Tow Professional Podcast
Towing's Tech Frontier with Azuga's Tim Smith
Discover the future of telematics in towing as we welcome the insightful Tim Smith from Azuga to the Tow Professional Podcast. Join Darren Weaver and DJ Harrington, for an exhilarating journey through Azuga's latest innovations that promise to revamp how tow operators navigate their industry's unique challenges. Get ready to learn about the integration of improved customer support systems, dedicated success teams, and the relentless pursuit of constant enhancement—all designed to keep towers at the forefront of service efficiency and user experience.
Feel the buzz as we gear up for the Florida Tow Show and share an exclusive sneak peek into Azuga's special offer that's adding extra sizzle to our episode. We'll tackle the hefty subject of insurance rates, unraveling how telematics and camera systems are becoming game-changers. Plus, we delve into the partnerships that are easing the financial pressure for tow operators. So, buckle up for an episode that's not just about keeping you in the loop—it's about catapulting you right into the heart of the towing community's most pressing topics and innovations.
Discover the future of telematics in towing as we welcome the insightful Tim Smith from Azuga to the Tow Professional Podcast. Join Darren Weaver and DJ Harrington, for an exhilarating journey through Azuga's latest innovations that promise to revamp how tow operators navigate their industry's unique challenges. Get ready to learn about the integration of improved customer support systems, dedicated success teams, and the relentless pursuit of constant enhancement—all designed to keep towers at the forefront of service efficiency and user experience.
Feel the buzz as we gear up for the Florida Tow Show and share an exclusive sneak peek into Azuga's special offer that's adding extra sizzle to our episode. We'll tackle the hefty subject of insurance rates, unraveling how telematics and camera systems are becoming game-changers. Plus, we delve into the partnerships that are easing the financial pressure for tow operators. So, buckle up for an episode that's not just about keeping you in the loop—it's about catapulting you right into the heart of the towing community's most pressing topics and innovations.
Welcome one and all to Toe Professional Podcast. This is your podcast. It's for the pros that have a need to know that I'm the ghost. This is truly the voice of the towing industry. I'm DJ Harrington, your co-host, better known as the Toe Doctor, and I'm pleased, like always, to have the other co-host of this program, the president and publisher of Toe Professional Magazine, a dear friend of the industry and a good friend of mine, darren Weaver Darren, how are you today?
Speaker 2:Man, I am terrific, DJ. It's a great day. Like I said, the cold has moved out of Alabama. It's a little bit warm here today, so we got sunshine. It's a fantastic day. And, man, hey, we've got a great guest on today, tim Smith with Azuka, and let me tell you, this company has been knocking it out of the park bringing some of the latest products to market to help increase safety and to help increase the liability of our owners out there in the industry. So I'm excited about this one and, tim, we're excited to have you on today, sir. Well, thank you, darren. Dj, it's definitely good. To be honest, it's been a minute knowing both you guys a long time, so I appreciate you having me. Well, definitely, we're glad to have you here. And, dj, I know our listeners are wondering hey, what's been going on, so I'm going to throw this to you and let you start us off.
Speaker 1:And Tim, I can't thank you enough for taking the time out to be on the podcast. You have what I call a canine attitude and our listeners have heard me say canine before constant and never-ending improvement, and that's what Azuka is all about, and my friend, tim Smith is that kind of a canine guy. So here's my question, tim what's going on with Azuka since the last time we spoke? How's that for an opening life?
