James Blain 0:24

Hello everybody and welcome back to another exciting episode of the Ground Transformation Podcast. I am your co-host, James Blaine from PAXs Training. I'm joined as always by my wonderful co-host, Ken Lucci of driving transactions. Today we're gonna be talking about the affiliate game, and I'm super excited about our guest today, Paul Pastor Nak, the Director of Affiliate Relationships for Legends Limousine. I I don't typically start a podcast this way. But I was lucky enough to do a site visit with them recently. And so I want to kind of toot their horn a little bit for them. 'cause I know he is not gonna do it in the same way. When I showed up, one of the first things that struck me is we're talking about a company that's in Brooklyn, right in the city, right there in New York. And guys that real estate's expensive being there is expensive. So that alone makes a statement that they're still there in Brooklyn. I showed up, I was immediately impressed. You know, I'm a training guy. That's my whole life. And so when I came into that conference room to talk to Paul, and Paul showed me that that doubles kind of as their ready room, so to speak. They've got white button up shirts for their chauffeurs. They've got their ties there, they've got their branded umbrellas, they've got their VIP gift bags. They've got everything that you could possibly need as a chauffeur, right? They've got the winner overcoat. They've got everything there to make sure that every single chauffeur. Looks and acts the part and as if that wasn't enough. This is a beautiful office. They've even got an area in the back because they're focusing on helping those passengers that have kids with them, with the car seats and, and a lot of companies. Right. That's, that's something that I see a lot. We've got car seats, we've got this, but what I've never

Ken Lucci 1:59

They're sitting in the garage in the back

James Blain 2:00

That's right.

Ken Lucci 2:01

right. It's filthy. Yeah.

James Blain 2:03

That's right. Yeah. What I've never seen is I've never seen a company that has your ready car seats with the freshly washed covers. They've got a washer so they can take that off and cover 'em. And not only that, hopefully I'm not taking some of your thunder. He's actually working to get certifications for his chauffeurs to make sure they're professionally certified in install 'em. Um, so I can't say enough great things. I'm super excited to have Paul on board. I'm super excited I'm here. So, Paul, we always kinda start these off by trying to learn a bit about you and how you got into the business. How do you get to legends? How does this, how does this journey start for you?

Paul Pasternack 2:41

First and foremost, James. Ken, I want to thank you both for allowing me to be on your podcast. Definitely a great opportunity. I'm a avid listener. I follow you guys, so it's great stuff and I'm just excited to be a part of this.

Ken Lucci 2:56

Hey, listen, it's all excitement's, all ours.

Paul Pasternack 2:59

you. Thank you. So I actually got started in the industry at a very, very young age. Young as, uh, nine years old, sweeping the floors of my dad's local car service in Brooklyn, New York, in an area of, uh, Canarsie. Um, he was very fortunate. He had four partners where they owned five local car services strategically placed throughout Brooklyn. All of the hotspot areas during, you can say the kind of nineties pre Uber days, really.

Ken Lucci 3:31

Sure. The heyday, the,

Paul Pasternack 3:32

yep, absolute. So

Ken Lucci 3:34

The heyday. Yep.

Paul Pasternack 3:36

especially listen in some markets. I know those were the golden years. Um, people paid cash.

Ken Lucci 3:42

what, what, what fleet, what were you guys operating back then?

Paul Pasternack 3:45

During that time my dad ran four Tauruses Chevy Malibu, um, Dodge Caravans, nothing luxury. Again. Local car service. Branded to the local neighborhood to the company names. So the car service names were the actual neighborhood names. So he had a base in Georgetown, Brooklyn. It was called Georgetown Car Service. He had one in Canarsie. It was called Canarsie Car Service. The good thing is, is he was, there were several car services there. He was the one doing it on a level where he actually had 30 base cars per base. Some guys, again, the own operators, the guys with their own cars, they're all over the place, but when everything is in house, it's more control. And of course, not to speak about the profits, you know, but yeah. And uh, from there I progressed. My dad taught me everything I know about this business, and I'm very grateful for it. Um, definitely coming from the pre-Uber days, um, really taught me a lot. I. It taught me to always be resilient, think outside the box, and never kind of give up because this is an industry that always grows. So I. From nine years old till about 16, I was answering phones, I was dispatching, I was cleaning cars. Um, in New York City, there was a time that all you needed was 250 bucks for, uh, maybe four or five hours of your day, and you could get a New York City TLC license to actually be a licensed taxi driver. The minute I turned 17, I went and got it. I started doing local calls for my dad because to me it was more than just a family business. I know. It's crazy to think, Paul, all this opportunity and this is what you chose to do. Um, I'm a firm believer, um, a I. I'm not homeless. I have a great roof over my head. Um, I still went to school. I still got an education, but I've come to realize that this is something I realized I have a true passion for. At a young age, once you realize you have a passion for something, you'd be silly to walk away from that because I can, I have countless friends, as I'm sure you guys do, that leave their office with their head down. And walk into the office with their head down. Never once at Legends at my other companies that I've had the privilege of working at, did I ever come into the office with my head down or leave with my head down. I know. It's crazy to think, well, Paul, I'm pretty sure you were tired. I'm pretty sure everybody has bad days. Everybody is stressed. The difference is though, when I say head down, I mean you're miserAble to a point where you know you're wasting your talents there. You're wasting your life there. You need to move on and figure something else out in life because what you're doing, you're not good at. You're never gonna be successful at, and the most important thing, you're not gonna be happy doing it. How can you continue to do something you're not happy doing? So I realized once I got my TLC license that hey, I want to do this on a different scope, on a different level, on a more professional level. My father did not want to make that move. Him and his partners looked at it as, we have a cash cow, we have five of them to be exact. We're gonna ride it out. You know, a little bit of the stubborn, old Eastern European kind of mentality kicked in where I said, you know what guys? I'm always here if you need help. I've always helped my dad, even after I left and progressed to now the more luxury side.

Ken Lucci 7:41

When did this happen?

Paul Pasternack 7:42

this was actually, I'm gonna say Ken, let me go back really. Uh, this was two years after nine 11. So this was, yeah. Two oh, uh, 2 0 3.

Ken Lucci 7:55

Well, let's talk about you. You hit upon something that, that is, that we live this life, the two of us, where you've got entrepreneurs that are kind of stuck in this groove, right? And, and they're happy with the box that they've created, or they're happy with what, you know, the landscape that they have that they survey, you know, the kingdom they've created, and they don't want to take the next step. So that was a pretty brave move. How did you do it? Did you do it on your own or did you work for somebody else?

Paul Pasternack 8:27

I'm gonna be honest with you, um, to do it on my own at that time just wasn't feasible for me.

Ken Lucci 8:34

Mm-hmm.

James Blain 8:35

Yeah.

Paul Pasternack 8:36

I was very scared. I was very nervous. Um, it was kind of, it was literally, I look at it as, um, you know, the pup is now leaving the den out into the wilderness on his own. Um, I don't care how big your ego is. Um, there is gonna come a point where you're gonna realize, you know what, should I just turn back? I'm not too far down. Should I turn

James Blain 9:02

has that.

