The Last Butlers: Redefining Executive Car Services with Paul Walsh

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In this episode of the Ground Transformation Podcast, James hosts Paul from Superior Executive Transportation, based in Virginia Beach, to discuss the intricacies of providing high-end luxury car service. Paul shares his journey from the fine dining industry to establishing a distinguished chauffeured car service. They discuss topics such as the importance of maintaining high standards of luxury and reliability, overcoming the challenges of starting a business, and the value of networking within the industry. Paul also emphasizes the significance of having a consistent brand and service quality across all chauffeurs. Tune in to discover insightful perspectives on the future of luxury transportation and the indispensable role of exceptional service.


00:00 Welcome
01:18 Paul's Background
05:59 Scaling the Business
09:06 Why No Limos?
10:50 Quiet Luxury
17:56 Dress for Success
20:40 The Last Butlers on Earth
23:53 How to Control the Experience
26:56 How to Get and Keep Employees
31:57 The Heart for Service
34:53 The Customer Service Advantage
39:12 Stay in Your Lane
45:31 What Does the Future Hold?
53:45 What Advice Would You Give Your Former Self?

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/

Episode Transcript

James Blain (00:24):
Hello everybody and welcome back to another episode
of the Ground TransformationPodcast.
Uh, today I don't have mywonderful host, Ken.
He is no doubt doing a massivesale or acquisition out there
somewhere that we won't even beable to know about for a couple
months.
I'm super excited about my guesttoday, Paul from Superior out in
Virginia Beach.
Paul, you, you and I really kindof are in lockstep, I think on

(00:48):
the need for luxury service, forthe experience, for everything
that comes with that.
And so I really am excited toget this episode where we can
really kind of zero in on that.
And I won't steal your thunder'cause you've got this awesome
quote, this awesome way that youlike to sum it up that I think
is absolutely beautiful.
But before we dive into allthat, can you tell us a little

(01:10):
bit about your background andkind of how you got into the
industry?
Why is, why is the service soimportant?
Where'd you start out that yougot to that point?

Paul Walsh (01:18):
Well, thank you and thanks for having me today, and
I, I do.
Think that, you know, part of itis I came out of a, uh, food
service operation in Norfolk,Virginia.
That was, um, white tablecloth,top of the line, uh, products,
going to top of the linerestaurants.
And, um, while I was doing that,uh, I became a news junkie.

(01:39):
And it seemed like every, everytime I sat down, I was watching
Alan Greenspan jump out of atown car going up into the
Capitol, or the Federal Reserve,or wherever he was going.
I said, man, that looked Likeit'd be a great job to have, you
know, drive people around likethat.
So I thought about it for awhile.
Then the company that I workedfor burnt to the ground and they

(02:03):
had to

James Blain (02:03):
literally burned to the ground.

Paul Walsh (02:05):
burnt to the ground.
on like a hot August day wasjust, you know, and a two
buildings full of certifiedAngus beef just up in smoke.
It was like unbelievable towatch.
But anyway.
So I had kind of had theopportunity to stay commute back
and forth to Richmond or followmy dream that was in my head of

(02:27):
owning my own business.
So I looked around and, and thetown, Norfolk, Virginia,
Virginia Beach, Virginia wasreally trying to and, and become
big places downtown.
Norfolk had essentially beenboarded up for years and the
plywood was coming off a lot ofthe business fronts downtown,

(02:48):
uh, Virginia Beach was talkingabout building this town center
with Fortune 500 companies.
And that thing in the back of myhead about car service just kept
on bothering me.

James Blain (02:59):
Okay.

Paul Walsh (03:00):
So I went out and bought a car and decided that I
would be different from anybodyelse.
I would use a Cadillac insteadof a town car.
And, got started and fortunatelyfor me, uh, somebody, the in
industry.
Called me up and said, Hey look,you can't do this.
You have to get legal before youdo this.
So I was introduced to gettingthe certificate of operation in

(03:23):
Virginia and paying forinsurance.
And then, uh, another friendfrom Richmond needed me as an
affiliate and I was extremelyfortunate to have that, that one
piece that, you know, he was farenough away that I wasn't in
competition, but I was farenough away that he could tell
me, this is what you need to do.

James Blain (03:42):
And what year is this, Paul?
You know, when, when

Paul Walsh (03:45):
2003 into 2004?

James Blain (03:47):
Okay.
And is this your first business?
Is this your first time goingoff and starting a business?

Paul Walsh (03:52):
Yes.

James Blain (03:53):
Okay, so you, you've basically, and it's funny
because Bruce, my partner, heis, got a similar story, right?
You, you're coming from thishigh-end restaurant, you're
coming from high-end service.
You kind of see this opportunityand so you figure out your
differentiator.
You jump into business.
And so what ends up was, wasthat affiliate kind of the main

(04:14):
source of business when youstarted or where does it kind of
go from there?

Paul Walsh (04:18):
Well, he is still an affiliate.
I mean, but yes, he, you know,didn't send me a lot of
business.
But what he did do was tell me,you gotta go to the Virginia
Limousine Association meetings.
You have to go to the NationalLimousine Association meeting.
He told me, you know, thedifference, you go to Atlantic
City meetings and you meet allthe leather and gold chains, and

(04:38):
you go out to Atlantic ci, Imean, to Las Vegas, and you meet
the suits and cuff links and youknow, you've, you've gotta be
in, in both of those circles tomake it in this business.
And one thing I did not want todo was own a limousine.
things of my past.
I just didn't want to get up onSaturday and Sunday mornings and
clean limousines.
That's not what I want to do.

James Blain (04:59):
So what kind of Cadillac were you running then?

Paul Walsh (05:01):
back then?
it was DHS and, uh, they, theywere kind of mutating.
They were, um, dhss and I can'tremember d Hhl, DHLs, but, uh,
I, I've got a couple of them.
I had two of them that werestretched five and eight inches,
which was great.
Customers loved them.
and they were different.
They were very, very differentfrom the Lincoln Town car.

(05:23):
So, um, it was expensive and Ilearned a big lesson, uh, in
life about buying things thatyou have no idea what you're
getting into.
But, uh, we survived it so far.

James Blain (05:35):
Starting a business, right?
I mean that's all of, I think I,I probably speak for every
entrepreneur.
If we all had the right amountof money we needed to start
with, it's'cause we've startedsomething before.
I can tell you all of myexperience in business, a lot of
it is learning as you go.
Alright, so you've got thesevehicles, you've got everything
there.
What does that progression kindalook like?
So you said you've gotten, you,you got it to multiple vehicles.

(05:57):
How did you get to that point?

