About taking payment over the phone first. I had a customer tell me “how do I know you will come if I pay first?”. He was sort of the aggressively type man type. I didn’t really know what to say other than “we don’t accept cash payment after hours, and we don’t send out operators until payment is received”. I kind of made it up on the spot. How do you deal with that type of customer and what is your response like?
This is controversial and will depend on your area. I know Texas can be tough to get a payment up front but here in Minnesota, it's tough to find someone that will accept cash unless you're close by. IMO, you did exactly what I do. I've gotten the same push back from customers and respond by letting them know that I will 100% NOT show up if payment is not made. If they are less than 5 minutes away, I might take cash but otherwise it's card upfront. ESPECIALLY after hours! If I'm in a good mood, I'll explain to them that we have a problem where we get called to a job, show up, can't find the car, customer quits answering the phone, and then I have to pay for fuel and a driver. If they still push back, I encourage them to check our reviews. I used to be much more accommodating but over the years of losing money on "cash paying customers", I just quit taking cash. Besides, it's USUALLY the cash paying customers who try to negotiate the lowest rate who are the WORST customers. I fire my customers all the time, I just don't deal with BS anymore. It's unfortunate but people these days can be extremely rude. I hope this helps. Thanks for watching!
Unfortunately, as I was uploading and getting everything ready, I got called to a Ford Ranger on the side of the highway with a missing wheel. It's always something...hahaha. Anyways, I've updated the description and tested it out. You should be good to go! Thank you for your ongoing support. Greatly appreciated @1uniquez!
That will come down to your expenses and the profit margin you choose to make on each call. I suggest downloading the towing rate calculator then finding out what your competition is charging. Finding a rate somewhere in the middle works the best in my experience, as long as it makes sense for your business. Hope this helps!
I have started running the ads this week. Got lots of calls, they take the quote and never calls back. I was quoting just 55 a hook up and 4.5 per loaded mile. Market is Georgia. Also what's your average closing rate?
I’ve never ran an audit of my closing rate but a conservative number I would say would be 60-70%. And that number only includes the calls where I gave them a quote. It does not include callers who are looking for their impounded car or have the wrong number. I don’t believe your rates are high enough for Google Ads to be profitable for you but then again I don’t no the characteristics of the area you are targeting. If I were you, I would find out what your competition is charging. I would take the low number and the high number and be somewhere in the middle to high range of those two numbers. You also have to conside your operating expenses as well. I can’t give you solid advice without more details about your business. Reach out to me at cashtows.com
Thanks! I will reach out. One more thing I needed to know... do I need to set my bid to 6/7 dollars so I can make sure my ad shows up at the very top? Does that make any difference? Currently I am bidding 3 dollars. @@cashtows
Agreed those rates are quite low if he’s going to charge $55 a hook you might as will just look into Motor clubs and not have to spend money on ads and I have to worry about incoming call volume They will have all the volume you can handle at that cheap ass rate
If I had 100k and was determined to start a new towing company, I would probably buy 2 used trucks. Both with a 6.7 Cummins. One wrecker, one flatbed. Then, the rest of the money I would spend on obtaining a secured lot and training 1-2 drivers. I would focus on obtaining police contracts, junk car buying, and PPI. I personally would not do any repossession. My trucks would stay parked before I even think about turning a key for any type of motor club/insurance contract. I would run Google Ads 24hours. This is in a nutshell of course....
you know what I've noticed - review count is low in the towing business, it's understandable that not all have the time or willing to leave a review, after all the reason for calling is that the car broke down - that alone can frustrate anyone (paying you, paying workshop, etc), but in general looking at your customer flow - I don't see anything related to the end phase of the customer lifecycle. You tow the car, but then .... it's just "bye bye here's your bill?" Is there any way to ask for a review? Something like "Thank you for using our services, if you don't mind, please leave a review. It would mean a lot to us"... just trying to understand the towing business on an emotional level I guess. On one hand, I see a person who is in trouble - frustrated, angry, stressed - on the other you actually help them - so... they may reward you with a Google review.
I guess it depends on what you think a low number is. I work with companies who have 200+ reviews and are gaining more daily because they have a review management system in place. From what I've experienced, many companies are just simply not interested in gaining a review. I try to promote it to my clients but some either think it's too much of a headache or don't think it will help them as much as it does. I will say that the companies I work with who do attempt to gain a review are typically the ones who are most successful.
I'm from pakistan an i'm learning from your videos. Thank you dave
Thank you very much. Your video was excellent. I am launching my tow company today.
Awesome! What kind of truck are you starting with?
Very impressed Dave! Great job.
Glad you liked it!
Great video, Dave !
Glad you enjoyed it!
