Cold calling pest control leads in south Florida is a total scam, who's with me?

I'm down in south Florida, zone 1 humidity turning every job into a sweatfest, and these cold outreach lists from Angi are straight garbage. Spent $800 on a batch last month targeting ant colonies and termite swarms, but half the numbers are disconnected or homeowners yelling about Orkin already handling their perimeter treatments. NGL, it's killing my conversion rate on quarterly contracts for Talstar P sprays. Saw a similar rant in the Pest Control Professionals Facebook group last week, guy said he wasted $1200 on leads that didn't even have active infestations. Anyone else fed up with this BS? Maybe we should all band together and demand better from these lead gen companies before they ruin the whole industry. FML, back to door knocking I guess.

same crap here, feels like they're selling the same leads to every bug guy in town.

Try scripting around the Talstar benefits, mention the 3-month residual on fire ants. Hit 20% close rate with that on cold calls.

Angi and Thumbtack are the WORST for pest work, always lowballers looking for $50 fixes on roach jobs.

wasted three hours yesterday chasing a lead for bed bugs that turned out to be dust mites, pissed off.

i feel you man, south florida leads are the worst with all the migrants not wanting service.

cold outreach sucks across the board, but don't quit yet.

PSA: verify leads with a quick google before calling, saved me from a ton of duds last season.

Orkin dominates here anyway, cold calling feels pointless when they lock in the big accounts.

bro, we're all getting screwed by these platforms taking 30% cuts on top of shitty leads.

yeah, same in my area, leads are cold alright, ice cold.

every time I try cold outreach for termite inspections, it's homeowners who already DIY'd with Home Depot bait stations.

i'm over it, switched to referrals only after burning $500 on a list that got me zero closes.

Door knock with free ant bait samples from Terro, better than any cold call script IMO.

feels like the whole lead gen game's rigged against small pest ops like us.

hang in there, focus on local networking with realtors for termite clears.

cold calls work if you target commercial, like restaurants with roach issues, but residential is a nightmare.

we're getting hosed by these companies, time to union up or something.

anyone got a good CRM for tracking cold outreach ROI? Jobber's okay but pricey.

Talstar scripts? Nah, I lead with questions about their last treatment to build rapport.

watched a Tommy Mello video on cold outreach, he swears by video messages over calls.

these leads are making me wanna quit pest control altogether, SMH.

proud of ditching paid leads, built my book with Facebook Marketplace posts on scorpion control.

yeah man, the frustration is real, especially when a good lead finally bites but ghosts.

use OptimoRoute for mapping calls, cuts down on wasted drives to bad addresses.

try bundling pest with lawn services in your pitch, ups the value.

cold outreach is dead, everyone's blocking unknown numbers now.

haha, called a lead yesterday and the guy said 'we already got ghosts, don't need more bugs'

i hear ya, leads here are all seasonal renters who move before you bill.

platforms like Angi are predatory, charging us for air while they rake in fees.

asked this on r/pestcontrol and got the same rage, everyone's pissed.

what's your close rate on those $800 batches? Mine's under 5%, brutal.

total scam, we're all in this together fighting the lead gen overlords.