Your cars aren't going to close the deal. Your phone call will.
Eyobiel Baire, owner of Black Diamond Town Car out of Seattle, is running two SUVs. He's getting five to seven leads a day. He's offering discounts. But he's not happy with how many bookings he's getting.
So I brought in Jacob Palma from AZ Luxury Coach in Phoenix to help diagnose what's going on.
Jacob runs a ten car operation, drives himself, and has been one of the sharpest operators who regularly joins our client coaching calls. The advice he gave Eyobiel was dead simple. And it's the same stuff that separates operators who grind from operators who grow.
Today, in 5 minutes or less
Today, in 5 minutes or less
Stop Texting, Start Calling (It Only Takes 30 Seconds)
Eyobiel told us his communication is mostly text. And look, I get it. He’s a single operator. He’s driving and running the business at the same time.
When he’s behind the wheel, he can’t respond for 20, 30, sometimes 40 minutes.
But here’s what Jacob said that shifted the whole conversation:
Call every single lead.
Not a 15-minute sales pitch. Not a deep dive into your fleet. A 30-second phone call.
“I’m not talking about a one-minute phone call. I’m not talking about a 15-minute phone call. I’m talking about a 30-second phone call to weed the bad leads out. You call them up, sometimes they’ll put six people but they’ll select a five-passenger SUV. Hey, which number is accurate? And that sparks the conversation.”
Jacob drives himself too. He knows the reality. But he said 90% of the time he can get to that call within two to four minutes of the lead coming in.
And 90% of his calls? Thirty to 45 seconds.
That’s it. That’s the difference.
Your Escalade Isn't Closing Deals. You Are.
One of the first things Jacob asked Eyobiel about was his fleet. Eyobiel started with a Suburban around $56,000, then stepped up to a 2024 Escalade at $80,000 out the door.
Jacob’s response was blunt.
“Are you doing more business in the Escalade to substantiate that $20,000 difference?”
Jacob runs Expeditions. Doesn’t pay more than $55,000 for his SUVs. Usually a year or two old with 25,000 to 30,000 miles. And in five years, he said he’s only had to turn down work five or six times because someone specifically wanted an Escalade.
That $2,000 difference per month between payment, insurance, and fuel on an Escalade versus a cheaper SUV? That’s money you could use to beat a competitor’s quote by $15. That’s a discount you could offer to lock in a new client.
💡 Know your costs. That’s how you win on price without losing money.
Not Every Lead Deserves Your Time
This one’s hard for small operators to hear…
You’re paying for every lead. It feels wrong to throw one away.
Right?
But Jacob was crystal clear about how he handles it.
“When I see a lead come in that says ‘pick up in Scottsdale’ and I’m gonna take ten people to Old Town Scottsdale and they want a one-way transfer, I’m gonna send them a response back that says I don’t have availability and I’m gonna throw that quote away. That’s not my business. That’s not my market.”
He weeds out leads by area, by email address, by the details in the request. If it’s not his kind of work, he moves on. Fast.
The flip side? The leads that look promising get his full attention. A phone call. A personal touch. Real energy.
“It’s not all about closing every lead. It’s about the ones you close.”
Eyobiel was getting two to three leads a day that never responded at all. Dead ends. And he was spending energy chasing them instead of doubling down on the ones with real potential.
Be Honest. Be Human. Be Memorable.
Jacob told a story that I think captures this perfectly.
He was out snowboarding with his family on a Saturday…
A lead came in for a sports team trip from Phoenix to New Mexico.
Instead of scrambling, he picked up the phone and said: “Listen, I won’t be able to get you the quote till Monday. Your price is somewhere in this amount. But I’ll get you a full breakdown on Monday.”
Monday morning, the guy emailed him first thing. “Hope your vacation was good. Can you get me that quote?”
He booked two trips.
No quote form. No automation. Just a real conversation with a real person.
“Don’t be afraid to tell them, hey, I’m out with clients right now. Be honest with these people because you’re gonna get more bookings based on your salesmanship and your personality than saying I have a 24 Escalade.”
