June 25, 2025 • 51 mins
In this episode of the Ground Transportation Podcast, James Blain and Ken Lucci discuss the crucial role airport transfers play in the chauffeured transportation industry. They emphasize the importance of retaining airport transfer services to attract corporate clients and explore strategies to deepen relationships with existing clients.
Ken and James share valuable insights into targeting wealthy zip codes, leveraging LinkedIn for networking, and enhancing service offerings to outperform TNCs like Uber and Lyft. Listen in to discover actionable tips for increasing your revenue by optimizing airport transfer services.
CHAPTERS
00:00 Welcome
01:46 Milk and Bread of The Industry
09:53 Different Statistics on Air Travel
24:06 The Power of Networking
30:53 Outreach & Lead Generation
39:17 Airline Growth
42:57 It's Not the Market, it's Your Mindset
45:03 Final Thoughts
At Driving Transactions, Ken Lucci and his team offer financial analysis, KPI reviews, for specific purposes like improving profitability, enhancing the value of the enterprise business planning and buying and selling companies. So if you have any of those needs, please give us a call or check us out at www.drivingtransactions.com.
Pax Training is your all in one solution designed to elevate your team's skills, boost passenger satisfaction, and keep your business ahead of the curve. Learn more at www.paxtraining.com/gtp
Connect with Kenneth Lucci, Principle Analyst at Driving Transactions:
https://www.drivingtransactions.com/
Connect with James Blain, President at PAX Training:
https://paxtraining.com/
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Ken Lucci (00:24):
Good afternoon everybody, and welcome to
another exciting episode ofGround Transportation Podcast.
We are in the groundtransportation podcast studio
with my, um, lovely andtalented,
James Blain (00:36):
Oh boy.
Ken Lucci (00:38):
co-hosts James Blaine from PAX Training, the best
chauffeur training, bestcustomer service training in the
industry.
How are you.
James?
James Blain (00:45):
I'm, I'm good.
It's Friday.
Best day of our week.
We live for this.
Ken Lucci (00:49):
Oh, it is a, it is a great day today.
Um, Fridays are my favorite day.
Now, not too many people knowthis, but I do work Saturdays
only.
So because I, I don't know aboutyou, but I'm, I mean, you get
the hockey, the kids, the wife,the whole thing.
But I find that I can get moredone on in four hours on a
Saturday
James Blain (01:07):
No calls.
No, I I have the same thing.
I find
Ken Lucci (01:10):
But I also.
I think Friday is a good day todecompress because as we get to
the summertime, less people are,are, do wanna do hard, uh,
appointments with us.
But listen, today I want to talkabout something that is near and
dear to me that's concerning mein the, industry because, you
know, when we look at Facebookand we see operators complaining
(01:33):
about, well, their airporttransfers are down, do you, you
you hear that?
James Blain (01:38):
Yeah.
Ken Lucci (01:39):
Okay.
So.
James Blain (01:40):
is a real point of contention and, and especially
on the chauffeur services sideof the industry.
Ken Lucci (01:45):
Right.
So on, you know, listen, at theend of the day, I maintain that
airport transfers are the milkand bread of the industry.
all Right.
If we're a grocery store, whichis, you know, my family
background, um, if we're agrocery store, the milk and
bread is what gets, what getsthem in the door to sell the
higher, the higher price stuff,okay?
(02:07):
Number one, I think we do aterrible job as an industry.
Telling our airport transfercustomer everything else that we
can do for them.
That's number one.
James Blain (02:19):
Oh yeah, that's a, that's a small business issue
across the board, right?
Ken Lucci (02:22):
Right, exactly.
You know, the assumption is,well, it's on my website that I
do wine tours.
Yeah.
They're not sitting on yourwebsite.
Right.
They're not.
They're not sitting on yourwebsite.
In your website.
So number one, if you look at,if you accept the fact that
airport transfers are anecessity to get'em in the
(02:42):
store, they're the milk and thebread.
We have to be competitive.
Now, this is a true statisticper the GBTA.
When you look at corporateAmerica, 67% of the reason why
corporate America useschauffered services is for the
standard airport transfer.
Okay-, Now, you know, 25% usethis for motor coach and group
(03:04):
and meeting and a bunch of otherstuff, right?
That they do maybe once or twicea year.
James Blain (03:08):
But,
Ken Lucci (03:08):
but this.
James Blain (03:09):
your entry point to get there.
Ken Lucci (03:10):
airport transfer is vitally important.
Now I will share.
That's GBTA.
James Blain (03:14):
Yeah.
Ken Lucci (03:15):
other thing I will share with you is based on the
work we've done, every singlecompany that we have reviewed
out of the 270 plus companies,maybe 200 and.
Maybe two 30 were chauffeurcompanies, but of every company
that we have reviewed, the oneswho have turned their back on on
airport transfer and said, oh,I'm getting out of the sedan and
(03:38):
SUV business to a company.
Every single one of them, theirrevenue has dropped off.
Now, I'm not talking about theones that made the strategic
decision to pivot towards schooland university contracts or
corporate or corporate shuttlecontracts, Right.
That's literally changing yourentire mindset.
(04:00):
You are no longer a supermarket.
You are a black Angus butchershop.
I love it.
Right.
But, but if you want to dobusiness with corporate America.
You need to understand that 67%of the reason why they use
chauffeur transportation is to,or from the airport with it's
either their, their high levelmanagers or their executives.
(04:22):
So you, if you accept thatreality, you have a couple of
choices, Okay.
Number one, drop your pants and,and, and, and go low price.
James Blain (04:34):
Yeah.
Ken Lucci (04:34):
That, That's, a technical finance term.
Dropping your pants.
James Blain (04:37):
offic.
Yeah, the unofficial technical.
The
Ken Lucci (04:40):
The unofficial technical, right?
So drop your pants to no nothingor, or, or know what your costs
are.
I maintain that you can't stayin business doing airport
transfers unless you're makingmore than 30 to 35% gross margin
on the trip.
So what does that mean?
That means that if you charge ahundred bucks, 35 bucks.
(05:04):
Is devoted to pay your overhead,to pay you to make a profit,
right?
believe it or not, you're gonnaspend 60 to 65 bucks to have the
vehicle that does the work, paythe driver repair and
maintenance fleet insurance, etcetera.
Okay.
The problem I see with airporttransfers going down is not the
(05:25):
fact that people, that, thatpeople are not traveling.
Domestic air travel grows at 4%a year, compounded annually.
International travel is growingat 5% a year, so it's a
proverbial hockey stick comparedto a standard business growth is
(05:47):
about 2%.
Okay, so my answer to operatorsis.
Do not shy away from or turnyour back on airport.
number one, triple down on whois using you Right.
now.
Example, if if, if you've got apharmaceutical company using
you, guess what?
(06:07):
They're not the onlypharmaceutical company in the
world.
You create a use case as to whypharmaceutical companies like us
and use us for airport travel.
James Blain (06:18):
but real quick before we move on,'cause this is
something that Maurice talkedabout.
This is something we've seenepisode and episode.
Again,
Ken Lucci (06:26):
Mm-hmm.
James Blain (06:26):
not forget that if you are a black car operator
that has larger vehicles, youhave a superpower because guess
who typically doesn't ride inthe bus?
The CEO, COO, the guys that haveall the power, all the control,
all the ability, right?
They're typically not the onethat they're putting on the bus.
(06:48):
So if you are operating blackcar and you've got the airport
and you've got those guys andyou've got them in the vehicle,
that is your ability to be ableto take just a couple airport
runs or even a couple runs thereand convert that into a major
client.
There's
Ken Lucci (07:05):
Absolutely.
James Blain (07:06):
no lack, absolutely no lack of companies where it's,
you know, we started out, theywere looking for a higher level
service to do this, and thenthey had a group move, then they
contacted us for this.
The next thing we knew, becausethey were so happy with how we
took care of their executives,we're taking care of all the
business.
Ken Lucci (07:22):
Okay, So, let me, let me go down this road.
James Blain (07:24):
yeah.
I, I wanted to kind of tee thisone up'cause it really lines up
with where we're going.
Ken Lucci (07:29):
if you're doing business with a lawyer, they're
not the only lawyer in town,create the electronic use case
as to why le more lawyers useyou than anybody else.
Sell existing clients.
More things, to your point, ifthey took an airport transfer
with you last year in April.
(07:50):
Call them in March, email themin March, Follow up.
James Blain (07:53):
up.
Ken Lucci (07:53):
So, so to me it's tripling down on your strategy
of who's using me now.
Let me find more of them andthen let me go deep with those
clients.
Okay.
So every single largecorporation that is moving to
and from the executives to andfrom the airports.
They certainly are going placesthat you can also provide
(08:17):
service to out of town.
So, uh, a good friend of mine inthe business calls it selling
the fries.
Do you want fries with that?
James Blain (08:24):
Yep.
Yep.
Ken Lucci (08:25):
to me it's, it's looking at every transfer and
not saying, Oh.
I'm down in trips.
Who gives a shit if you are upin revenue?
James Blain (08:35):
Yep.
Ken Lucci (08:36):
Right, winning.
so again, it's that whole volumeversus revenue To me, the
airport transfers accept thereality that.
67% of the reason CorporateAmerica uses us is for airport.
That's our entree into Into EMemployee incentive programs
during the week, it's groups andmeetings.
(08:56):
It's buses, it's it's vans fortraining.
It's everything.
It's the board meeting.
It's the out of town travel, soyou cannot give it up.
I hear people un unfair.
Well, I'm just not going tocompete.
Good for you.
Your market share is gonna godown.
If, if, again, unless you wannado a total pivot, because it's
your entry point.
The the second thing withairport transfers is when we did
(09:20):
the state of the industryreport, we researched airline
travel.
I read every single airlineanalyst report.
By the way, don't invest instocks and airline.
But anyway, the analyst reportsall of them talk about, number
one, the growth in first classcustomers.
James Blain (09:36):
Yep.
Ken Lucci (09:37):
Now, believe it or not, 60, 67% of, of, uh,
business class, of first classseats during the week.
They're frequent corporatetravelers on the weekends.
Guess who they are?
They're wealthy, privateindividuals.
James Blain (09:52):
Yep.
Ken Lucci (09:53):
70% of air travel is done for personal reasons, 70%,
16% is corporate employeesturning in their receipts.
They're traveling for corporatebusiness.
8% is uh, for, small businesspeople, right, that are
traveling for whatever reason.
(10:13):
But the remainder is personaltravel.
So we do a terrible job as anindustry.
Oh, we're competing with Uber,No, you're not.
James Blain (10:20):
If you're competing with Uber, you blew it.
Right?
If you're competing with, and,and I've said this time and time
again, right?
The whole like.
If you are trying to competewith A TNC, you can't.
Ken Lucci (10:32):
You can't compete.
You can't, you can't.
James Blain (10:34):
to us.
It's a volume play, and here'sthe thing.
If you are really going to beany a different class guys, this
is the reason we exist.
This reason Pax is in business,right?
Because you've got to give thatperson an experience they're
never gonna forget.
And by the way, one of thebiggest missed opportunities I
see in this industry, whoevergoes and does this software
(10:55):
automatically, right?
Limo anywhere, whoever does it,send me the check when you get
it figured out.
But what I would want, if I gotin the business tomorrow and I
was doing a lot of airport work.
would have a rule that says,Hey, if we know this is a first
time traveler with us andthey're doing any kind of trip
with us, first time with us, assoon as they get outta the
vehicle, if it's not a corporateclient and it's their first
trip, I'm gonna send an emailand I'm gonna say, thank you so
(11:17):
much for riding with us.
We'd love the opportunity tomake all of your travel needs
super easy.
Here are the main ways that wehelp our customers, and I would
take the top.
Trips that I do for people and Iwould say, Hey, we can help you
with, you know, your weddings.
We can help you with your nightsout.
We can help you with corporate,whatever it turns out in your
(11:37):
business.
Those biggest ones are, becauseI cannot tell you, and Ken, I
don't know if you see this, butI see so many missed
opportunities where like you'resaying, well, they don't know
what I do and nobody bothers totell'em they're not gonna reach
your website,
Ken Lucci (11:51):
no.
they're also not gonna sit onFacebook.
I mean, they're, to me, to me,it's not about showing off that
limo bus.
It's about.
Happy people In the limo bus, apic, a picture of the happy
people and what are the upcomingconcerts.
So, so back to the airports.
