History of S&S Towing
S&S Towing was started by Steve Smith Sr. in September of 1998 with one 1989 Ford wrecker, which was followed by a brand new international flatbed in the upcoming December. Steve Smith Jr. joined in January of 1999 after being laid off for winter as a gravel train driver and as the business was starting to pick up. It seemed as though people were so starved for good service in our community that the business escalated very quickly. By year 2000, S&S Towing had purchased an additional flatbed and another heavy wrecker. In 2001, S&S Towing purchased yet another new flatbed and started to grow the business that started with just two employees.
The “Big Red Trucks”
The “Big Red Trucks” was derived largely from the need to create a new marketing strategy to generate business due to the fall of the economy in 2008. We thought a catchy slogan would help people remember us. Our trucks were red and something all of us heard before on a regular basis from customers was “you know, those guys with the big red trucks”, so it stuck. We also feature our trucks upside in advertisements. These days we are all bombarded with hundreds of ads, so we thought it would be fun way to get people to remember our ad.
What does customer service mean to Steve Smith Jr?
“I think most people use it as a buzz word these days. I like to call customer service, integrity. It’s how you do something when nobody is watching. I am a “do the right thing” kind of person even if it puts me in an uncomfortable situation, takes longer, or costs me more money. I think our customers see that and I get respect for that. Customer service is how you treat people, not what makes your bottom line grow. We are a small business in a small community, and I am ok with that. I don’t need to be the biggest company, I just like helping people, making a difference in someone’s life. That’s what drives me to do this job (however my wife says I just like playing with trucks, which may be part of it)”.
“We have been doing this for twenty years now and a quote I really live my life by is “People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel”. I want people to trust me at the end of the day. Trust me to tow their precious cargo, trust me to take care of their loved ones involved, trust me to charge them a fair price for service, even trust that I will fix anything we may damage, because from time to time it does happen, trust me because I have integrity. That is how I run my business and that is how I will continue to run my business.”
One piece of information Steve Smith Jr. wishes customers knew before calling another company
“The towing company closest to the area in which you need service will not always be the quickest or least expensive. If you pay someone “by the hour” for towing, think about this, they may have cheaper “by the hour” rates, but if it takes them an hour longer because of older malfunctioning equipment or operators that don’t know how to use the equipment properly, did it save you money? We are just a phone call away, give us an opportunity to show you our level of service or quote you a price. You may be pleasantly surprised.”