Ken Lucci 9:03

Sure.

Paul Pasternack 9:04

And for me, it was when I looked back, as soon as I turned around and looked down the road, that I just already kind of made it up. I seen people there saying, keep going, keep going. Tell us what you need. This is what you need. Here it is. Keep going. And that to me was big, you know, um, I lost a lot of friends, I lost a lot of family during that transition too, as crazy as that sounds. But that was a big move for me. Again, I'm not speaking about just doing this on a local level. Um, I like to consider myself a real professional in this industry. Not just so much hitting a button, sending a car from point A to point b. I always. Explain to my friends what I do on a daily and they look at me and they're like, we had no idea. We literally thought, dude, you just send from point A to point BA car and that's it. And I'm like, man, if it was easy as that, don't you think everybody would be doing it?

Ken Lucci 10:04

Sure.

James Blain 10:05

and what, what prompted you to make the change, right? You talked about your dad running the Malibu, you talked about him having a car service and then you make a shift to luxury. I mean, that's a big difference. You decide you want to go to luxury. What, what makes you decide to kind of veer down and decide, I'm gonna go do luxury versus what Dad was doing?

Ken Lucci 10:23

What did that look like? Was it, was it with a partner, another company? What was that like?

Paul Pasternack 10:29

it was actually through kind of, um, networking sort of speak. That's, that's, that's what I would call it. Always constantly being social, asking people, Hey, what do you do? What do you do? Where am I taking you? You know, and, uh. Always the passengers that always intrigued me were the financial bankers, the financial

James Blain 10:52

Okay. The Wall Street guys.

Paul Pasternack 10:55

yeah, wall Street guys very organized. They don't have time to waste. They no bs. They don't tolerate it. Just say it, let it out. Be as blunt as you can be. As long as the information is factual or logical. Never be ashamed about

Ken Lucci 11:13

Mm-hmm.

James Blain 11:15

so how does that impact your business? How do you end up targeting those guys

Paul Pasternack 11:18

that really impacted me. 'cause when I was driving, then they would constantly say, Paul, why are you driving your personality, man? You can be doing other things. One guy even offered me a job. True story to work at John Hancock. Which, uh, I'm gonna lead into that. I wound up taking, I wound up taking just to broaden my horizons and try to network and that opened up a whole new sector for me doing what I currently do. So one of the financial guys constantly would tell me, Paul, you have a great personality, man. If you have a great personality, you know how to deliver great customer service, so on and so forth. So I said, you know what? Let me see if I could get a job for one of the black car companies here driving. I did, um, I'm not gonna mention who, 'cause some of them are still in business to, to this day. Um, and I started out as a black car driver. I owned my own car at that time. Um, I had an Audi A six, um, which was a luxury vehicle. But then again, I knew myself, I can deliver that type of service. Where I knew at, uh, during those times, me charging $80, $70 for an airport run. People aren't gonna look at me like I'm a maniac because they knew, wow, this guy's wearing a suit, white shirt tie. How many drivers in New York City,

James Blain 12:45

Yeah.

Paul Pasternack 12:46

you know, during that time did that. And plus young guy too, you know, um, nice

Ken Lucci 12:53

So while you are working for the black car, company, are you also getting your other, your, your own clients?

Paul Pasternack 13:39

that's what my goal was, Ken. My goal was, let me learn this business now on the luxury side, but let me retain my own clients without really stepping on toes. I'm not talking about. Stealing clients. I'm talking about when I drop off somebody at JFK. And yes, I hate to say it, but this is the reality be before Uber, it used to be very easy for me to get a quick call from JFK just by somebody flagging me down when I was a driver, and I think it was by the grace of God, and I was just very fortunate. Every time that happened, it turned out to be us. Somebody, A VIP, who was literally. Like, and again, keep in mind this is pre Uber,

James Blain 14:24

Yeah, this is 20 years ago, if we're still in that timeline. Right.

Paul Pasternack 14:27

yeah, this is during a time where you couldn't just go on an app order a car at the airport. So essentially some people, yes, they, they would know constant business travelers. We would have our own little spots at JFK that, you know, the only people that will be flagging you down there were corporate guys. Same thing with LaGuardia, same thing with. You get them as long as you can deliver the service. And I had my own business cards at that time. Made. They weren't nice, weren't professional, but it was a business card at the end of the day. It was something I accomplished. Um, and one person called me then another, then I started building. Little by little, little by little, but then I realized, you know what? At that time. It was some, uh, personal things going on in my life and my family where there were, there was a huge financial constraint where I didn't have the financial resources to really open up my own company. I, I wanted to partner with other people. It's not that I don't trust other people. It's when you have an idea of something you want to do, others will always try to put you down and try to tell you what you're doing is a waste of time. At that time, I went to 1, 2, 3 people. That's the response I got. So I said, you know what, even, even if I can convince them and I know they have the capital, I know they can invest it. Even if I can convince them, I could never trust them just because of what they just prove to me. They prove to me that, that they have doubts in me. My idea.

James Blain 16:08

Yeah.

Ken Lucci 16:08

didn't have the commitment.

Paul Pasternack 16:09

And that's something I can't work with or work for or work under.

James Blain 16:16

So where does that lead? What do you, what do you do at that point? You know, you, you've got this dream. What, where does that take you?

Paul Pasternack 16:22

at that point, I realized, I said, you know what? let me not give up, but I still have to pay the bills. I still have to do something. So it was about, you know, um. I would say 2206. Yeah, 2 0 6, 2 0 7. Um, I started really going to more of the black car on the dispatching aspect. Now I stopped

Ken Lucci 16:51

So, so you're inside.

Paul Pasternack 16:54

You

James Blain 16:54

office.

Paul Pasternack 16:55

I'm in the office now. Uh, I started dispatching, I learned how to dispatch a long time ago because my dad taught me and I started with the company of Gold Seal, um, as a dispatch manager. They were in Long Island City, you know, but it was, it was night, overnight. The schedule didn't work for me, so I was just patient, waited my opportunity until the next best thing. Came up, fell on my lap or until I actually found it myself. And I finally found it with a company Chauffeur Executive Transportation, where, um, I was, uh, I started out as a dispatcher, but I worked my way up to director of operations,

Ken Lucci 17:38

Are they showing business?

Paul Pasternack 17:41

uh, for the, they're still operating. They're not really. Doing much in New York City anymore. Uh, they're more now towards the cruise lines, if I'm not mistaken, down in Florida, because I know they did have, uh, decent accounts with that. And, uh, so funny, um, hopefully I won't get in trouble saying this, but, uh, Matt Doss, uh, we used to pick up Matt Goss, um, and uh, take him a couple of times

James Blain 18:09

So where does that lead? So now you know, you've started growing up in the business and you've kind of, and and, and I'll, I'll share something that, that some people now know. My, my first time I tried starting a business was kind similar, right. Run outta funds. I mean that's, that's how on, that's how you learn about business. So now you've, you've gone, you've, you've been back through, you're the operations manager. Where do things take off from there?

