Towing News from Tow Program

Tow truck drivers rally, mourn one of their own
ReporterNews.com
An on-duty tow truck operator driver is killed, on average, every six days — more than 60 each year — according to Jess Horton of the Southwest Towing ...

No Fee Increases for CT Towers
Hartford Courant
By ERIC GERSHON The Hartford Courant The state's tow truck companies won't be getting any of a slew of state-regulated fee increases they sought last ...

Tow Franchise Idea Dropped In Exchange For Other Changes
The Dispatch
By Bryan Russo, Staff Writer OCEAN CITY — Members of the towing industry rallied against the proposed franchise for police tows last week, and it appears ...

Nice Article on CT Operator Liking his job
The Hour
For the better part of 16 years, Gawricki has worked as a tow truck operator for Connecticut Towing and Recovery, located on Church Street. ...

Tow Program is skills training for the business side of towing. To learn more go to http://www.towprogram.com.

Tow Program Guide Table of Contents

A customer gave me a great idea today. She suggested I post the Table of Contents on the site. She said she was amazed at just how much more was in the Guide than she expected.

So, thanks for the idea Katy and here is the Table of Contents Page from the Tow Program Guide. Obviously all of these topics are covered within the program.

Guide Table of Contents

Section 1

How This Program Will Help You

How the Program is Designed
Getting the Program to Work

Profit Analysis
Defining Success
Defining Goals

Understanding Revenue
Traditional Revenue Streams
Towing and Recovery
Call Source
Your Company Data
Calculating Annual Calls Performed
Revenue per Call
Scalability by Call Source

Revenue by Source
Defining Capacity
Non-Traditional Revenue Lines

Section 2

Expense Management
Expense Control Preparation
Summing Annual Expenses
Your Company Data
Fixed Costs
Variable Costs
Calculating Annual Calls Performed
Calculating Cost per Call
Comparing Cost per Call to Revenue per Call
Calculating Profit Margin
How Low Can You Go?
Don’t Cut Yourself Out
Accounting for Intangible Costs
Calculating Your Magic Number
Keeping the Magic Number Magic
Extending Expense Management
Equipment Acquisition
Truck Purchasing Best Practices
Tow Equipment and Supplies
Utilities
Insurance
Incident Reports
Sample Incident Report
Managing Shrinkage
Fuel Consumption

Section 3

Branding & Marketing
Defining Brand
The Naming Dilemma
A Name is Just a Name, is Just a Name?
Critical Naming Considerations
To Change or Not to Change
The Brand Brainstorm
Professionalism in Towing
Describing the Business
The Power of the Tagline
The Marketing Plan- Putting Your Brand to Work
Touch Points
Online Advertising
Maintain the Campaign
Marketing Budgeting
Extending the Brand
Audience
Tactic
Details
Efficiency
Press Releases

Section 4

Winning New Business
Matching Assets to Work Source
Cash Calls
Private-Property Towing
Training Your Customer
Sample Tenant/Resident Notice Letter
Private-Property Contract
Account Calls
Working to Earn the Business
Motor Club Calls
Auction Calls
Municipal/Police Calls
Being the Go-To Company

Section 5

Maximizing Assets
Utilizing Your Asset Pool
Process Management
Employee Management
Minority Partnerships & Profit Sharing
Defining Roles
Work Balance & Distribution
Management Training
Professional Networks
State Towing Associations
Accountability Partnerships

Section 6

Automating Processes
What Do You Do?
Preventative Maintenance Schedule
Automated Toll Passes
Bulk Fuel
Phone Credit Card Processing
Truck Replacement Filter List
Bid Document File
Scan Frequently Used Documents
Phone Log
Billing Inserts

Section 7

Employee Relations
What Makes a Good Employee
Trial/Probation Period
DOT Medical Exam
Setting Expectations
Employee Training
Employee Manual
Sample Employee Manual
Standard Operating Procedures Manual
Sample Standard Operating Procedure Manual
Operator Process Automation
The Safety Award Fund
Weekly Operator Log
Trust, but Verify
GPS Truck tracking

Section 8

Freeing Up Your Time

The Exit Strategy
Piece of mind and the end game.
Independent Valuations
Calculating Sale Price
Materials for Potential Buyers
To Broker or Not to Broker
Presenting Your Business
Business Profile
Summary and Overview
Operations
The Sale Rollercoaster

TowProgram Live DVD Exercises Series

Towing News from Tow Program

Interesting article on student who's car was towed from private property, got mad at tow company, started an anti-tow company facebook page, then got sued by tow company. Let's see how this one plays out. And more here. And here.

