I want to use the expression, “It can’t get any worse than it is,” but if it did get worse, well, I could not even imagine that. The past three months have been hard for the towing industry from both a revenue and employee standpoint. All companies are scrambling to keep employees and make money to pay the bills. The customers that I am going after lost 70% of their volumes. They were moving people around and cutting cost wherever they could.
My customers are motor clubs, so if the volumes were down there, I know the tow companies’ revenues were down as well since that is who a lot of tow companies tow for. The government tried to help with stimulus packages that allowed you to keep employees, but they also created a problem when they overpaid everyone to stay home, and now employees do not want to come back to work. As I finish out this year and go into next, I am optimistic about adding revenue. When this virus hit, I lost three investors that would have helped me tremendously, and I lost customers because they were trying to figure out how to move their call centers to the employee home.
Since I cannot change what happened this year, I am looking to 2021. Here are my goals for next year:
Customer Base – I am working with three customers to bring them on by the first week of June. These customers will be motor clubs that will generate tows for the tow companies in my network. I have talked to no less than 8 other potential customers, and once TowTrax goes live, the potential growth will increase tremendously. Keep in mind as I grow TowTrax, this generates tows for tow companies in my network. There is no cost for the tow company to register and use TowTrax. I will be sending you tows you never had before.
By June 1st, we want to offer TowTrax to the consumer. Imagine you are traveling anywhere in the U.S., and you breakdown. You do not have to worry about what to do. TowTrax will give you a phone number to call, and TowTrax will find a tow company to help you. Whether you are traveling cross the state or across the country, TowTrax will be there to rescue when you have car troubles.
Drivers – One of the biggest problems that face the industry today is the lack of drivers to support your business. I talked to tow companies all over the country and, they all are facing the same problem. Who will drive my truck? You can have two generations of towers in the family, and it will soon come to a halt. The family members coming up have different interests and want to do their own thing. Hiring drivers off the street is nearly impossible. They would rather make YouTube videos and other social media stuff than drive a tow truck. I am not sure that the younger generation can even change a flat much less drive a tow truck. I cannot begin to tell you how many companies told me that drivers will be our biggest problem. The good thing is they recognized it, and they want to help solve that problem.
Texas Tow Academy – By the first of the year, I hope to open our first ever tow school that is college certified. I am talking with a university now to set up a curriculum for the school and make it a credited program. I had several tow companies volunteer their services to help me with the material for the class, and some will also be instructors. As I start to roll this out, I will reach out to tow companies for suggestions and ideas on how to approach it.
I am working with several organizations on providing students or future drivers. One program is using ex-military that need a career. This would be a good source along with people coming out of prison that want to get back into the working society again. When I mentioned this, the first thing I hear is “we can’t hire convicted felons,” and in most cases that is true. The catch is thiswill be a federal program, and laws will be changed to accommodate this group of drivers.
When successful, I would like to open at least four more schools across the U.S. When this works, I know I will get a lot of help from tow companies nationwide because we all need drivers. I will keep you posted on the progress of this program.
Driver Certifications – One thing that will change in 2021 is the type of car being manufactured. There will be several types that will require a certain way to be towed. An electric car is a good example. If not hooked up properly, you could get electrocuted. High-end cars also require certain instructions on how to hookup to prevent damages.
What I want to do is set up certain certification programs to educate your existing drivers on changes next year. I talked to a company in Chicago last week, and he showed me at least 15 different types of certifications mostly coming from dealerships that require the know how to tow their cars. We will discuss further once I get started. I do want to highlight that I do not want to interfere with associations which are offering towing education. I want to be a support and resource to the association by creating programs they can offer through their association to generate revenue.
Revenue Program – TowTrax set up a new program that allows the tow company to generate a new revenue stream. I learned a long time ago you can only make so much money with your hands, and then you must use the old noggin. I set up a few companies already in this new program. Not only will they add revenue through the program, but they will also get tows they never had before. If you would like to know more about this revenue program, give me a call or e-mail me at dan@towtrax.net
As you can see, I have my work cut out for me over the next 12 months, but I am looking
forward to it because I get to work closely with the industry. Things will get better, so be safe and wash your hands.
