Operations. My favorite thing to talk about. I know, I’m weird. Most people would rather talk about sales or marketing. But I’m obsessed with operations because that’s where your profit lives or dies.
I run Pest Badger, and we do over $10 million a year. And one of the biggest reasons we’ve been able to scale that fast is because I track technician performance religiously. Daily. Sometimes multiple times a day.
A lot of the software out there these days will automate some of this stuff for you. But there’s a lot of data that doesn’t automate, and you have to build spreadsheets for it. But there’s a way to track everything if you’re willing to put in the work.
And if you’re not tracking data down to the technician and route level, you’re missing out. You’re flying blind. You have no idea if your techs are performing well or if they’re sitting in a Target parking lot watching YouTube for two hours.
This was almost a non-negotiable for me. It took my team a minute to get it in place, but I was adamant that it got done. Because a lot of CRMs just don’t pull out the data accurately. You have to do a lot of it manually.
Let me show you exactly which KPIs I track for every technician and how I use that data to improve performance.
The Top 10 Technician KPIs You Need to Track
Here are the main KPIs I’m watching on a daily and weekly basis. Some of these are automated. Some require manual tracking. But all of them are critical.
1. Production Per Day (Per Truck, Per Technician, Per Route)
This is the number one thing you should be tracking. What’s the actual production value per technician per day?
I’m looking at what was on their route versus what they actually serviced. Did they complete everything they were supposed to? What was the total dollar value of the work they did?
This tells me if a tech is being productive or if they’re wasting time.
2. Number of Stops Per Day
This ties directly into production value. How many stops is the tech doing per day?
If they have a bunch of big jobs, they might have fewer stops but higher production value. If they’re doing a bunch of small jobs, they might need more stops to hit their production target.
I’m watching both metrics together to understand efficiency.
3. Completion Ratio
To me, this should be 100% all the time. But we all know that’s not how it works in the real world.
Customers reschedule. Trucks break down. Things happen. People have normal lives.
But I’m still pushing for 100% completion, and I want everyone getting their scheduled jobs done. If a tech’s completion ratio is consistently low, we need to figure out why.
Are they slow? Are they skipping jobs? Are they running into issues that we can help solve?
4. Callbacks Per Technician
This is huge, and a lot of people miss this one. You need to track callbacks per tech and dig into why they’re happening.
Where were the callbacks? Which part of the house? Which product were they using? Did the tech leave good notes? Did they take pictures?
And here’s the thing. It’s not always the technician’s fault. Maybe you did a mosquito job and it rained ten minutes later. That’s not on the tech. But you still need to track it.
Because if you’re doing a ton of callbacks and not realizing it, you’re losing a lot of profit.
And if you notice that one technician has a way higher callback rate than everyone else, it’s time to do a ride along. Maybe they’re missing something. Maybe they’re using the wrong product. Maybe they’re not reading the label correctly. Maybe they’re rushing.
Whatever it is, you need to figure it out and fix it.
5. Skips and Reschedules
We’re watching this closely too. Skips and reschedules aren’t always on the technician, but sometimes they are.
A skip might be because they couldn’t get into the backyard. The gate was locked. The key was missing. They’ll have to come back tomorrow.
A reschedule might be because the customer wasn’t home or the customer had people over and asked to reschedule.
But we’re tracking both to see if there are patterns or issues we need to address.
6. Cancellations Per Route
This is a big one because cancellations per route can tell you a lot about technician performance.
Is the tech doing something wrong? Are they not knocking on the door and introducing themselves to each customer? Are they not showing the customer pictures of what they did? Are they rushing too fast because they just want to get out of there? Are they not doing a good job?
A million things could happen. And if you’re not watching cancellations closely per tech, it can get out of hand quick.
If one tech has way more cancellations than everyone else, that’s a red flag.
7. Average Value Per Stop
This one isn’t always on the technician, but we’re still watching it very closely.
I’m shooting for a specific average production value per day. And if I notice that a couple jobs were lower than expected, I’m looking at the sales team first. Whether that’s internal or external sales.
Did they measure the property wrong? Maybe they measured it from satellite but when the tech got there, something just didn’t seem right. Maybe the square footage is way off. Maybe the house was measured wrong.
Lots of things could happen. And we have systems in place now to prevent this, but it still happens occasionally.
If a tech shows up and the price is way too low for the size of the house, that affects their average value per stop. So we’re tracking it.
8. Sales Per Route (Upsells)
I like my technicians to get at least one upsell per week. That should be the bare minimum.
We track this on a weekly basis with a sales report. It’s pretty easy to pull. It tells you if each technician got any upsells or not.
We want our techs selling. They should be looking for opportunities. Rodent activity. Termite signs. Missing screens. Whatever it is.
And we run competitions with technicians, not just sales teams. Competitions keep them engaged. They’re fun. And they drive performance.
9. Reviews Per Technician
If a technician wants to move up in ranks in our company, getting good reviews is a great way to do it.
It means they’re engaged with customers. They’re doing a good job. They’re talking to the customers. They’re explaining what they did. They’re showing pictures.
And this ties back to cancellations too. Techs who get good reviews are usually doing a really good job, so their cancellation rates are lower.