James Blain (12:08):
medal.
Ken Lucci (12:08):
Back, back to the airports.
I can tell you that when the,the, if, if you drill down and
do what we do, and you read theanalyst reports from the TNCs.
85% of the trips the TNCs takeare less than 25 bucks and 25
minutes.
Okay?
So if I am an operator today,I'm focusing my marketing of
(12:33):
airport transfers 45 minutesaway from the airports in the
wealthiest zip codes.
And I'm looking at the corporateparks where they are.
And the corporate buildings.
And where do those people live?
James Blain (12:48):
Right.
Ken Lucci (12:49):
I'm marketing in the wealthiest zip codes within a
ring 45 minutes out.
Why?
Because I can guarantee you atfour o'clock in the morning, 45
minutes away from an urban area,you are not gonna find an Uber
driver guaranteed.
And that's the Achilles heel.
16%.
By the way, only 16% of airporttransfers.
(13:10):
From people's homes to theirprimary airport.
16% are done by TNCs.
Okay.
Why?
Because they cannot direct, theycannot control, they cannot
guarantee that they're gonnahave a vehicle there.
We can, okay, so to me, I wouldimplore operators to, number
one, know what your coststructure is and don't be a pig.
(13:32):
Pigs get slaughtered.
But if you know what, if youknow your cost structure.
Uh, you know what?
You can afford the lowest priceyou can afford to do the airport
trip.
And I'm not saying call fivecompetitors and cut prices by
20%'cause you're gonna go out ofbusiness.
But I'm saying know what yourcost structure is, so know what
it costs you.
(13:53):
I know companies that charge alittle bit more for late night
or early, early morning pickupsat the airport or.
Meet and greets, et cetera.
But be careful, you know howmuch you, I don't want to term
how much you, you, you, nickeland dime.
Right?
I would, I would work thehardest.
Not for the person that usesairport.
(14:15):
Once because they're visiting mycity.
I would work the hardest forsomeone that travels repeatedly
10 times a a year, 20 times ayear.
Or they have corporate peopleroad warriors out there.
Okay.
That are, and I would work myass off price wise for them,
James Blain (14:33):
but walk you back a second though, Ken, walk you
back a second.
Right?
Because you already set that upearlier
Ken Lucci (14:39):
Mm-hmm.
James Blain (14:40):
I'm targeting the wealthy zip codes.
I'm, you have got, you want tobe intentional and I'm sure
we'll, we'll go more in depth onit in a second, but there are so
many people out there that I'mgonna PPC.
And, uh, pay, right?
Pay per click advertising.
For those that aren't familiarwith that term, I'm gonna
basically make it so that everytime someone searches the
airport code on Google, I pop upand then, and then I'm gonna be
(15:02):
the one.
Look, if
Ken Lucci (15:04):
No.
No,
James Blain (15:05):
your business the way you
Ken Lucci (15:07):
no.
James Blain (15:07):
your business isn't by giving every single person in
your entire city a flyer.
We've talked on it this before,we'll talk on it again.
Not every single person is yourcustomer, and
Ken Lucci (15:17):
Nope.
James Blain (15:18):
purely a volume play.
What I would really care aboutis how do I get those travelers
that have that corporate linkthat I can then say, Hey, you
know, we, we are so happy totake care of the airport.
We'd love to be able to takecare of you for work, to take
care if, you've got first classtravelers, if you've got
business class travelers and youcan then grab the rest of their
(15:38):
work, now you've got a way toascend that.
Ken Lucci (15:42):
Mm-hmm.
James Blain (15:42):
so many cases you're gonna get one interaction
and then there's no opportunityto ascend it.
So I think what Ken said earlieris super important here and that
you've gotta make thisintentional.
Your goal is not to get everysingle person to the airport,
try to get all of them.
It's to try and get the rightones so you can ascend it and
(16:03):
grow your business with it.
Ken Lucci (16:04):
So, so let's talk about who the corporate
travelers are.
Okay.
Number the GD uh, GBTA.
We did, we got the list, wedrilled down to the, to the top
100 industries.
Okay.
Believe it or not.
38% of business class passengersare technical support people for
essay, for software or hardware.
(16:25):
So let's break it down.
Largest employ largest employersin your area should know who you
are and what you do.
Your co uh, public companies,100% Public companies.
Okay.
Doctors and lawyers, withoutquestion.
James Blain (16:41):
Easy.
Ken Lucci (16:41):
pharmaceutical companies without question.
at the end of the day, knowing,and, and I, I, I agree with you.
PPC is like a shotgun blast.
James Blain (16:52):
Oh.
Ken Lucci (16:52):
You need to have today.
You need to have a sniper rifle.
True story.
Client of mine called and said,you know, I just opened up.
I can't believe they called me.
They're a Fortune 100 company.
They were using such and such ofa a network.
Didn't have metal in the cityand they don't own any metal, as
(17:12):
a matter of fact.
And, and the guy left the, theyhad three service failures and
they just book with me.
I said, okay, back up, back up.
I'm happy you did that.
I'm happy you got that.
But here's what I think you, Iwould recommend number one.
Make sure that you have it.
Mark that This is a status, oneVIP, whatever you want to call
(17:36):
it, because, and, and put yourbest people on it.
Then
James Blain (17:39):
A level game.
Ken Lucci (17:41):
a level game, and then, and then ask his executive
assistant, who's searched foryou, by the way?
Who found you right.
Ask if you can come down or askif you can schedule a 10 minute
zoom meeting to go througheverything else you do.
Find out who the head of HR isbecause they're always looking
(18:03):
for places and people to take.
Uh, take out employee, take outtheir employees.
Ask who the head of procurementis.
Ask how many total travelers dothey have.
And which, what cities do theygo in?
so, PPC to me goes long.
What I want you to do is godeep, right?
(18:24):
I want you to go deep, andchances are that that wealthy
couple that uses you four timesa year, guess what?
The zip code, where they livein.
Guaranteed.
there are other people thattravel four, five times a year,
guaranteed.
You, they belong to the samecountry club, guaranteed.
They get, the wives get theirhair done twice a week at the
(18:46):
same place.
Right.
Or the, the, there's uh highendtravel agent that they book, I
mean, these are not CarnivalCruise,$300, 10 day cruises.
They're going on,
James Blain (18:58):
Well, and they gotta get creative
Ken Lucci (18:59):
deep.
They have to get creative
James Blain (19:02):
to, if you have that lawyer that you've worked
with or you have that couple, oryou have, that, you could easily
send them something that says,give a friend or family member
the gift of peace of mind whenthey're traveling off their
first trip with us, right?
Whatever that might be.
Ken Lucci (19:19):
Yep.
James Blain (19:19):
way to tell
Ken Lucci (19:21):
Yep,
James Blain (19:21):
about it.
Give them a way
Ken Lucci (19:22):
yep.
James Blain (19:23):
that, because birds of a feather flock together.
We all know that.
Ken Lucci (19:27):
give them an employee discount when the employees are
traveling on Saturdays andSundays.
You know, when I own, I, when Iwas an operator, it used to
drive me crazy.
Not really, but every, everySaturday and Sunday, we were
nuts on weddings, right?
But then I would look at all, Iwould look at the sedans and
SUVs just sitting There lonely,right?
Sunday is the new travel day,it's the heaviest travel day,
(19:49):
but employees that may take aFriday off and go.
out of town, give them anemployee discount and, and, and
tie it to the volume of thecorporate accounts.
So don't just go long and tryPPCP.
To me, PPC is papering the wholecommunity
James Blain (20:05):
Right.
Ken Lucci (20:05):
it's a losing proposition.
Go deep.
So when I looked at this, when Isaid to this guy.
Listen, did you do what I askedyou to do?
Which is recommended, which isgo see the ea.
Okay?
Go see the executive assistant.
Say, listen, I'm gonna be inyour area.
I'd like to stop in.
How did the trip go?
Always, follow up with newclients, but then tell me
(20:27):
something.
Is he the only one that travels?
I mean, chances are no.
Right.
So, uh, I, I never forget a,when I was an operator, a
client, uh, and another operatorhad said to me, oh, you'll never
get to do business with techdata.
You, They, you know, they, theybuy only on price and they use
an out of town network.
So what did we do?
(20:47):
We called the ea.
One of the EAs that we, that weknew worked there from, even
back in the day we had LinkedIn.
So we said, listen, we'd like tocome over and we'd like to show
you the latest executivetransportation vehicles that we
just put into the fleet, and I'dlike to sponsor a coffee break
in the morning.
Okay, now.
James Blain (21:08):
Yeah.
Ken Lucci (21:09):
She was nice enough.
It, would help if you werereferred by someone, but she was
nice enough to say, of course,come on over.
We lined up a brand newEscalade, a brand new, uh,
sprinter with executive seating.
And then believe it or not, wehad a limo bus and, one of the
operators, like, they'll neveruse that.
I go there first thing, that'swhere we had the coffee.
James Blain (21:29):
but if they don't know you have it, they're sure
as hell not gonna use
Ken Lucci (21:32):
We put the coffee in the bar and it looked in the, in
the limo.
bus.
And guess what?
They u, the head of HR came andthey're like, Oh, wow.
We want to use that.
We have an employee incentiveprogram and we do a dine around.
We do a dine around every, everymonth we do one dine round for
one department.
Can we use this?
James Blain (21:52):
four of those D rounds.
Ken Lucci (21:53):
on a Thursday night.
Yeah.
I think the limo bus will beavailable on Thursday night.
But you know what, if we didn't,going back to the airport
transfers, if we didn't sharpenour pencil and ask the question.
You know, is he the only one whois traveling?
We wouldn't have gotten that.
So, you know, the message to mefor every operator who's
listening to this is if you aregetting frustrated that you
(22:16):
think your airport business isdropping, Then.
you need to quadruple down.
You need to look at who's usingyou, see if there are any other
travelers.
See if they're traveling in anyother city.
Listen, you know, we, we'redropping your boss off at the
airport.
I wanted you to know that we'repart of a global network.
Can I provide you the same levelof service in another city?
(22:36):
Watch what happens to yourprofits when you add one leg to
the round trip.
addition to that, if you've gotone law firm or one doctor's
practice, guess what?
They're not the only lawyer orthe only doctor out there.
I.
Put it on your website thatdon't use their name, but more
law firms use us than any othercompany.
Here is why, and just list thevalue proposition.
(23:00):
So if you see the airports tothe taxis and TNCs, I, I predict
the, the industry's gonna be inbig trouble.
James Blain (23:08):
Well, and let's, let's take a second because
you've dropped a ton of gems,right?
I feel like we're in Snow White.
We just came outta the mind.
We got all the diamonds of gems,right?
Ken Lucci (23:18):
wait a minute.
Shout, out to Gem Limousine inNew Jersey.
Joe Gino, he also ownsstrawberries.
The greatest pizza place and theGreatest Wings.
I love to go see them becauseBetley has a girlfriend there.
Her name is Soy.
She's a French bulldog.
But then Joe always takes me tostrawberries.
But, but to your point.
Sorry.
I digress.
(23:38):
I, I, I'm sorry
James Blain (23:39):
Here's so a couple things, right?
I wanna start at the beginning.
dropped LinkedIn for two secondsand we have been talking about
how do you find the otherlawyers?
How do you find the otherdoctors, guys you can go get on
LinkedIn?
I.
You can go connect with yourcustomers, especially look, in a
lot of cases you are theambassador for your brand.
(24:00):
As the owner, get on there,start connecting with people,
start looking at who theirconnections are, start figuring
that out.
The other
Ken Lucci (24:07):
Hundred percent ask for referrals.
James Blain (24:09):
for referrals.
Ken Lucci (24:10):
if they love you, if their boss loves you, don't give
the boss's name.
Just call the EA and say,listen, I'm not gonna put you on
a list, but can I ask you afavor can I have somebody email
you for a reference on us?
Of course you can.
All right, now, don't put'em ona list.
You, reference lists are kind ofpasse, right?
don't put, don't put the factthat IBM uses us on your
(24:32):
website.
All you're doing there is nowsome idiot who's low price than
you is gonna go grab it.
But I, think a personal, apersonal recommendation, I.
do that all the time.
people send me recommendationsall the time.
James Blain (24:45):
a lot of this is if you are going after corporate
America, you want to haveconversations.
And I will share a story.
When I had my very firstbusiness, my dad and I were out
and my dad was talking tosomeone and he starts, you know,
it literally, they talk for twoseconds.