Paul Pasternack 18:33

From there? it was more of, now, you know what, I've got the operations down in terms of the technical stuff. The behind I, I, I've always referred to it as behind the, Uh behind the scenes, working with the fleet managers, the dispatch managers, the the reservation managers, the customer service managers, making sure that that daily routine. Is running like a well-oiled machine. Everybody's focused, everybody knows their job, everybody understands their job, and everybody knows the routine. A routine sometimes is bad. In our industry, I think routine is very good in some cases and in some aspects.

Ken Lucci 19:20

company when you were ops director?

Paul Pasternack 19:22

uh, when I was ops director? on every shift, we had roughly 8 people in terms of mixed dispatch and CSRs.

Ken Lucci 19:30

So that means you were doing about how many trips a day?

Paul Pasternack 19:33

Per day. Again, we were lucky, very fortunate, we were averaging about a hundred eighty, two twenty a day? during its, uh, golden years. Golden years and weekends. Forget about it. Weekends, I would myself come in the office two full-time dispatchers. And for CSRs, you know, it was pre-Uber. I always tell people, you know, especially I would say newer affiliates to our industry, that before Uber you have No. idea how business was, how clients were, and how we all interacted with one another. Once Uber came out, I feel like it divided our industry

James Blain 20:18

Were you still there when Uber came out or had you, had you, okay, so what, what is that? What happens at that point, right? You're in New York. I mean, we've, you've got more car service companies per capita, basically anywhere else in the country. What, what happens at that time? What's, what's it like at company?

Paul Pasternack 20:34

I share this with everybody. It affected us, but it didn't affect, uh, more so the black car companies. Then it did the local car service companies like my dad's.

James Blain 20:49

No. was he still, in business at the

Paul Pasternack 20:51

he was still in business at the time? The problem was, is again, when you don't, um, when you don't Invest in what the future could be, and you

Ken Lucci 21:02

and evolve. Invest and

Paul Pasternack 21:04

and you think that this cash cow is going to keep producing milk year after year after year.

Ken Lucci 21:12

Yep.

Paul Pasternack 21:13

I guess you, didn't see the big dust cloud that the bulldozer was making five miles down heading towards your farm.

Ken Lucci 21:20

you're hitting upon something. You're hitting upon something that, that most entrepreneurs are guilty of, and it's omniscient thinking, which means basically I know everything. And basically today and tomorrow are gonna be just like yesterday and the day before. and I think it's, it, it, to me without question is, it is the worst thing that you can do. Unfortunately, we all get, we get stuck in it, right? Uh, because you're working in the business and not on the business. It's not a knock for your dad. Your dad probably was working harder during those days than ever. He just didn't look up to see what was going on.

Paul Pasternack 22:00

No.

James Blain 22:01

I, I think there's something important here though, because we're talking about dad, right? And I've seen this with my own father-in-law. I've seen this with family businesses. You know, when you are young and you've got the ambition and you've got the vigor, and I have something to prove. You don't have a ton to lose, right? You're at a point where you've, you're, you've got everything to gain as you get older, as you get to that point where you've amassed that kingdom, as you called it, Ken. Now it's, okay, well I've, I've got the kingdom. I'm living a good life. I'm happy where I'm at. That ambition starts to fade. And one of the side effects of that, as you said, is kind of like, like you alluded to Paul, you don't see the dust cloud on the bulldozer because as Ken said, now you're in your kingdom, you're down behind your walls, you're happy, and all it can take is a big disruption and it can change your whole business life. So what happens to dad at that point? What, what happens to his business?

Paul Pasternack 22:56

And I always share this with people. I have no shame in it. Neither does my dad, because at least he learned from it. And I was very grateful

James Blain 23:05

the most important

Paul Pasternack 23:06

that, it didn't affect our family financially, like I know it did. Others, um, overnight. And I kid you not James, overnight Uber came out, people, can book. Literally the next day. His phones did not ring, maybe a couple of calls here and there, but it was literally an overnight thing. A month later, they, they closed all the bases and filed for bankruptcy. I. There was nothing. There was nothing left. And that's the effect it had on the local car services. So

James Blain 23:39

right? One month. Wow.

Paul Pasternack 23:41

It hit that quick, that quick, just like, just like, uh, covid. What, what, what, what Covid did Uber had that effect because keep in mind, you know, every market is unique to itself. New York City is very unique. In its own right, that it's such a melting pot, that we're not only losing the local business, we're losing the local tourist business. We're losing ev like everybody that used to use local car service Now, uh, Uber. Lyft. Uber, Lyft.

Ken Lucci 24:15

So let explain for the people, for the listeners that don't know, the New York market, you have yellow taxi with a medallion,

Paul Pasternack 24:23

yes.

Ken Lucci 24:24

and then you have. You have local car services, black car services, and then you have the luxury chauffeur space. Is that right?

Paul Pasternack 24:33

Uh, let's add maybe two or three more there, Ken.

Ken Lucci 24:37

Mm-hmm.

Paul Pasternack 24:38

We have what now is called the green taxi. It's the local borough taxi. It's exactly like the yellow taxi. Just green lime green almost, you know, like a forest green. It only works in the boroughs. They cannot pick up in Manhattan. The yellow taxis are the ones you constantly see. Those are the well-known ones of New York City are the medallion ones. Okay. So the green one's also medallion. Then we have the local car service, non-black. These are guys running white, green, blue, red, Toyota, Camrys, Kias, uh, Hyundais, so on and so forth. it's

James Blain 25:21

so, so so like your dad's business was

Paul Pasternack 25:24

much,

Ken Lucci 25:24

So he was TLC. He was a TLC plate, not a medallion.

Paul Pasternack 25:28

No, he was TLC Plated. He was not a medallion. The medallion. Just a quick, quick history. Really low lesson. pre-Uber. Each medallion you could easily get 1.5, 1.7 million.

Ken Lucci 25:42

Yep.

Paul Pasternack 25:43

Present time, 2025. I can get you one for 20,000 if you really

James Blain 25:48

And, and let's take a second, right, because what, explain, explain what the medallion is for those that don't know. What does a medallion do? How does it work? Just to, and, and we don't need to go super in depth, but, but give an idea for those that have never heard of medallion. What, what, how's a medallion work?

Paul Pasternack 26:04

In New York City, you want to be a yellow taxi driver operator. Your yellow taxi has to have that medallion on its hood. That medallion is issued by the city and You. have To purchase it. At one. time, there was a waiting list. Of thousands and thousands of people who were willing to pay half a million, 750,000. I'm pretty sure when some people hear that, they're gonna think you are insane. All of you, new Yorkers to some extent are, but if I were to tell you these people made their money back within two or three years, would just still think I'm insane and profited because keep in mind the yellow medallion. There are no restrictions. That car can run 24 7 7

James Blain 26:51

it's not just one driver.

