Unlock the secrets to on-scene safety and regulatory savvy with towing guru Brian Riker, our esteemed guest in the latest heart-to-heart on all things towing. Brian brings to the table his immense expertise in compliance and communication strategies tailored for operators and owners alike. His special focus on crafting messages that break through international language barriers ensures that our conversation is not just another industry talk, but an invaluable resource for those aiming to raise the bar in their towing business. Join us as we dissect the intricacies of roadside assistance, and offer you practical tips that can immediately be put into action.
Step inside the world of tow shows where the fusion of business and camaraderie creates a unique learning environment. Through this episode, we underscore the importance of safety and the perils of becoming too comfortable in routines that might overlook it. Discover how safety lunches and tow operator classes can be your armor against unforeseen incidents. We also dive into the perks of networking at events like the Florida Tow Show, where the exchange of stories and expertise is as refreshing as it is informative. So tune in and arm yourself with the knowledge that keeps you, your business, and your colleagues safe and thriving on the road.
Unlock the secrets to on-scene safety and regulatory savvy with towing guru Brian Riker, our esteemed guest in the latest heart-to-heart on all things towing. Brian brings to the table his immense expertise in compliance and communication strategies tailored for operators and owners alike. His special focus on crafting messages that break through international language barriers ensures that our conversation is not just another industry talk, but an invaluable resource for those aiming to raise the bar in their towing business. Join us as we dissect the intricacies of roadside assistance, and offer you practical tips that can immediately be put into action.
Step inside the world of tow shows where the fusion of business and camaraderie creates a unique learning environment. Through this episode, we underscore the importance of safety and the perils of becoming too comfortable in routines that might overlook it. Discover how safety lunches and tow operator classes can be your armor against unforeseen incidents. We also dive into the perks of networking at events like the Florida Tow Show, where the exchange of stories and expertise is as refreshing as it is informative. So tune in and arm yourself with the knowledge that keeps you, your business, and your colleagues safe and thriving on the road.
Welcome one and all to the so professional podcast. This is your podcast. This is for the pros that have a need to know, that are on the go, the true voice of the towing and recovery industry. I'm DJ Harrington, your co-host. I'm better known as the toe doctor, and the real host is the main man, is the president and publisher of toe professional magazine, a good friend of the industry and a dear friend of mine, darren Weaver. Darren, how are you on this beautiful day and I am fantastic, dj.
Speaker 2:It is a beautiful day and I'm working from the satellite office with topper professional today, on the move and on the go, so it's a great day. I'm just happy to be here. And then we've got a fantastic guest, a friend of mine, a friend of the industry, brian Ryker, your D O T guy. So, man, I'm excited about this one.
Speaker 1:Yeah, brian Ryker and I met many, many years ago and I'm going to tell all our listeners I have learned more from this guy and he takes educational stuff. He's a smart, smart guy. He's like the rain man, as our dear friend David's Art and calls him, but he is a knowledgeable guy. But it reminds me so much of my dad, because my dad was smart like Brian Ryker, but he always brought the information down to my level, and so that's what we have today.
Speaker 2:Fantastic, fantastic. Well, right again, thanks so much for being here, and I did want to ask first off for our listeners I know they want to know this Will you be speaking at the Florida tow show this year?
Speaker 3:Absolutely, and thank you for that wonderfully intro DJ. I just wish I was wealthy like your late father, but I appreciate you break this down. Oh, thank you, guys for having me.
Speaker 1:And now this is two podcasts in a row. The guy last he said the same thing If I had your family's money, everybody is going to come to the industry. It's going to think I'm fabulously wealthy, oh all right.
Speaker 3:I had so, yes, yes, darren, I am Thank you for asking. I'm excited to kick off the tow show season with the Florida tow show, get down into some of the warmth and sunshine as compared to up here in Northeast Pennsylvania and reconnect with a lot of my friends and family in this industry.
Speaker 2:Man. I think it's going to be phenomenal and let me tell you, let's see if you get a chance. If you've missed it. You know Brian has done some speaking engagements with our, with one of our contributing editors, michelle Sukho, and they have had some some great speaking engagements. If you miss one of those, you don't want to miss him talking. He's a textbook of knowledge and whatever time you miss away from the show, you'll gain an industry knowledge that will help your business for years to come. So with that, I'm going to throw this next one to you, dj.