So who's the head ofprocurement?
How do you guys find yourservices for this and that?
And me being a new businessowner.
(25:07):
Was Dead Rock Dad.
You can't just ask that kind ofstuff.
That's too bold.
You gotta get there.
And I was a dumbass, right?
Ken Lucci (25:16):
whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
Say, say that.
again.
Please.
Say that again.
Say that
James Blain (25:19):
made Ken's life, right?
That soundbite will be used overand over.
I was a but.
But here's the thing, right?
I didn't know any better.
I had this limiting belief.
You guys will hear me say that.
'cause I found that a lot oftimes.
It's me that holds the businessback.
It's my beliefs that hold thebusiness back.
I had this limiting belief atthe time that I couldn't just go
(25:40):
ask, Hey, who's in charge ofthat?
Hey, what are you doing forthat?
Hey, are you guys happy withwhat you're doing?
Hey, if I could provide morevalue, if I could give you
something that's above andbeyond what you've ever had
before and I was willing to letyou try it for free, would you
guys be willing to do it right?
I had this limiting belief youcouldn't go and do that, and I
will tell you.
That couldn't be further fromthe truth.
(26:01):
Now, is there a right and awrong way to do it?
Absolutely.
We've talked time and time againhow coming in up to someone at a
trade show and interrupting aconversation will drive'em nuts.
But that's not to say thatyou're not gonna go up to
someone and say, Hey, I, I'dlove to see if there's an
opportunity I work in your area.
I'd love to help you out.
Ken Lucci (26:21):
your, your father's obviously read How to Win
Friends and Influence People.
James Blain (26:26):
Absolutely.
Ken Lucci (26:27):
I was it Zig Ziglar that wrote that book?
James Blain (26:30):
I wanna say that's Dale Carnegie.
Ken Lucci (26:32):
Dale, you're right.
It was Dale Carnegie.
Okay.
So, back in the day.
every life insurance salesperson okay.
Had to read that book.
And if you've ever been soldlife insurance, those sons of
bitches will get more shit outof you, in the, in 30 seconds.
They're like, they've got, theyknow my, my way size.
(26:53):
They, they, they know my eightlast four digits of my social.
James Blain (26:56):
you, what you
Ken Lucci (26:57):
Right.
That's the training.
But so what your father wasdoing is weaving it into just
general conversation.
But to me, okay, so, so let'sjust talk about?
if you are already doingbusiness with one lawyer in a 10
lawyer practice, do you thinkyou've got enough juice in that
practice to say to the EA whobooks you, you know, what?
(27:19):
we'd love to offer you the bestprices possible corporate
account for all of yourtravelers, for all of your, your
partners.
But is there anybody else whotravels?
We'd like to add their home,home address right to your
account, and that way I can giveyou the best possible pricing.
So, you know, to me.
James Blain (27:39):
too, Ken.
You can take a play outta themedical sales book and you can
say, Hey, you know, John, we've,we've done tons of business with
you.
You know, I I, I don't know ifyour partners would be
interested, but I'd love to havean opportunity to kinda share
what we do with them.
You know, would you mind if Ibring in lunch for you and all
your
Ken Lucci (27:54):
Oh, food cells.
James Blain (27:55):
you just
Ken Lucci (27:55):
Food sells.
James Blain (27:56):
Day and I, I'd be happy to, to come by and, and no
Pitch.
I just, just give'em that, let'em know what we do and,
Ken Lucci (28:03):
So let's back up a step.
Do you remember, do you rememberthe name Otis Spunkmeyer?
James Blain (28:08):
I know the name.
Yeah, the
Ken Lucci (28:09):
Oh wait.
Whoa, whoa.
The cookies.
Okay.
so this is a true story.
This is the story.
So, so this is one of my wackyideas and there's a, there's a
woman named Shelly Taylor, whoworks for me, worked for me, is
at ambassador, still works forme on, on and off.
She's been, she's take care ofBentley and we bought an Otis
(28:29):
Spunkmeyer cookie maker.
James Blain (28:32):
Ooh.
Ken Lucci (28:33):
Okay.
And you could, you bought you,like you bought the oven and.
James Blain (28:37):
baked cookies, right?
Ken Lucci (28:39):
And, and you bought the oven and then what?
Then you got like a case offrozen dough.
Right?
So,
James Blain (28:46):
like little pellets you put in there,
Ken Lucci (28:48):
right?
So we would do, we wouldbasically make a list of
everywhere we wanted to dropthose.
Okay.
And we would have a chauffeurbring and we did a nice job with
it, with a box of cookies and apaper cube that said ambassador
Limousine.
And it was.
James Blain (29:06):
refill on the bottom right.
As soon
Ken Lucci (29:08):
Correct,
James Blain (29:09):
call for the refill.
Ken Lucci (29:10):
correct.
On the bottom of the paper cube,it said for more paper cubes
call, the, call our reservationline.
And we sent a driver row withthem.
So, so food works And you'reright.
Food.
If you wanna know what otherindustries do to break in when
they're either cold calling orbreak the ice, so to speak, it's
food.
James Blain (29:28):
And it
Ken Lucci (29:29):
It's bringing food.
It, it works.
every time.
Uh, somebody said to me theother day, well, you know, you
can't just walk into officebuildings.
You know what, but you can.
in every suburban office parkout there.
I get a filling done, right?
And, and I'm looking and there'slike seven orthopedic surgeons.
There's an ophthalmologist allin the same medical community.
(29:50):
I mean, We deal with an A CPAand he says to me, Ken, is there
a decent limo company down here?
Because the family, and I gottago to BWI, which is like two
hours from here.
So of course I call one of myclients, right?
And I said, listen, take care ofthis guy.
He's my accountant.
So my whole point on the airportthing is I honestly believe,
(30:12):
first of all, there are ebbs andflows of Every business.
James Blain (30:15):
Every business.
Ken Lucci (30:16):
But instead of fighting for the shrinking pie,
which is corporate America, andI'm gonna do affiliate work for
the three or four or fivenetworks, right?
How about you literally digwhere your gold is?
Look at your existing clients.
Go back three years in LimoAnywhere and figure out who has
(30:37):
not used you, and send them acard that says, Hey, we miss
you.
If you've got any travel comingup.
Here's$20 off a round trip.
Okay.
Whatever the offer is that youwanna do, just get them back in
the car
James Blain (30:54):
And don't mass email it.
Don't make it don't.
Right guys, emails
Ken Lucci (30:58):
sniper shop.
James Blain (30:59):
like we
Ken Lucci (30:59):
shop,
James Blain (31:00):
about on a previous episode.
When your dispatchers aren'tdoing anything, go have some
cards.
Write'em up, throw a stamp onit, drop it in the mail,
Anything you can do topersonalize and anything you can
do ideally to start aconversation.
Ken Lucci (31:13):
So the other day I, I was on site with a client,
unbelievable area, where aclient lives, and we went out to
lunch and he's pointing out thiscountry club and he is pointing
out this gated community.
And we get back to his officeand we do a sales heat map.
Right?
And I just googled the zip codesof those same areas and like.
(31:35):
You are not getting the marketshare you need to.
Well, there are No.
corporations there.
I said, that's where all theCEOs live.
James Blain (31:42):
Yeah, that's their house.
I.
Ken Lucci (31:44):
right.
So figure out, I mean, go to thecountry club and say, you know
what?
We have many of your members useour service.
We'd like all of your members touse our service as a member
benefit.
This is what we can do for you.
Okay?
but think about that.
Oh, well, it's either that orspend three grand for PPC,
right?
So
James Blain (32:04):
Well, but, but it's a different strategy, right?
Because PPC is not gonna startthat conversation.
Ken Lucci (32:10):
it's gonna go broad.
It's gonna go big and broad,
James Blain (32:13):
we, are talking about, and I don't wanna go
super deep in it'cause thiscould be another episode, but
you're talking about thedifference between sales and
marketing.
We are, we are talking aboutbuilding relationships.
We're talking about taking itdeeper.
We're talking about leveragingwhat you have.
Notice how in this entireepisode, at no point have we
gone, when you're competing witha TNC guys,
Ken Lucci (32:34):
No.
James Blain (32:34):
they should be on this level.
Ken Lucci (32:36):
No.
James Blain (32:36):
live on that level, and if you're not
differentiating, providing adifference in service and
marketing different things,look, if, if you're doing
airport, it's hey.
Do you wanna have thereliability, the peace of mind
to know that someone's gonna bewaiting, you're gonna look out
the window, we'll help you look.
This will be the most peace ofmind you've ever had going to
the airport,
Ken Lucci (32:57):
Safest way to travel.
Uh, who is traveling?
Oh, it's my wife.
It's my wife and daughter.
Well, you've come to the right?
place because this is the safestway.
They're coming back at 11o'clock at night.
Can I recommend that?
We, greet them inside theairport.
Okay.
But, but, so, You know, it, I,I, I just find that I also, I
(33:17):
find that when I see this shiton Facebook, I also see.
That it's almost like, um, it'sa negative fest, Right.
Everybody piles on.
Oh yeah.
You know, this was a toughquarter for airport travel.
You know, we dug into this witha client and he had a tough
first quarter for airport, and Isaid, see the problem?
Your primary customer who does amillion a year with you in the
(33:41):
airport, they're half of whatthey were last year.
What's going on?
So what does he do?
He calls them.
He calls them.
And, and the lady said, we'vecut back on travel, for the
following reason, for this firsttwo quarters.
It's temporary.
Okay.
But my whole point to him is,you don't have a problem.
(34:01):
You're not, we're not losingairport as a market share.
You have one situation with oneclient.
My answer is create the constantsales machine.
James Blain (34:11):
Right.
Ken Lucci (34:12):
be presenting, Right.
You remember the um, A, B, C,um.
Always be closing.
Glen Garry, Glen Ross, right.
Best sales movie out there.
Everybody.
Glen Garry, Glen Ross.
Go out and rent that movie.
Alec Baldwin gives anunbelievable speech, right?
A, B, C, always B.
(34:33):
Closing to me, don't rest onyour laurels.
So if you notice that Mr.
Lucci traveled with me last year25 times, but I've not seen him
recently.
Don't be afraid to.
Send him an email, an individualemail, call him and say, listen,
Mr.
Lucci, we haven't seen you in abit.
can we help you out with anytravel?
Do you have an, any travelcoming up?
(34:55):
You know, being proactiveincreases, instead of waiting
for the phone to ring, doubleand triple down.
To me it's, it's, it's, it'snatural stuff.
James Blain (35:06):
but let's go back to something that came up in one
of the very first episodes weever did on this podcast and,
Ken Lucci (35:12):
That was like what, seven years ago?
Didn't we start this
James Blain (35:15):
was like
Ken Lucci (35:16):
seven years ago?
James Blain (35:17):
or 50 now.
Ken Lucci (35:18):
Did look at our producers, put an extra, Uh,
he's put an addition on hishouse for Christ's sake.
It's been like, has it been fiveyears?
James Blain (35:25):
I think he bought a new one, but no.
So, so going back to that firstepisode, one of the things.
That came up was there's nothingworse than if somebody has a
negative or bad experience andthey leave and you don't even
notice.
Right.
I didn't even matter enough foryou to notice that.
I want, if you see that businessstarts going down and you call
(35:47):
in on that customer and theysay, well, we've got a downturn
of us.
Hey, not a problem.
You know, it's always our numberone goal is to take care of you,
and we saw that you weren'tbooking as much.
We wanna make sure that we'redoing everything you can.
To have the best experience.
You know, we're sorry to hearthat.
The travel's going down.
Is there anything that we can doso that when that comes back up
or when that changes, we'reready to be a good partner for
(36:10):
you?
Ken Lucci (36:10):
Yep.
James Blain (36:11):
Those types of things.
Those types of check-ins.
And then like I, we've said somuch on this episode, keep in
mind that you are not fightingfor the same person that Uber
is.
You are not fighting for thesame person that Lyft is,
Ken Lucci (36:27):
No way.
James Blain (36:28):
you have to do is you have to represent a
different standard, a differentlevel.
And we haven't talked about itmuch,
Ken Lucci (36:34):
More value, more value.
James Blain (36:36):
right.
When you get there, keep in mindthey're gonna send the same
vehicle that you are.
I can get out, I can go into anyairport I want.
I can order a black SUV.
