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When Jimmy Allgood founded Allgood Pest Solutions in Dublin, Ga., in 1974, he built leads by calling everyone he knew in the phone book. While the company has grown to become a multimillion-dollar business serving Atlanta and other large markets in the southeastern United States, Allgood has kept the same basic philosophy toward running the business.

“I’m an entrepreneur, not a corporate businessman,” Allgood says. “I think we’ve grown to being more of a major corporation, but I really see myself as more of a person-to-person guy. I enjoy dealing with people and building the business.”

Allgood still builds leads using a personal touch and by networking, recommendations and repeat business. “The gist of our business is people helping people, and we try to convey that to all of our employees,” he says.

The company provides residential and commercial pest control and termite control services throughout Georgia, as well as portions of Florida, South Carolina, Tennessee and Alabama.

A Family Legacy

Allgood Pest Solutions’ focus on personal relationships and close connections with customers is an extension of the company’s origins as a family-owned company. In addition to Allgood, the company’s other partners and owners include his son Lanny Allgood; his cousin and company President Bubba Tindol; Bubba’s sons Chuck and Mike; and another cousin, Perry.

For Allgood and Bubba Tindol, the pest control business is a family legacy, as both of their fathers founded a company shortly after World War II. That business sold to ORKIN, where Bubba Tindol and his father worked before starting his their own business in Atlanta in 1967. Tindol sold the company to Waste Management in 1988, and remained there along with his sons until 1990, when they joined forces with Allgood’s Dublin, Ga.-based business. The union of the Atlanta-based Tindols with Allgood’s existing business in Dublin – about 130 miles away – greatly expanded Allgood Pest Solutions’ territory, Allgood says.

“I think we’re set apart in that we have a large amount of our family members who work in the business, and we try to treat all of our employees like family,” Allgood says. “We’re not known for having the largest business, but we are known as one of the most respected in our area, and we have about as high of an integrity level as we can, and that translates into earning the trust of our customers.”

Allgood notes Bubba Tindol’s father Red as one of his primary mentors in the pest control business, along with Bob Russell, a former ORKIN executive he succeeded as chairman of the Georgia Structural Pest Control Commission 20 years ago. “(Russell) was a no-nonsense person; what he said was what he did and you could take that to the bank,” he adds. “He followed all the rules and legal regulations, and that’s what I’ve done.”

One of the company’s current goals is to developing its next generation of leadership. “As owners, we’ve recognized a need to grow our leadership team beyond our capabilities and include more individuals,” Chuck Tindol says. “In this past year, we’ve undergone several leadership development training and initiatives to build that team.”

These initiatives include strategic planning retreats, long-range planning and leadership training for mid-level managers, he notes.

Steady Growth

Allgood Pest Solutions’ leadership team is being expanded as a result of the company’s growth and future expansion plans. The company’s expansion into new markets over the past 20 years has come about through acquisition, a tool it is looking to use further. 

“Our goal is to continue to be recognized among our peer and customers as a quality service company that gives back to our industry and our community,” Chuck Tindol says. “We have plans to continually grow in our current markets and expand in some of our neighboring states, but we do not want to sacrifice quality of service for that growth.”

In 2008, the company began to focus on growing its commercial business, in part to address a decline in the residential pest termite control sector. This is a result of the overall national decline in real estate transactions, which prompt the majority of the company’s termite control work.

“Most pest control companies are good at one or maybe two types of services – you’re either a residential termite and pest control company, a pretreat company or a commercial company,” Tindol adds. “With our leadership team, we are able to be successful in all phases of the industry.”

Another key to Allgood Pest Solutions’ success is its product knowledge and emphasis on customer service. “We spend as much or more time on developing our partners’ social skills as we did on their technical skills, with the introduction of Integrity System sales, service and coaching programs,” he says. “We’ve refined our metrics for measuring our service levels as well.”

Vendor Partnerships

The company’s emphasis on service and relationship building extends to its work with vendors and trade partners. “We’ve been in business for a long time, and know many of them on a personal level,” Bubba Tindol says.

One example is the company’s work with Servicepro.net, Allgood Pest Solutions’ data management software provider. Servicepro.net has a close relationship with Randy Piggott, Allgood’s network manager. 

“He communicates frequently with them,” Chuck Tindol says. “They listen to what our needs are and make adjustments to the software accordingly.”