Good news, pest control keeps delivering

Dean Burnside, president and CEO of pest control business, is big on motivational slogans to pump up the employees.

The catchphrases work: In an industry that's been ravaged by the recession, revenues at Burnside's company, Venice-based Good News Pest Solutions, are up 38.1% since 2010, from $2.1 million to $2.9 million in 2012. The firm recently changed its name, to Good News from Macy's Termite and Pest Control.

The company's big goal for 2013, says Burnside, is to focus on its customer retention rate. He calls it an unsexy but extremely necessary aspect of the pest control business. The motto for employees this year, therefore, is “retain to gain.”