But is that chauffeur going tobe ready to help me?
Are they outta the vehicle?
Are they greeting me?
Are they taking care of, am Igoing to have an experience to
where that customer service,that safety, that envelope of
(36:58):
comfort that I step into as soonas I start interacting with your
company?
Becomes such an experience forme that it ruins it for someone
else.
The best thing
Ken Lucci (37:10):
Yep.
James Blain (37:10):
do to lock down your business is provide an
experience that is so fluid,that is so simple, that creates
such peace of mind that whenthey go with someone else, when
they go with TNC, even thoughit's more convenient, it's night
and day to that person.
Ken Lucci (37:28):
So we're, we're going all over the place on this, but
I'll tell you the, the, theother piece of this puzzle is
when someone calls in for atrip, what's the first thing you
should ask?
a, have you used us before?
James Blain (37:43):
yeah.
Ken Lucci (37:44):
No.
Okay.
Assume it's a no.
Tell me something.
Uh, I'm sorry.
What's your first name?
James?
James Blain (37:51):
Here
Ken Lucci (37:52):
no, it's James.
James.
James, right.
James, tell me something.
What, what did you do beforethis?
Well, I used so-and-so and youknow, we had some problems,
listen.
Uh, nothing against them, buttell me something.
I wanna make sure that we takereally good care of you.
You said that they messed upwith your boss.
What happened?
only so that you can understanddon't commiserate and say they
(38:13):
suck.
Right.
Only so you can understand.
James Blain (38:17):
help me understand is one of my
Ken Lucci (38:19):
right.
Have, okay, so how did you hearabout us?
What did you do?
What did you do before today?
Right?
And if they, if they, they say,you know, how, how did you hear
about us?
So we can figure out, you know,whether your marketing is
actually working.
That, that to me is you, youtalk about digging where the
(38:42):
gold is.
There's no question in my mindthat reservationists are not
asking those questions.
Right.
Um, or if yes, I've used youbefore.
Thank you so much for comingback.
Thank you for, for, for using usagain.
Could I have your last name?
Oh, I see that you travel withus in October.
(39:03):
Terrific.
What can I do for you today?
and always try to sell thefries, try to turn the one
transfer into the round trip,the round trip into the third
leg.
But I, I honestly do Not basedon airline growth.
And the growth in airlinepassengers, we have no shortage
of people to sell that serviceto
James Blain (39:26):
Not at all.
Ken Lucci (39:27):
Airlines are growing at 4% domestically, 5%
internationally, compounded,compounded every single year.
Now, just to, to put that intoperspective, the gross domestic
product of the United States isgrowing at 2%, so.
Airline.
Passenger growth is a virtualhockey stick, so don't tell me
(39:49):
that we can't compete.
The answer is double down onyour best clients.
Double down on duplicating yourbest clients, making sure that
you're going deep with your bestclients, that everybody who
travels is using you, Right.
When was the last time you wentinto your best client?
I don't care if you're a two caroperator.
(40:10):
When was the last time you wentinto your best client?
And thank them by giving themsomething,
James Blain (40:16):
Right.
Ken Lucci (40:17):
Okay.
At the end of the day, yoursales job doesn't end.
The first time you got'em in thecar, they need to know
everything that you possibly do.
Had another client calls me andsays, very congratulatory, very
happy with himself.
He said, you know, I just tookcare of the president of such
(40:37):
and such company.
That was going to the SuperBowl.
Was it New New Orleans.
this year.
James Blain (40:42):
New Orleans.
Yeah.
Yeah, that's, I'm Kansas Cityguy.
that's, that's a rough one.
We try to pretend that onedidn't happen.
Ken Lucci (40:47):
he said, I pulled a rabbit outta my hat.
He said, I found an SUV comingover from Atlanta from, and
they, my affiliate in Atlantawent over there and they're
doing a 12 hour wait and returnwith my client.
This new client that I have, Ipulled a wrap.
His EA was so.
His executive assistant was sohappy.
(41:08):
I said, Okay.
that's not your only win.
That's the open door.
Now, make sure he's happy.
Check in with the affiliate.
Make sure everything went well.
Call the affiliate and say,listen, I'm gonna be out there
this week.
I wanna stop by for 10 minutesand give you something and drop
something off.
Whether it's your capabilitybooklet, whether you send them
(41:31):
an electronic capabilitybrochure, make sure that they
know everything you do and askthem for the rest of their damn
business.
So, I mean, he was happy as hellbecause he worked on this.
He worked on getting that guy anSUV, he had to make about six
calls.
This guy is like tenacious,right?
And it was a big ticket.
(41:51):
Money was no fricking objectbecause she couldn't do it.
His ea, I mean, and, and.
couldn't get it done.
So this is a brand new client.
What better way for you to getmore business from them, for
you?
You've already got the callingcard.
Listen, Mary, I'm glad your bossis happy.
Let me tell you.
(42:11):
Pulling rabbits out of our hats,what we do every single day.
Let me ask you a question.
Who else travels in the company?
I'd like to open a corporateaccount for you so I can give
you best in class serviceanywhere you travel.
So I, I, I, you know, Facebook,first of all, it annoys the shit
outta me that all of theoperators are sitting on
Facebook rather than
James Blain (42:32):
Oh,
Ken Lucci (42:33):
if they,
James Blain (42:33):
we, we can have a whole podcast, right?
I, I can tell
Ken Lucci (42:36):
and someday,
James Blain (42:36):
and.
Ken Lucci (42:37):
we'll,
James Blain (42:37):
who
Ken Lucci (42:37):
someday,
James Blain (42:38):
have in this city?
Is, is the bane of my existence,right?
Ken Lucci (42:41):
oh yeah.
Yeah.
James Blain (42:42):
cares about the experience, cares about safety.
When I book with a trans, when Ibook with a a car service, what
I wanna know is that you went onFacebook and spent all of 30
seconds to shove me with thefirst guy that gave you a low
price.
That makes me feel good, but,
Ken Lucci (42:55):
So it's,
James Blain (42:56):
episode,
Ken Lucci (42:57):
look, and I, it comes back to what we talked about in
in another episode, which isit's not the market, it's your
mindset.
Okay, because I can tell yousomething, the top 1% of the
people in this country that shopat the best jewelers, that dine
at the best restaurants in yourmarket, that shop at the best
(43:17):
local stores, they are not.
Taking Uber to and from theairport at four o'clock in the
morning.
I know, because I read theiranalyst reports and they lament
the fact that they are growingin the$20, 20 minute rides like
crazy.
By the way, by the way, you knowwhere they're growing the most?
Uber.
X.
(43:37):
Uber X, you know, it's the,they, they are saturated the low
price, but you know, wherethey're not growing is the Uber
black market.
They have more capacity, butthey are literally not growing
in the airport space.
They lament it on every call andwhen you think about it.
There's no way they canguarantee that, driver's gonna
(43:59):
be out at four o'clock.
If I'm an Uber black driver, I'mnot getting up at four o'clock
in the morning for what An$80trip?
I'm gonna get 60% of that.
I mean, by the time I pay forthe gas to get 45 minutes out of
the city,
James Blain (44:13):
Not, not only that what happens when he cancels?
Ken Lucci (44:15):
Right
James Blain (44:16):
I, I can tell you, I have been, there was a point
in time when, every time I wentto Las Vegas, right?
Everybody, the big thing in LasVegas is they were dealing with
issues of, you'd order an Uber,it'd be across town.
It would cancel, it'd never showup.
Then you'd have to book a newone.
Then nobody wants to deal withthat at that hour.
I, I will tell you, I don't, Idon't know that there's a better
way to leave this other thanthis is your door to get into
(44:39):
the rest of the business.
And I think as an operator, youhave to understand that you are
not competing with the TNC.
You do not want the same pastorhe wants.
And if you cannot differentiateyourself from the tcs, even
their black or their premium, ortheir top level tier, if you
can't find a different way todifferentiate, you are missing
the point.
(44:59):
I, I don't know, Ken.
I don't know that there's abetter way to leave it than
that.
Ken Lucci (45:03):
No, one.
One final thought.
One of my favorite people in theentire industry who shall go
remain nameless.
Said to me that he getsfrustrated because people will
call him.
for a price
James Blain (45:17):
No,
Ken Lucci (45:17):
then they won't go with him, and then the next
morning at three o'clock in themorning or four o'clock in the
morning, they're waking him up.
Right.
So I said to him, you need todevelop a strategy find out the
who, what, where, and when, andwhy of how often they travel.
And, oh, your price is too high.
What are you comparing us to?
Oh, Uber, you know what?
We don't compete with Uber.
(45:38):
And you know what?
some people tell me that we are,I know we're higher price.
Some people tell me that theycompare us to Uber, but those
are the same people that usuallycall me the day after because
the Uber driver hasn't shown up.
We have redundant vehicles,redundant drivers, background
check drivers.
James Blain (45:55):
the value before you give the price,
Ken Lucci (45:57):
yes.
James Blain (45:58):
out to my partner Bruce on that.
He talked about
Ken Lucci (46:00):
oh yeah.
James Blain (46:01):
very early on.
Build the value before you givethe price.
'cause
Ken Lucci (46:06):
and don't accept no
James Blain (46:08):
it's just gonna throw a number out,
Ken Lucci (46:10):
and, and don't accept no say, you know, give them the
best price you can based onRound Trip.
If you open a corporate accountwith me, if, listen, if somebody
says to you, oh, you're too highprice, you're, you're much
higher than an Uber and they'recoming in and outta your city
once a year, don't worry aboutit.
You don't need them anyway.
right?
He's not your guy.
but if you know, if you knowthat he's with such and such a
(46:32):
corporation or he lives in awealthy area and he's a frequent
traveler, do the best you can.
This is the best I can do.
If if you book a round trip withme, and here's the promise I
make for you.
15 minutes before the appointedtime, look out your window.
The vehicle's gonna be there, weguarantee on time performance.
So it's not the market.
It's the mindset.
(46:52):
It's not your price, it's theperspective and, the value that
you can build.
Don't give up on airport.
If you give up on airport, youare, you are literally saying,
we're not going to, deliver themilk and bread.
They're not gonna come into yourstore.
That's the way I look at it.
James Blain (47:08):
and, and Ken, let me ask you something, because
this just, we're in thismarketing mindset.
I gotta tell you, if I was inthe business today, I would also
be looking at bundling and say,Hey, no, I, I totally
understand.
Let me ask you, what are youdoing for transportation when
you get there and you get back?
Because
Ken Lucci (47:24):
Right.
James Blain (47:24):
your transportation to the airport, now we can
Ken Lucci (47:27):
Yep.
James Blain (47:28):
care of you when you arrive in your destination.
We can get you back
Ken Lucci (47:30):
Yep.
James Blain (47:31):
We can get you back home.
You know, if we'd like, if wecan set up all four of those
trips for you right now,
Ken Lucci (47:35):
We're gonna do all the tracking.
Yep.
James Blain (47:37):
where I'm going with this?
You see where I'm going withthis?
Ken Lucci (47:40):
It's one secured credit card transaction.
We're gonna track every singleleg of this trip, and by the
way.
I invite, go ahead and callGoogle Call.
Call.
The best guys on Google that arein that city, we actually have,
they're part of the best ones,are in our affiliate network.
we have the best prices in town.
We're gonna, the most importantthing, it's one secured
transaction.
We're gonna track you, they'regonna be waiting for you at the
(48:02):
airport.
It's the safest way, especiallyif You find out it's a female
travel, a female executive.
It's, it's the wife.
James Blain (48:10):
or
Ken Lucci (48:10):
The wife, and.
James Blain (48:13):
Look it, it's counterintuitive to think that,
Hey, you know, how would I getit by going up?
But again, you are not going forthe cost there.
You're going for the value.
Right, and so I think that'swhere we'll leave it for this
one is understand that it's anopen door, it's value.
Again, highlight of our week.
Thank you so much for listening.
(48:34):
Um, if you haven't already, youcan go to ground transportation
podcast.com, subscribe to usthere.
Obviously Facebook, LinkedIn,Twitter, whatever your favorite
social media platform.
And very easy.
You can search us there on aground transportation podcast on
all of those platforms.
And, uh, for myself.
Thank you for joining.
Ken.
Any closing words that you wannaleave him with?
Ken Lucci (48:54):
Listen, you know, some say we're overplayed,
James, but I say, I say we arethe best continuing education in
the industry.