Paul Walsh (05:59):
you know, that's probably one of my better
stories.
I, I really thought it wouldjust be me in my car forever.
I didn't anticipate growing.
I didn't, I didn't know where itwould take me.
Um, but one morning, uh, I had areferral from one of my clients
and at four 30 in the morning Ishow up and there's two golf
bags that came right out ofCaddy Shack, you know, the big,

(06:21):
you know, got a keg in them,that type of thing.
Four suitcases.
And I'm like, Uh What would youlike to go to the airport first?
You or your golf clubs?
You know, I was stuck, what,four 30 in the morning, what am
I gonna do?
So, um, unfortunately at thatpoint, I did hire a guy that
was, he liked what he saw in mybusiness.

(06:41):
He had worked for anothercompany and I said, look, you
gotta get in a car and come overhere and help me as quickly as
you can.
And that afternoon I started tolook for how am I gonna get an,
SUV into my fleet?
So that was the, the first superexpansion, you know, getting
that SUV and then going from twoto three to four cars to me was,

(07:03):
I, I thought would be the limit.
I would say that, you know,we're lucky if this could be
rated as a fourth tier market.
I, I don't think it makes threetier, uh, status.
it's a different environmentthan say, New York, DC Atlanta.
Um, a military town.
It's a resort town.
And, you know, car service justwasn't a big thing when I got

(07:25):
started and I found out as I wasgoing, why it wasn't, it just,
you know, people want to be intheir cars and, I, I was told
time and time again, you know,without a limousine, you're just
not gonna make it.
It's just, you know, you gottahave a limousine.
And I've always put that in mymind.
The day that I can write a checkfor a limousine, I might buy a
limousine, but we haven'treached that day yet.

(07:47):
So, you know, I eventuallystarted to hire more people.
I did, was very fortunate.
My friend in, uh, Richmond kindof forced me to meet people.
He referred me.
He, you know, he was very kindto tell other people about me.
And, you know, my reputationkind of grew within the, the

(08:07):
affiliate networks.
And I've been very fortunate andthat's basically, you know, a
big part of my business, if notthe biggest part is doing other
people's work at their level.
And I think that that's one keything we'll talk about is at
that level where I, when I camein, envisioned what I needed to
be to be in business doing this.

James Blain (08:28):
Well, and, and you've hit on a lot of really
interesting things and, and oneof the topics that we see, and
one of the themes that comesback on almost every single
episode is almost everyone who'ssuccessful in this industry
figures out very on that theyneed to develop their network,
right, their personal network.
And typically there's a level ofmentorship.
You know, you talked about earlyon you had that person that

(08:49):
said, Hey, you know, you need toget licensed, you need to get
legal, right?
You've got your mentorshipthere, you've got the NLA,
you've got the different piecesthere.
And so I think it's, it's reallyinteresting that, that for you,
you've got kind of the visionand the dream, and then you were
fortunate enough to have peoplehelp get you on the path.
Now, let me ask you somethingyou've mentioned a couple times,

(09:10):
you know that limo side, and Ifind that really interesting
because I know you're a veryservice oriented person.
Help us kind of understand whykind of that aversion to the
limousine.
what is it that kind of steersyou away from that?
Or, or why isn't that part ofyour model?

Paul Walsh (09:27):
Well, in a way, it, it is extremely personal.
Um, and I, and I will tell you,'cause I've mentioned this in
public before.
I'm an alcoholic.
I've been sober now for 35years.
So it's been, thank you.
Um, I didn't want to go intothat party scene.
I just, I

James Blain (09:43):
Stay away

Paul Walsh (09:44):
what it would get me into and my, head said, no,
that's, that's not what we wantto do.
And that was the big reason tostay out of it.
But then as I looked, you know,and became a little bit more, I
guess, thrown into the pool ofwhat we do, there is a huge
difference between that side ofthe world and what we do on the

(10:04):
corporate side.
And, um, you know, here again,limousines aren't everyday
things.
They may have been back then inNew York City, you would see
people pull up in cars, in, inlimos, you know, even I think
that's pretty much gone by theside up there.
You know, people who don't wantthat big flashy, uh, know, be
seen coming out of a, alimousine.

(10:25):
It's tough enough for a lot ofpeople to be seen getting out of
a, a town car or, you know, a, aregular, sedan.
So there were personal reasonsand I, I just, you know, it's
not what I wanted to do and Ireally thought that there was a
great opportunity to do thisside of it.

James Blain (10:43):
Well, and it's interesting because a lot of
that, you know, in, in stayingaway from that part of the
retail side.
You also probably didn't have toworry about that transition
because I think one of thethings that we've seen
throughout the industry, andreally I'd say throughout kind
of society is there's kind ofthis, this view now of, of what
they term quiet luxury.

(11:04):
You know, you might have someonethat is wearing a hoodie and
wearing, you know, jeans that isa multi-billionaire right now.
Obviously those are probably notWalmart hoodie, Walmart jeans.
They're, like I said, they'requiet luxury.
Those, they're a high-end brand.
They're, you know, it you, it'sone of those things where you
would know.
Um, and so you've got kinda thatunderstated part.
And then the other side we'veseen is there's a lot more, I

(11:26):
mean, if you've got, you know,you've got a, a bride getting in
the back of a stretch limousineand trying to get that dressing
and do everything there istough.
Where now it's a lot easier tostep and walk into a sprinter.
So a lot of times we're seeingthat there.
Now you've still got yourMiamis, your Vegas right?
You've got kind of your, yourmarkets that are more known for
that.
Where, you know, you want theopposite.

(11:47):
The idea is to show up in kindof what I always termed the
cartoon stretch, right?
It just keeps going on forever.
Um, but I think just as ingeneral, we're seeing less of
that unless it's in one of thosemarkets.
So I think that kind ofpositions you well there in
terms of what you're doing.

Paul Walsh (12:05):
And I think that even, you, you really look
closely, a lot of people changedtheir names from Joey's
limousine service to, you know,Ikes transportation.
And, you know, I think that Iwas fortunate I didn't have to
go through worrying about thatside of it too.

James Blain (12:20):
Well, and I think you bring up a really good point
and that there is, I thinkthere's been a connotation with
the word limousine and we'reeven seeing it, you know, the,
the Limousine Association of,uh, New Jersey, right?
Lange, uh, they've now becomethe Chauffeur Transportation
Association of New Jersey, andwe're seeing that push for
chauffeur.
this year NLA has spent a hugeamount on their GBTA push and

(12:44):
they're really driving thatchauffeur, that NLA ride.
So I think a lot of that is justkind of trying to understand
what expectation industry is.
And I think now that termlimousine almost is starting to
feel a little dated.
So, with that in mind, let meask you then what, kind of
became, obviously you mentioned,you know, you had the execs
traveling with, with the CaddyShack golf bags.

(13:06):
What does that kind of progressto in terms of the type of exec
work, the type of ways thatyou're able to grow in that
market, and then knowing thatfrom the very beginning you kind
of wanted to be that Cadillac?
How have you been able toleverage kind of that background
to get you into that exec side?