Ken Lucci 26:53

All five boroughs.

Paul Pasternack 26:54

You'd have four drivers, all five boroughs. Mainly their cash cows were the airport. 'cause they get priority in the airport. They used to have dedicated lines. They still do. But since Uber and since now Uber is buttering up all the airlines to, you know, I don't even wanna. Dive into that. 'cause that's a separate conversation, but,

James Blain 27:17

Oh, it's a

Paul Pasternack 27:17

but yeah. yeah. Yeah. so the yellow taxis.

Ken Lucci 27:20

Tel TLC plates?

Paul Pasternack 27:22

So the TLC plates? you can be black car, you can be luxury, or you can be the local home in the wall, car service, you know, kind of, um, you have 10 local cars. It's mixed. Uh, some of them are branded, some of them are not. Some of them are missing hubcaps, some of them are not. Some of them have a broken taillight. Some of them don't. And I'm, I know it sounds funny, but I am being as realistic as

James Blain 27:48

But, but they're your, they're your different levels, right? That you've, you've got your black car, you've got your, I gotta get from one part of town to another. I mean, what you're describing is the discrepancies and the different levels of that, but they're lumped into that same type of category

Paul Pasternack 28:03

same category because again, at the end of the day in New York City, we all get kind of, uh, governed by the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission, which is the

Ken Lucci 28:15

what happened? What happened to during Uber? What happened to the black car and the luxury space?

Paul Pasternack 28:21

Um, business declined. Corporate was now, because again, the, the, uh, the majority of clientele that the black car company's luxury bases were getting were the corporate people. Even, even the luxury bases. Those, those corporate events, those Christmas events, man, when they would get 150 cars, well. Some of them, they still do exist, but it's not how it was before Uber, simply because the demand isn't there. Because now you, Uber is used as a bargaining tool. They use it as collateral. They hold it over your head. I can tell you. Two handfuls of my own clients that I know for years that they know I. know, and they know they will never leave me, but they know, you know what, today I'm feeling, you know, I'm feeling very dangerous. Let me threaten Paul with the Uber to get 50 bucks off my next ride. And they know they will. and, it's ironic, but again, that's the reality of it. Do I have to do it in some cases? Yes.

Ken Lucci 29:29

so flash forward and, and talk to us about how you came to legends and tell us about legends.

Paul Pasternack 29:34

All right. So Legends, that's a, that's a great question, Ken. Um, I actually left, uh, chauffeur executive transportation in, you can say almost 20, 20 18, if I'm not mistaken. 2019.

Ken Lucci 29:49

Okay?

James Blain 29:50

Ominous timing.

Paul Pasternack 29:51

You know what, and it wasn't only that I was just so burned out guys where I needed a break. Uh, I needed time with my family. I needed time with my son. I needed time with my dad to go on a fishing trip. I just needed time to myself, and I forgot what the comfort of my own bed and pillow felt like at a certain point where.

James Blain 30:18

Well, you're working crazy hours. You're putting the time in. You're giving it your

Paul Pasternack 30:22

Absolutely. Even though I'm not an owner, it's not my company, the position that I'm in, the role that I'm in, and of course the commitment that was made, vice versa between me and ownership. Um, I, I have to, I have to stick to that commitment, you know, but I got to a point where that's it. I needed to recharge. So I said, you, know what? I'm not done with this industry, and I, I don't think I'll ever be. I, I've tried to walk away twice where to try something else and it just, it, it pulled me back because this is what I've come to realize. And even at a young age, I love doing this. I have a passion for it. It's exciting. Uh, every day is different. The people I get to meet, interact with, uh, the stories I get to hear. Uh, and the best part is. The memories I get to create, because at the end of the day, there's some, some, um, in some way, shape or form, you're actually creating a memory for an individual. You're actually doing something for somebody. So I took a career break. I went

Ken Lucci 31:36

long were you, did you, yeah. How long did you break between

Paul Pasternack 31:40

Uh, I took, you can say almost a good two years. Two, yeah. Close. Close to two and a half years. I took a personal, uh. Goal Pro, uh, goal, career break you can call it. Uh, I went down to Florida, uh, through word of mouth. There was a startup company down there in the industry. You know, even though I said I'm not gonna do this again, I found myself going to Florida as a consultant to help us, startup company, that really grew very fast. But didn't know what the next step was when I got,

James Blain 32:15

company,

Paul Pasternack 32:16

uh, yeah. Yeah. They were actually, they were a limo and shuttle company based in Northwest Florida. Uh, they are still in business today. Um, very,

Ken Lucci 32:26

Florida is a

Paul Pasternack 32:27

very, very tough market. You're limited to who, what and where. So you really have to pick and choose your, your niche markets very carefully and strategically. Um. They did it very well. The problem was, is they were using Excel spreadsheets to dispatch and take reservations. So when, when I got there, I got them Right. away on Limo Anywhere. At that time, it was the easiest one to transition to. Very user-friendly, exactly the features they needed. Within their budget. I got them set up on there. I changed their customer service, like everything about their company. I changed, I separated into three different divisions where You, had the family shuttle, you had the luxury, and then you had the coach side.

Ken Lucci 33:18

Mm-hmm.

Paul Pasternack 33:18

And, uh, the guy offered me a full-time position. But you know what? Something about New York just pulls me back, guys. I don't know what it is. Um. I just couldn't adapt to really the Florida lifestyle. Very laid back, very, and, and it's northwest Florida. It's very humid. Um, I am originally, I was born in Russia, so yeah, I'm that guy that sleeps with a window open when it's, uh, minus two

James Blain 33:50

You, you were melting down in

Paul Pasternack 33:52

Yeah. Yeah, pretty much. So I

Ken Lucci 33:54

how did you come to, how did you come to, Legends, Paul?

Paul Pasternack 33:57

Legends was when I came back, I was just simply, I wasn't really looking for anything. So happens. Um, I got a notification from Indeed that my resume was still up and in public view for two years, and I haven't edited. I need to, you know, kind of log in, take a look at it, or it's gonna be deleted. The moment I logged in, I had a message from a company called Legends Limousine Worldwide. True story. And it gets better, guys, I promise you. Um, I open it. Legends Limousine Worldwide. Never heard of them. Honestly, I'm, I'm ashamed to say this, I never heard of them. I heard of a Legends, laine, but not this particular one. I heard of a different one. And I said, okay. let me look into it. I, I called a few people that I know within the industry, Hey, yeah. Oh, oh, oh, okay. So it's worth a shot. So I message them back and they give me a call back on my birthday for an interview. So happens. The person that called me is the owner's daughter who also works with the company. She's the legends marketing director. She said, Hey, we'd love for you to come in for an interview. I said, great, I'll come in. I came in first meeting with the owners, hired right on the spot. Um, you know, just as any company being out of the game for two and a half years, you still gotta prove yourself. No matter how much knowledge you have, no matter how much, how, how, how many people may vouch for you, you still have to prove yourself to some degree to really show them, well, this is what I'm still capable of doing. And six months into dispatching, they were like, no, Paul, we need, like, we need you to do this. Can you do this?

