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Replace the after-hours answering service with an AI phone rep, text past customers about add-on services, and draft review replies with ChatGPT
Tom Drapeau, president of Freedom Pest Control (Merrimack), in Pest Control Technology
An AI customer service rep answers after-hours and overflow calls immediately, transcribes them and writes the call summary. Sellify sends AI-written texts that start sales conversations with existing customers, and ChatGPT drafts email campaigns, Google review replies and vendor negotiation emails.
ChatGPT Plus $20/mo for review replies and campaign drafts · DIY phone rep: Smith.ai AI Receptionist free tier (25 calls/mo), Pro $150/mo · Freedom's phone vendor isn't named; Sellify isn't priced here
Medium · or we do it from $149/mo
ChatGPT, Smith.ai, Sellify AI, Trainual
The problem
A pest control company relied on a human-staffed answering service for after-hours and overflow calls, and following up with existing customers about extra services took manual work.
What happened
The AI rep replaced the human-staffed answering service. An AI text campaign to 1,000 customers, often reached in a single day, closed at 2.5% (about 25 sales). Drapeau says dropping manual call answering, faster lead follow-up, better ad spend and streamlined scheduling all lowered costs, while faster response and the sales campaigns raised revenue. He adds that time saved is hard to quantify.
Quoted in the source: Tom Drapeau, president, Freedom Pest Control. Source: Pest Control Technology: Pest Control, Powered by AI (Tom Drapeau, Freedom Pest Control) (2026-04-13) · Added 2026-10-15.
How to set it up yourself
- What Freedom Pest Control used: an AI after-hours and overflow phone rep (vendor not named in the article) in place of an answering service, Sellify AI for sales texts to existing customers, ChatGPT for emails and review replies, and Trainual's AI search for staff questions.
- DIY phone rep (not what Freedom used): sign up for Smith.ai's AI Receptionist free tier, enter your hours, service area and pest services, and set it to collect name, address, pest and urgency, then text or email you a call summary. Forward your line to it only after hours or when no one picks up within 4 rings, and call it yourself with 5 test scenarios (wasps today, rodents in a restaurant, a price question, a cancellation, an angry customer).
- Upsell texts: export customers who have only one service (for example general pest but no mosquito) from your CRM to a spreadsheet. Paste 20 rows at a time into ChatGPT with the prompt below to draft a short personal text for each, send them from your CRM or texting tool to customers who agreed to receive texts, and call back everyone who replies the same day.
- Review replies: paste each new Google review into the same ChatGPT chat and ask for a two-sentence reply in your voice that thanks them and names the service only if they did. Read it, edit it and post it from your Business Profile (Read reviews > Reply).
Copy-paste prompt
You write friendly texts for {COMPANY NAME}, a pest control company in {AREA}. For each customer row below, write one text under 300 characters offering {ADD-ON SERVICE} at {PRICE OR OFFER}, using their first name and current service. Tone: a neighbor, not an ad. Include 'Reply YES and we'll call you' and 'Reply STOP to opt out'. Don't invent discounts or pest facts. Skip anyone marked DO NOT TEXT. Customers: {PASTE ROWS: FIRST NAME, CURRENT SERVICE, TOWN}One short email a day: 3 new AI use cases from real small businesses, each with its source and setup steps, plus a Tool of the Day. Free, no spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Tools used
ChatGPT
General AI assistant for writing, research, brainstorming and analysis.
From Free $0; Go $8/mo; Plus $20/mo; Pro $100/mo (checked 2026-10-14)
Visit site →
Smith.ai
Virtual receptionist service combining AI and live agents.
From $150/mo (AI Receptionist Pro); free tier with 25 calls/mo (checked 2026-10-13)
Visit site →Some tool links may be affiliate links. Disclosure
Checked prices: ChatGPT: from Free $0; Go $8/mo; Plus $20/mo; Pro $100/mo (verified 2026-10-14) · Smith.ai: from $150/mo (AI Receptionist Pro); free tier with 25 calls/mo (verified 2026-10-13)
Rather not do it yourself?
We'll set this up in your tools, in your voice, tested. $149/mo with setup included (6-month minimum), or $497 pay-once. Satisfaction guarantee: we'll fix it until it works. Pay-once setups: or we refund your setup fee. $149/mo plan: cancel in the first 30 days and we refund your first month. Terms. We reply within 1 business day.
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