10. Referrals Per Technician
Is the technician asking for referrals? Are they talking to neighbors? Are they giving out referral codes?
All of these things a technician should be doing throughout their job. But if we’re not tracking it, we’ll never know if it’s actually happening.
What doesn’t get tracked doesn’t get managed. And what doesn’t get managed doesn’t improve.
The Tools We Use to Track All This Data
Most of this data is pulled automatically per day. At the end of the day or the next morning, we have reports that show all these KPIs.
We use FuseRoutes for most of the routing and scheduling data. A lot of the KPIs can be pulled from there.
For other data, we use Bravo and Quickie. You can pull reports from those too.
And we automate it so the reports send via email the next morning. It’s in my inbox when I wake up so I can check everything.
Some of the data still requires manual tracking, but we’ve automated as much as possible.
How I Connect Technician Performance to Customer Satisfaction
All of our technicians are on commission based pay. Performance pay.
Let me tell you why. This takes me back to my first real job in carpentry. I worked with a lot of people who were good employees. Skilled. Been there forever. But they weren’t very motivated.
I was a green horn. Young kid. Doing all the shit work. I get it. But I worked them ten to one. And they knew it too.
And I thought, we live in America. It’s capitalism at its finest. The best person wins. I don’t care if you’ve been with me for 30 days, three months, six months, or 30 years. The person who wants to do the most work should get paid the most.
So we incentivize our guys to perform.
Now, some people ask, “If they’re just rushing to get through jobs, how do you make sure they do a good job?”
Simple. If they have to go back and do callbacks for free on their own time, they’re not going to like that. So they learn real quick to do it right the first time.
Here’s how our pay structure works. Techs get a percentage of production. They get a percentage of upsells. If they get reviews, they get paid per review.
And if customers want to tip them for doing a really good job, they can. I’ve seen techs get tips, brownies, drinks, Packer tickets, all kinds of stuff. It happens all the time.
If they’re leaving good notes on door hangers, going above and beyond, customers notice. And they reward it.
You wouldn’t be able to incentivize technicians like this if you weren’t tracking the KPIs. If you’re not tracking, you just don’t know who’s performing and who’s not.
And here’s the thing. You could be paying someone hourly who looks like a great employee. Shows up every day on time. Gets their route done. But what you don’t know is that they’re hanging out in a parking lot watching YouTube for two hours in the middle of the day.
That’s why we track data. That’s why we have GPS in all our trucks. Which, by the way, all trucks should have GPS. Ours have GPS, video, audio, everything.
Our insurance company gives us a break when we have those systems in the trucks. And even if they didn’t, it’s an easy way to pitch it to employees because the insurance discount makes it a no-brainer.
How to Incentivize High Performing Technicians
The best way to incentivize high performers is to let them choose what they want.
If you’re running competitions to keep them engaged and have fun, set a budget. Maybe a couple hundred dollars for the week. Then let the winner choose. Do they want cash? Do they want shoes? Do they want a branded shirt? Do they want swag?
Give them the choice.
But pay for performance is by far the best long term incentive. Period.
Now, here’s what I need to warn you about. If you’re listening to this and you have a bunch of underperforming technicians, and you decide to change your pay structure to performance based, you’re going to lose some employees.
I promise you that. It’s going to happen.
Some people are going to quit because they can’t meet your production standards. Others are going to fight you on it because they don’t want to work that hard.
Let them go.
What you’re going to do is create a culture of great technicians who want to work there and want to make good money. You’re going to attract high performers and weed out low performers.
That’s how you build a great team. You build a culture that rewards performance. And you track the data to prove who’s performing and who’s not.
Why Most Companies Don't Track This Stuff
I know what you’re thinking. “Jonas, this sounds like a lot of work. I don’t have time to build spreadsheets and track all this data.”
You’re right. It is a lot of work. Especially at first.
But here’s the thing. If you don’t track this stuff, you have no idea what’s happening in your business. You’re just hoping your techs are doing a good job. You’re hoping they’re being productive. You’re hoping they’re not wasting time.
Hope is not a strategy.
The companies that scale to $10 million and beyond are the ones that track data obsessively. They know exactly what’s happening. They know which techs are crushing it and which ones are underperforming. They make data driven decisions instead of gut decisions.
That’s the difference between a small local company and a real business.
Start Tracking These KPIs This Week
Look, I know I just threw a lot at you. Ten different KPIs. Multiple tools. Performance based pay structures. GPS tracking. All of it.
But you don’t need to implement everything at once. Start with the basics.
Track production per day. Track completion ratio. Track callbacks. Just those three will give you a ton of insight.
Then add more KPIs as you get comfortable. Build out your reporting. Automate what you can.
Over time, you’ll have a system that gives you complete visibility into technician performance. And that visibility will help you scale faster, improve quality, reduce callbacks, and build a team of high performers.
If you want to learn more strategies for building a million dollar pest control business, join our free Facebook group, Pest Control Millionaires. We’ve got over 2,000 active members sharing what’s working every day. And if you want the complete playbook for operations, marketing, and sales, grab a copy of our book, Zip Code Kings.
Now go start tracking your technician KPIs and build a team of high performers.