James Blain 35:47

So, so is that what they brought you in as? Did you come in as a dispatcher, or what role

Paul Pasternack 35:52

I actually came in to become their dispatch manager,

James Blain 35:58

Okay.

Paul Pasternack 35:58

but uh, after six months of dispatch and they said, well, no, uh, if we keep him at dispatch, we're just simply wasting him and. You know, several conversations. Uh, we came to the conclusion that being, uh, the affiliate manager at that time would be the best role for me within the company.

Ken Lucci 36:20

What year was

Paul Pasternack 36:21

Um, this was two years ago, Ken, so

Ken Lucci 36:26

How much outbound work were they doing at that point?

Paul Pasternack 36:29

at, at, at that point, outbound.

Ken Lucci 37:36

just, yeah, just nothing proprietary, but

Paul Pasternack 37:40

that much. I, I would say

Ken Lucci 37:42

percentage of the, yeah, what percentage of the two of the business was it?

Paul Pasternack 37:46

Oh my God. Maybe 2%. It wasn't,

Ken Lucci 37:50

wanted you to build a

Paul Pasternack 37:51

how's this, Ken? It was there, but it was never put together. They had

James Blain 37:58

So was

Paul Pasternack 37:58

cards. They No. Nobody was

James Blain 38:02

So this is a role that was created for you

Ken Lucci 38:04

So

James Blain 38:04

that

Paul Pasternack 38:05

Correct? Correct.

Ken Lucci 38:07

at that point there about, just rough numbers. How big is that business? When you, two years ago, how big annual revenue was it?

Paul Pasternack 38:16

annual Honestly, Ken, I wouldn't be able to, to give you a number off the top of my head just 'cause I started calculating numbers. Only when

Ken Lucci 38:23

Right.

Paul Pasternack 38:24

from that year on, I know I have it some year per day? We were lucky to do one if that.

Ken Lucci 38:31

But,

Paul Pasternack 38:31

How's this? Two a week?

Ken Lucci 38:33

York, how,

Paul Pasternack 38:34

meaning? Oh, in

Ken Lucci 38:36

many lo local trips you have?

Paul Pasternack 38:38

Oh, local trips? No low lo local trips Roughly about, you can say anywhere between 80 to 90 on a good day.

Ken Lucci 38:48

most of them were airport

Paul Pasternack 38:49

The majority of them were airport. transfers. Yes.

Ken Lucci 38:52

so let's just talk about, so let's talk about this. So Legends was how old, two years ago? How many, how long have you been in business?

Paul Pasternack 39:01

legends this year, 31 years officially since

Ken Lucci 39:04

so they're doing, so so they're doing a hundred trips a day and they have in New York, and they have the opportunity on every single one of those airport calls to say, can I provide service to you? Okay.

James Blain 39:18

Huge opportunity.

Paul Pasternack 39:20

Big,

Ken Lucci 39:20

opportunity.

James Blain 39:21

Huge

Ken Lucci 39:22

how did you attack it? How did you create the affiliate network?

Paul Pasternack 39:27

uh, first wave. I. You attack any affiliate network, and this is just my opinion, this is the way I did it here, is you have a meeting with the staff, you have a meeting with the people who are the face of the company, on the phone and on the road, because these are the people who are essentially gonna bring in the business as good as I am. Ken James, I'd be a fool to tell you absolutely I got all these clients. No, I'd, I'd be, I'd be a fool to say that. Did I get. Some accounts that produce worldwide. Yes, absolutely. But you sit down, you start a training session with your staff. You have to teach every CSR how to ask for the worldwide business. People aren't just gonna tell you about it because they might not even know you provide it, even though it's in your name. They don't,

Ken Lucci 40:22

Now, and that's the biggest mistake people make. That's what, that's the biggest mistake people make. They rebrand themselves, you know, uh, Luci Worldwide limousine, and now we do affiliate work. They don't understand the training of asking and asking for the third leg. So how did you go about do that, doing that? Did you train the

Paul Pasternack 40:44

Yes, Yes, I created multiple scripts, hands-on training, lot of role playing, and I'm a firm believer. Show and tell. Don't, don't, don't just dictate to somebody, Hey, say it. Let them hear you say it. Roll up your sleeves. Nobody. I've never, and that's one thing, I'm just gonna throw this out there. That's one thing I truly respect about the owners of Legends. They will roll up their sleeves, sit next to me and say, Paul, let's get this done. You tell us what you need from us. And I really respect that. That's why I go so hard. That's why I work so hard. That's why I have, you know, the passion that I do.

Ken Lucci 41:25

What challenges did you have to overcome to build the department?

Paul Pasternack 41:28

So these are the biggest challenges is in the beginning, getting everybody on board when, uh, after they've gotten rejected once, twice, to make them understand. It's just, just keep asking, keep asking, keep asking. A lot of, I'm gonna be honest with you, six months every day coming in, I know I sound. I know I was annoying a lot of people. But guys, good morning. Don't forget we're taking somebody to the airport. Make sure and you literally hear everybody say, yes. Yes, Paul, we know. Ask for the return. Ask for the return. Yeah, that's right. Ask for the return. And also we're asking for Hey, uh, we noticed we're taking you to San Diego, and before we even get to that point. Let's ask for the flight number. Let's teach your representatives to, while you have that person on the phone, open up a Google tab, type in that flight number. Oh, that's nice. You're flying into Palm Beach. I love it. there. I actually have family there. Let me ask you a question. Do. you have family picking you up at Palm Beach? No. We can arrange transportation to have you picked up, brought to your hotel. When you're ready to come back to New York, I'll have you picked up. Brought you back to PBI and then of course, as always, we'll pick you up here in New York. How does that sound?

Ken Lucci 42:48

W why do I want to do that with you, Paul?

Paul Pasternack 42:52

Well, one stop shop. I'm, I'm, I mean, if you really want me to go into sales mode, I can. Ken. Um, well, I'm, I'm, I mean, it looks like you have a busy schedule ahead. As you mentioned, you're going on a business conference to West Palm Beach. I wanna make sure that ground transportation. Is the last thing you, have to worry about. Plus, um, I highly doubt you want to use somebody you don't know, like an Uber or a Lyft. You don't know what kind of car is gonna come pick you up. You don't know this person. At least you're traveling with a trusted provider who's insured. You know, our chauffeurs are trained. And the key thing is, you know, any, any request you have, you know, you can always get in touch with a live person, not a robot, not a chat.

Ken Lucci 43:39

How do you describe the provider in the other city? Is it your partner? Is it an affiliate? How do you describe that?