Paul Walsh (13:26):
well, I, I was fortunate the, the coming out of
the high-end restaurantbusiness, I knew a lot of
restaurateurs and hoteliers.
Um.
Who were very helpful and help,you know, they wanted me to
succeed and introduced me to alot of people, the other part of
this is I, I had never had to docold calls before getting out
there and doing that.
And this put me in that positionwhere I had to do cold calls and

(13:49):
I didn't like it.
I'm, I'm just, I'm not that thesales person that I probably
should be to make this workbetter.
But, there were a lot of thingsgoing on.
You know, I mentioned that theTown Center of Virginia Beach
was, was coming into play.
met somebody that recommended, Ibelonged to the Central Business
District Association, joined theChamber, Amber, and exposed

(14:10):
myself to a lot of people.
Um, this one person that I hadhired early on was a big
advocate of radio, radioadvertising.
And he got me, unfortunately orfortunately, hooked up with a
trade situation that I'm still.

James Blain (14:27):
Okay.

Paul Walsh (14:27):
exposure is huge.
I mean, it's, or four of the toparea radio stations and, um,
that got me into someentertainment stuff.
And then, you know, at the,shows, the more people that knew
me were introduced me to otherpeople.
'cause everybody asks, who doyou use in our market?
And fortunately for me, I was, Iwas the name at that time,

(14:51):
hopefully still am.
But, you know, going tobusinesses that were coming
here, and this is a really,it's, it's an emerging market
here.
The, the military and,government contractors was
probably the biggest, businessprobably still is the biggest
business in the area.
But shipping has grown,underwater undersea

(15:13):
communications has become huge.
So there has been an, you know,a big expanse.
Corporate businesses moving intothe area, and it's a great
place.
we do have our issues where youhave, we're separated from a
huge airport on the other sideof the water by a tunnel that's
constantly, uh, underconstruction and constantly has

(15:33):
an accident.
And, you know, people alwaystell how, how come it, you
charge so much to go to the, theother side of the water and
like, you know, it's this big onthe map.
Well,

James Blain (15:44):
It's an adventure in real

Paul Walsh (15:45):
it, it is an adventure and it, you know, it
can take, you know, a 35 minutetrip can become three hours in
an instant.
And, uh, been tough to reallygauge how we do that because
many years I just lost a ton ofmoney, uh, doing that.
And again, learning experience.
But there's corporate businessover there.
The shipbuilding business ishuge.

(16:06):
transportation on the other sideof the water is huge.
So there's, there's.
Many reasons for me to have to,you know, grow and, and, you
know, cover a lot of it.
I, I went to a building that wasbeing built at one point, in, in
part of the area and I left abusiness card there and somebody
called me back.
It was just amazing thatsomebody called me back.

(16:26):
So I didn't, again, I was likemaybe one or two of us.
So I was in the car a lot.
So I had to return that call andthe person that answered the
call happened to be the CEO ofthe company and said, oh, you
know, she's out today.
I'm taking her phone calls.
So I was like, you know, so wasfortunate and, you know, to meet
big people, uh, getting therewas not really anybody in the

(16:49):
area doing what we did.
So, you know, my only thing wasI had to keep it going and I
couldn't be in the car and do mybusiness.
And, know, there had to be.
Search for the Right.
people to get into the car, takeover and you know, me answer the
phone and eventually havesomebody in the office to answer
the phone.
So, you know, as as I wasgetting more comfortable talking

(17:10):
to people,'cause I was notcomfortable talking to CEOs and
presidents of company, it washard enough to get past the
gatekeepers when you go to theoffice and they're like, oh,
another limo company and throwyour card down.
Um, so you know, that transitionfrom, being a delivery driver on
the back of a truck to putting asuit and tie on and standing in

(17:31):
front of people was a big move.
And, you know, I realized thatwhen you have a suit and tie on,
people really pay attention toyou Today even more, I think,
you know, if I walk into a placewithout my suit and tie on,
people don't even know who I am,which is great sometimes, but,
you know, I do think it, it, itputs, it helps the persona of
what we do stand out and, youknow, keeps us in business.

James Blain (17:56):
Well, and I think there's something really
important to be said there,right?
When you, when you have asociety, you know, I, I, I, I,
it's summertime here in, inKansas, right?
And, and in the Kansas Cityarea, you, we, we don't get to
play golf all year, right?
This is in Florida.
We got, we got a season forgolf, right?
You, you really, this time ofyear we're only able to play in
the evenings.
'cause you basically cook rightmiddle of the summer and then

(18:18):
you have kinda your fall andspring that you, you basically
can go out there anytime youwant.
But it's interesting because youstart looking at golf, you start
looking at airline travel, youstart looking at any of these
key historic things.
Even traveling by ship.
People used to put on theirabsolute best attire.
know, my wife and I were inchurch the other day and we
talked about how even yourSunday Best Now is not quite at

(18:42):
the same standard it used to be.
I was looking at photos of mylate grandfather with my great
uncle, and he was showing mepictures of them as a kid.
And, you know, they're six,seven years old and they have
little suits that they wouldwear and that was the church
suit and they come from a bigfamily of boys so that that suit
had been passed down, but youtook care of it.
'cause in that time you had thatsuit.

(19:03):
Now we're at an age where suitsare becoming less common.
And one of the neat things aboutour industry is that when you
have someone that's gettingpicked up, that's, you know, an
airport drop off, anything like,like that, and you've got
someone that's in that sharp,crisp, good looking suit,
standing up straight, you areinstantly lending that same

(19:24):
status and credibility to thatperson.
Whatever credibility and statusthat you have, just by the way
you look.
You now get to lend that andapply that to your passenger.
And I will tell you one of mybiggest things that I'm seeing,
and I'm sure you're seeing it aswell, is when I travel and I go
to airports, as soon as I comedown the escalator or as soon as
I come outta security, I'mlooking and I am seeing less and

(19:47):
less of those sharply dressedchauffeur, right?
You've always had the shuttleguys, you've always had that,
but those sharply dressed luxurychauffeur that are supposed to
represent the high end, we'reseeing less and less of that.
And so I think to your point,like you said with the suit,
we're at a stage now where thatbecomes even more important,
even more credibility.

(20:09):
So I think that's huge.
Now let me ask you something.
you've got a quote, and I'm notgonna take it from you, I'm
gonna let you share it with us.
You've got a quote about kind ofwhere we stand as an industry
and kind of where we sit and,and where we're at in terms of
luxury.
one, will you share that withus?
And then two, what do you see orwhat does that look like?

(20:32):
And being someone that came infrom outside the industry, how
do you keep that going?
And how do you stay ahead of it?

Paul Walsh (20:40):
Well, you know that that's a great part and why, why
I do think I am still where I amand I haven't given up and that
that quote is that we are thelast butlers on earth.
And if you think about what wedo as chauffeurs.
Yeah.
that's what we are.
We're butlers.
And it's something when I tellthe people that are coming to

(21:01):
work for me, you know, you cansee in their face that, you
know, I'm a what and

James Blain (21:07):
They might not even know what that word means, Paul.

