Since it is 99% likely you are knocking for the money (there's probably a crazy 1% that knocks for the love of the game or something), it is important to understand how and when it makes its way to your bank account.
The truth of the fact is that the pay structure for pest control varies a lot and if you are senior enough at some companies, you may be able to negotiate your own pay structure. Also, there are likely some random companies that have crazy pay structures.
The following explains the most typical pay structures you are likely to see as you begin to sell:
First, pay is split into front-end pay and back-end pay - what you receive during summer and what you get at the end of summer.
Front-End Pay
Front-end pay is enough to help you stay liquid during the summer. At your typical pest control company, you will get paid somewhere between $50 and $100 (likely closer to $50) per account serviced up front. These payments are typically made every other week into your bank account.
If your company is paying for your rent, it will be deducted from your front-end payments. If you are light on cash, these payments are typically supposed to get you through summer.
During holiday weekends and other big selling days, it is fairly typical for companies to offer a higher up-front pay for any accounts sold and serviced on that day. This will get a lot of people hyped up. It is important to remember that higher up-front pay does mean that you're making more money - it'll just end up being deducted from the back-end pay.
Back-End Pay
While front-end pay for pest control is fairly standardized across companies, back-end pay is a little bit different. Several years ago, it was very typical across all companies to have a payment structure where you get paid two back-ends - one in October/November and one in January/February. Depending on the company, you'd typically get paid 30% of your back-end in one of the payments and the other 70% in the other payment. This still is the structure for a lot of companies, but it is not as prevalent as it used to be.
Quite a few companies have switched to making payments every other week (or on some other regular basis) for an entire year after the end of summer. When you ask why, they'll give you an answer like "honestly, when a lot of these companies pay their guys these two big amounts, it is weird and kind of sketchy - who else gets paid fat amounts of money like that? Also, too many people just get the money and immediately spend it because they're dumb with money. We split our payments to help you manage your money better." It is kind of a bogus answer (although there may be some truth to the claim that some D2D guys are dumb with money).
The realistic reason companies like this type of back-end pay is that it helps them out with their cash situation. A lot of pest control companies are bootstrapped and reinvest nearly everything into continuing to grow. When a company has to make large payments to all of its reps in October and January, they need to either have a lot of $$$ in the bank account or they will need to find someone willing to lend them the money until they've received enough back from the customers.
More and more companies are switching to doing payments every other week or so for an entire year because it helps them manage their internal liquidity better. It is honestly smart and works well. While there is some small amount of additional counterparty risk you take on when you receive this kind of back-end, the truth is that barring something crazy, you'll end up getting paid the same amount, just over a longer term.
18 & 24 Month Backends
The majority of your pay will come in the normal front-end and back-end payments.
Most companies now require a majority of their accounts sold to be 18 or 24 month long contracts. Some companies will pay you some commission on the additional 6 to 12 months of services they perform. This payment will typically come in late summer or early fall of the next year. By the time this payment comes around, most people have forgotten it is coming, so it is likely a little surprise.
Summary
You should now have a basic understanding of the typical pay structure for door to door pest control companies. It is important to ask about this when you are meeting recruiters. If they pitch you on some foreign-sounding pay structure, please let that be a warning and make sure to dig in deeper.
Now, go make that $$$