We don't charge you a hotel fee,we don't charge you for a
conference ticket.
It's the best continuingeducation in the industry, and,
uh, I, I'm, I'm happy to do itwith?
you every Friday.
James Blain (49:15):
It's, it's a pleasure.
I can't think of anyone.
I'd rather do this with Ken.
Thank you everyone so much forlistening, and we'll see you on
the next episode.
Thank you for listening to theground transportation podcast.
If you enjoyed this episode,please remember to subscribe to
the show on apple, Spotify,YouTube, or wherever you get
your podcasts.
For more information about PAXtraining and to contact James,
(49:38):
go to PAX training.com.
And for more information aboutdriving transactions and to
contact Ken, Go to drivingtransactions.com.
We'll see you next time on theground transportation podcast.
Good afternoon everybody, and welcome to
another exciting episode ofGround Transportation Podcast.
We are in the groundtransportation podcast studio
with my, um, lovely andtalented,
James Blain (00:36):
Oh boy.
Ken Lucci (00:38):
co-hosts James Blaine from PAX Training, the best
chauffeur training, bestcustomer service training in the
industry.
How are you.
James?
James Blain (00:45):
I'm, I'm good.
It's Friday.
Best day of our week.
We live for this.
Ken Lucci (00:49):
Oh, it is a, it is a great day today.
Um, Fridays are my favorite day.
Now, not too many people knowthis, but I do work Saturdays
only.
So because I, I don't know aboutyou, but I'm, I mean, you get
the hockey, the kids, the wife,the whole thing.
But I find that I can get moredone on in four hours on a
Saturday
James Blain (01:07):
No calls.
No, I I have the same thing.
I find
Ken Lucci (01:10):
But I also.
I think Friday is a good day todecompress because as we get to
the summertime, less people are,are, do wanna do hard, uh,
appointments with us.
But listen, today I want to talkabout something that is near and
dear to me that's concerning mein the, industry because, you
know, when we look at Facebookand we see operators complaining
(01:33):
about, well, their airporttransfers are down, do you, you
you hear that?
James Blain (01:38):
Yeah.
Ken Lucci (01:39):
Okay.
So.
James Blain (01:40):
is a real point of contention and, and especially
on the chauffeur services sideof the industry.
Ken Lucci (01:45):
Right.
So on, you know, listen, at theend of the day, I maintain that
airport transfers are the milkand bread of the industry.
all Right.
If we're a grocery store, whichis, you know, my family
background, um, if we're agrocery store, the milk and
bread is what gets, what getsthem in the door to sell the
higher, the higher price stuff,okay?
(02:07):
Number one, I think we do aterrible job as an industry.
Telling our airport transfercustomer everything else that we
can do for them.
That's number one.
James Blain (02:19):
Oh yeah, that's a, that's a small business issue
across the board, right?
Ken Lucci (02:22):
Right, exactly.
You know, the assumption is,well, it's on my website that I
do wine tours.
Yeah.
They're not sitting on yourwebsite.
Right.
They're not.
They're not sitting on yourwebsite.
In your website.
So number one, if you look at,if you accept the fact that
airport transfers are anecessity to get'em in the
(02:42):
store, they're the milk and thebread.
We have to be competitive.
Now, this is a true statisticper the GBTA.
When you look at corporateAmerica, 67% of the reason why
corporate America useschauffered services is for the
standard airport transfer.
Okay-, Now, you know, 25% usethis for motor coach and group
(03:04):
and meeting and a bunch of otherstuff, right?
That they do maybe once or twicea year.
James Blain (03:08):
But,
Ken Lucci (03:08):
but this.
James Blain (03:09):
your entry point to get there.
Ken Lucci (03:10):
airport transfer is vitally important.
Now I will share.
That's GBTA.
James Blain (03:14):
Yeah.
Ken Lucci (03:15):
other thing I will share with you is based on the
work we've done, every singlecompany that we have reviewed
out of the 270 plus companies,maybe 200 and.
Maybe two 30 were chauffeurcompanies, but of every company
that we have reviewed, the oneswho have turned their back on on
airport transfer and said, oh,I'm getting out of the sedan and
(03:38):
SUV business to a company.
Every single one of them, theirrevenue has dropped off.
Now, I'm not talking about theones that made the strategic
decision to pivot towards schooland university contracts or
corporate or corporate shuttlecontracts, Right.
That's literally changing yourentire mindset.
(04:00):
You are no longer a supermarket.
You are a black Angus butchershop.
I love it.
Right.
But, but if you want to dobusiness with corporate America.
You need to understand that 67%of the reason why they use
chauffeur transportation is to,or from the airport with it's
either their, their high levelmanagers or their executives.
(04:22):
So you, if you accept thatreality, you have a couple of
choices, Okay.
Number one, drop your pants and,and, and, and go low price.
James Blain (04:34):
Yeah.
Ken Lucci (04:34):
That, That's, a technical finance term.
Dropping your pants.
James Blain (04:37):
offic.
Yeah, the unofficial technical.
The
Ken Lucci (04:40):
The unofficial technical, right?
So drop your pants to no nothingor, or, or know what your costs
are.
I maintain that you can't stayin business doing airport
transfers unless you're makingmore than 30 to 35% gross margin
on the trip.
So what does that mean?
That means that if you charge ahundred bucks, 35 bucks.
(05:04):
Is devoted to pay your overhead,to pay you to make a profit,
right?
believe it or not, you're gonnaspend 60 to 65 bucks to have the
vehicle that does the work, paythe driver repair and
maintenance fleet insurance, etcetera.
Okay.
The problem I see with airporttransfers going down is not the
(05:25):
fact that people, that, thatpeople are not traveling.
Domestic air travel grows at 4%a year, compounded annually.
International travel is growingat 5% a year, so it's a
proverbial hockey stick comparedto a standard business growth is
(05:47):
about 2%.
Okay, so my answer to operatorsis.
Do not shy away from or turnyour back on airport.
number one, triple down on whois using you Right.
now.
Example, if if, if you've got apharmaceutical company using
you, guess what?
(06:07):
They're not the onlypharmaceutical company in the
world.
You create a use case as to whypharmaceutical companies like us
and use us for airport travel.
James Blain (06:18):
but real quick before we move on,'cause this is
something that Maurice talkedabout.
This is something we've seenepisode and episode.
Again,
Ken Lucci (06:26):
Mm-hmm.
James Blain (06:26):
not forget that if you are a black car operator
that has larger vehicles, youhave a superpower because guess
who typically doesn't ride inthe bus?
The CEO, COO, the guys that haveall the power, all the control,
all the ability, right?
They're typically not the onethat they're putting on the bus.
(06:48):
So if you are operating blackcar and you've got the airport
and you've got those guys andyou've got them in the vehicle,
that is your ability to be ableto take just a couple airport
runs or even a couple runs thereand convert that into a major
client.
There's
Ken Lucci (07:05):
Absolutely.
James Blain (07:06):
no lack, absolutely no lack of companies where it's,
you know, we started out, theywere looking for a higher level
service to do this, and thenthey had a group move, then they
contacted us for this.
The next thing we knew, becausethey were so happy with how we
took care of their executives,we're taking care of all the
business.
Ken Lucci (07:22):
Okay, So, let me, let me go down this road.
James Blain (07:24):
yeah.
I, I wanted to kind of tee thisone up'cause it really lines up
with where we're going.
Ken Lucci (07:29):
if you're doing business with a lawyer, they're
not the only lawyer in town,create the electronic use case
as to why le more lawyers useyou than anybody else.
Sell existing clients.
More things, to your point, ifthey took an airport transfer
with you last year in April.
(07:50):
Call them in March, email themin March, Follow up.
James Blain (07:53):
up.
Ken Lucci (07:53):
So, so to me it's tripling down on your strategy
of who's using me now.
Let me find more of them andthen let me go deep with those
clients.
Okay.
So every single largecorporation that is moving to
and from the executives to andfrom the airports.
They certainly are going placesthat you can also provide
(08:17):
service to out of town.
So, uh, a good friend of mine inthe business calls it selling
the fries.
Do you want fries with that?
James Blain (08:24):
Yep.
Yep.
Ken Lucci (08:25):
to me it's, it's looking at every transfer and
not saying, Oh.
I'm down in trips.
Who gives a shit if you are upin revenue?
James Blain (08:35):
Yep.
Ken Lucci (08:36):
Right, winning.
so again, it's that whole volumeversus revenue To me, the
airport transfers accept thereality that.
67% of the reason CorporateAmerica uses us is for airport.
That's our entree into Into EMemployee incentive programs
during the week, it's groups andmeetings.
(08:56):
It's buses, it's it's vans fortraining.
It's everything.
It's the board meeting.
It's the out of town travel, soyou cannot give it up.
I hear people un unfair.
Well, I'm just not going tocompete.
Good for you.
Your market share is gonna godown.
If, if, again, unless you wannado a total pivot, because it's
your entry point.
The the second thing withairport transfers is when we did
(09:20):
the state of the industryreport, we researched airline
travel.
I read every single airlineanalyst report.
By the way, don't invest instocks and airline.
But anyway, the analyst reportsall of them talk about, number
one, the growth in first classcustomers.
James Blain (09:36):
Yep.
Ken Lucci (09:37):
Now, believe it or not, 60, 67% of, of, uh,
business class, of first classseats during the week.
They're frequent corporatetravelers on the weekends.
Guess who they are?
They're wealthy, privateindividuals.
James Blain (09:52):
Yep.
Ken Lucci (09:53):
70% of air travel is done for personal reasons, 70%,
16% is corporate employeesturning in their receipts.
They're traveling for corporatebusiness.
8% is uh, for, small businesspeople, right, that are
traveling for whatever reason.
(10:13):
But the remainder is personaltravel.
So we do a terrible job as anindustry.
Oh, we're competing with Uber,No, you're not.
James Blain (10:20):
If you're competing with Uber, you blew it.
Right?
If you're competing with, and,and I've said this time and time
again, right?
The whole like.
If you are trying to competewith A TNC, you can't.
Ken Lucci (10:32):
You can't compete.
You can't, you can't.
James Blain (10:34):
to us.
It's a volume play, and here'sthe thing.
If you are really going to beany a different class guys, this
is the reason we exist.
This reason Pax is in business,right?
Because you've got to give thatperson an experience they're
never gonna forget.
And by the way, one of thebiggest missed opportunities I
see in this industry, whoevergoes and does this software
(10:55):
automatically, right?
Limo anywhere, whoever does it,send me the check when you get
it figured out.
But what I would want, if I gotin the business tomorrow and I
was doing a lot of airport work.
would have a rule that says,Hey, if we know this is a first
time traveler with us andthey're doing any kind of trip
with us, first time with us, assoon as they get outta the
vehicle, if it's not a corporateclient and it's their first
trip, I'm gonna send an emailand I'm gonna say, thank you so
(11:17):
much for riding with us.
We'd love the opportunity tomake all of your travel needs
super easy.
Here are the main ways that wehelp our customers, and I would
take the top.
Trips that I do for people and Iwould say, Hey, we can help you
with, you know, your weddings.
We can help you with your nightsout.
We can help you with corporate,whatever it turns out in your
(11:37):
business.
Those biggest ones are, becauseI cannot tell you, and Ken, I
don't know if you see this, butI see so many missed
opportunities where like you'resaying, well, they don't know
what I do and nobody bothers totell'em they're not gonna reach
your website,
Ken Lucci (11:51):
no.
they're also not gonna sit onFacebook.
I mean, they're, to me, to me,it's not about showing off that
limo bus.
It's about.
Happy people In the limo bus, apic, a picture of the happy
people and what are the upcomingconcerts.
So, so back to the airports.
James Blain (12:08):
medal.
Ken Lucci (12:08):
Back, back to the airports.
I can tell you that when the,the, if, if you drill down and
do what we do, and you read theanalyst reports from the TNCs.
85% of the trips the TNCs takeare less than 25 bucks and 25
minutes.
Okay?
So if I am an operator today,I'm focusing my marketing of
(12:33):
airport transfers 45 minutesaway from the airports in the
wealthiest zip codes.
And I'm looking at the corporateparks where they are.
And the corporate buildings.
And where do those people live?
James Blain (12:48):
Right.
Ken Lucci (12:49):
I'm marketing in the wealthiest zip codes within a
ring 45 minutes out.
Why?
