Three impressive candidates made it to the final round of the inaugural Pest Technician of the Year award but only one pest manager took home the award.
Professional Pest Manager is pleased to announce the 2023 winner of the Pest Manager of the Year award is Josh Thompson from Brisbane. Mr Thompson has recently moved up from Adelaide and set up his new business, Mister Pest.
The two other finalists, and highly commended, were Roming Auv from Total Guard Pest Control, also in Brisbane, and Jason Clark from Verminate Pest Control in Melbourne.
The winners were announced at the gala dinner of the inaugural Termite Professional Conference on the Sunshine Coast.
Now in its second year, the award recognises those that are actually providing the pest management services; those dealing with the pest problems on site and interacting with the customers.
“The award is already starting to develop a certain prestige and can be leveraged by the winner and the business they work for as a powerful marketing tool,” said Dr Phil Ridley, director of BD Publications who run Professional Pest Manager magazine.
With Mr Thompson recently moving up to Brisbane to set up a new business, Mister Pest, winning this award is very timely.
“I feel honoured to have won the award, and I will definitely put it to use within my business,” said Mr Thompson.
“As I’m building a new business in Brisbane my hope is that the award will open up opportunities which would normally be very hard to achieve. I know how hard it is to gain new business clients; mentioning the award has helped. It has already been beneficial in helping to gain real estate clients. I have plans to expand my business in the next 12 months and I feel that I am in a very strong position to do so now.”
The competition involved the completion of a short but challenging online quiz that included pest identification and treatment questions, a submission of customer reviews and a panel interview for the finalists.
As winner, Mr Thompson received an all-expenses trip to the Termite Professional Conference and the runners up each received a $250 voucher to a training event of their choice.
“Much like last year, the finalists all excelled in their approach to pest management, attention to detail and their customer service skills. Given that we are a service industry this is essential for success,” commented Dr Ridley.
“We were really pleased with the number of entrants, which was up on the good number from last year. However, we would like to see some more female technicians throwing their hat in the ring in 2024,” Dr Ridley added.
Professional Pest Manager would like to thank Agserv for its continued support in sponsoring the competition.
