once they invest in equipment or a way of doing things, they have to phase it out slowly over many years. When these Goliaths show up with that big tank sprayer and spray your baseboards preemptively, they’re giving you the same service your grandparents received. Not only are we more nimble, but just like David, we employ superior technology. We use biology, ecology, and targeted baits based on the science of the way insects feed. It’s a surgical, precise approach, rather than the shotgun approach still used by some of the largest firms whose technicians arrive carrying gleaming sprayer tanks,” she explains.

Fyffe says that Landmark’s technicians never spray baseboards as part of routine service because that spray becomes a pesticidal dust in the environment over time and it deposits on non-target surfaces. Her technicians instead carry various gels and crevice tools for a targeted approach that she asserts won’t coat your clothing, counter tops, and coffee mug in a pesticidal dust over years of service.

“Landmark’s IPM first encourages chemical-free pest control measures before turning to products that carry warnings of any kind,” says Fyffe, “like improved sanitation, the removal of food and harborage, and mechanical methods such as barriers, screens, sealants, door sweeps, pheromone traps, insect traps and vacuuming.”

The Department of Entomology at the University of North Carolina has conducted studies comparing differences in amounts of time required, cost, materials used, and efficacy of these two service types. What they found is that the IPM method generates significantly less pesticide residues and contamination of non-target surfaces and it is a viable and preferable alternative to old-fashioned pest control.

Fyffe asserts that facilities managers are savvier than ever before when it comes to indoor health and safety and the environment, and that’s why they’re choosing her company. When Landmark conducted a survey of facility managers 5 years ago, only 60 percent had heard of LEED Certification while 100 percent of the facility managers surveyed in 2016 were familiar with it. “Even facilities that aren’t LEED Certified are trying to be greener and most facilities are benchmarking their energy usage,” says Fyffe. “Our modern, greener IPM methods fit exactly with the direction facility managers are taking their facilities and the ways they are caring for the people who live and work in their buildings. We’re proud to be a part of that.”

Rebecca hopes that every facility manager will request an Integrated Pest Management approach, and she offers the following suggestions as benchmarks of a good IPM program:

Pesticides must not be the default treatment or the first line of treatment for an insect or rodent problem.
The removal of access to food, water, warmth, and harborage must be performed to reduce reliance on pesticides and rodenticides.
Structural improvements such as sealing gaps, cracks, and crevices must be performed to reduce reliance on pesticides and rodenticides.
When products need to be applied, the use of targeted applications such as bait gels and dusts applied to inaccessible wall voids must be the preferred method of application.
The application of pesticides may take place only after every other economically feasible means of reducing pest damage has been employed.
When a pesticide needs to be used, only the mildest available product may be applied, in the most targeted method possible, and in the lowest effective dose.
With adequate correction of structural deficiencies and rodent trapping, most rodent problems should be able to be well controlled without the use of rodenticide baits. When rodenticide baits are used as a knock-down agent for the immediate control of severe rodent problems, structural exclusion and rodent trapping must take place in conjunction. This reduces reliance on rodenticides over time, with the ultimate goal of eliminating the need for rodenticides, since rodenticides may have the undesirable potential of reaching non-target species such as birds of prey and other wildlife.

For more information, contact:

Rebecca Fyffe

Landmark Pest Management
Pest Control Powered by Science

research-based urban pest management

(773) 614-PEST

branches are located in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago and Arlington Heights, Illinois 60004

www.landmarkpest.com

About NAWBO:

The National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO) propels women entrepreneurs into economic, social and political spheres of power worldwide by:

Strengthening the wealth creating capacity of our members and promoting economic development within the entrepreneurial community
Creating innovative and effective change in the business culture
Building strategic alliances, coalitions and affiliations
Transforming public policy and influencing opinion makers

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-Reprinted with permission from the NAWBO Chicago September Newsletter

SOURCE: Landmark Pest Management

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