Real-Life Decision Making -- Solution
You don't fumigate and tell the customer she doesn't need any work done.
Even though you know it will mean your company won't make any money, you tell her fumigation isn't necessary.
You tell her the dense bushes at the base of the house are a perfect place for spiders. They are getting into the house through the cracks around the doors and windows. You tell her she'd be better off to have the doors and windows sealed and the bushes removed.
The customer starts to argue with you, so you try another approach. "Try preventing the spiders first. If you still have as many spiders after that, I'll come out and fumigate."
You don't hear from this customer for a long time and figure she probably got another company to fumigate for her. Then, almost a year later, you are called to her house to apply a pesticide to her shrubbery.
She says she hired you specifically because you had been right about the spider problem. After sealing her doors and windows and getting rid of the bushes at the base of the house, the spiders almost completely disappeared.
This is a real-life decision made by Carol Watt. She knows she did the right thing by refusing to fumigate.
"This can be a difficult situation if a client is determined to have something done," she says.