All Clear Pest Control Case Study

It’s about time. 

Darren Hunsaker, the owner of All Clear Pest Control in Arizona, knew it was time, in 2016, to move old software and paperwork into the past and to get the Operations Suite from FieldRoutes, then known as PestRoutes. 

Ask him to describe how automation has improved his business and his life, beyond growth in number of customers and revenue, and there’s one simple answer

It’s about time. 

“Having our first kid (in 2015),” he says, “would have been a nightmare if I had to be on a laptop, transferring data and inputting data. We can run it anywhere and not have to input paperwork. That freed up time to be around for not just my kid’s birth but the whole week after. I wouldn’t have been able to function. I would have been catching up for two weeks of paperwork and everything. There was no one else to do it. That’s a huge one, being able to have time for that.”

Measuring Savings On The Clock

Fast forward to 2022, and All Clear and Hunsaker spend less time setting up customer profiles and subscriptions and inputting invoices with the FieldRoutes® Operations Suite. 

Appointment and payment reminders go out automatically, a major upgrade and time-saver over sending text mesages and making calls.

‘We can run it anywhere and not have to input paperwork. That freed up time to be around for not just my kid’s birth but the whole week after. I wouldn’t have been able to function. I would have been catching up for two weeks of paperwork and everything.’

Another significant factor, which Hunsaker calls “a huge thing,” is that processing credit card payments is made easier through FieldRoutes’ customer portal and AutoPay. No more copying and pasting of credit card numbers, no more rerunning cards from a previous batch.

“We have an insane amount of people using the website to make payments,” Hunsaker says, estimating that it’s up to 90% of All Clear’s customers. “That just reduced time in the office. We saved about 10 hours a week at that time. You had to do invoicing, scheduling, printing. It was a lot. We weren’t even that big. We’ve saved an insane amount of time.”

All Clear can measure customer conversions, canceled and rescheduled appointments, and add-on sales by technicians, plus it can evaluate reservice calls.

“We can track scorpions and how bad of a year it is,” Hunsaker says. 

Yes, scorpions.

“That’s a huge thing for Arizona people,” he says.

‘We have an insane amount of people using the website to make payments. ... We’ve saved an insane amount of time.’

For the record, All Clear made 49 retreats for scorpions by late October 2022, down from 84 a year earlier, which Hunsaker calls “fan-freakin’-tastic.” 

“If I didn’t automate those follow-ups on retreats, I would have to have my employee call every single one and know which one,” Hunsaker says. “She would have to look at the report for retreats and find out what the retreat was for and then go call. That’s not going to happen. A quick text and quick response are the easiest thing. And no one answers the phone.” 

“If you’re looking at it like a business owner, you’re seeing that you can automate things like that and save even more time and keep money in your pocket because you’re not losing customers.”

Growth For All Clear

All Clear is putting more money in its pockets, and it’s gaining customers. The business, which Hunsaker says aims for “controlled growth,” increased its number of customers 13.9% from 2019 to 2021 and grew revenue by 17.6% during the same period. 

Outside of work, the estimated 10 hours saved per week has allowed Hunsaker to spend time focused on his wife and his two young children. Hunsaker stayed attentive to his family’s needs while one of his children moved through and past a recent health issue. Swimming helped and became part of the family’s sports fare to go with the love any child has for running or riding a bike. 

“We have a lot of family, so it’s just spending time with family on the weekends,” he says. “It’s pretty much what we do all of the time.” 

He laughs at the notion of finding time for a hobby. But being president of the Arizona Pest Professional Organization, or AzPPO, seems to fill that void for him. 

“I love the industry because it is full of people that are amazing,” Hunsaker says. “They’re helpful. They literally will help with whatever you would like, even though you may be competitors. We don’t really believe that: Especially in Arizona, we help each other.”

Bigger Than You Are

FieldRoutes® software, besides appealing to Hunsaker because of its clean user experience and the ease of learning for employees, also offers a less-tangible benefit, notably for businesses with a more limited staff. All Clear Pest Control is in just one location, with three technicians and one office employee. 

“Making yourself look professional with using software to do that is huge,” Hunsaker says. “It makes you look like a respectable trade, which helps the whole industry. For a small company, it makes you look bigger than you are.” 

A second such benefit involves retaining employees, treating them well, and not letting the job encroach on their personal time. Hunsaker tells of a technician who left for another company with different operations software. One month later, Hunsaker says, the technician wanted to go back to All Clear. Hunsaker welcomed him. 

“When you look at using automation to retain customers, to retain employees, there’s a lot that you can do to make the company easier (to operate) and more profitable, not losing customers,” Hunsaker says. 

It’s about time.

Key Stats

• A minimum of 10 hours per week saved in office work. 

• Increased number of customers 13.9% from 2019 to 2021. 

• Grew revenue by 17.6% during the same period.

“Most people don’t realize we’re as small as we are because we don’t look it, especially with our software.”

Darren Hunsaker Owner, All Clear Pest Control allclearaz.com | 480.779.7378