Speaker 1:All right, brian. All the literature says you're making two presentations. What will they be about?
Speaker 3:All right. Well, on Friday afternoon, starting at 3pm and with nobody after us, we might run a little bit longer than the scheduled 45 minutes. But on Friday afternoon I will be sharing stage with Paul Stevens from BA Products, another industry expert in the Allstate Roadside Ask the Experts series, where we are going to tackle a couple of frequently asked questions in the towing industry. Things such as regulatory compliance, communications and on scene safety will be focus of our presentation. I don't want to give away the entire thing, but this has information for operators and for owners alike in this presentation.
Speaker 1:Now Brian Paul Stevens and you are both very gifted speakers. He's a smart dude like yourself, our listeners. I'm going to tell you Friday 3pm. All right, what's the next one?
Speaker 3:And then the next one is the following day. It is at noon, also in the all state booth that are indoors this year we're outside in the tent so we don't have to worry about the heat or other weather issues. But on Saturday at noon we have the all state roadside safety lunch and I will be the key speaker during that lunch. So swing by, grab a can of soda pop and a hot dog and listen to me talk about roadside safety issues and again, targeted towards not just the owner, not just the operator, but everybody that works roadside, even the solely soft services providers like jump starts and tire changes.
Speaker 1:Now, Brian, I have to tell you, Darren and I went last year. We had we got the free hot dog, we got it Coke and a bag of potatoes and we sat and listened. I thought it was fantastic. What do you do? Do you see some of the people in the audience that you know they don't understand English? What does it ever happen to you? Where some of the international people because I want all the listeners to know, this is the largest international show. I mean, I had families from Italy on one side, Greece, we had people from Norway and, of course, South Africa, but the South African people all spoke English.
Speaker 3:Well, since I don't like just standing up there and reading bullet points on a slideshow or just reiterating a prepared speech, I am very interactive with my audience when I speak. I look for types of issues such as understanding, and if I can't make a connection right there during the show, I'll grab them as they're leaving the presentation and make arrangements to find somebody that can help them understand what we're trying to say, or translate for us. Even. I'm happy to talk to anybody that is even remotely interested in the towing and recovery industry, and I find that safety, combined with some pictures, is a pretty universal language. So what I may not be able to communicate with words, I can communicate with pictures, and that does help as well.
Speaker 1:You're a gift. All right, my friends, listeners, listen up. We'll be right back with a short message and we'll be right back with our dear friend Brian Riker, your DLT guy.
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Speaker 1:Welcome back listeners. You have been listening to Toe Professional on the Go podcast Each and every week. Darren and I do our best to bring you informative episodes, like we are right now with Brian Riker, your DOT guy. Remember, we're available on Spotify, pandora, stitcher, iheartmedia, amazon or wherever you get your podcast. All right, darren, I'll pass the baton over to you.
Speaker 2:Thank you, dj Alright Brian, for my next question. I love this title here Ask the experts. Can you give some details to our listeners on that?
Speaker 3:Sure, absolutely Ask the experts. Like I said, that is co-presented by Paul Stevens and myself. It is going to be moderated by Mike Farmer, who is part of the Allstate Roadside Education team. So it is Mike's job to identify pain points, if you will, that their provider network is having and this is an exclusive to Allstate. You do not have to be an Allstate provider to attend.
Speaker 3:We all face these same problems, whether we are dealing with law enforcement toes, cash customers or motor club or other dispatch service toes. And without giving away everything that is going to happen in the presentation, let us just say we discuss licensing, such as commercial driver's license, and how you can accidentally end up out of class when you are a light duty operator simply by picking up something like a Chevy 2500HD or a Ford F350 single rear wheel pickup truck. It is something we would think nothing of loading on the back of our little one ton light duty wreckers. So an F450, f550, ram 5500, we think nothing of picking one of these pickup trucks up. In fact that is why a lot of guys have wreckers like that.
