Luke Rambo, ACE, owner and president of Rambo Pest Control in Puyallup, Wash., rearranged the décor in the entryway of the company’s headquarters while employees worked from home during the coronavirus pandemic.
Contest provides cool pics
Adorning the walls are shiny square photos that are metal prints of winning entries from a company-wide Pest Pic of the Month contest. To enter, technicians snap photos with their cell phone cameras, and submit their favorites into a company-wide group chat; there’s no limit to the number of photos they can submit. Each winning photo must be:
- Pest control-related.
- A quality, frameable image.
- Interesting to look at.
“We instituted this contest in early 2017, when we realized our technicians kept their most important sales tool in their pocket all too often,” Rambo said. “Clients never go into their crawlspaces or attics, and if we can’t bring them to the areas where we do our work, we can at least show them photos of the work we are doing and the damage caused by the pests we are treating for.”
To help encourage participation, each winner gets to spin a prize wheel for a chance at $50, $100 or $500, and the winning image is printed on metal and added to the wall.
“The Pest Pic of the Month contest has been a huge success,” he adds. “We now have an amazing library of pest images we can use for training or social media posts, or to decorate our office, and our techs have their phones with them constantly, waiting for that next photo op.”
At Rambo Pest Control’s headquarters, a display case of pest-damaged materials are used for training and reference purposes. Plus, there’s a dragon skull. PHOTO: LUKE RAMBO
Damage on display
One of the three display cases in the Rambo Pest Control entryway company features pieces of pest-damaged materials. There’s wood damaged by carpenter ants, shipworms, and subterranean and dampwood termites, as well as pipes and other materials with holes gnawed by rats. There’s even a dragon skull!
Another display case includes a collection of pinned insect specimens assembled by the company’s service manager, whereas another shows off old pesticide containers found on job sites.
Collection comes in handy
“The best part of having this reference collection and these metal prints of pest images is taking them to elementary school career day,” Rambo said. Every year, he visits his children’s school for a career day presentation about the amazing opportunities in the pest control industry.
“They love it, and I love watching their faces when I tell them stories of how we slay the dragon,” he laughs. “One year after presenting on career day, a second grader came up to me and asked for my autograph. Best day ever!”
The entryway of Rambo Pest Control in Puyallup, Wash., features photos taken by employees as part of a company-wide contest, as well as posters of Pest Management Professional’s issue covers. PHOTO: LUKE RAMBO