Paul Pasternack 43:48

nope. Never to a client. I never ever use the word affiliate, and I have a reason behind that when I say the word affiliate in a business setting, when we're talking about business and when we're taking a reservation, I, um, I always call it guys, you're on a business call. That's a business call. You're on the phone with a client discussing business, even though you're only taking a reservation, it's a business call. When you say the word affiliate in business, they think third party, you're you're passing me off. What, what am I to expect? So when you say affiliate, one of the very first questions you probably will get asked, I would say 90% of the time is is it your company? Is it the same as your company? I. And Right there. you've just opened up several doors that are gonna open on their own as you start providing information as opposed to, Hey Paul, I didn't know you were in West Palm Beach. Listen, I'm a worldwide company. I have the privilege of having a worldwide network of partners that we have vested interest in one another where we work together. This is my partner down in West Palm Beach who's gonna take care of you. They run the same exact type of vehicles I run here in New York. And then obviously I always tell them, listen, this is a person I personally know. I personally visited them, whatever, you know, depending on the company and market. Will dictate what conversation I have with that client and you know how I break it down to them. But I never use the word affiliate. I always use my partner. I always explain to them, this is not some company I found on Google. This is a fully vetted company, no different than mine that provides the same exact

James Blain 45:48

like today? Right. You said there was a point where there was maybe one or two trips that you guys were, were sending out. What is that? Yeah. Yeah.

Ken Lucci 45:57

week, wait, it w wait a minute. 80 trips a day, times five, 400 trips a day, 400 trips a week, and we're doing One or two. out of town. What does it look like now?

James Blain 46:08

Yeah. What was the payoff?

Paul Pasternack 46:11

Uh, now I can happily say we're averaging about close to 15 a week worldwide.

Ken Lucci 46:21

That's not your bad. That's not bad

Paul Pasternack 46:23

15 a week wor worldwide, where now at least, I'm gonna say a transfer a day safely. We're, we're at least doing one a day. Some some weeks are are very good where we can knock out maybe two a day on on average. Some days we might not have any. Like today I have. I think six worldwide. Tomorrow I only have one

Ken Lucci 46:52

how are your dispatchers handling the calls or the trips out of town? Are they, how do you train them to make sure they're tracking them in the same way they're tracking your in-house vehicles? So your local trips, how did you handle that?

Paul Pasternack 47:09

Um. Our system plays a big role in it where we have our screen separated. My dispatchers can work off of about six different screens in terms of what information they see and what type of information they see, so they can just filter out a screen with only our worldwide transfers, meaning all of our farm outs to other affiliates.

Ken Lucci 47:34

How are you sending the trips out? Are you use, are you calling emailing? Are you using

Paul Pasternack 47:39

Currently, uh, it's mixed. It, it's gnet. Some affiliates, we still are emailing? but, um, I'm gonna say by the end of April, um, we will not be emailing any more jobs. Calling to give reservations. Everything is gonna run through Gnet, everything has to be digital, where. I'm gonna rely on the technology that's right in front of us. That's been proven to work. That saves me a lot of time, a lot of headaches, gives me peace of mind, and more importantly, it alleviates my staff to focus on other things where, know,

Ken Lucci 48:20

What challenges do you come across doing the affiliate work?

Paul Pasternack 48:25

Getting affiliates to be on board with, not, not all affiliates, Ken, so, let me rephrase that. Getting some affiliates on board with the technology to get it synced on gmat. To be able to find a way to make our operation more efficient and more effective amongst each other while doing the most limited amount of things, meaning sending the most limited amount of emails or just um. Phone calls, you know, uh, another big challenge I have is finding reliable providers in certain markets with car seats, because that's a big, big part of our business. A big,

James Blain 49:18

So talk about that for a second. 'cause we, we, you and I have talked about that. That was something that you showed me and we went through when, when I came out and I did the site visit. But walk us through why that's important, why that's a part of your business, who you're serving. Why is that important for you guys? And, and how is that different for you than a typical car service?

Paul Pasternack 49:37

Yep. So for us, that's a big, big part of our business. a big, big part of our business. Um, Yeah, Um, what you've seen, James, was just what we have in our office. I don't think I mentioned that every single driver. That we have is in one of our vehicles, which allows us to make sure that every car has two booster seats and two car seats. 'cause our car seats are. Uh, interchangeable, meaning the toddler is the infant, the, the newborn seats. Those, we only have 10. Reason why we don't keep them in the cars is those are by special requests. 'cause in New York City, I don't know how it is in other states, when there's a newborn car seat requests, that means we're usually picking the newborn up from the hospital. And it's a certain process that the parent has to go through. They have to take the car seat upstairs. Get it certified by the hospital, so on and so forth.

James Blain 50:37

but let's go back to what you said a second ago because you said something really big. You said that's two seats per car. That's every car in the fleet has two seats. You know, I do site visits. I might go visit someone that's got 20 cars and they maybe have four or five car seats total. You're talking two per car. So it's that big a part of the business that you're

Paul Pasternack 50:57

Huge. Huge.

James Blain 50:59

So how does that work? Or what are you guys doing there?

Paul Pasternack 51:02

Uh, well, I'm, I'm, how is this? I'll tell you about the cake, but I can't tell you about the recipe.

James Blain 51:10

Of course,

Paul Pasternack 51:11

Um, 90% of our transfers on a day, and now I'm very happy to say, you know, we're, we're slowly 1 20, 1 50 a day, steady.

Ken Lucci 51:23

Hmm.

James Blain 51:24

I.

Paul Pasternack 51:24

80% Of those transfers. Our car seats, it took us, we put a lot into it, and you'd be surprised how many corporate clients already had their allegiances with their corporate companies that their company pays for, which I completely get. Listen, Paul, I'd use you for my company runs, but we already contracted to a company and the company pays for it. However. I don't trust them to pick up my family. So when I hear that, to me, honestly, that's the biggest compliment any client can give. Not

James Blain 52:02

But that's a way in down

Paul Pasternack 52:04

That is let, let, me tell you mommy and baby groups in certain markets, and I'll just, like I said, I won't give the recipe, but mommy and baby groups, if people are not jumping on them and if they don't learn how to get into those type of groups or have somebody in your office that can associate themselves with a mommy and baby group, you guys have no idea how much business you're really, really

Ken Lucci 52:29

Well, because, because you know what, at the end of the day, safety is, safety is number one. And, and, and price becomes down the list, right? The quality and the safety of the service and the fact that you are saying you created a unique use case. You've created a unique niche.

Paul Pasternack 52:51

Yep.

Ken Lucci 52:52

That you can basically expand. And most people don't do that. They, they don't, they don't take the time to create that value niche.

James Blain 53:02

Well, and I think you're, you're hitting on something really important there, Ken, because. You know, how many times do you drive different when your kids are in the car? Or do you think, yeah, this is fine for me, but it's my kids. Right. You know, so now you're hitting on and, and most importantly, even though they might say, Hey, I can't use it at corporate, I can't use it there. The second that opportunity opens. Well, this is the guy that drives my kids, right, the second that's there. So, and, and of course it's, it's bound to happen because you are taking care of the most important thing in their life, which means you have a level of trust other companies are probably never gonna get to or even aspire to. So I think it's interesting because you've really built two different areas. You've built up that affiliate side, you've built up that car seat side. Now a affiliate vetting is always something that comes up. Always something important. You know, talk to us a little bit about how does that vetting work for you guys? Do you have a different vetting process? You know, if they're doing car seats, what does your typical vetting process look like? How are you making sure these affiliates, you're using fit that model that you're creating?