Speaker 2:Well, listen, it's funny. I have been working, we have been working like a dog to tailor what we do towards towing and, as both you guys know, towers are a different breed. They're just completely different than any other market that we work on or that we work in really. So towers use more of telematics than anybody else, than any other industry we deal with. They have needs for a quicker response, for a quicker response time. They work 24-7. There's just a lot of needs that work in the towing industry and a lot of problems that come up for working with these guys. But it's been a challenge that we've kind of started working on here over the last year and a half and really the areas where we've focused on is support and success, right Work with customer support, customer success, improving that experience for the towers. We've worked on our existing integrations, on bringing in additional integration points to our current integrations that we've got, and then we've added a bunch of other integration partners and partners in other areas to kind of help build out the relationship inside that industry. But the most important that we worked on, and one area that we've worked on a ton, is in the support and success area. So what we've done and what we realized just from being in this market for a while. Towers, again, use a lot of it, but most of the guys I would go and talk to over the years they would listen intently and you do a meeting and you try to train them all and they would listen and they would listen and they would listen and you'd have all the right people there and you'd go through everything and when you walked out the door you felt like that they knew what they were doing. Well, as soon as you walk out the door, they remember about 10% of what you said 15% and so they're using that 10% or 15% over and over and over again and they really it's what they use to operate their business. But there's so much more there that they could use to make their product, to make their company better, more efficient, more effective, and so what we did was is we created a customer success team. So every single new customer that comes in so is Zuga. They get a dedicated customer success person whose whole function in life is to make them successful use in the product, to answer questions, to do training, to set up things for them to be able to go and the other areas that we found and this is really just a recent thing because it's kind of trial and error sometimes right, we did customer support. We've got 300 customer support people inside of a Zuga. So if you call the main 800 line you could get one of 300 people that could answer the phone.
Speaker 2:The problem is is that towing is exceptionally specific. So finding people that know how to answer the questions, that know towing, that understand our integrations and the pieces that we've put in, you know it's hard to find the right guy. We've tried to simplify that. So we've got three or four people inside support actually four that we've trained specifically to deal with towing issues. They know all about towing integrations, they know about Hossler, they know about everything that we're working on, they know about the PTO and PTO on and all the different things that we've worked on in order to specialize this product for towing, and they know how to help people. And so that's one of the areas that we've really focused on and that I've been elbow deep in for the last several months is getting that tightened up to where there's one place for them to go and when they go there they get somebody that understands their business.
Speaker 1:Wow, that covers a bunch of material, buddy.
Speaker 2:Well, yeah, it's crazy. Again, a lot of things have been done, but over the last little bit that's really been where we've dove and end to make sure we make this better for everybody.
Speaker 1:Well, Darren, why don't you ask me the next question before we take a break?
Speaker 2:Certainly well, I can tell you, as long as I've known before we get to this next question I'm going to tell you as long as I've known Tim Smith, he's always had a passion for what he's doing and I can tell you from that statement he just made, he's poured it right back into this because, as you can tell Tim, it sounds like you guys went out in the field, you listened to what your customer said and you took that football. Instead of going home with it, you took it right back to the desk and said, hey, let's make this thing better. And that's where the difference is made in companies is those that'll listen and turn that wrench and make it work. So that's awesome. But on to the next.
Speaker 2:I know Azuga has a deep integration with Toebook. So when you say improved integrations, are you speaking about the new additions to the Toebook integration? Yeah, absolutely so. We're constantly going to be adding to that and, as you know, you and I worked together for a long time and one of the areas that I always believed in is making sure that you're listening to your customers and that you're genuinely caring about the needs that they need in order to be successful. And if you do that and that's what your heart is. People hear it and people know it, and so I've always done that and with this it's the same thing. So one of the areas that we've improved, the integration and it's really helping with a bunch of different areas inside Toebook. But we've increased the ping rate. So if you use Toebook and you use any other telematics provider, or if you're just using Toebook and you're tracking the phone, your map inside Toebook and all your updates come in every two minutes, so it's a two minute update and it kind of catches you up to speed.