Paul Walsh (21:09):
Exactly.
And you know, when, when we lookat it, what we do for a
chauffeur is, you know, gothrough PACS training and you
see the different things thatare expected of us as
chauffeurs.
It makes a lot of sense.
And you know, everybody saysthat we're, you know, sliding
into just casualness, over theplace.

(21:29):
And you mentioned, you know, theCEO's wearing jeans and hoodies
and I thought Holy genes onSunday was for church.
I wasn't sure.
But anyway, so we are servantsand it's a tough thing, you
know, to tell people or to teachpeople.
And I think truly when you getsomebody that comes into this

(21:49):
business.
That knows what they're gettinginto, they can accept that.
And it's a hard thing to teach.
you know, these days inparticularly, you know, I, I, I
dealt with a sergeant, theregional retired sergeant from
the police department, and hesaid something to me that this
guy, we were, we were, he, wewere in training and there were

(22:11):
four females and two males insuits.
And we were getting outta theSUVs and they were talking, and
the gentleman turns to my newshow first and says, will you
get my bags?
And you could just see on hisface like, what did you say?
You know?
afterwards, after I saw in hisface that look, I said, look,
you know, this is what we do.

(22:31):
You know, we are service.
He goes, but you know, for 18years I've told people what to
do.
I, I don't know if you know.
This is what we do.
And it is something that Ithink, you know, when I go to
the airport and I work with myguys, we get the luggage, we go
to the carousels after we greet'em at the bottom of the
escalator.
And, it makes such a hugedifference.

(22:52):
And you can tell by watching theother people around, I wish I
had that service.
And, I've, I've had, you know,business people tell me a lot,
how, how do we find the servicein your, your area.
So, you know, that thing.
We are the last butlers and wehave to continue on the
tradition of being a chauffeur,not just a driver.

(23:13):
There's plenty of drivers outthere.
you know, there's shuttles,there's taxis, there's our other
friends with four letter words.
And we, if we are going tosucceed, have to be better than
everybody else.
And again.

James Blain (23:27):
Absolutely.

Paul Walsh (23:29):
If you bring somebody in that understands it,
and that's why I like to bringin military and, responders
because they have that sense ofservice with them already.
I live in a huge military townand I think that, you know, I
have a little bit of militarybackground.
So in those few things that wecan bring into our everyday, how

(23:50):
we do business makes adifference.

James Blain (23:53):
W and I think you've hit on a couple things
that are really huge here, and Ithink one of the biggest ones
when we are talking aboutservice, right?
And this is something that wedeal with at Pax, this is
something I'm huge on.
When you're dealing withcustomer service, one of the
best things you can do is tohave someone in control of the

(24:15):
experience.
And so, one of my, my favorite,you know, examples I give people
is, you know, if, if you havesomeone that comes up and says,
Hey, lemme take those bags foryou.
I'm gonna take those bags foryou.
That is not the same level ofexperience as if someone goes,
oh, sir, I'd be happy to dothat.
May I take those bags for you?
Right now, I'm a hundred percentin control of the experience.

(24:35):
My favorite example.
Um, and this is something that,and you know, Bruce, my business
partner Pax, right?
He, he comes from a Ritz Carltonbackground.
You know, Bruce's biggest thingand, and still a huge thing for
us is the handshake.
If I walk up to you and I extendout my hand, I've taken control
of that interaction and you havetwo options.

(24:55):
You have to respond in some way.
However, if when I greet you, Iam ready.
The second you want to shakehands or not shake hands, I've
placed you in control of it.
And I think one of the thingsthat we're seeing more and more
is that in a lot of the serviceindustries, we are seeing a lot

(25:17):
of frustration on both sides.
And one of my favorite ones isif you look at what's happening
with Starbucks baristas, if youlook at anybody in the food
service industry, the amount ofnegative interactions that are
happening on both sides of thecounter are increasing.
The customer service is goingdown, the expectation of the

(25:37):
customer, and you should bedoing this, you should be doing
that.
Why aren't you doing this?
All of it is is kind ofdeclining, and that's an easy
one to see.
I think our job in all of groundtransportation is two things.
You have to understand where yousit, right?
even if you're driving theairport shuttle, you can provide
incredible service andincredible experience, but you

(25:59):
are not gonna be at the exactsame level as you would be, for
example, if you're in chauffeurservices.
And so I think understanding theexpectation and then keeping
them in control of thatinteraction and making sure that
you are anticipating their needis really kind of at the
fundamentals of what we do.
Now, I, I think what of myquestions for you related to

(26:23):
this would be, you've got kindof this group that you're
looking at, you've identifiedthese common traits, right?
Your first responders, yourservice members.
Twofold.
One, how do you determine ifsomeone that you've brought in
to interview or you'repotentially hiring, do you have
a method that you're using tokind of spot check them or see

(26:44):
if they've got that instinct?
And then two, right?
Obviously, you know, you're,you've got pacs, but what are
you doing beyond that to try andhone that or help direct them?

Paul Walsh (26:56):
That is probably one of the biggest challenges today
as an owner trying to getemployees in and, and over the
years, you know, I, I wasfortunate that people that came
to work for me knew somebodythat was working for me or that
I had worked with and theyrecommended them?
So, um, I could kind of tellbefore they came in that they

(27:18):
wanted to do this type of work.

James Blain (27:21):
Okay.

Paul Walsh (27:21):
Over the past, Right.
before the pandemic, inparticularly, I think it became
very difficult to find anybodythat wanted to work, and to do
this wear a suit.
one of the first, I thinkpushbacks you could tell is
like, you know, do I have to buya suit?
And that right there is, youknow, guess what?
I'm wearing a suit.

(27:42):
You came in here.
Yes, you have to wear a suit.
And I thought, you know, goingforward that people would
understand that when they walkedinto my office and, and saw me
in a suit.
But they didn't, people justdidn't get this.
And maybe it's because where weare and people aren't used to
seeing chauffeurs at theairport, it's rare that, our
guys are at the bottom of theescalator, it's, it's rare that

(28:03):
anybody's down there.

James Blain (28:04):
Well, but Paul, that goes back to what I was
talking about, right?
I remember one of my very firstjobs, I went to go work at a
pizza place and I showed up in asuit and tie to an interview at
16 years old in a pizza place.
'cause I was taught you dresslike you're interviewing for the
CEO.
Right.
you really show them you care.
And I can tell you, I have foundthat e even, you know, and, and

(28:27):
obviously I, I, in my world, mycareer is kind of a little
offset to yours, but by aboutmid, don't know, probably fresh
outta college, I saw that thatwas done.
Right.
People weren't doing thatanymore.
I was one of the last peoplethat did that.
And now I, I don't know that Ihear of anyone unless they're,

(28:47):
you know, a previous chauffeur,unless they come from a similar
world.
I don't know that anyone doesthat.
Is that, are you seeing that aswell when people come to
interview where they just, noone ever comes in a suit.