About taking payment over the phone first. I had a customer tell me “how do I know you will come if I pay first?”. He was sort of the aggressively type man type. I didn’t really know what to say other than “we don’t accept cash payment after hours, and we don’t send out operators until payment is received”. I kind of made it up on the spot. How do you deal with that type of customer and what is your response like?
This is controversial and will depend on your area. I know Texas can be tough to get a payment up front but here in Minnesota, it's tough to find someone that will accept cash unless you're close by. IMO, you did exactly what I do. I've gotten the same push back from customers and respond by letting them know that I will 100% NOT show up if payment is not made. If they are less than 5 minutes away, I might take cash but otherwise it's card upfront. ESPECIALLY after hours!
If I'm in a good mood, I'll explain to them that we have a problem where we get called to a job, show up, can't find the car, customer quits answering the phone, and then I have to pay for fuel and a driver. If they still push back, I encourage them to check our reviews. I used to be much more accommodating but over the years of losing money on "cash paying customers", I just quit taking cash.
Besides, it's USUALLY the cash paying customers who try to negotiate the lowest rate who are the WORST customers. I fire my customers all the time, I just don't deal with BS anymore. It's unfortunate but people these days can be extremely rude. I hope this helps. Thanks for watching!
Great video. Didnt see a link for the Workflow sheet in the description tho.
Unfortunately, as I was uploading and getting everything ready, I got called to a Ford Ranger on the side of the highway with a missing wheel. It's always something...hahaha. Anyways, I've updated the description and tested it out. You should be good to go! Thank you for your ongoing support. Greatly appreciated @1uniquez!
@@cashtows oh ok, know how it is, thanks.
Great video!!! Still wasn’t able to download the worksheet.
I just tested it and it seems to be working on my end. It is a PDF so it may be in your downloads or saved files??
Thanks got it!!!!
Thanks
Thanks for tuning in.
How do you know what to charge? Like fees for using a compressor for example how do you come up with the price for using it
That will come down to your expenses and the profit margin you choose to make on each call. I suggest downloading the towing rate calculator then finding out what your competition is charging. Finding a rate somewhere in the middle works the best in my experience, as long as it makes sense for your business. Hope this helps!
I have started running the ads this week. Got lots of calls, they take the quote and never calls back. I was quoting just 55 a hook up and 4.5 per loaded mile. Market is Georgia.
Also what's your average closing rate?
I’ve never ran an audit of my closing rate but a conservative number I would say would be 60-70%. And that number only includes the calls where I gave them a quote. It does not include callers who are looking for their impounded car or have the wrong number.
I don’t believe your rates are high enough for Google Ads to be profitable for you but then again I don’t no the characteristics of the area you are targeting.
If I were you, I would find out what your competition is charging. I would take the low number and the high number and be somewhere in the middle to high range of those two numbers. You also have to conside your operating expenses as well.
I can’t give you solid advice without more details about your business. Reach out to me at cashtows.com
Thanks! I will reach out.
One more thing I needed to know... do I need to set my bid to 6/7 dollars so I can make sure my ad shows up at the very top? Does that make any difference? Currently I am bidding 3 dollars.
@@cashtows
Agreed those rates are quite low if he’s going to charge $55 a hook you might as will just look into Motor clubs and not have to spend money on ads and I have to worry about incoming call volume They will have all the volume you can handle at that cheap ass rate
Good Video
Glad you enjoyed!
If you had 100k to start a tow company, how would you do it?
If I had 100k and was determined to start a new towing company, I would probably buy 2 used trucks. Both with a 6.7 Cummins. One wrecker, one flatbed. Then, the rest of the money I would spend on obtaining a secured lot and training 1-2 drivers. I would focus on obtaining police contracts, junk car buying, and PPI. I personally would not do any repossession. My trucks would stay parked before I even think about turning a key for any type of motor club/insurance contract. I would run Google Ads 24hours. This is in a nutshell of course....
you know what I've noticed - review count is low in the towing business, it's understandable that not all have the time or willing to leave a review, after all the reason for calling is that the car broke down - that alone can frustrate anyone (paying you, paying workshop, etc), but in general looking at your customer flow - I don't see anything related to the end phase of the customer lifecycle. You tow the car, but then .... it's just "bye bye here's your bill?" Is there any way to ask for a review? Something like "Thank you for using our services, if you don't mind, please leave a review. It would mean a lot to us"... just trying to understand the towing business on an emotional level I guess. On one hand, I see a person who is in trouble - frustrated, angry, stressed - on the other you actually help them - so... they may reward you with a Google review.
I guess it depends on what you think a low number is. I work with companies who have 200+ reviews and are gaining more daily because they have a review management system in place. From what I've experienced, many companies are just simply not interested in gaining a review. I try to promote it to my clients but some either think it's too much of a headache or don't think it will help them as much as it does. I will say that the companies I work with who do attempt to gain a review are typically the ones who are most successful.
Who handles your google ads
We handle all of that in house.