Speaker 3:But there could be other implications. Then we dive into communicating with your staff and the do's and don'ts of best practices so that you are not contributing to the distracted driving movement, because we all know that D drivers are a leading killer of roadside workers whether that be tow industry, highway maintenance of way, fire, ems, law enforcement, we all know that the D driver is very deadly and we don't want anybody in our industry to contribute to that. And then we get into a couple of other safety and compliance type topics standard operating procedures for interagency operations. You get a multi vehicle crash, things like that. What do you do to make yourself stand out and shine as the professional that you are?
Speaker 2:I would love it, Brian. It sounds like any of those questions that they have unanswered, whether on or an operator. They come to this, they get an opportunity to ask that experts and get answers to those questions they've been wondering about, Absolutely.
Speaker 3:And since this is at, three o'clock on Friday with nobody in the room after us. I am more than willing to stick around and answer some direct questions that you may be afraid to ask in front of your peers, or maybe what we talk about will make you think of another problem you're having, that you're looking for some advice, and I imagine Paul would be just as willing to stick around and talk a few minutes after hours as well with the audience. This is focused on the frequently asked questions that we get as experts. Paul and I do, and our answers are based on our industry experience. Between the two of us, you have almost 75 years of hands-on tow truck experience in our family businesses operating every day, so this isn't just textbook answer. It is based on some real-world experience as well.
Speaker 2:Well, as I say, the only dumb question you can ask is the one that's not asked. So I think it's a great opportunity and let me tell you, listeners, you've got two opportunities to go hear from the experts and ask them the questions that you've been wondering about. So you have no excuse. You don't want to miss it at the show. Well, here's.
Speaker 1:I'm going to tell our listeners. The question I'm supposed to ask them is what else are you presenting? But I want to change my question, brian, I want to change my question too. I want all our listeners to know your personality. So here's the good one. I'm changing the question on the go because you are an individual. When you're walking down the aisles I call them the aisles of assistance all of the vendors that are there to help improve the towing and recovery industry are on display.
Speaker 1:You have always been so kind. When somebody comes over, introduces themselves, they tell you they read one of your articles or they heard you speak, or they saw you at a TRAA meeting, or they heard you somewhere else. You always sit and talk to them and people can approach you. So what are some of the questions other people ask you that we don't ask you?
Speaker 3:I get asked so many different questions. My area of expertise is operations, safety and compliance on towing and auto transport companies, but I get asked a wide variety of questions and I have hands-on experience in operating everything from light duty wrecker to heavy duty and rotator multi-vehicle tractor trailer transporters. So I'm also a 30 plus year CDL examiner here in the state of Pennsylvania so I can help you with driver training, with not behind hook training there are many much better suited people for that. But I get asked questions all the time about insurance, commercial licensing. Do I need a DOT number or a state motor carrier permit, things like that? Those are well within my wheelhouse and I am happy to answer them. I'm also happy to help you, consult you on what type of tow equipment might be best for your operation. Maybe you're starting up and you're not sure if you want to start with a wheel lift and dollies, a rollback, where you want to go. I just love to talk towing, so feel free to approach me and ask me anything that you want.
Speaker 1:That's what I wanted to tell all our listeners. When you meet a Brian Riker, he is the warmest kind of guy that you could ask him any kind of question. I'd noticed even when we were in Baltimore. People stopped him on a hotel elevator. He'd get off on the floor, explain it to him and get back on the elevator, but he's just there to just go and say hi, introduce yourself, and you become a friend. Let me take a fast break. We'll be back with our famous guest, brian Riker, your DOT guy. Hang tight, we'll be right back.
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Speaker 1:Welcome back listeners. I want to tell all of you thank you, thank you, thank you. Remember to like, review and share everywhere. We're always welcome to hear who you'd like to hear. If you want to hear a Brian Riker, by all means just dial 706-409-5603. Recently we had a family that wanted to listen to Griffin and Griffin in Columbus, georgia. They dialed 706-409-5603 and next week that's who you're going to hear Griffin and Griffin. So if you want to hear an industry expert like a Brian Riker, just dial that number. All right, darren, I'm bringing it back to you. Buddy, we've got the next one.
