Bittn uplifts service and revenue using Salesforce

Bittn is, in many ways, a challenger brand. The Australian-owned and operated pest control business was co-founded by Ryan Robertson who felt the industry was ready for something more. A third-generation pest controller, Robertson was initially reluctant to join the industry which he felt hadn’t changed since the 1980s. However, circumstances pulled him into the family business before he decided to branch out on his own.

“One of our values at Bittn is to challenge the norm and that really goes back to why the business was founded. We wanted to reshape the industry for today by listening to the market and building a service around what customers really want,” said Robertson, Bittn’s Chief Executive Officer.

Bittn’s desire to shake up the industry has led to the introduction of what it calls ‘Smarter, Safer Science’ which gets rid of pests using fewer toxic chemicals. The business is also using Salesforce to completely transform service delivery and scale nationwide. Results include a 30% reduction in field service travel time and a 16% increase in revenue per technician. Bittn is also on its way to becoming the only nationwide, Australian owned and operated pest control business in the country.

Almost everyone has felt the frustration of a trades person not turning up on time. On the other hand, scheduling can be difficult and time-consuming, especially for a business like Bittn which operates in multiple locations and time zones and has technicians with different areas of expertise.

Bittn’s need to simplify scheduling solidified its decision to use Salesforce. “I was home one evening researching products to help us expand and modernise the way we do business, and I came across a video on Salesforce Field Service. The video showed how Salesforce could automate and optimise scheduling and I remember thinking this was the only way we’d be able to scale,” said Robertson.

Robertson soon met with Salesforce and decided to connect every department on the platform, starting with sales and service. The business partnered with Proquest Consulting on its transformation which is now delivering massive improvements in service and productivity.

Scheduling appointments through Field Service alone has been a game-changer. The sales team no longer needs to put customers on hold and spend several minutes searching through an appointment book to find a local technician with the right skills and licensing. Instead, the team can see all available appointment times at the click of a button and easily schedule the right technician for every job.

The efficiency of field technicians has also improved with a 30% reduction in field service travel time achieved through smarter scheduling and route optimisation.

In the future, Bittn plans to leverage Field Service to provide customers with real-time visibility of technician arrival time and notify them of any delays. The business is also exploring online booking which would make accessing pest control as easy and convenient as booking an Uber.

Bittn’s transformation has included moving all of its data into Salesforce for a unified view of each customer. The business is also using Sales Cloud to manage ongoing relationships with customers, including construction companies and other commercial entities.

Many of these customers require regular pest control visits, but in the past, it was difficult to keep track of everything which meant that some visits were never scheduled. Other times, visits would be scheduled and completed, but not invoiced. It was a poor experience for customers and contributed to as much as $200,000 AUD per annum in leaked revenue.

Salesforce has helped Bittn resolve these issues and adopt more seamless and scalable processes for sales and service. For example, all customer details are now captured in Sales Cloud and, with PandaDoc from the AppExchange, contracts can be generated in just a few clicks. Sales Cloud also drives renewals by creating new opportunities for the sales team when contracts are set to expire.

Meanwhile, Field Service generates recurring appointments for customers who need them and Salesforce integration with Xero ensures every appointment is invoiced. These changes have not only put a stop to Bittn’s revenue leakage, but contributed to a 16% increase in revenue per technician. This is in addition to a 12.5% increase in revenue that’s resulted from scaling into new regions—something that’s only been made possible through using Salesforce to manage technicians across multiple states.

The benefits are expected to grow as Bittn continues to expand its use of Salesforce and automate more of its business processes. Robertson is particularly excited about Einstein Vision which will allow the business to diagnose problems remotely using AI. For example, with the help of photos or videos, technicians could classify the type of termite a customer has and determine what treatment is needed. This would cut down on site visits and free up technicians to support more customers.

Bittn is also exploring the use of Slack to collaborate on customer service. The business is already using the secure channel-based messaging platform to collaborate on product development which has helped to save time during project sprints and replaced slow email traffic with instant messaging.

“Being a part of the Salesforce ecosystem has exposed us to a number of businesses in the high growth space and given us greater insight into global best practice, whether it be in sales, operations, or field service,” said Robertson. “It’s been helpful to me personally and informed our technology roadmap.”

Robertson has also benefited from more granular insights to make decisions and lead the business in the right direction. For example, Salesforce provides a clearer picture of Bittn’s sales pipeline as a whole as well as breakdowns by state and customer account.

And what’s most exciting is how Bittn is capitalising on this pipeline with 30% to 50% year-on-year revenue growth.

“Having used CRM before, I underestimated the impact Salesforce would bring. We now realise how things are meant to work in a modern day business and can see the platform driving growth,” said Robertson.