Speaker 2:Well, with the ZUGA, one of the newest enhancements that we've made, if you're with the ZUGA, then your Toebook and your map inside Toebook updates every 30 seconds. Now, when you talk about speeding that up, your accuracy on where vehicles are, how long it's going to take you to get somebody on scene, getting the right vehicle dispatched, all those things improve, and so that was the first step in order to add some other pieces that we want to add forward. But with the ZUGA, if you have a ZUGA and you have Toebook, you're obviously tracking the truck rather than tracking the phone. Your updates are coming in every 30 seconds. You're map updating every 30 seconds, but you're also able to see your vehicles inside of Toebook. You can see the speed of every single vehicle, so the ignition is on or the ignition is off, you can see how long they've been idling. And there's multiple other pieces that we're looking to add and hopefully adding a few here before the Florida Toe Show.
Speaker 2:But, yeah, there's been some heavy work in that and that 30 second upgrade and update inside Toebook is just huge. Yeah, I think that's a fantastic thing you guys did there and that's going to work out tremendously for the customers there. That's awesome. Well, listeners, don't go away. We're going to step away for a quick break for some of our awesome sponsors here and when we come back, more information from Tim Smith with a ZUGA. You won't want to miss this, so hang in there.
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Speaker 1:You have been listening to Toe Professional on the Go podcast Each and every week. We do our best to bring you new episodes and remember we're available on Spotify, itunes, pandora, stitcher, iartmedia, amazon or wherever you get your podcasts. So let me go and ask my dear friend Tim Smith. You've said a lot about integration, the new integration and partners. Can you tell us a little bit more about that?
Speaker 2:Absolutely. So you know, with towing there's several areas that telematics and work camera systems impact right and several areas that we want to. And one of the companies that I worked with when they first came onto the market and I really had a heart for them, just because, as you know, slowdown, the move over, has been a drum that we've all beat on for the last 12 to 15 years, and so Haas Alert came into the market a long time ago, and when they first came in I saw the opportunity with those guys and really just believed in what they were doing and their business model and what their ideal was right. So for me, getting an integration done to where people could use our hardware and you don't have to buy the Haas Alert hardware or, if they're already one of my customers, all they have to do is just reach out to Haas Alert and do a subscription and that it would work. And so we were very happy to announce we'd got it right before Baltimore this past year. But we have completed and been ironing and continuing to sharpen that integration. So now if you're an Azuga customer, not only can you have you know ToeBook and make your ToeBook enhancements as well, but you can also, if you're a roadside business or you need that extra protection, you can add Haas Alert in as well. So that has been a massive integration partner that I've been working on since the day I walked in the door to get done. So I'm happy to have that one done.
Speaker 2:And you know we've also added several partners related to insurance. Now I know both of you guys know this insurance thing inside the towing market is brutal, and I think it was a couple years ago that everybody's rates just about doubled, right, they just killed everybody. And so what we've done is is being able to use telematics and being able to use camera systems. The way our camera systems work. We've worked with a few different insurance companies that you know they are actually giving discounts or they're working with their clients a little bit better, because we work with the insurance companies to give them access to what they need in order to help fight clients. So you know, for us, you know, like five-star insurance Zelner Insurance we're working with Marshall and Sterling and looking to add some more partners, but we're working closely inside the insurance, inside the towing market, to try to help that way as well, so that way we can be a product that brings a solution to lower the overall cost of premiums for the towing market.
Speaker 1:See down just what I said the canine, where you're always looking for new improvements with the insurance companies and with HUSHL, I mean, if these people all save lives of towing, and that's what our concern is as.
Speaker 2:I say how do you raise a child with a village? And that's what we're using, that's how we all work together to make this industry better, and I couldn't agree with you more with them. Hushl works with a phenomenal partner, and I'm with you on that. I'm right behind them with our heart for the industry and our survivor fund and protecting our men and women when they're out there doing their work. That's right. Well, dj, I guess I got the next one here.
Speaker 2:That's good, okay. So next one, tim, we got you on the hot seat here, so I know we're seeing ELD becoming more and more relevant inside the towing industry. What are you seeing from your customer's perspective, and does Azuga have a solution? Or, if you don't, I'm sure you're already working on one for ELD, so I'm going to let you expand on that. Yeah, absolutely so.