Paul Walsh (28:57):
Um, lately, uh, I would say.
It's been 50 50.
And a lot of times it might justbe a sport coat and uh, you
know, good slacks.
But there are a couple peoplethat have come casual, and you
know, and they see me and I, Ithink the first question I hear
more than anything is, uh, Ishould have worn a suit.
I'm sorry.
They get it.

(29:19):
Yes.
They, they, you know, I thinkpeople when they, they aren't
thinking, well, you know, am I adriver or a chauffeur?
And I've hired some people outof the Uber, Lyft world, you
know, they, they want to dothis.
they just don't want to do itthat way.
And I think it was kind of neatto watch them transition into
this side of it and try and, youknow, train them, uh, to be more

(29:42):
of a chauffeur than just adriver following GPS down the
road.
But to get back to yourquestion, when you can kind of
tell by talking to people whattheir interest level is or what
their dedication level is, and Ithink.
You know, after a few years ofdoing this, you could pretty
much tell when people talk toyou, what it.

(30:05):
is that they're looking for.
And it's, it's rare thatsomebody comes in and says, I
want to be a chauffeur.
You know, I, most people wannaknow what it's about, because
again, in the neighborhood here,there aren't a lot of, you know,
chauffeur, car services thatpeople are used to seeing.
So, you know, I'm, I'm lookingfor people that are attentive,
you know, that, you know,they're taking notes, they're

(30:26):
asking the Right.
questions.
Who's gonna pay for myinsurance, you know, when I'm
driving?
Uh, they have an interestalready in what we're doing.
And, you know, a lot of peopleare curious that, you know, they
would like to do this becausethey want to be driving a big,
shiny car, you know, with, withthe superstars in the backseat,
which, you know, you kind ofhave to put a damper on that

(30:47):
real quick and say, you know,that's not what we do.
That's not why we're here, but.
I think that they're, you know,the level of communication when,
when they're speaking, you know,if they're saying, yes sir, no
sir, and they may be older thanI am, you know, They get it.
They understand what, what we'redoing.
So those, you know, you kind ofpick out those little things.
Um, again, it, I think it's thedesire to work.

(31:11):
There just doesn't seem to be alot of people that really,
really wanna work.
And, you know, when you talk tosomebody and you can tell they
want to do something, you know,it's not just about the money.
They want, they, they areinterested in doing this type of
work.
You can feel it, you can hear itin their voice.
So those are the things I lookat initially.
Um, you know, if we come back,this, you know, a lot of people

(31:33):
don't come back for the secondinterview or, you know, start
the, the what I call the papertraining.
but you can tell when they comethe second time and they're,
then they're wearing a jacketand a tie and they haven't
bought their suit yet.
These people wanna do this, youknow?
And uh, so usually it's usuallythe second come in, we really
get a good idea of what thepeople are, are gonna be like

(31:56):
for us.

James Blain (31:57):
Well, and, and we talk about that at Pax.
You know, my, my partner Bruceis coined this term he likes
called a heart for service.
And it's something that, that weuse to describe someone that is
kinda wired for service.
And one of the things that, thatwe love to talk about is the pen
drop test, right?
So if you've got someone thatyou're interviewing now, there's

(32:17):
people that clutz this up andthey, you, you, obviously, you
gotta, you gotta be a littleslick to make this work.
But essentially, you know, youaccidentally knock a pen off
your desk or drop something andyou're looking for that instinct
in the person to reach down andhand it to you, right?
You want to see if they'reinstinctually wired for that.
It is amazing when you dropsomething closer to someone else

(32:40):
than to you and they'll justlook down at it.
Right, and, and they'll justlook down at it and look to up
at you.
Okay.
That person does not have thenatural instinct for service and
helping and being there.
And, and that doesn't meanthey're a bad person.
That doesn't mean they're a badfit.
But, you know, I think kind oflike you said, learning to look
for the cues, learning to lookfor the signs, learning to look

(33:03):
for the heart for service.
And I think we've really got, inour industry, and, and this is
something, you know, we've gotin our hiring and training and
retaining program, we talkabout, you know, your different
ways to check for this.
Because to a certain extent,you, you, you can't hire Mr.
Magoo, right?
You have to have someone thathas a safe driving record that

(33:24):
you can go do a driving testwith.
You can go ride with them andfeel confident.
Does that mean that we can'ttune them?
We can't teach them to be moresmooth.
We can't have them focus on, youknow, feathering the brakes
stopping sooner.
No.
I mean, that's my whole life,right?
I, I've spent, you know, my, mywhole career and training has
been helping people refine thoseareas.

(33:44):
But you've gotta really findsomeone that has got a solid
foundation on the driving thesafety side and has a solid
foundation on the customerservice.
And I think the other big thingis kind of how you make them
feel.
Um, I guess my question to youwould be why, so you've really

(34:06):
made it a point of, you know,having that higher level
service, and it, it sounds likeit puts you apart from, you
know, anyone else in that area.
Why if someone's listening tothis and they're saying, you
know, we've got kind of safetyand service, it's not a huge
deal.
Why would you tell them thatthey need to drop and and focus

(34:27):
on this?
What do you see as kind of thebiggest benefit that you've got
of really helping themunderstand the service, really
being more on that luxury side?

Paul Walsh (34:38):
Are you talking to?
If, If I were gonna talk toanother operator

James Blain (34:41):
If you're gonna, yeah, if you're gonna talk to
another operator.
If you had to say, Hey, beingthat luxury provider, focusing
on that customer service, reallykind of having that view, what
advantage has it given you?

Paul Walsh (34:53):
well obviously you have to know what you want to do
in this business.
I mean, that's, that's the onething, you can't be wishy-washy
and think, well, I'm gonna, I'mgonna go buy a bus tomorrow and
be in the bus business.
If, you are in the corporateside and you're, focusing on car
service and not.
Everything else, uh, in between.
I.
think that the advantage I haveis I tell people that, you know,

(35:14):
we, we are an executive carservice.
That's what we do.
That's what we project ourselvesas.
I'm not everything to everybody.
And my ideal being is that, and,and I think my mom probably
drove it into me the most is,you know, if, if you could have

(35:34):
one luxury in life, it's to bedriven.
I tell lawyers, you know, and Itell this to my competitors and
I don't like to do it because Ithink it gives away my game
plan.
But if you tell a lawyer, sir,you know, if you sit in the
backseat of my car, you canchange that from an expense to
billable hours and you can workcomfortably from here to there

(35:56):
doing whatever you need to do.
And when you're done, you canrelax on the way back.
'cause you have a trustedchauffeur, not just a driver
that's not weaving bo you know,in and out of that red Honda
that's in front of you, you toand from safely and securely.
So when I tell people that'swhat we do, you know, I give
away my game.

(36:17):
But it's important because, youknow, anybody can drive an Uber
and a Lyft and try and get thereas quickly as you can.
or a cab if you can find onethat's clean that you wanna sit
in for a period of time.
But what we do is different.
We offer a luxurious ride topeople that are willing and
looking for an experience that'sdifferent.