Because I can guarantee you atfour o'clock in the morning, 45
minutes away from an urban area,you are not gonna find an Uber
driver guaranteed.
And that's the Achilles heel.
16%.
By the way, only 16% of airporttransfers.
(13:10):
From people's homes to theirprimary airport.
16% are done by TNCs.
Okay.
Why?
Because they cannot direct, theycannot control, they cannot
guarantee that they're gonnahave a vehicle there.
We can, okay, so to me, I wouldimplore operators to, number
one, know what your coststructure is and don't be a pig.
(13:32):
Pigs get slaughtered.
But if you know what, if youknow your cost structure.
Uh, you know what?
You can afford the lowest priceyou can afford to do the airport
trip.
And I'm not saying call fivecompetitors and cut prices by
20%'cause you're gonna go out ofbusiness.
But I'm saying know what yourcost structure is, so know what
it costs you.
(13:53):
I know companies that charge alittle bit more for late night
or early, early morning pickupsat the airport or.
Meet and greets, et cetera.
But be careful, you know howmuch you, I don't want to term
how much you, you, you, nickeland dime.
Right?
I would, I would work thehardest.
Not for the person that usesairport.
(14:15):
Once because they're visiting mycity.
I would work the hardest forsomeone that travels repeatedly
10 times a a year, 20 times ayear.
Or they have corporate peopleroad warriors out there.
Okay.
That are, and I would work myass off price wise for them,
James Blain (14:33):
but walk you back a second though, Ken, walk you
back a second.
Right?
Because you already set that upearlier
Ken Lucci (14:39):
Mm-hmm.
James Blain (14:40):
I'm targeting the wealthy zip codes.
I'm, you have got, you want tobe intentional and I'm sure
we'll, we'll go more in depth onit in a second, but there are so
many people out there that I'mgonna PPC.
And, uh, pay, right?
Pay per click advertising.
For those that aren't familiarwith that term, I'm gonna
basically make it so that everytime someone searches the
airport code on Google, I pop upand then, and then I'm gonna be
(15:02):
the one.
Look, if
Ken Lucci (15:04):
No.
No,
James Blain (15:05):
your business the way you
Ken Lucci (15:07):
no.
James Blain (15:07):
your business isn't by giving every single person in
your entire city a flyer.
We've talked on it this before,we'll talk on it again.
Not every single person is yourcustomer, and
Ken Lucci (15:17):
Nope.
James Blain (15:18):
purely a volume play.
What I would really care aboutis how do I get those travelers
that have that corporate linkthat I can then say, Hey, you
know, we, we are so happy totake care of the airport.
We'd love to be able to takecare of you for work, to take
care if, you've got first classtravelers, if you've got
business class travelers and youcan then grab the rest of their
(15:38):
work, now you've got a way toascend that.
Ken Lucci (15:42):
Mm-hmm.
James Blain (15:42):
so many cases you're gonna get one interaction
and then there's no opportunityto ascend it.
So I think what Ken said earlieris super important here and that
you've gotta make thisintentional.
Your goal is not to get everysingle person to the airport,
try to get all of them.
It's to try and get the rightones so you can ascend it and
(16:03):
grow your business with it.
Ken Lucci (16:04):
So, so let's talk about who the corporate
travelers are.
Okay.
Number the GD uh, GBTA.
We did, we got the list, wedrilled down to the, to the top
100 industries.
Okay.
Believe it or not.
38% of business class passengersare technical support people for
essay, for software or hardware.
(16:25):
So let's break it down.
Largest employ largest employersin your area should know who you
are and what you do.
Your co uh, public companies,100% Public companies.
Okay.
Doctors and lawyers, withoutquestion.
James Blain (16:41):
Easy.
Ken Lucci (16:41):
pharmaceutical companies without question.
at the end of the day, knowing,and, and I, I, I agree with you.
PPC is like a shotgun blast.
James Blain (16:52):
Oh.
Ken Lucci (16:52):
You need to have today.
You need to have a sniper rifle.
True story.
Client of mine called and said,you know, I just opened up.
I can't believe they called me.
They're a Fortune 100 company.
They were using such and such ofa a network.
Didn't have metal in the cityand they don't own any metal, as
(17:12):
a matter of fact.
And, and the guy left the, theyhad three service failures and
they just book with me.
I said, okay, back up, back up.
I'm happy you did that.
I'm happy you got that.
But here's what I think you, Iwould recommend number one.
Make sure that you have it.
Mark that This is a status, oneVIP, whatever you want to call
(17:36):
it, because, and, and put yourbest people on it.
Then
James Blain (17:39):
A level game.
Ken Lucci (17:41):
a level game, and then, and then ask his executive
assistant, who's searched foryou, by the way?
Who found you right.
Ask if you can come down or askif you can schedule a 10 minute
zoom meeting to go througheverything else you do.
Find out who the head of HR isbecause they're always looking
(18:03):
for places and people to take.
Uh, take out employee, take outtheir employees.
Ask who the head of procurementis.
Ask how many total travelers dothey have.
And which, what cities do theygo in?
so, PPC to me goes long.
What I want you to do is godeep, right?
(18:24):
I want you to go deep, andchances are that that wealthy
couple that uses you four timesa year, guess what?
The zip code, where they livein.
Guaranteed.
there are other people thattravel four, five times a year,
guaranteed.
You, they belong to the samecountry club, guaranteed.
They get, the wives get theirhair done twice a week at the
(18:46):
same place.
Right.
Or the, the, there's uh highendtravel agent that they book, I
mean, these are not CarnivalCruise,$300, 10 day cruises.
They're going on,
James Blain (18:58):
Well, and they gotta get creative
Ken Lucci (18:59):
deep.
They have to get creative
James Blain (19:02):
to, if you have that lawyer that you've worked
with or you have that couple, oryou have, that, you could easily
send them something that says,give a friend or family member
the gift of peace of mind whenthey're traveling off their
first trip with us, right?
Whatever that might be.
Ken Lucci (19:19):
Yep.
James Blain (19:19):
way to tell
Ken Lucci (19:21):
Yep,
James Blain (19:21):
about it.
Give them a way
Ken Lucci (19:22):
yep.
James Blain (19:23):
that, because birds of a feather flock together.
We all know that.
Ken Lucci (19:27):
give them an employee discount when the employees are
traveling on Saturdays andSundays.
You know, when I own, I, when Iwas an operator, it used to
drive me crazy.
Not really, but every, everySaturday and Sunday, we were
nuts on weddings, right?
But then I would look at all, Iwould look at the sedans and
SUVs just sitting There lonely,right?
Sunday is the new travel day,it's the heaviest travel day,
(19:49):
but employees that may take aFriday off and go.
out of town, give them anemployee discount and, and, and
tie it to the volume of thecorporate accounts.
So don't just go long and tryPPCP.
To me, PPC is papering the wholecommunity
James Blain (20:05):
Right.
Ken Lucci (20:05):
it's a losing proposition.
Go deep.
So when I looked at this, when Isaid to this guy.
Listen, did you do what I askedyou to do?
Which is recommended, which isgo see the ea.
Okay?
Go see the executive assistant.
Say, listen, I'm gonna be inyour area.
I'd like to stop in.
How did the trip go?
Always, follow up with newclients, but then tell me
(20:27):
something.
Is he the only one that travels?
I mean, chances are no.
Right.
So, uh, I, I never forget a,when I was an operator, a
client, uh, and another operatorhad said to me, oh, you'll never
get to do business with techdata.
You, They, you know, they, theybuy only on price and they use
an out of town network.
So what did we do?
(20:47):
We called the ea.
One of the EAs that we, that weknew worked there from, even
back in the day we had LinkedIn.
So we said, listen, we'd like tocome over and we'd like to show
you the latest executivetransportation vehicles that we
just put into the fleet, and I'dlike to sponsor a coffee break
in the morning.
Okay, now.
James Blain (21:08):
Yeah.
Ken Lucci (21:09):
She was nice enough.
It, would help if you werereferred by someone, but she was
nice enough to say, of course,come on over.
We lined up a brand newEscalade, a brand new, uh,
sprinter with executive seating.
And then believe it or not, wehad a limo bus and, one of the
operators, like, they'll neveruse that.
I go there first thing, that'swhere we had the coffee.
James Blain (21:29):
but if they don't know you have it, they're sure
as hell not gonna use
Ken Lucci (21:32):
We put the coffee in the bar and it looked in the, in
the limo.
bus.
And guess what?
They u, the head of HR came andthey're like, Oh, wow.
We want to use that.
We have an employee incentiveprogram and we do a dine around.
We do a dine around every, everymonth we do one dine round for
one department.
Can we use this?
James Blain (21:52):
four of those D rounds.
Ken Lucci (21:53):
on a Thursday night.
Yeah.
I think the limo bus will beavailable on Thursday night.
But you know what, if we didn't,going back to the airport
transfers, if we didn't sharpenour pencil and ask the question.
You know, is he the only one whois traveling?
We wouldn't have gotten that.
So, you know, the message to mefor every operator who's
listening to this is if you aregetting frustrated that you
(22:16):
think your airport business isdropping, Then.
you need to quadruple down.
You need to look at who's usingyou, see if there are any other
travelers.
See if they're traveling in anyother city.
Listen, you know, we, we'redropping your boss off at the
airport.
I wanted you to know that we'repart of a global network.
Can I provide you the same levelof service in another city?
(22:36):
Watch what happens to yourprofits when you add one leg to
the round trip.
addition to that, if you've gotone law firm or one doctor's
practice, guess what?
They're not the only lawyer orthe only doctor out there.
I.
Put it on your website thatdon't use their name, but more
law firms use us than any othercompany.
Here is why, and just list thevalue proposition.
(23:00):
So if you see the airports tothe taxis and TNCs, I, I predict
the, the industry's gonna be inbig trouble.
James Blain (23:08):
Well, and let's, let's take a second because
you've dropped a ton of gems,right?
I feel like we're in Snow White.
We just came outta the mind.
We got all the diamonds of gems,right?
Ken Lucci (23:18):
wait a minute.
Shout, out to Gem Limousine inNew Jersey.
Joe Gino, he also ownsstrawberries.
The greatest pizza place and theGreatest Wings.
I love to go see them becauseBetley has a girlfriend there.
Her name is Soy.
She's a French bulldog.
But then Joe always takes me tostrawberries.
But, but to your point.
Sorry.
I digress.
(23:38):
I, I, I'm sorry
James Blain (23:39):
Here's so a couple things, right?
I wanna start at the beginning.
dropped LinkedIn for two secondsand we have been talking about
how do you find the otherlawyers?
How do you find the otherdoctors, guys you can go get on
LinkedIn?
I.
You can go connect with yourcustomers, especially look, in a
lot of cases you are theambassador for your brand.
(24:00):
As the owner, get on there,start connecting with people,
start looking at who theirconnections are, start figuring
that out.
The other
Ken Lucci (24:07):
Hundred percent ask for referrals.
James Blain (24:09):
for referrals.
Ken Lucci (24:10):
if they love you, if their boss loves you, don't give
the boss's name.
Just call the EA and say,listen, I'm not gonna put you on
a list, but can I ask you afavor can I have somebody email
you for a reference on us?
Of course you can.
All right, now, don't put'em ona list.
You, reference lists are kind ofpasse, right?
don't put, don't put the factthat IBM uses us on your
(24:32):
website.
All you're doing there is nowsome idiot who's low price than
you is gonna go grab it.
But I, think a personal, apersonal recommendation, I.
do that all the time.
people send me recommendationsall the time.
James Blain (24:45):
a lot of this is if you are going after corporate
America, you want to haveconversations.
And I will share a story.
When I had my very firstbusiness, my dad and I were out
and my dad was talking tosomeone and he starts, you know,
it literally, they talk for twoseconds.
So who's the head ofprocurement?
How do you guys find yourservices for this and that?
And me being a new businessowner.
(25:07):
Was Dead Rock Dad.
You can't just ask that kind ofstuff.
That's too bold.
You gotta get there.
And I was a dumbass, right?
Ken Lucci (25:16):
whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
Say, say that.
again.
Please.
Say that again.
Say that
James Blain (25:19):
made Ken's life, right?
That soundbite will be used overand over.
I was a but.
But here's the thing, right?
I didn't know any better.
I had this limiting belief.
You guys will hear me say that.
'cause I found that a lot oftimes.
It's me that holds the businessback.
It's my beliefs that hold thebusiness back.