Speaker 2:There's a couple of different things inside of ELD, and I know Canada's just here, over the last year, added ELD requirements into their law, which has been an undertaking, but it's going to keep growing. It's not going to go away. This is a bear that's here forever and so figuring out how to work around it, how to work with it in order to make sure that you stay compliant and listen. There's some things inside ELD that areas that, as tours, I know is already important. So, yes, we have a solution for ELD. I think it was a year ago. We had an integration with an ELD service and those that group that we were with Bridgestone just decided to purchase outright, and so we have bought our own ELD company and we're actually just kind of reformatting that now and looking to launch in the future our own ELD product that will be named appropriately for us, so we'll wait on the name of that, but right now we do have a functioning ELD service.
Speaker 2:But one of the areas that I think we differentiate ourselves a little bit inside that is not everybody needs ELD on every single truck. But what I've noticed, inside towing especially, is that most tours do their own maintenance and they're sticklers on their maintenance. They want to be. They realize that's an area where they can cut cost and that they can work to make sure that their product keeps running well. And so DVR, which is basically your daily vehicle inspections, having something that your driver has to go out and that they have an app that they look over the truck every time before they take possession of it and they check to make sure that this is working correctly and that all these different things are functioning the way that they're supposed to. Are the lights working? Is the winch table good? Right, all these little areas of inspection they can do, and so with us you can do the full ELD product, including the DVR, if you want. But if you don't need that, but you do really want the enhanced DVR where your guys can update where they're at and where the maintenance of the equipment is at. And not only that if for some reason, your driver doesn't complete the DVR and then hops in the truck, it'll send you an alert and let you know that that inspection was not completed before he jumped in the truck.
Speaker 2:So there's ways that you can utilize this product even if you're not in the need of the full ELD. And it's a difference in price. So if you're just going to use the DVR, it's less than half of what it would cost you to use if you were going to use the full ELD. So lots of opportunity inside that to kind of fit everybody inside the market. That's awesome.
Speaker 2:Tell me, that sounds like you created a price point A to Z. So if they need the whole deal, they can take it. If they need something less, you've got that open form too. And I'll tell you this day and time is perfect. And, like you said, knowing those maintenance intervals, being able to know that thing's taken care of, all that's doing, is making your driver take more passion in his business and what he's doing and be a more part of ownership in the company by checking all that out. And it just prepares them to be a better leader down the road by checking all those boxes and making sure the equipment's set up in 100% for he goes, because he's gonna tell that to others that you are so it's just good thinking.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it boils down to accountability, right. So ultimately, yeah, I mean you definitely want that. You know you want it fixed, right, as the owner, you want it fixed. But what happens when something breaks, right, and the break let's say the breaks go out, or you have something a winch table snaps and you look at it and it's basically bare thread. Well, you look at the driver and go, hey, did you not notice this? Well, you know, the maintenance guy told me it was fine. The maintenance guy says, hey, the driver should have checked it right. So you end up getting the back and forth and, as the owner, you don't care. You just want somebody to take accountability and get it fixed right. That's the thing. So if you do it this way, then everybody's in the know. Your maintenance director's got vision into this so he can see everything that the driver's seeing, the owner sees everything that the maintenance guy sees and that the driver sees at the same time that they do. So everybody's on the same page. There's no demons or no monsters lurking behind the door, right?
Speaker 2:It's all out the open where everybody can see it and just kind of sheds light on it. And if it's out there and it's a problem, you know you need to fix it and you can get it done ahead of time. Prevents issues. You know bigger issues going down the line. Yeah, sounds like no headache's down the road. You can't blame it on Ricky not doing his schedule if he's already checked off on it and you're showing you didn't check off on yours, so I like it. I like it. Well, listeners again, hang in there. We're going to step away, take another quick break and we're going to be back with more knowledge on some of the fantastic products that Zuga has, with our owners and our toers in mind, keeping you safe and out there making dollars. Keep listening, we'll be right back.