Jacob also made a point about the initial automated text response. He worked with our team to make his texts more personal. Opt-outs dropped by about 80%.
⚡ When everyone else sounds like a robot, being human is your competitive advantage.
Rethink Your Fleet Before You Add Another SUV
Eyobiel was thinking about adding another SUV. We pushed back.
With two SUVs doing roughly $100,000 in gross revenue for the year, Jacob pointed out those numbers should be closer to $250,000. Each SUV should be pulling in $8,000 to $10,000 a month.
So the question wasn’t “what SUV should I buy next?” It was “is my fleet even set up to maximize what I’m getting?”
Jacob’s suggestion: consider swapping the Suburban for a Sprinter.
You can buy a used Sprinter for $60,000 to $70,000. Jacob built his own from a cargo van for $87,000 total. Table seats, executive layout, the whole thing.
With a Sprinter, you open up a completely different set of leads. You can run Sprinter-specific ad campaigns. And you can use it as leverage on black car leads too.
“If someone has five passengers, you can upgrade them to a Sprinter. Hey, my SUVs are booked that day. But I’ll give you a free upgrade to the Sprinter. You’ll have more room.”
Eyobiel’s concern was that Sprinter work in Seattle is seasonal, mostly May through October. But Jacob flipped that: if you’re only running one SUV during the off months anyway, what’s the difference if it’s a Sprinter?
💡 Don’t buy vehicles to keep up with the Joneses. Buy vehicles that open doors.
Sell Yourself, Not the Ride
“Your Suburban and your Escalade are probably not any better than anybody else’s in Seattle. It’s all the same. My service is what’s better.”
He’s right.
We all buy from the same manufacturers. Everyone’s SUV looks the same. Everyone’s Sprinter has similar layouts.
The difference isn’t the leather. It’s the conversation.
When you call a lead and ask a real question. When you give them a ballpark number on the spot instead of saying “my reservations team will get back to you.” When you remember they mentioned they’re going on a cruise and you tell them exactly where the terminal is and what to expect.
That’s what they remember. That’s why they book with you instead of the other five quotes sitting in their inbox.
“Three out of four phone calls they make, they’re gonna get a call center reading off a script. When they get you as the real person, as the owner, as the operator, and you can give them a roundabout number, they’re gonna remember you.”
One Phone Call Can Change Everything
I want to close with a story from my own experience because it drives the whole point home.
I was handling calls for a client in Houston.
On a Friday, a lead came in from what was clearly a large, multinational corporation. An hour and a half later, the guy texted a follow-up question.
Nobody responded.
On Sunday, he went in and booked a one-way Sprinter transfer for $370.
When I finally called him, we talked for 20 minutes.
Turns out he’s a senior executive. His assistant couldn’t handle the booking.
And oh, by the way, he had six executives flying in from Australia who’d need a Sprinter for an entire week. Dinners, sports games, multiple nights of service.
If I hadn’t picked up the phone, my client might have gotten that $370 one-way. Maybe.
But he never would have found out about the week-long engagement. And I got the name of the person who handles all transportation in Houston for that company.
⚡ One phone call. That’s the difference between a $370 booking and a client who could change your year.
That’s what I told Eyobiel. Stop chasing every $130 cruise transfer where you’re making $80 after costs. Start looking for the hidden whales.
Key Takeaways
A 30-second phone call beats a text every single time, and 90% of the time that's all it takes.
The vehicle you drive matters less than the margins you keep, so buy smart and stay flexible.
Not every lead is your lead. Ditch the ones that don't fit and invest real energy in the ones that do.
Honesty, personality, and a human voice on the phone will close more deals than any Escalade ever will.
A Sprinter opens up new campaigns, new lead types, and higher-margin work without costing more than another SUV.
Your equipment is the same as everyone else's. Your service and your communication are what set you apart.
The small changes are the ones that compound. Let's see where Black Diamond Town Car is in a few weeks.
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