York pastor complains about towed cars on Easter
York Daily Record
Rooney said five or six cars were towed from Friday through Sunday of Easter weekend. To make matters worse, the lot is close to an exit for people with ...

AG Investigating Communication Between Watkins, Constables and Tow Company
Dallas Observer (blog)
Dowdy Ferry -- the towing company exposed in July 2009 by The Dallas Morning News as having a close relationship with Constables Jaime Cortes and Derick ...

Man pulls gun in tow truck dispute
NBC2 News
NORTH FORT MYERS: A man was arrested Wednesday after pulling a gun on a tow truck driver, according to deputies. Tow truck driver Donald Rider, 49, ...

Open-bid contract for municipal towing can be tough. Read here how a tow company lost their 8-year contract to a lower bidder.

Spanky Macher says goodbye to towing business
WDBJ7.com
Spanky Macher says he's had enough of the towing business, and Friday he gave away free lunch in what he called a celebration of retirement. ...


Tow Program is an educational product to help towing companies make big decisions better. To learn more go to www.towprogram.com

Tow Program to Present Seminar at Houston Tow Show

Dennis Wencel from TowProgram will be presenting a seminar at the Houston Tow Show to help tow companies get their businesses listed online.

Called Internet Exposure for your Tow Company, the seminar will explain the steps you should take to start your online business profile. He will reveal the tricks to building a powerful online presence for your company on a shoestring budget. And will tell you why you should begin moving all of your advertising spending to the internet.

The seminar will occur on Saturday morning at 8am in room 360B.

To register for all of the seminars at the Houston Tow Show follow this link.

To learn more about the Tow Program Guide follow this link.

About Tow Program
Tow Program is custom designed to help busy towing and recovery companies become more profitable. This easy-to-follow step by step plan explains how to put to use proven management, marketing and asset utilization ideas to increase your profits without increasing your workload.

About the Tow Show

One of the brightest stars in the towing and recovery galaxy is Tow Expo Int’l, the trade exposition and conference to be held at the George R. Brown Convention Center April 29, 30 and May 1, 2010 in Houston, Texas. The show joins more than 3,000 tow bosses for face-to-face business discussions with many of the leading suppliers of tow trucks and other products and services for the professional tower.

Towing News from Tow Program 4.9.10

Tow Company Owner Appears on Pawn Shop Show to Sell Shelby Cobra body
Top Speed (blog)
Imagine yourself waking up one day, going to work in a towing company, and find yourself driving off with an authentic Shelby Cobra body, and you even get ...

Tow Operator charged in alleged towing scam
Fredericksburg.com
Culpeper tow driver did not have authorization to remove car from shopping center lot, police said. The Culpeper emergency dispatch center became an ...

Philli next up for tighter PP towing rules
WHYY
Newly proposed legislation in Philadelphia City Council is designed to keep people from losing their cars to an unscrupulous tow truck driver under false ...

Interesting Story how Tow Company Name Backfires
Times and Transcript
A change in policy about how RCMP in District 11 call towing companies has at least one owner, Gary Tingley, wondering why the change was made. ...

Deputies: Tow company illegally selling cars for scrap
Tampa Tribune
Caldwell, the owner and operator of Danny's Hooking and Booking wrecker service in Lakeland, was towing cars and illegally selling them for scrap metal at ...

Tow Program is designed to help tow companies make better business decisions.
Learn more at www.towprogram.com

Towing News from Tow Program

Pittsburgh Post Gazette

Tow business licensing gets initial approval
Pittsburgh Post Gazette
By Rich Lord, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Pittsburgh City Council today tentatively approved legislation requiring that tow truck operators that remove cars ...

Private Property Fees Just about Set in Chattanooga
The Chattanoogan
The proposal sets maximum fees allowed by towing companies. The board had heard through the police department of citizens being charged as much as $400 ...

Tow Operator Help End High-Speed Pursuit
News On 6
Matt McBride works for a drives a tow truck for a towing company, and said he knows first-hand how tragically high-speed chases can end. ...

Tow Program is the tool to help business make Big Decisions Better. Learn more at www.towprogram.com