Speaker 2:Yes, sir. Well, I know I love this one because this is near and dear to my heart. When it, when it comes to safety, roadside safety is the biggest topic I feel like in this market, how will your presentation make a difference when it comes to Going face on with that, with that topic?
Speaker 3:Safety is such a Important topic and safety gets downplayed, safety's become a buzzword. And I'm not that type of safety professional to Want to just turn it into a buzzword. I'm actually a and I get crapped for my fellow safety professionals because outside of the tow industry I also have served as director safety for a large corporation. We're talking a 1300 plus employee operation and I get a lot of crap for this because I'm a firm believer in Mike Rose rant about safety. Third, where nobody is More concerned about your own physical safety than you should be yourself, and that is the direction I go in. So it's Awareness.
Speaker 3:So how is my Saturday afternoon lunch gonna help? We're gonna remind you about the dangers that we become complacent with. I mean, I am a professional driver instructor. I still maintain my class, a CDL, and I still drive trucks from time to time. So complacency hits all of us. I will be driving a truck to Florida myself, a big, beautiful heavy. Not sure if it's gonna be a straight stick or a rotator yet we're waiting to see if the rotator is done but even there I'm a professional driver for 35 plus years to train other drivers and I can become complacent and Forget about some of the basics of safety, and that's where I want to go with the safety lunch is Remind people in our industry of the resources that are available, both for themselves and to share with their family and non towing Friends, because we do a great job preaching of the choir about the dangers of roadside work, but we don't preach it enough to our Non towing family and friends.
Speaker 3:And so we'll remind you some resources, such as traffic incident management, for tow operator Classes that are available, emergency responder safety Institute classes that are available all free of charge to take Online, self-paced on your own, or even possibly in person in your area. And so that's where I want to focus with the safety lunch and Help people just think about the resources that are out there that aren't going to Cost their bottom line. They're gonna improve their bottom line just by making a few minutes available every month to take some sort of re refresher class on tactics to save your life.
Speaker 2:Well in doing this. Brian, correct me if I'm wrong, but by the owners Doing safety meetings during the month. Doesn't that help when they keep record of that with their insurance carriers and so on?
Speaker 3:Oh, absolutely, darren, absolutely. You do internal training. And not only does it help you with your insurance carrier, because when it comes time for them to Rerate your premium and maybe you've had a loss or two they're gonna want to know what you did to improve, to prevent that from happening next year, but it also helps in the unfortunate Investigation that follows after an unfortunate event such as a crash, even when it's not your fault, to prove that you did everything you could to train and prepare your operator to function on the side of the highway, because preparedness is very important to remain a defensible position as a business owner when something goes wrong.
Speaker 1:Yeah, 100%, 100% what I wanted to tell all our listeners Co professional magazine will have a booth at the Florida to show. Darren will be there, the publisher, I will be there. Chuck camp was the producer of the podcast. They're going to be down there, and so do us a favorite come by and say hi to us. And what I want to ask is where you will you be? Are you going to be in a boot? Are you going to? I know you're driving a truck down, but where will you guys actually be?
Speaker 3:I am normally a free spirit at these shows. I will have the. I will have the new executive director for the Pennsylvania towing association, karen Willis, accompanying me. This will be her first ever Florida to show and she's writing down in the record I'm bringing down. I'll be bringing down a beautiful heavy duty for worldwide equipment sales, a Jair Dan distributor, and you'll find me floating around the show attending other educational seminars because you never can stop learning and when I'm not there you may find me out and around with the worldwide crew. I work closely with them as a product specialist and train their sales staff on latest equipment and features and do demonstrations all across the country for clients, potential clients and that trade shows. So you'll find me floating the show floor and probably not floating down the lazy river I'm not much of a water guy that way or how did the worldwide booth All right so?
Speaker 1:here's. Here's what I want to ask, and I'm doing this because you go to more shows and everybody. You speak in Baltimore every year, you speak at all these other shows, and so what I want to ask you if you'd be kind of, why should our listeners go to the Florida to show? Well, why should the listeners go to any toes shows during the year?