I had this limiting belief atthe time that I couldn't just go
(25:40):
ask, Hey, who's in charge ofthat?
Hey, what are you doing forthat?
Hey, are you guys happy withwhat you're doing?
Hey, if I could provide morevalue, if I could give you
something that's above andbeyond what you've ever had
before and I was willing to letyou try it for free, would you
guys be willing to do it right?
I had this limiting belief youcouldn't go and do that, and I
will tell you.
That couldn't be further fromthe truth.
(26:01):
Now, is there a right and awrong way to do it?
Absolutely.
We've talked time and time againhow coming in up to someone at a
trade show and interrupting aconversation will drive'em nuts.
But that's not to say thatyou're not gonna go up to
someone and say, Hey, I, I'dlove to see if there's an
opportunity I work in your area.
I'd love to help you out.
Ken Lucci (26:21):
your, your father's obviously read How to Win
Friends and Influence People.
James Blain (26:26):
Absolutely.
Ken Lucci (26:27):
I was it Zig Ziglar that wrote that book?
James Blain (26:30):
I wanna say that's Dale Carnegie.
Ken Lucci (26:32):
Dale, you're right.
It was Dale Carnegie.
Okay.
So, back in the day.
every life insurance salesperson okay.
Had to read that book.
And if you've ever been soldlife insurance, those sons of
bitches will get more shit outof you, in the, in 30 seconds.
They're like, they've got, theyknow my, my way size.
(26:53):
They, they, they know my eightlast four digits of my social.
James Blain (26:56):
you, what you
Ken Lucci (26:57):
Right.
That's the training.
But so what your father wasdoing is weaving it into just
general conversation.
But to me, okay, so, so let'sjust talk about?
if you are already doingbusiness with one lawyer in a 10
lawyer practice, do you thinkyou've got enough juice in that
practice to say to the EA whobooks you, you know, what?
(27:19):
we'd love to offer you the bestprices possible corporate
account for all of yourtravelers, for all of your, your
partners.
But is there anybody else whotravels?
We'd like to add their home,home address right to your
account, and that way I can giveyou the best possible pricing.
So, you know, to me.
James Blain (27:39):
too, Ken.
You can take a play outta themedical sales book and you can
say, Hey, you know, John, we've,we've done tons of business with
you.
You know, I I, I don't know ifyour partners would be
interested, but I'd love to havean opportunity to kinda share
what we do with them.
You know, would you mind if Ibring in lunch for you and all
your
Ken Lucci (27:54):
Oh, food cells.
James Blain (27:55):
you just
Ken Lucci (27:55):
Food sells.
James Blain (27:56):
Day and I, I'd be happy to, to come by and, and no
Pitch.
I just, just give'em that, let'em know what we do and,
Ken Lucci (28:03):
So let's back up a step.
Do you remember, do you rememberthe name Otis Spunkmeyer?
James Blain (28:08):
I know the name.
Yeah, the
Ken Lucci (28:09):
Oh wait.
Whoa, whoa.
The cookies.
Okay.
so this is a true story.
This is the story.
So, so this is one of my wackyideas and there's a, there's a
woman named Shelly Taylor, whoworks for me, worked for me, is
at ambassador, still works forme on, on and off.
She's been, she's take care ofBentley and we bought an Otis
(28:29):
Spunkmeyer cookie maker.
James Blain (28:32):
Ooh.
Ken Lucci (28:33):
Okay.
And you could, you bought you,like you bought the oven and.
James Blain (28:37):
baked cookies, right?
Ken Lucci (28:39):
And, and you bought the oven and then what?
Then you got like a case offrozen dough.
Right?
So,
James Blain (28:46):
like little pellets you put in there,
Ken Lucci (28:48):
right?
So we would do, we wouldbasically make a list of
everywhere we wanted to dropthose.
Okay.
And we would have a chauffeurbring and we did a nice job with
it, with a box of cookies and apaper cube that said ambassador
Limousine.
And it was.
James Blain (29:06):
refill on the bottom right.
As soon
Ken Lucci (29:08):
Correct,
James Blain (29:09):
call for the refill.
Ken Lucci (29:10):
correct.
On the bottom of the paper cube,it said for more paper cubes
call, the, call our reservationline.
And we sent a driver row withthem.
So, so food works And you'reright.
Food.
If you wanna know what otherindustries do to break in when
they're either cold calling orbreak the ice, so to speak, it's
food.
James Blain (29:28):
And it
Ken Lucci (29:29):
It's bringing food.
It, it works.
every time.
Uh, somebody said to me theother day, well, you know, you
can't just walk into officebuildings.
You know what, but you can.
in every suburban office parkout there.
I get a filling done, right?
And, and I'm looking and there'slike seven orthopedic surgeons.
There's an ophthalmologist allin the same medical community.
(29:50):
I mean, We deal with an A CPAand he says to me, Ken, is there
a decent limo company down here?
Because the family, and I gottago to BWI, which is like two
hours from here.
So of course I call one of myclients, right?
And I said, listen, take care ofthis guy.
He's my accountant.
So my whole point on the airportthing is I honestly believe,
(30:12):
first of all, there are ebbs andflows of Every business.
James Blain (30:15):
Every business.
Ken Lucci (30:16):
But instead of fighting for the shrinking pie,
which is corporate America, andI'm gonna do affiliate work for
the three or four or fivenetworks, right?
How about you literally digwhere your gold is?
Look at your existing clients.
Go back three years in LimoAnywhere and figure out who has
(30:37):
not used you, and send them acard that says, Hey, we miss
you.
If you've got any travel comingup.
Here's$20 off a round trip.
Okay.
Whatever the offer is that youwanna do, just get them back in
the car
James Blain (30:54):
And don't mass email it.
Don't make it don't.
Right guys, emails
Ken Lucci (30:58):
sniper shop.
James Blain (30:59):
like we
Ken Lucci (30:59):
shop,
James Blain (31:00):
about on a previous episode.
When your dispatchers aren'tdoing anything, go have some
cards.
Write'em up, throw a stamp onit, drop it in the mail,
Anything you can do topersonalize and anything you can
do ideally to start aconversation.
Ken Lucci (31:13):
So the other day I, I was on site with a client,
unbelievable area, where aclient lives, and we went out to
lunch and he's pointing out thiscountry club and he is pointing
out this gated community.
And we get back to his officeand we do a sales heat map.
Right?
And I just googled the zip codesof those same areas and like.
(31:35):
You are not getting the marketshare you need to.
Well, there are No.
corporations there.
I said, that's where all theCEOs live.
James Blain (31:42):
Yeah, that's their house.
I.
Ken Lucci (31:44):
right.
So figure out, I mean, go to thecountry club and say, you know
what?
We have many of your members useour service.
We'd like all of your members touse our service as a member
benefit.
This is what we can do for you.
Okay?
but think about that.
Oh, well, it's either that orspend three grand for PPC,
right?
So
James Blain (32:04):
Well, but, but it's a different strategy, right?
Because PPC is not gonna startthat conversation.
Ken Lucci (32:10):
it's gonna go broad.
It's gonna go big and broad,
James Blain (32:13):
we, are talking about, and I don't wanna go
super deep in it'cause thiscould be another episode, but
you're talking about thedifference between sales and
marketing.
We are, we are talking aboutbuilding relationships.
We're talking about taking itdeeper.
We're talking about leveragingwhat you have.
Notice how in this entireepisode, at no point have we
gone, when you're competing witha TNC guys,
Ken Lucci (32:34):
No.
James Blain (32:34):
they should be on this level.
Ken Lucci (32:36):
No.
James Blain (32:36):
live on that level, and if you're not
differentiating, providing adifference in service and
marketing different things,look, if, if you're doing
airport, it's hey.
Do you wanna have thereliability, the peace of mind
to know that someone's gonna bewaiting, you're gonna look out
the window, we'll help you look.
This will be the most peace ofmind you've ever had going to
the airport,
Ken Lucci (32:57):
Safest way to travel.
Uh, who is traveling?
Oh, it's my wife.
It's my wife and daughter.
Well, you've come to the right?
place because this is the safestway.
They're coming back at 11o'clock at night.
Can I recommend that?
We, greet them inside theairport.
Okay.
But, but, so, You know, it, I,I, I just find that I also, I
(33:17):
find that when I see this shiton Facebook, I also see.
That it's almost like, um, it'sa negative fest, Right.
Everybody piles on.
Oh yeah.
You know, this was a toughquarter for airport travel.
You know, we dug into this witha client and he had a tough
first quarter for airport, and Isaid, see the problem?
Your primary customer who does amillion a year with you in the
(33:41):
airport, they're half of whatthey were last year.
What's going on?
So what does he do?
He calls them.
He calls them.
And, and the lady said, we'vecut back on travel, for the
following reason, for this firsttwo quarters.
It's temporary.
Okay.
But my whole point to him is,you don't have a problem.
(34:01):
You're not, we're not losingairport as a market share.
You have one situation with oneclient.
My answer is create the constantsales machine.
James Blain (34:11):
Right.
Ken Lucci (34:12):
be presenting, Right.
You remember the um, A, B, C,um.
Always be closing.
Glen Garry, Glen Ross, right.
Best sales movie out there.
Everybody.
Glen Garry, Glen Ross.
Go out and rent that movie.
Alec Baldwin gives anunbelievable speech, right?
A, B, C, always B.
(34:33):
Closing to me, don't rest onyour laurels.
So if you notice that Mr.
Lucci traveled with me last year25 times, but I've not seen him
recently.
Don't be afraid to.
Send him an email, an individualemail, call him and say, listen,
Mr.
Lucci, we haven't seen you in abit.
can we help you out with anytravel?
Do you have an, any travelcoming up?
(34:55):
You know, being proactiveincreases, instead of waiting
for the phone to ring, doubleand triple down.
To me it's, it's, it's, it'snatural stuff.
James Blain (35:06):
but let's go back to something that came up in one
of the very first episodes weever did on this podcast and,
Ken Lucci (35:12):
That was like what, seven years ago?
Didn't we start this
James Blain (35:15):
was like
Ken Lucci (35:16):
seven years ago?
James Blain (35:17):
or 50 now.
Ken Lucci (35:18):
Did look at our producers, put an extra, Uh,
he's put an addition on hishouse for Christ's sake.
It's been like, has it been fiveyears?
James Blain (35:25):
I think he bought a new one, but no.
So, so going back to that firstepisode, one of the things.
That came up was there's nothingworse than if somebody has a
negative or bad experience andthey leave and you don't even
notice.
Right.
I didn't even matter enough foryou to notice that.
I want, if you see that businessstarts going down and you call
(35:47):
in on that customer and theysay, well, we've got a downturn
of us.
Hey, not a problem.
You know, it's always our numberone goal is to take care of you,
and we saw that you weren'tbooking as much.
We wanna make sure that we'redoing everything you can.
To have the best experience.
You know, we're sorry to hearthat.
The travel's going down.
Is there anything that we can doso that when that comes back up
or when that changes, we'reready to be a good partner for
(36:10):
you?
Ken Lucci (36:10):
Yep.
James Blain (36:11):
Those types of things.
Those types of check-ins.
And then like I, we've said somuch on this episode, keep in
mind that you are not fightingfor the same person that Uber
is.
You are not fighting for thesame person that Lyft is,
Ken Lucci (36:27):
No way.
James Blain (36:28):
you have to do is you have to represent a
different standard, a differentlevel.
And we haven't talked about itmuch,
Ken Lucci (36:34):
More value, more value.
James Blain (36:36):
right.
When you get there, keep in mindthey're gonna send the same
vehicle that you are.
I can get out, I can go into anyairport I want.
I can order a black SUV.
But is that chauffeur going tobe ready to help me?
Are they outta the vehicle?
Are they greeting me?
Are they taking care of, am Igoing to have an experience to
where that customer service,that safety, that envelope of
(36:58):
comfort that I step into as soonas I start interacting with your
company?
Becomes such an experience forme that it ruins it for someone
else.
The best thing
Ken Lucci (37:10):
Yep.
James Blain (37:10):
do to lock down your business is provide an
experience that is so fluid,that is so simple, that creates
such peace of mind that whenthey go with someone else, when
they go with TNC, even thoughit's more convenient, it's night
and day to that person.
Ken Lucci (37:28):
So we're, we're going all over the place on this, but
I'll tell you the, the, theother piece of this puzzle is
when someone calls in for atrip, what's the first thing you
should ask?
a, have you used us before?