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Speaker 1:Welcome back listeners. Yes, it is. You're listening to Toe Professional on the Go Podcast with Darren Weaver, dj Harrington and our special guest today, tim Smith from Azuga, and I wanna remind all of you thank you, thank you, thank you for letting this be one of the fastest growing podcasts. Remember to like, review and share everywhere. We always welcome.
Speaker 1:If you wanna leave a message and you wanna listen to another industry expert like Jim Smith from Azuga, all you have to do is let Darren know at the hotline here at the podcast center. Let me give you the number 706-409-5603, and Darren and I will do our very best to get that industry pro on the podcast so that you can learn more and improve your bottom line. This has been a great one and, tim, right before we took the break, you've mentioned all these improvements you're trying to get together before the Florida Toe Show, and I'm gonna remind all our listeners we're talking Florida Toe Show is April 18th through the 20th in Orlando, and make sure you mark it on your calendar. That is a great event that you need to be there Now, tim. How about your plans for the Florida Toast Show? Can you share that with our listeners?
Speaker 2:Absolutely. So we'll be there in booth 341. We're literally directly across the aisle from where Toe Book is there in Florida. You know I look forward to this show every year for multiple reasons. First thing is it's the first opportunity to get some sun on these legs and you know they look a little ghostly after the winter, so it's nice to get down there and get some warm weather. But yeah, we'll be down there. You know, for the show itself, looking forward to some time there at Raglan Road, across the street, and of course I've got to make my, my annual trip down to Charlie Steakhouse down there in Orlando. But yeah, looking forward to seeing everybody, and it's been. It's been a couple months since I've had a chance to be at the show and get a chance to see everybody, so I'm definitely looking forward to it.
Speaker 1:Now Darren's going to know, I'm going to ask this question how do you feel being right across from Toe Book? Because that is the busiest aisle at the Florida Toe Show.
Speaker 2:You know, it definitely is, but it makes it super easy for us. You know, toe Book and us work, work together, and we have a lot of Toe Book customers, of course, and on top of that, you know, most of our customers are Toe Book customers. So it gives us, if there are some customer issues or some things that need to be worked on, or what have you, it gives us easy access. But no, it's fantastic, man, it's. You get a lot of business being right there in front of Toe Book. They do such an awesome job of. Yeah, it's always good.
Speaker 1:So one time I tried to come over to see you to see if you wanted me to get you a frank bird. You know a hot dog that was free listeners. I want you to know it was. They were passing free hot dogs and I want to go by and say, tim, can I get you a hot dog Like I was paying for it. The aisle was so full I was killing myself to get down the aisle.
Speaker 2:Well, you know it's funny. Last year during that show and you know, I stood on my feet for so long never really had a chance to ever sit down just kind of back and forth, back and forth. You're talking for people the whole time. My wife had come down for the show and we were sitting there. She called my name and I turned around to answer and I tore my knee up, which was always been messed up, but I tore the rest of the way up and ended up having to have knee replacement after the show. So hopefully this year the new Neil will hold up and I can stay there for the full duration of the show. I always told Tim those James Brown moves on the dance floor would catch up with him at some point. And you see they have that's right. The wear and tear has been great.
Speaker 1:Well, I want you to know. When I came over to see Tim at the show, I went down that aisle, and Pope book's aisle was packed with human beings.
Speaker 5:And when.
