Bed Bug Battles: Strike first to win

Travis Aggson, executive vice president at American Pest Management, has rarely been satisfied leaving a solution at “good enough.”

His go-getter work ethic drove him to get his first job at 14 years old, as a gofer for a pest management company. Back in 2009, when a technician posed to him the idea of fighting bed bugs proactively — instead of eliminating infestations reactively — Aggson couldn’t resist working out a solution.

He and his technicians spent about a year researching, testing hypotheses and getting feedback from industry experts. The result was what Aggson calls the Bed Bug ProActive® protocol — a thorough inspection and the application of products by BASF in strategic areas to prevent bed bugs from becoming established and out of control at an account.

At the cornerstone of the proactive protocol is Phantom® termiticide-insecticide by BASF. Aggson’s technician heard how the product has been tested and proven to kill bed bugs and knew it would be key to their protocol. “With Phantom’s nonrepellent nature, we knew we wouldn’t be forcing the bed bugs to move to other areas,” says Aggson, explaining that bed bugs would pass through the applied product unknowingly, ultimately resulting in their death.

American Pest Management, which provides services to Manhattan and Wichita, Kan., uses Phantom termiticide-insecticide for initial visits, returns two weeks later with an application of Alpine® WSG water soluble Granule insecticide, and PT® Alpine® Flea & Bed Bug pressurized insecticide. He then continues with a rotation of the products, adhering to labeled reapplication intervals.

“We knew Alpine WSG and PT Alpine would be a good match — they are nonrepellent and have a quicker kill,” says Aggson.

The proactive protocol and use of BASF products have given American Pest Management a dramatic reduction in callbacks, Aggson says. If he does get a call from customers on the protocol, they’ll see fewer than a dozen adult bed bugs, rather than the hundreds to thousands of bed bugs they used to see.

The company is equipped to take care of new jobs with heavy infestations as well. “We look at an apartment with bed bugs in 40 out of 100 units,” Aggson offers as an example. “We can go in there and improve the quality of life for the residents and relieve the financial pressure for the property managers.”

He also credits the protocol’s effectiveness with building his business in the Wichita market. “Eighty percent to 90 percent of the business we do in Wichita is bed bugs,” he says. “And we obtained this through the bed bug proactive protocol and BASF product line.”