(36:38):
but it makes sense to them, youknow, that's the other part of
it.
We have to make sense to thepeople that we're talking to.
I, you know, struggle withpeople there the first time.
You know, they, you know, theywant to, they want an SUV for a
Saturday night to go out andhave fun.
Well, that's not really what wedo, you know, and to explain
that to people sometimes theythink, well, you're, no, you're

(37:00):
a stuck up snob.
But this is what I do.
I try, I transport, you know,executives, their families, uh,
their employees to and from.
They're willing to pay me a, apretty high price to do what we
do.
And if their 18-year-old son, or21-year-old daughter.

(37:20):
is smart enough and, and ask momor dad, Hey, can we get the car,
uh, for us for the weekend?
That also puts that spark intothem.
This is what you can lookforward to as you grow into
your, you know, corporate world.
But, you know, when I, when,when I tell, my competitors,
I'm, I'm not looking for thepeople that are going out on

(37:43):
Friday and Saturday nights for,you know, Yeah.
sure.
There's a lot of money in it,you know, by all means, if
that's what you want to do.
But I want that car ready atfour o'clock in the morning for
the person that expects a cleancar and a sharp chauffeur to be
able to take them to the airportor to DC or, or wherever they're
going.
You know, we're fortunate to bevery close to the outer banks of

(38:04):
North Carolina, and there are alot of executives that travel
down to the outer banks of NorthCarolina, and we have the
closest airport.
So, you know, if someone needsto catch a six o'clock flight
and they're three hours away,you we're starting our day at
three o'clock in the morning ortwo 30 in the morning.
So I focus on one thing, andthat's upper level travel for

(38:28):
the people that want it and arewilling to pay for it.
And you know, I, I do talk to alot of people.
The first thing they say, Heyman, I just bought a party bus,
you know, this is what I want todo.
That's fine.
I don't do the party bus scene.
Why not?
Everybody wants one.
Well, yes, you're Right.
Everybody wants one.
I said, and by the way, have yougot an insurance on it yet?

(38:49):
Uh, no.
So, you know, there's, there's alot of things that go into what
we do and why we, I think allthe operators run their business
differently.
and I also think if you do onething and you do it very well,
you're gonna get that reputationof doing that one thing real
well.
And mine is.
You know, driving corporate carservice,

James Blain (39:12):
you, you've got, you've got a really good point
there in finding your lane andstaying in it.
I deal with a lot of operators.
I talked to a lot of people inthe industry.
They kinda, like you said, they,they go out and they buy a bus
and they say, Hey, I went outand I bought a bus.
You know, one of the biggestthings that we're seeing right
now on the training aspect sideof it is I'm seeing that with
sprinters.
It's, I went out and I bought asprinter.

(39:34):
Well, great.
do you, do you guys, are youhaving'em do our hours of
service training?
Do they have their medicalcards?
Are you doing your regulatorycompliance?
Well, what are you talkingabout?
It's a sprinter.
Okay.
Well.
Is it nine passenger right.
Is'cause remember eightpassengers plus that driver
right now all of a sudden it's acommercial motor vehicle.

(39:56):
Or you know, if you've got adually in the back, one of the
favorite rules of thumb istaught by a, a compliance
manager that has been in thisindustry as long as I've been
alive.
Right.
One of his favorite rules is ifthere's a dually in the back,
guess what?
It's probably over 10,000 poundsif it's over that, you know,
that applies.
So you get a lot of people thatkind of lose the focus on the

(40:17):
lane like you're talking about.
And I think knowing what yourlane is and knowing how to work
within that, and like you said,I, I think if, if you want to
expand what you do, that makessense.
But I think knowing where yousit and what you are doing is
huge and I think you've kind ofnailed understanding where you

(40:37):
want that lane to be.
And also talking about, youknow, something really
difficult.
I hear a lot of companies where.
Work gets tossed their way.
Like you were talking aboutwith, you know, the retail side
work gets tossed their way andrather than say, yeah, you know,
that's not our forte.
Or, you know, I'm sure if, ifKen was here he'd probably say,
Hey, yeah, take the work, farmit out.

(40:57):
Right.
Um, but you know, finding a wayto either send them in the right
direction or, or take care of itin a way that makes sense.
I think a lot of people arescared to say no to any kind of
work.
Right.
They're more likely to takeevery kind of work that comes
their way.

Paul Walsh (41:14):
Well, and you know, we had to, uh, face the fact
that, you know, wedding plannerslike what we do.
Uh, and that has become a prettybig part of our business.
And I don't say no to granddepartures, what I like to call
them at the end of the night orgetting the, the bridal parties
to and from.

(41:35):
but that's a huge business and Ithink that, you know, I am very,
very quick to, when people say,look it, I need 25 passenger
coaches, or I need this, here'sthe number you need to call.
I don't really like to farm outthat work because that becomes.
A real challenge.
I do farm out some of it, but Iwould rather have those people

(41:57):
have the relationship with, withthe, the bus companies or people
that have the bigger vehicles.
number one, you know, it's awhole nother person that you
have to have, you know, is thatperson gonna be on time, you
know, the affiliate type ofthing.
So I'm, I, I do think that youhave to be able to have some of

(42:18):
the retail side.
Um, you know, I'm not big onproms, although if one of my
executives says, you're takingcare of my daughter, yes sir,
it's not.
That's gonna, um, so

James Blain (42:30):
But that's an extension of your executive
work.
Right?
And, And, I think one of theother things, and I I, I find
it's, it's one of, as a father,I can tell you that's one of the
biggest compliments, right?
When you've got someone thatyou're taking care of and they
say, Hey, I trust you with themost important thing in my life.
So I think that, obviously thatone sits in a bit of a different
place, but Absolutely.

(42:52):
I think, and I think the nicething is if you have a company
that has those vehicles that youdon't, and you guys are able to
fill those gaps for each other,obviously, I'm sure that work
and when they're getting it,that makes sense.
Probably comes back to you aswell.

Paul Walsh (43:05):
Yes.
And, and, and again, I, youknow, another thing when I came
into this industry, I found outvery, very quickly, you have to
have friends wherever you go.
Um, you know, if a car breaksdown in Richmond or up in the DC
area or wherever you might be,you know, you have to develop
those friendships.
And sometimes it's difficultbecause, you know, people's

(43:26):
personalities might not be aspleasant as we like all the
time, but it is really importantin this industry and, and we all
see it.
I, I don't think there is anindustry like ours that works as
closely together with each otheras we do.
And it,

James Blain (43:42):
it, it's a, I will say out of every industry I've
ever dealt with, we probablyhave the most unique dynamic in
the, the pasture groundtransportation space.
Just because we are in a worldwhere you might be competing for
the same business on Monday, yetyou might have lost out on
getting that business on Monday,but still have to do some

(44:03):
portion of it working with theperson that won it on Friday
when the trips are actuallycoming through.
So I think it's reallyinteresting, and I think it also
is, you know, I think of it alot like sports.
Um, know, you've, you've gotyour guys that during the game
are yelling at the ref andthey're mad in the parking lot
and they're throwing the fitversus the guys that will.

