[Bird Control] Bird Supplier Exapands Product Offerings

If it crawls, slithers, runs or flies Pest Barrier and Bird Barrier are likely to have a product that can control it. After 18 years of investing in his bird control business, Bird Barrier Founder and President Cameron Riddell decided to begin offering specialilzed general pest control products.

Last year, Carson, Calif.-based Bird Barrier unveiled Pest Barrier to the structural pest management market. The company offers non-chemical control and monitoring products for a range of pests including termites, cockroaches and rodents.

The Pest Barrier website, www.pestbarrier.comshows some of the company’s various offerings including termite monitoring, rodent control and bird control products.

“Through Bird Barrier we have good relationships with hundreds of customers so it made sense for us to expand into the general pest control market since they already know and trust us,” said Riddell.

Riddell indicated the experience of traveling the world working on Bird Barrier projects exposed him and his team to a variety of products and pest management techniques not necessarily seen in the United States.

“We have always done well bringing new products to the bird control market and supporting them with top-notch training,” said Riddell. “And that is what we plan on doing with Pest Barrier.”

The company’s philosophy is to source unique products, many of which are developed by companies outside of the United States, and introduce them to PMPs.

“All of the products we’ve taken on are good products,” said Riddell. “In some cases, the company just needed a strong marketing partner to raise their profile in the U.S.”

The company, however, is not simply looking to bring less expensive versions of existing products, but rather offer technology that is effective, green and truly innovative.

Pest Barrier has introduced products from companies in Europe and the United States, and is reviewing products from Australia and Asia as well.

“It can be hard for smaller foreign companies to penetrate the U.S. market, even with excellent products,” said Riddell.

He said several of the products Pest Barrier has introduced were developed by pest management professionals who possess extensive “in the field” know-how, but lack the marketing expertise to spread the word.

Pest Barrier is selective about the products it carries and does extensive field testing before its name goes on it. Veteran pest management industry consultant Jeff McGovern, founder of a consulting firm bearing his name, is Pest Barrier’s “myth buster” when it comes to seeing if products make the cut.

Riddell said the advantage of working with non-chemical products is that there is no long registration process to deal with. For example, a new product can arrive in the office on Friday and be in the field for testing the following week.

Cameron Riddell, founder and president of Bird Barrier, launched Pest Barrier last year.

How does Pest Barrier know which products pest management professionals are most interested in? By listening to PMPs describe the challenges they are facing on a day-to-day basis.

“The more we have gotten to know our bird control customers, the more they have told us about their challenges in other areas,” said Riddell. “We keep our eyes and ears open, and look for solutions to their problems.”

A product that came from interacting with pest management professionals and field testing was Rat-Out Gel. Based on the same technology Bird Barrier uses with its gel product, Rat-Out actually addresses two key issues PMPs deal with when doing rodent work – how to exclude the rodent from the structure and how to attract them to bait stations?

The gel-based product is “strategically placed in small dabs” along travel routes and prime rodent entry points in buildings, giving off a garlic smell that turns rodents away from the structure and toward other control measures such as traps and bait stations.

“This and our Border Control product have really surprised people,” said Riddell. “They have gotten PMPs thinking about how they can use them in their rodent management programs.”

Riddell said pest management professionals using Rat-Out find more and more creative ways to include the product in their service offerings once they start using it in the field.

With strong word of mouth and solid referrals, Riddell says reception of the Pest Barrier product line has been positive. “If you already have a strong customer base, you are well positioned to bring those customers new products and services,” said Riddell.

The company is constantly evaluating new products and putting them through their paces in the field to see if they measure up. “We want to continue to introduce new products as well as develop more proprietary products of our own as we move ahead,” said Riddell.

The author is a frequent contributor to PCT magazine. He can be reached at jfenner@gie.net.