Speaker 1:I got online. Folks, if you've never been to a Florida toe show, there are so many people from Europe. I'm online and people in front of me are speaking Italian, People behind me are speaking German and I'm sitting there saying what is this? But a lot of Europeans come to the Florida toe show, Without doubt. Oh yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think the location there kind of lends itself to people coming in, because people that want to learn a little bit more but also can ride it off as a vacation and bring mama and baby along for a few days of Disney World. I think it ends up working out for bringing people in. But, yeah, it's been an awesome show. It's one of my favorites, for sure. I absolutely love the Florida show and plus, getting to see everybody and a couple of my favorite places to eat down there. So love it. Yeah, definitely, I tell you, mike and Stevie and Frank and the whole team at the PWF, ruth, all of them, they do a phenomenal job and that's always, I would say, the biggest international show in the industry in a great time. And yeah, you're again right, charlie's, but not when on place. Don't miss it. Why are you down there? That's, that's fake. I'll walk to the table and mountain your mouth, that's right.
Speaker 2:Well, any morning things before we leave, tim, what's a good way for people to find out more information about a Zuga? Well, as you know and I'll let you give the email address there for the offer We've got a special offer Now. Listen, it's a, it's a towbook offer. That's on there for you to be able to save some money. But even if you're not already a towbook customer, but you might be in the future, or if you just have interest and you want to learn more about the demo, you can call me on my cell phone directly 205-728-9135. Of course, you can use the offer that that you've got there by Darren, which I'll let you read off in a second.
Speaker 2:But I also want to discuss briefly a couple of contact areas for people that are already customers. So we talked we talked a minute ago about customer success and customer support for towing specific, and so there's a couple of email addresses to remember. If you, if you want to email them, you can. It's simply towing success at azugacom, towing support at azugacom. Or if you want to call in, you can call anytime to 855-223-910. And what that'll do is that's going to go directly to the towing support team. So, regardless of whether you need towing support or you need towing success during the waking hours it's basically 6am to 7pm it's going to be somebody manning the phones unless everybody's on them, and if you, if there's nobody there, you can leave a message and it'll go directly to our team that can, that can answer your questions specifically and answer the hard questions that, the questions that towing people need. Man, love it, love it, dj. Anything before we wrap this thing up, sir.
Speaker 1:Buddy, I'm just going to tell you Tim Smith is a fine human being, azuga is a good company and, being associated with Toe Book, it's, needless to say, more Three. You know great people with a great company. Oh, without that. Yeah, I'll pass it over to you to do the ending.
Speaker 2:Yes, sir. Well, I'll say, guys, remember listeners you're looking for rear-facing cams. This company live-stream capability, dual-facing dash cams, side and rear auxiliary cams, easy to install, hardware and they're rated as Toe Week's number one AI camera system. Now, make sure your dent, your deane, your accident is never wrongly blamed on you or your team. Azuga's rear-facing camera system is the first affordable live camera for your tow truck. They have free hardware, low monthly subscriptions and best-in-class devices. So to reach out on this offer, visit, offer, it's simply OFERazugacom, and then forward slash towbook. Just remember, guys, visit offer, just simply offerazugacom, forward slash towbook. That'll get you right to it and you can see the latest technology and, believe me, this is a prescription for more safety for your drivers on a daily basis. It's a quite simple Well, tim, we certainly appreciate having you on today and having the ability to pass this knowledge on to our listeners, and I want to thank you for that. No, thank you for having me, dj and Darren, it's always a pleasure and I look forward to seeing you guys very soon. Definitely, it definitely was Always.
Speaker 2:I want to close this with a prayer and, dear Heavenly Father, I just ask you to continue to increase our vendors with knowledge, with vision for this industry, with the passion for this industry and the ability to put those products out there, to bring our men and women home safely from out there working. And, dear Heavenly Father, we ask you to increase our towers, their hearts, the grace you give them, the ability that they have out there, the protection they have, and we just ask that you bring them home safe and increase them in their life for their servants' hearts. Dear Heavenly Father, we appreciate you, we thank you for your blessings and your hand over our community and we ask that you keep it on it. Listeners, till next time. Keep listening to Towed Professional on the Go Podcast, your source for some of the experts in industry, like Tim Smith with Azuga. We'll be back again up next week. Keep listening.