(44:26):
You know, hey, good game.
Even if it was super competitiveand then the next week would be
willing to play on the same teamas the other guys, they were
just so competitive against, Ithink understanding that
competitiveness yet that, arising tide raises all boats
mentality, I think is reallyimportant.
Because I think one of thethings that we're seeing as an

(44:46):
industry now is we are seeingthe changes and the expectations
and the things that are comingdown the road with autonomous,
with what happened, you know,with the electric vehicles where
everyone really wanted, wasexcited about electric and it
caught on certain places andothers that didn't, and then
you've got rideshare.
So I think kind of understandinghow we all, and, and maybe this

(45:10):
is just, you know, the PAC sideof me talking, but I find that
understanding that we all haveto play out of a similar
playbook in terms of thestandards and the service and
what we provide.
Because at the point where we'renot doing that.
We lose that differentiationthat holds the industry above
some of the other alternatives.

(45:32):
No, I was gonna say, Paul, what,what is kind of your thought on
what the future looks like foryour business and kind of in
general in your market?
What are you seeing or whattrends have you identified?

Paul Walsh (45:44):
Well, I will say that 21 years into this, I'm
finally getting a lot more localbusiness than I used to have,
which is very unusual.
I think a lot of people go afterlocal business first, but.
We are, um, seeing, anothercompany, another competitor in
town that's not a, a black carservice, having trouble filling

(46:06):
their, jobs, and those peopleare starting to call us.
It's, it's sticker shock.
And I'm, I'm, I'm getting a bigpushback because of price.
but we still are finding peoplethat want to be, serviced by a
good executive car service or,you know, good reliable
transportation to, the airportor to wherever they're going to

(46:29):
the, the, we have a, a, abuilding, a cruise ship terminal
here that is, popular.
So there are people that, thatwant that service to get to and
from.
I don't think that TNCs aregetting more popular at this
point.
Matter of fact, I think they aresuffering from not having enough
help these days, and that'smaking their reliability, less

(46:53):
so being reliable, having thereputation of being reliable.
I think that that will continuefor as far as I want to push the
company, as you know, as long asI wanna hang onto it.
I do see, you know, everybodytalking about autonomous cars,
but I also see hackers, and Idon't see how we can't think
about the frat boys on Fridaynight steering the beer truck

(47:14):
over to the frat house.
Um, I just don't think it's thatsafe yet.
I think it's gonna be manyyears, more years than what
people, and I know, I'm, I'mgetting pushback from some
really smart people are saying,it's already happening.
Just go to Arizona or go tosomeplace and it's happening.
Well,

James Blain (47:30):
I, I've written in them in Arizona.

Paul Walsh (47:32):
Yeah.
so, you know, we'll see whathappens in New York.
You know, if a few pedestriansor bicyclists get run over, it's
gonna, it's gonna create achallenge for that market.
Will it happen eventually?
Yes.
There's no question, but for meand going forward and trying to
keep, you know, my focus ondoing what we're doing, I think

(47:53):
that we have to maintain theRight.
people behind the wheel.
And that's becoming a little bitof a challenge.
So I'm you know, I'm going tomore networking meetings and
trying to meet younger militarypeople.
I'm, I'm really hoping that Ican, you know, step back and
have somebody start taking thereins a little bit and I can go
out and shake hands andeventually, you know, somebody

(48:15):
will want to take over thebusiness because I, I think as
long as we do what we do and wedo it well, there'll be a place
for us.
It's just like white tableclothrestaurants, you know, there
aren't very many of them, butusually it's hard to get into
them and they're full, uh,because they're doing the right
thing.
And that's, you know, if we dothe right thing, uh, I think
there's a future for us.

James Blain (48:36):
Well, and I, I'm sure there will be an episode at
some point in the future onthis, but as, as someone that
lives in the training space, Isee a couple things and you've
kind of hit on a few of them.
I think the first is, forexample, if, if I were to leave
the transportation industrytoday, right?
No intention to do that.
I love it.
But if I, if I said, Hey, youknow, I, that's it.

(48:58):
I'm, I'm outta thetransportation industry.
from being in the industry, Ican tell you my understanding is
if it's mission critical, ifyou've gotta be there, if you
need it on time, if you've gottaget taken care of, if it's exec,
if it's work, there really isn'ta better option.
Than the black car industrybecause the reputation of the

(49:21):
black car industry is that we'reon time, we're reliable, we get
it done.
You're going to be able to relaxin the backseat, you're gonna be
able to get work done.
And that is, is kind of acrucial item.
We've seen it happen with TNCs,we've seen it happen with
Rideshare, where they have theirpremium or their luxury or
whatever level it might be, andthey send me the same guy in

(49:43):
shorts and a t-shirt now drivinga black escal escalator or now
driving a black suburban or aYukon, right?
They think because they'vechanged the vehicle, they've
changed the level of service andwhat, you know, obviously you
understand, I understand thosethat get it.
Understand is that, no, you'vejust changed the car.
It's a premium car, not apremium experience.

(50:05):
And so I think what we have asthe opportunity, even if
autonomous was to become the newstandard tomorrow.
Let's get real.
If I've got, if I've got no oneto help me load my baggage in
the vehicle, if I've got no oneto help me at my destination, if
I've got no one to take care ofme in the vehicle, I mean,
little things, No.

(50:25):
So I feel like you just hit onsomething really good, and I
think there's two big thingsthere.
I think regardless of whathappens with the future, you
always have to have someone togive that experience, to give
that customer service, to beable to do that in a way to
where if it's, you know, four inthe morning and I've got.

(50:46):
You know, me and sevenexecutives, someone's there to
help us load and get into thevehicle.
Even when we get to the days ofautonomous, I feel like you
still gotta have some level ofservice.
Um, sure.
There's gonna be the, probablythe majority of people that are
gonna want a vehicle to show upand they jump in and they go.
But the other side of that is,you know, from the way the

(51:06):
industry is, if you, if I've gota 4:00 AM right?
If I've gotta be at the airportat 6:00 AM and I'm doing a 4:00
AM pickup,'cause yeah, I, I'mnot gonna leave it up to chance
with A TNC.
I'm not gonna leave it up tochance with not making it.
I'm gonna go with someone that Iknow is reliable.
And it's interesting because oneof the things that PAX has done

(51:27):
this year is a real push at GBTAand in these areas to help
travel managers understand, tohelp those that are booking
travel, understand.
The, the goal of what we do isensuring that we are building
those companies and we'rebuilding those chauffeur, you
know, motor coach drivers, youknow, shuttle auto drivers,

(51:47):
everybody in there up tounderstand the importance of
being on time, the importance ofhaving an alternate route, the
importance of kind of all ofthese things that go into it
that you just can't get from anapp or you'll even get when you
go to autonomous.
You know, a lot of this isreally that experience and so I

(52:09):
think if we ever get to thepoint where we do see mass
adoption of autonomous and theseother things, we're still gonna
need that service component.
Like you said, I mean, we, we,when I was growing up, it was,
you know, the, the fast foodera, right?
Everybody wanted to roll throughMcDonald's, right?
The staples when I was growingup of where, you know,
McDonald's in and out and TacoBell, the Inn out should be a, a

(52:32):
quick indicator what part of thecountry I was in as a kid.
But you know that then we sawkind of a shift of the casual
dining, you know, enterChipotle's, enter these other
restaurants.
But the one thing that youmentioned never changed is you
always had the fine diningexperience, right?
You always had the nicerestaurant at the golf club.
You always had, you know, all ofthose all had a place.

