Hidden Gems: Meet Michael Salm of Root Solutions Termite Lawn & Pest

Today we’d like to introduce you to Michael Salm.

Hi Michael, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I started working in lawn and pest control industry for a large national company about twenty-five years ago. I then moved to smaller company because I felt they better served their customers. A few years after that, the smaller company was bought out by the larger company that I first worked for. I was tired of seeing dissatisfied customers and as an employee, I could not reconcile my own personal integrity to the sub-par standards of the larger company. I left the industry in 2017 and started a completely different career in a completely different industry. After 3 very successful years in construction sales, I started my own lawn treatment company as a side job to my current career in 2020. My company continued to grow rapidly (despite Covid restrictions and general economic setbacks of the nation) to the point where I had to quit my career in sales, and work full time in my own company. Since then, we’ve added a pest control and termite division, and grown to the point that we have multiple employees and trucks servicing the Jacksonville area and the 5 surrounding counties. We have a few Jacksonville clients with properties all over the state of Florida that we reach out and service as well, but our primary focus is the residents of northeast Florida, specifically the Jacksonville area.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
We have had a few minor issues but overall we’ve been incredibly blessed. We started in the middle of 2020 with just a few dozen clients and grown exponentially over the past 5 years. Our main challenge has been obtaining reliable vehicles at a reasonable cost, and finding reliable mechanics to service the vehicles. Other than that, we’ve truly been blessed. I feel like many companies struggle with finding and keeping employees but that is one challenge we’ve not had. 95% of our employees have been absolutely ideal employees, going above and beyond the job requirements. We try to develop a culture that promotes the health and job satisfaction for our employees, because they are vital to our company. We’ve tried to establish the best quality for our customers but never at the expense or abuse of our employees. We’ve had occasional difficult clients but we have such a strong base of loyal customers. The vast majority of our growth is simply due to word of mouth. We don’t spend alot of our budget on marketing. Most of our marketing is charity related. (Sponsoring youth athletics, non-profit organizations, etc.) Honestly there’s no other way to say it other than we’ve truly been blessed and that our difficulties have been minor.

As you know, we’re big fans of Root Solutions Termite Lawn & Pest. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
We started with the goal of providing quality lawn treatment services to clients in the Jacksonville area. So many clients get taken advantage of in this industry by large and small companies alike. We just wanted to do a quality job, in an honest manner, for a reasonable rate. Our mission is to partner with the homeowner to help them have the healthiest lawn possible. Adding pest control and termite services to our company in 2022 has enabled us to serve our clients in even greater ways. What sets us apart from other companies is our relationship with our clients. So many companies dilute their products or provide fewer services for the same or even higher costs, but they disguise it with “clever” payment structuring so that the client feels like they are paying less money. We’ve shown clients the math and many have been stunned to see what they’re paying versus what they’re receiving. Another thing that sets us apart is that we give our clients direct access to the owner’s cell phone. I started the company and even though I no longer am in the field as often, I am always available to talk with the client or visit their property to discuss any issues. My technicians are veterans in this field and do phenomenal work. And I’m constantly getting compliments from clients about my technicians. But they also know if they need to talk to the owner, my cell phone number is in their contacts and I keep a quick response time. At the end of the day, our goal is to serve the needs of our clients to the best of our ability. We love all of the “Yard of the Month” signs we get from our clients, as well as the feedback that the roach or rodent infestation is completely gone. I didn’t start this company to get rich. I started this company to serve clients because I knew there had to a better way of doing things in this industry.

Is there a quality that you most attribute to your success?
Honesty. We are up front with our clients about what we can or can’t do. We give them honest assessments of their situation, concrete plans to achieve their goals, and upfront pricing to do so. We’ve had clients or potential clients that simply had situations that were outside of our ability to manage, so we were honest with them, and referred them to another company that we felt would meet their needs with integrity. Another way we incorporate integrity is in the work we do. We have no problem with clients that have cameras to observe our technicians. We do certain things to assure our clients of the work we do. Every time we service a client, we provide them with the best quality of products, and a service tailored to this area with its current ecological needs as well as two documents that communicate the details of the service and recommendations for better results. Honest, quality services are at the core of our values.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.rootsolutionslawntreatment.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rootsolutionslawntreatment
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RootSolutionsLawnTreatment