Speaker 3:I can speak on all of the shows and my answer is the same for all of them Networking and learning from your peers. A we don't know at all the operator or the owner to thinks they know it all and they don't need their colleague not competitor but your colleague in the same town or even two states over. You're just setting yourself up for failure. So, whether you can only go to a regional show, a local show sponsored by your state association, or you get the luxury of going to one of these big national events such as Florida, you go for the camaraderie, the network building with your colleagues and learning, because we may not like to share across the lunch counter with our fellow teller that's across town that we see every day, but when we're down at a trade show, boundaries disappear and borders disappear and we can talk openly about what is affecting the entire industry. You can save yourself a whole lot of pain by learning from somebody else who had a similar problem what their very effective solution was.
Speaker 3:And, of course, the share your own experience and knowledge with colleagues and dialogue really is what keeps us growing as professionals. So having this dialogue with our fellow tellers, as well as some recreation, because I used to be all work and no play and that didn't really get me anywhere. You need some recreation time and there are a lot of cool, fun events and cool fun people You'll meet. I mean, the Florida tow show is in walking distance to Disney Springs. If you happen to be a Disney person, great place to bring your family and get them away for a while. Well, still incorporating some business aspects into it, but it's really about breaking bread with your fellow tow operators and tow owners and growing from there.
Speaker 1:You got it. You said it right on the be anybody. I know how much I've learned that tow shows and by sitting in the audience and learning from professionals and then sitting at night time. If you go to have a social drink at night time, sit with somebody you didn't ride down with and learn from that fellow guy next to you on how they handle what's going on in their own yard, how do they handle storing eb vehicles at their place. It's those are the kind of questions that you're going to really learn at a tow show. I agree with you. Any parting shots before I turn it over to our dear friend Darren.
Speaker 3:All I want to say is be involved in the industry or be silent about what's happening. We are under attack on many different fronts and I'm not going to go down any of them right now. But if you're not involved with your state association, you're not involved with your local or regional tow shows, where you're learning and sharing, if you're not involved with one of the national associations, then you have no business complaining about what's happening. So get involved. Whether you're volunteering time or even 20 bucks to a political action committee who are funding a lobbyist, get involved and help your industry grow so that you're not left behind.
Speaker 1:I concur with my friend. That's why I buy a ticket at the Florida tow show. I buy you know $20. Because you $10 a ticket, you could buy 10, 20, you could buy you know 12 of them for 100 bucks. And all that proceeds go to the P W O F, you know education fund and it's just vital that we get back to the industry.
Speaker 3:Oh, absolutely. I have no need for a tow truck, but I will buy a raffle ticket or two as well, for the cause that supports, and I probably would donate the truck to something else if I did win it. The support of cause it's just like being an ambassador over in the recycling industry. It's the same thing Support, education and growth. You're a good man.
Speaker 1:All right, Darren, we'll turn it over to you to wrap this baby up. We've had a great guest. I can't think Brian right or enough.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's been a fantastic show. I concur, dj, and and I'll say because I don't compete on that end with trade shows, you know whether you attend Florida, whether you attend an AT show, whether you attend a association show, there's a lot of learning that can be had at those shows and opportunities and it's a fantastic, fantastic thing to do. So we appreciate you coming on it and sharing your knowledge in the industry. Brian and I certainly appreciate that and with that I want to say guys, take a look at the upcoming issue of tow professional magazine. The miracle on the second street bridge will be covering the recovery that suburban did here this past week that everyone saw in the news. So that will be an interesting story and we've got a feature on towing software. So it'll be something that'll give you some information to devolve and find out what's the best program, best steps for software for your company.
Speaker 2:Here at my father, I just ask you continue to keep your hand on our nation, keep your hand on our vendors and giving them knowledge, ability to bring products to our industry, to continue to promote safety and bring our men and women home safe. You're having my father ask you continue to keep your hand on our men and women of service that are out there serving our nation on a daily basis. Keep them safe. Increase their wealth, their health and their prosperity for their servants hard. We ask this in your precious name and listeners, till next time, keep tuned in to professionalcom, so professional digital quarterly or tow professional podcast on the go will be your resource. That is going industry, thank you.