(52:53):
And I think one of the keythings there is, even if those
numbers get reduced, you stillhave that opportunity to be at
that point.
And I would argue when thatscarcity becomes an issue,
there's also an opportunity, andI'm gonna touch a nerve, we'll
have to do a whole notherpodcast on this, but there's an
opportunity to raise pricesbecause now if it's something

(53:15):
that's more scarce, it's morerare, that's a higher level of
service, you have theopportunity to really position
that as a luxury item.
So, as we kind of wrap up, letme ask you, Paul, we, we really
hit on.
One of the key things that Ithink for you, you know,
something that you've alwayssaid to me and I've always
agreed with, is that we are kindthe last butlers, we are kind of

(53:36):
the last level of luxury there.
And when you think about it,that ability to have, um, as
we'd say to pacs, the peace ofmind.
If you could go back to yourselfwhen you were buying that first
Cadillac, when you were gettinginto it, when you're thinking
about it, what's the one pieceof advice that you'd give

(53:57):
yourself or what would you tellyourself now that you think
would be valuable then

Paul Walsh (54:04):
The biggest thing would be to put money in the
bank.
That's the biggest thing.
Um, because this is an expensivebusiness.
I don't care where you comefrom, it's an expensive
business.
But to be mindful, I, mean, if,if you wanna get into this
business.
Executive car service, chauffeurcar service.
You have to make that what youstay, you're gonna do.

(54:26):
You can't, you know, like yousaid, you can't be two different
types of companies.
You can't send a, the same carwith a guy with a golf shirt and
the khaki pants.
If you are gonna come into thisbusiness, you gotta stay the
course and try to learn as muchas you can from other people.
I think PACS training was agreat way to get all of us to be

(54:47):
on the same level.
Which again, I think isimportant.
If, if I were going to come intothis business, I would expect
somebody to do not exactly whatI do, but to try and be at that
level.
You know, if you're, if you tellme you're gonna come in and, and
start a show for car service ina tennis shirt with, khaki
pants, and that's what you'regonna stay with, that's fine.

(55:09):
But if you want to do what.
I think the business is about,you have to be in a suit.
You have to, you have to look asgood as you, you want your
business to appear, and thecar's gotta be that clean.
and the other thing I think too,it, when you bring on people,
because there's no way you canbe in this business by yourself.
You can't be one car and, andrun a business.

(55:30):
It just, it doesn't work.
If you're gonna bring onsomebody, make sure that they're
very, very well trained beforeyou set them off on their own.
And that's difficult becauseit's, it's very tempting to say,
Hey, here's the keys you to getthe airport right.
Um,

James Blain (55:45):
Yep.

Paul Walsh (55:46):
you can't, you cannot do that and expect the
customers that you serve toappreciate that ride coming to
you with no training.
You have to have that personthat is representing you, be as
good as you are.
And I, you know, I, I say thatto my, my chauffeur.
It's great when somebody says,Hey, look at, I really want that

(56:08):
chauffer to drive me, but guesswhat?
This is a part-time business.
You know, we don't have theluxury of a nine to five job.
That guy's not always gonna beavailable.
So, you know, Timmy, you knowJoey, Carl, you all have to be
great because I want everybodyto say I want you.
It doesn't, you know, matterwhich one of you it is.

(56:30):
Sure it looks good to them andthey feel good about it.
But the, the truth, the fact ofthe matter is you're not always
gonna be available to drive thatcustomer.
And I don't want the othercustomer to think you're getting
something less.
So those things, you know, knowwhat you're getting into when
you get into this business andfollow what you in your heart
envision it to be.

(56:50):
Because that's what I did.
I, didn't deviate, I didn't, youknow, it's gonna be a black car
service and that's what we'regonna do.
you wanna be the, the retail, doeverything, that's fine.
But understand.
It's the everything you've,you've got, uh, a lot of
different moving parts in thisbusiness and, getting people
where they're supposed to gowhen you say you're gonna do,

(57:13):
it's the big part of it, butconsistently doing it so that
they're gonna call you the nexttime and the next time and
they're gonna tell you theyfriends about it.
That's what you want to aim for.

James Blain (57:23):
I, I think I would even take that a little further
and I would say that's yourbrand.
You know, and that's somethingthat we've talked about on, on
episodes before.
But knowing that you can sendany one of your team to go do a
trip, whether it's your highestend VIP or a first time
customer, you know, absolutelynothing about.

(57:43):
Knowing that you can take anyoneon your team, have them go do
that trip, and that thatpassenger is gonna get the exact
same experience, that exact samefeeling when they get out of the
vehicle, they're gonna have thatexact same type of trip.
I mean, that really is yourbrand.
And so I think you've really hiton that.
That for me at least in, interms of what, where I do and

(58:05):
and where I live is, is one ofthe most crucial things because
the worst case scenario is thatyou have your absolute best go
out there.
They blow the socks off theperson and then the very next
trip you send someone else, itturns out to be, you know, the
opposite end of the spectrum andyou now have this disparity

(58:26):
with, I had an amazingexperience, I had a horrible
experience.
And I think we all kinda knowthe one that's gonna outweigh
that.
You know, I, I was always told,it only takes one o and I'll,
and I'll censor it right?
One o crap to ruin a thousandatta boys.
Um, when my father told me thatas a child, he wasn't as
dignified in the way he said it,but the message really sank in,

(58:49):
you know, all All it takes isone trip for that passenger that
doesn't live up to that brandyou're trying to build.
And now all of a sudden ittaints every other one.
So I think that advice couldn'tbe more solid.
Paul, I really appreciate youcoming on.
I absolutely love talking to youabout this kind of stuff.
as always, thank you toeverybody who listened, uh, like

(59:12):
subscribed comment.
Let us know what you think.
I would love to know kind ofeveryone else's thoughts on
this.
And as always, thank you forlistening to the Ground
Transportation Podcast.
We'll see you guys in the nextone.

Paul Walsh (59:22):
Take care.
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,
go to PAX training.com.
And for more information aboutdriving transactions and to

(59:43):
contact Ken, Go to drivingtransactions.com.
We'll see you next time on theground transportation podcast.