Paul Pasternack 54:11

Um, certain affiliates, I, I've had the pleasure to work with them prior to my arrival at Legends. So I already know what I'm getting with them. For newer affiliates, um, I like to ask questions. I like to meet them in person. Um, especially when it comes to where, where I know, uh, a particular market is gonna have a lot of car seat work. Um, I'm gonna tend to stick to one or two affiliates and. This is something that I know other affiliates might not do business like this, but I guess we do things, every company does things differently, so I, uh, I'm a firm believer that regardless if you send me work or not, that's not why I'm choosing to work with you. Because I know 90% of the time, that's what they'll bring it down to as well. I sent you all this work. How come you haven't sent me anything? So when I choose an affiliate, particularly for car seats, this is how I look at it. I, this is what I need from you. I need you to be able to provide this service. If you can do it, I absolutely want to do business with you. I want to do business with you. Don't worry about anything else. Just please take care of my clients and their car seat needs. That's all all I need you for right Now, If you wanna do business with me, that's perfectly fine. However, I need from you, and I'll ask for pictures sometimes if I'm really on the fence. Normally if I'm on the fence. Um, my gut has never failed me in those situations, so, um, I always like to read reviews as well.

Ken Lucci 56:00

So, by the way, I can tell you a specific company in in Chicago that you're gonna want to completely stay away from, but let's, but let's not bring up

James Blain 56:07

we won't, we won't throw them out there on the

Ken Lucci 56:08

No, no. They're all over Facebook and, right, right. But you, you don't even need to. Anyway, that's interesting that you read the reviews. That's really a good tip.

Paul Pasternack 56:20

yeah.

James Blain 56:20

and, and take that deeper. 'cause you and I have talked about this. Paul, we, we chatted over lunch on this. Tell me about what, cause I'm not gonna steal your thunder, but it, it gets better Ken. You're gonna like this. It gets better 'cause you actually goes deeper and this is something that I think everyone needs to hear. Let tell, tell him what I'm talking about here.

Paul Pasternack 56:38

I am a very, those that have worked with me and know me, know I'm a very outgoing person. I'm very blunt. I'm a New York guy. At the end of the day, you're gonna know Paul from New York if you meet. However, I like to work in silence as well. What I mean by that is if I wanna work with you and you and I met you at the NLA and you tell me, Hey, I have 10 cars, I have 20 cars, I have 10 Escalades. I own all of my cars. Yeah. I have all of this, no problem. I make my notes mentally or sometimes when I go back to my room, there's certain pockets I have business cards in that I filter out and do my research. First thing I do, I go on Google. However, Google isn't the best source 'cause people can buy reviews as well. Let's be real. But I, I think I'm a pretty, pretty good at knowing when it's a chat bot writing a review and when it's an actual genuine review from a genuine person. Yes, it might take me an hour or two, but listen, this is a company I might send. 10 K of business to, or 20 k of business to where, you know, there's a good client of mine that I'm gonna send to them, that, that expects a certain level of service. Uh, then I'll go on their cities, you know, kind of, let's say they have, um, I'm gonna use New York City as an example. New York City has the New York City, TLC. I'll go on the TLC's website, I'll pull up their base number. I'll see how many violations, what complaints do They have on their base. Then I'll pull up plates. I can get their plate numbers off of Google Photos, which will tell, me, are these really your cars? So when an affiliate says, I have 20 cars, I own them. Be very careful making that statement 'cause that's a very powerful statement, very powerful statement. Simply because a guy like me can easily within 10 minutes find out if you truly own your cars, just by the pictures. You have on your own website of your cars, whether they're generic or not, I can type in your license plate number. And this is any state. Any city, it's public information and they'll tell me who the car is registered to. So in our industry, if you're telling me you own 20 cars, it's, I can find out in five minutes by typing in your plate number. It'll tell me insurance coverage, who it's registered to, if you have the proper licenses, when the renewal is, when you're up for registration, so on and so forth. All these little things matter, because also it tells me what year is your equipment. Everybody in that. in LA has brand new cars. Everybody

Ken Lucci 59:29

Sure. Yeah.

Paul Pasternack 59:30

industry has brand new cars. But

Ken Lucci 59:33

tell you

Paul Pasternack 59:33

what's a brand new car, you know? It's.

James Blain 59:37

Well, and, and it, it goes back to two episodes that we've done really come to mind. The first one is, we had Sam on, and Sam talked about, you know, having photos, putting time in, caring about your marketing, right? If I'm just grabbing random stuff off the internet and I'm just throwing stock photos up there, I'm putting things on there. People that actually care, people are doing the vetting, people that are looking are gonna see that and go, okay, well I can't see any of your actual fleet. I don't actually know if that's yours or not. So that's key. But the other thing that you've brought up, and it really echoes in my mind, when Ken and I talked to Brett, behold the first time, Ken, you'll remember one of the big things he said is when we talked about him and affiliate work, guess what? Price didn't come up. Price wasn't the issue. It was don't screw up. My clients that sat with me, that's really stuck with me. Brett Baren Holt, president of the NLA. The most important thing to him with affiliates is don't screw up my clients. Now that we're talking with you, Paul, it's, Hey, I've worked with Wall Street, I'm working with people's families. I'm working with this. You're going the extra mile to do research. You're going the extra mile to learn about them, to make sure they are who they say they are. Right? All of these things come back to, again, we haven't said a word about price. Not once in this conversation. Has it been, who's the cheapest? What's my rate? It's what are all the different ways that I can look up and find out and pull them? And guess what guys? You know, beyond what we're talking about here. You know, my favorite being in the training world. You go on our website and PAX has got listed. Everyone that's a PAX member, 'cause we see that too, right? Everybody's got a hundred cars in their fleet, they're a PAX member, they've got brand new everything, this and that. I think it's important that people on the podcast, listen, and Paul, you're making the case for us. These are things where people are gonna inspect what they expect. And if you wanna be in that top tier, if you want to truly be luxury, you've gotta walk the walk, talk the talk, and do what You

Paul Pasternack 1:01:32

you have to, you have to.

