When Peter Goddard first considered pursuing a career in pest control over 27 years ago, he was working as a painter at the time, drained and tired of the repeated days spent indoors. One particularly sunny day, he noticed a pesty working nearby. He told his boss that he would take an early lunch break, walked across the street and asked him what it was like to work as a pest controller. A few months later, Peter seized an opportunity to start his own pest control business and the rest is history.

Today, Peter and his wife, Vanessa Thornton, own and manage The Termite King, the top reviewed pest control business in Australia on Word of Mouth.

“Last year, our goal was to reach the most reviewed in Perth and once we hit that, we were so quick to achieve the most reviewed pest control business in Australia,” said Vanessa excitedly.

The climb to the top was easy enough for the husband and wife duo who are always customer focused and solution driven in their approach to work.

Peter’s favourite part of the job is the sense of empowerment and achievement he feels when he walks out of a client’s house knowing the problem has been resolved and their passion for saving homes from pests establishes an authentic and worthwhile customer experience.

“We believe in getting to the source of the problem and drilling down on the core issues. We always take clients through the process and the solutions that we offer them. We don’t just talk the talk, we walk the walk,” explains Vanessa.

Reviews have always been a big part of Peter and Vanessa’s business model, plastered across all of their invoices and emails, but it was one serendipitous review that started their Word of Mouth journey.

“We used to do a bit of Yellow Pages advertising but it never really worked. We’ve got a web presence and it never fulfilled our expectations either but one day I happened to be searching the net when I found a review written by a customer on our behalf. That’s when I looked into WOMO and found out what it was about,” recalls Vanessa.

Since joining the Happy Customers Program, The Termite King has attracted over 70 positive customer reviews that has fulfilled their need for a marketing team.

“With our reviews, we don’t get tire kickers who are just looking for rock bottom prices. I can tell the customers who come from Word of Mouth by the way they speak. They call me presold, the convincing is already done by the reviews,” says Vanessa.

“If you do right by your clients and offer good old fashioned customer service and show clients you care, that will be reflected in your reviews. Each review is special from our point of view. They’ve taken the time out to put pen to paper,” she says.

Their large bank of positive reviews still amazes Peter.

“When we started Word of Mouth, Pete was amazed that customers would take the time to leave him with a review on a third party website and even now, he still checks his profile every night for any new reviews.”

See The Termite King’s Profile here.