James Blain (37:43):
yeah.
Ken Lucci (37:44):
No.
Okay.
Assume it's a no.
Tell me something.
Uh, I'm sorry.
What's your first name?
James?
James Blain (37:51):
Here
Ken Lucci (37:52):
no, it's James.
James.
James, right.
James, tell me something.
What, what did you do beforethis?
Well, I used so-and-so and youknow, we had some problems,
listen.
Uh, nothing against them, buttell me something.
I wanna make sure that we takereally good care of you.
You said that they messed upwith your boss.
What happened?
only so that you can understanddon't commiserate and say they
(38:13):
suck.
Right.
Only so you can understand.
James Blain (38:17):
help me understand is one of my
Ken Lucci (38:19):
right.
Have, okay, so how did you hearabout us?
What did you do?
What did you do before today?
Right?
And if they, if they, they say,you know, how, how did you hear
about us?
So we can figure out, you know,whether your marketing is
actually working.
That, that to me is you, youtalk about digging where the
(38:42):
gold is.
There's no question in my mindthat reservationists are not
asking those questions.
Right.
Um, or if yes, I've used youbefore.
Thank you so much for comingback.
Thank you for, for, for using usagain.
Could I have your last name?
Oh, I see that you travel withus in October.
(39:03):
Terrific.
What can I do for you today?
and always try to sell thefries, try to turn the one
transfer into the round trip,the round trip into the third
leg.
But I, I honestly do Not basedon airline growth.
And the growth in airlinepassengers, we have no shortage
of people to sell that serviceto
James Blain (39:26):
Not at all.
Ken Lucci (39:27):
Airlines are growing at 4% domestically, 5%
internationally, compounded,compounded every single year.
Now, just to, to put that intoperspective, the gross domestic
product of the United States isgrowing at 2%, so.
Airline.
Passenger growth is a virtualhockey stick, so don't tell me
(39:49):
that we can't compete.
The answer is double down onyour best clients.
Double down on duplicating yourbest clients, making sure that
you're going deep with your bestclients, that everybody who
travels is using you, Right.
When was the last time you wentinto your best client?
I don't care if you're a two caroperator.
(40:10):
When was the last time you wentinto your best client?
And thank them by giving themsomething,
James Blain (40:16):
Right.
Ken Lucci (40:17):
Okay.
At the end of the day, yoursales job doesn't end.
The first time you got'em in thecar, they need to know
everything that you possibly do.
Had another client calls me andsays, very congratulatory, very
happy with himself.
He said, you know, I just tookcare of the president of such
(40:37):
and such company.
That was going to the SuperBowl.
Was it New New Orleans.
this year.
James Blain (40:42):
New Orleans.
Yeah.
Yeah, that's, I'm Kansas Cityguy.
that's, that's a rough one.
We try to pretend that onedidn't happen.
Ken Lucci (40:47):
he said, I pulled a rabbit outta my hat.
He said, I found an SUV comingover from Atlanta from, and
they, my affiliate in Atlantawent over there and they're
doing a 12 hour wait and returnwith my client.
This new client that I have, Ipulled a wrap.
His EA was so.
His executive assistant was sohappy.
(41:08):
I said, Okay.
that's not your only win.
That's the open door.
Now, make sure he's happy.
Check in with the affiliate.
Make sure everything went well.
Call the affiliate and say,listen, I'm gonna be out there
this week.
I wanna stop by for 10 minutesand give you something and drop
something off.
Whether it's your capabilitybooklet, whether you send them
(41:31):
an electronic capabilitybrochure, make sure that they
know everything you do and askthem for the rest of their damn
business.
So, I mean, he was happy as hellbecause he worked on this.
He worked on getting that guy anSUV, he had to make about six
calls.
This guy is like tenacious,right?
And it was a big ticket.
(41:51):
Money was no fricking objectbecause she couldn't do it.
His ea, I mean, and, and.
couldn't get it done.
So this is a brand new client.
What better way for you to getmore business from them, for
you?
You've already got the callingcard.
Listen, Mary, I'm glad your bossis happy.
Let me tell you.
(42:11):
Pulling rabbits out of our hats,what we do every single day.
Let me ask you a question.
Who else travels in the company?
I'd like to open a corporateaccount for you so I can give
you best in class serviceanywhere you travel.
So I, I, I, you know, Facebook,first of all, it annoys the shit
outta me that all of theoperators are sitting on
Facebook rather than
James Blain (42:32):
Oh,
Ken Lucci (42:33):
if they,
James Blain (42:33):
we, we can have a whole podcast, right?
I, I can tell
Ken Lucci (42:36):
and someday,
James Blain (42:36):
and.
Ken Lucci (42:37):
we'll,
James Blain (42:37):
who
Ken Lucci (42:37):
someday,
James Blain (42:38):
have in this city?
Is, is the bane of my existence,right?
Ken Lucci (42:41):
oh yeah.
Yeah.
James Blain (42:42):
cares about the experience, cares about safety.
When I book with a trans, when Ibook with a a car service, what
I wanna know is that you went onFacebook and spent all of 30
seconds to shove me with thefirst guy that gave you a low
price.
That makes me feel good, but,
Ken Lucci (42:55):
So it's,
James Blain (42:56):
episode,
Ken Lucci (42:57):
look, and I, it comes back to what we talked about in
in another episode, which isit's not the market, it's your
mindset.
Okay, because I can tell yousomething, the top 1% of the
people in this country that shopat the best jewelers, that dine
at the best restaurants in yourmarket, that shop at the best
(43:17):
local stores, they are not.
Taking Uber to and from theairport at four o'clock in the
morning.
I know, because I read theiranalyst reports and they lament
the fact that they are growingin the$20, 20 minute rides like
crazy.
By the way, by the way, you knowwhere they're growing the most?
Uber.
X.
(43:37):
Uber X, you know, it's the,they, they are saturated the low
price, but you know, wherethey're not growing is the Uber
black market.
They have more capacity, butthey are literally not growing
in the airport space.
They lament it on every call andwhen you think about it.
There's no way they canguarantee that, driver's gonna
(43:59):
be out at four o'clock.
If I'm an Uber black driver, I'mnot getting up at four o'clock
in the morning for what An$80trip?
I'm gonna get 60% of that.
I mean, by the time I pay forthe gas to get 45 minutes out of
the city,
James Blain (44:13):
Not, not only that what happens when he cancels?
Ken Lucci (44:15):
Right
James Blain (44:16):
I, I can tell you, I have been, there was a point
in time when, every time I wentto Las Vegas, right?
Everybody, the big thing in LasVegas is they were dealing with
issues of, you'd order an Uber,it'd be across town.
It would cancel, it'd never showup.
Then you'd have to book a newone.
Then nobody wants to deal withthat at that hour.
I, I will tell you, I don't, Idon't know that there's a better
way to leave this other thanthis is your door to get into
(44:39):
the rest of the business.
And I think as an operator, youhave to understand that you are
not competing with the TNC.
You do not want the same pastorhe wants.
And if you cannot differentiateyourself from the tcs, even
their black or their premium, ortheir top level tier, if you
can't find a different way todifferentiate, you are missing
the point.
(44:59):
I, I don't know, Ken.
I don't know that there's abetter way to leave it than
that.
Ken Lucci (45:03):
No, one.
One final thought.
One of my favorite people in theentire industry who shall go
remain nameless.
Said to me that he getsfrustrated because people will
call him.
for a price
James Blain (45:17):
No,
Ken Lucci (45:17):
then they won't go with him, and then the next
morning at three o'clock in themorning or four o'clock in the
morning, they're waking him up.
Right.
So I said to him, you need todevelop a strategy find out the
who, what, where, and when, andwhy of how often they travel.
And, oh, your price is too high.
What are you comparing us to?
Oh, Uber, you know what?
We don't compete with Uber.
(45:38):
And you know what?
some people tell me that we are,I know we're higher price.
Some people tell me that theycompare us to Uber, but those
are the same people that usuallycall me the day after because
the Uber driver hasn't shown up.
We have redundant vehicles,redundant drivers, background
check drivers.
James Blain (45:55):
the value before you give the price,
Ken Lucci (45:57):
yes.
James Blain (45:58):
out to my partner Bruce on that.
He talked about
Ken Lucci (46:00):
oh yeah.
James Blain (46:01):
very early on.
Build the value before you givethe price.
'cause
Ken Lucci (46:06):
and don't accept no
James Blain (46:08):
it's just gonna throw a number out,
Ken Lucci (46:10):
and, and don't accept no say, you know, give them the
best price you can based onRound Trip.
If you open a corporate accountwith me, if, listen, if somebody
says to you, oh, you're too highprice, you're, you're much
higher than an Uber and they'recoming in and outta your city
once a year, don't worry aboutit.
You don't need them anyway.
right?
He's not your guy.
but if you know, if you knowthat he's with such and such a
(46:32):
corporation or he lives in awealthy area and he's a frequent
traveler, do the best you can.
This is the best I can do.
If if you book a round trip withme, and here's the promise I
make for you.
15 minutes before the appointedtime, look out your window.
The vehicle's gonna be there, weguarantee on time performance.
So it's not the market.
It's the mindset.
(46:52):
It's not your price, it's theperspective and, the value that
you can build.
Don't give up on airport.
If you give up on airport, youare, you are literally saying,
we're not going to, deliver themilk and bread.
They're not gonna come into yourstore.
That's the way I look at it.
James Blain (47:08):
and, and Ken, let me ask you something, because
this just, we're in thismarketing mindset.
I gotta tell you, if I was inthe business today, I would also
be looking at bundling and say,Hey, no, I, I totally
understand.
Let me ask you, what are youdoing for transportation when
you get there and you get back?
Because
Ken Lucci (47:24):
Right.
James Blain (47:24):
your transportation to the airport, now we can
Ken Lucci (47:27):
Yep.
James Blain (47:28):
care of you when you arrive in your destination.
We can get you back
Ken Lucci (47:30):
Yep.
James Blain (47:31):
We can get you back home.
You know, if we'd like, if wecan set up all four of those
trips for you right now,
Ken Lucci (47:35):
We're gonna do all the tracking.
Yep.
James Blain (47:37):
where I'm going with this?
You see where I'm going withthis?
Ken Lucci (47:40):
It's one secured credit card transaction.
We're gonna track every singleleg of this trip, and by the
way.
I invite, go ahead and callGoogle Call.
Call.
The best guys on Google that arein that city, we actually have,
they're part of the best ones,are in our affiliate network.
we have the best prices in town.
We're gonna, the most importantthing, it's one secured
transaction.
We're gonna track you, they'regonna be waiting for you at the
(48:02):
airport.
It's the safest way, especiallyif You find out it's a female
travel, a female executive.
It's, it's the wife.
James Blain (48:10):
or
Ken Lucci (48:10):
The wife, and.
James Blain (48:13):
Look it, it's counterintuitive to think that,
Hey, you know, how would I getit by going up?
But again, you are not going forthe cost there.
You're going for the value.
Right, and so I think that'swhere we'll leave it for this
one is understand that it's anopen door, it's value.
Again, highlight of our week.
Thank you so much for listening.
(48:34):
Um, if you haven't already, youcan go to ground transportation
podcast.com, subscribe to usthere.
Obviously Facebook, LinkedIn,Twitter, whatever your favorite
social media platform.
And very easy.
You can search us there on aground transportation podcast on
all of those platforms.
And, uh, for myself.
Thank you for joining.
Ken.
Any closing words that you wannaleave him with?
Ken Lucci (48:54):
Listen, you know, some say we're overplayed,
James, but I say, I say we arethe best continuing education in
the industry.
We don't charge you a hotel fee,we don't charge you for a
conference ticket.
It's the best continuingeducation in the industry, and,
uh, I, I'm, I'm happy to do itwith?
you every Friday.
James Blain (49:15):
It's, it's a pleasure.
I can't think of anyone.
I'd rather do this with Ken.
Thank you everyone so much forlistening, and we'll see you on
the next episode.
Thank you for listening to theground transportation podcast.
If you enjoyed this episode,please remember to subscribe to
the show on apple, Spotify,YouTube, or wherever you get
your podcasts.
For more information about PAXtraining and to contact James,
(49:38):
go to PAX training.com.
And for more information aboutdriving transactions and to
contact Ken, Go to drivingtransactions.com.
We'll see you next time on theground transportation podcast.
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