Ken Lucci 1:01:35

and, it all comes down to, you have a relationship with your clients built on trust. Okay. Um, when I, when I, I think the biggest challenge that I see people have is they're trying to capture clients using pay-per-click. The only denominator there in most cases, is price, right? So what you've done is you've created relationships. The company has relationships where they trust you, and you are doing the same thing with your affiliates. And I know your company, and I know your prices are not the lowest in your market. Your prices are me. You've got a phenomenal fleet, and I think your, your prices are, you know, market level or above for a, for a reason. Um, I think the biggest, no mis, the biggest misnomer in this industry is I have to the lowest possible price. And the sa and the sad part is that's the low. That to me is the recipe for disaster. Um, and it. people who value quality, people who value the relationships that you have and trust you with their family and trust you with their employees. Prices lower on down the list. Um, so, uh, it's, it's in, to me, it's endearing and it, it gives me kind of hope that the industry's moving somewhat in the right direction, at least on the luxury level. On the luxury level, relationships are the most important things, and the, I I always say he who owns the relationship, owns the revenue, right? So at the end of the day, it's nice to see you doing that.

Paul Pasternack 1:03:15

Yep.

James Blain 1:03:16

and, and I would say you take that a step further, Ken, I think it doesn't matter if you're in the motor coach business, it doesn't matter what business you're in. You know, if you're in a business where you're wanting to capture and hold the client, right? It doesn't matter any business where your goal is to capture and continue serving that client, the more trust you can build up, the more you can take care of them. Like Paul talked about, it took him months, right? Six months in, he's still harping on them, Hey, we gotta, we gotta own that entire trip. But being that trusted provider and taking care of them, I mean that's, that's how you build a business. Because to the point that was made earlier, like you said, if you're doing paperclip or you're doing things like that, you are depending on that new influx of business every month. The second you can get to a point where you have that base that you're serving that are those return customers, that you build up that loyalty, that's when you start getting that stability. That's when you're able to really build and grow

Ken Lucci 1:04:13

and look at your revenue per client. Look at your revenue per client, right? And, and, and look at your sales costs. I mean, you have expended a certain amount of money to get the client, and now by asking for the return trip, you've doubled the amount of revenue by asking them and saying, how often do you travel? Right? And being the niche that you've, you've created, now you've turned one into two, two into four. I wish every operator knew those skills. How difficult was it for you? My last question, how difficult was it for you to get the company owners and to get the, the CSRs to buy in to asking the question, to taking the effort?

James Blain 1:04:53

Great question.

Paul Pasternack 1:04:54

Um, I'm gonna answer this the honest way because some, some people will lie about it, but I'm gonna answer it the honest way.

Ken Lucci 1:05:08

sure,

Paul Pasternack 1:05:10

Once, because this is the way I presented it to them. So for me it was very easy, Ken and James, and this is why I rolled up my sleeves and I sat there for a full week and proved it led by example. I showed them, watch me, I'm gonna ask every single person. And I was literally like. It, it was almost where I was pushing people off the phone so I could answer the phone where, let me take that call. And lo and behold, in a, week I managed to book on my own. And this is no credit to me. It's just, again, I've been doing this for so long, I love doing this I have a passion for it. And people hear that it translates through whether I'm on the phone or in front of them. They hear it in my voice through comments I make, through how I direct that call. Um. I booked 12 worldwide trips in that week by just simply asking them, Hey, do you need transportation here? And every single caller I asked. This was their response too, guys, I didn't even know you had service down here. I didn't even know you guys could could do this. And then it led them to ask me another question. Hey, let me ask you a question. My daughter is flying to Los Angeles. Can you pick her up there too? Absolutely. And your mother that's going on vacation to the south of France, so on and

Ken Lucci 1:06:36

look,

Paul Pasternack 1:06:37

you

Ken Lucci 1:06:38

I had a, uh, I had a discussion this week that dovetails into this. I had a discussion this week with the president of one of the larger networks, and he did something really bad. He questioned my data. You wanna, you, if you wanna, piss me off, you question my data. 'cause all I do is research. Okay? 75% of airline travelers are traveling for personal reasons, okay? He has nailed the person, getting the personal client through the car seats, right? Because that's when money is no object, right? we spend, we spend, the most on.

Paul Pasternack 1:07:19

after you too, Ken,

Ken Lucci 1:07:20

We spend the most money on our pets and our kids. So, but most of the networks and most of the people that do affiliate completely ignore the private airline traveler. And it's 75% of the people on that plane not traveling for business. And he's nailed it. By the way. I, I corrected that individual with an email and with the, with the entire, with the entire data set that I got from the airline industry.

James Blain 1:07:51

Oh,

Ken Lucci 1:07:51

not gonna bring up his name, but he knows who he is and he'll never, he'll never do it again. But he's now, but he's, the niche of the car seats is incredibly important. But yet you've made a commitment there because those, those car seats are not cheap. The organization has made a commitment, You made a commitment, but you also, but you also also created something where you, you turned. Turn the ask into muscle memory. So now your entire CSR staff is trained to ask And leading by example. 'cause I know that the operators have a tough time with this. I'm a reservationist. I'm not gonna be a salesperson leading by example and saying, let me show you how easy this is. And it comes down to numbers. It, you know, if, if, if you're now, if you're getting one out of 10 or one out of 15, whatever the number is, I, I mean, that's good. That's exceptional progress. But I don't think you would've gotten there unless you sat down and did it yourself for the week.

Paul Pasternack 1:08:54

No.

Ken Lucci 1:08:54

think you would've gotten there.

James Blain 1:08:55

Now and, and coming from the training side of things. I mean, a big thing for me is always you, you have to walk the walk. You have to talk the talk. You have to, everybody has to be doing it because the number one enemy, the number one enemy of good training and good behavior is when the person gets out there and someone says, yeah, I know you saw this video. Yeah, I know they touched that. Yeah, I know. This is how we really do it. Right. If there was a single phrase that kills service, that kills safety, that in some cases has killed entire businesses,

Ken Lucci 1:09:29

hospitality. It kills all

James Blain 1:09:31

Yeah. Yeah, that's, that's not real. I know that's what they taught you, but that's not really how we do it. Lemme tell you how we really do it. Right. So going in there and really making a shift and a change and saying, Hey, we're gonna move towards affiliates. We're gonna move towards car seats. We're actually going to make this how we do it, and we're gonna push that is what allows these types of changes to happen in business. I mean, Well, done Paul.

Paul Pasternack 1:09:55

Well,

Ken Lucci 1:09:55

Yeah. Nice, nice work. And look at the end of the day, the, the other piece of this is continually. Reinforcing it with the staff and to me, if the owners are not going to be the ones to help you push it, it's not gonna work.

James Blain 1:10:13

Yeah. Continuing education is key.

Ken Lucci 1:10:16

to do it.

Paul Pasternack 1:10:16

No,

Ken Lucci 1:10:17

they have a commitment to do it. Hey, Paul from Legends Transportation in New York. We really appreciate you being on the podcast today and, um, this has been a great, uh, podcast for the people to understand how to do affiliate, what you do to create a niche of value in this big world, and then what you expect from your affiliates. So thank you very much. We really appreciate your time today.

1:10:41

Thank you for listening to the ground 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 PAX training and to contact James, go to PAX training.com. And for more information about driving transactions and to contact Ken, Go to driving transactions.com. We'll see you next time on the ground transportation podcast.