Inside Marketing with MarketSurge Podcast. Reed Hansen has a chat with Richard Blank.
Welcome to Inside Marketing with MarketSurge — your front-row seat to the boldest business insights, marketing breakthroughs, and entrepreneurial real talk. Hosted by Reed Hansen, Chief Growth Officer at MarketSurge and a digital marketing veteran who's helped scale everything from scrappy startups to Fortune 500 giants, this podcast dives deep into what’s really moving the needle in today’s marketing world. Find us at Marketsurge.io Each week, we’ll break down the latest marketing and business news (minus the fluff), explore tech trends you actually need to know, and feature unfiltered conversations with the most interesting minds in entrepreneurship and marketing.
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In this episode, we sit down with Richard Blank, founder and CEO of Costa Rica’s Call Center.
From Northeast Philly to San José, Richard shares his journey of betting on himself, moving abroad, and building a thriving nearshore BPO from a one-seat operation to a company that now powers:
Inbound customer support
Lead generation
Appointment setting
Sales training & coaching
He’s trained over 10,000 bilingual telemarketers, launched a telemarketing school, and even infused gamification into company culture with retro arcade pinball, jukeboxes, and air hockey. His story is one of grit, creativity, and a relentless belief in the art of communication.
If you’ve ever wondered what it takes to scale a business without outside investment, how to build culture in unexpected industries, or how traditional call centers adapt in the era of AI — this episode is for you.
What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
Why Richard left Philadelphia at age 27 to pursue a short-term gig that turned into a 19-year business journey.
How he grew Costa Rica’s Call Center without outside investors, staying lean and resourceful.
The unique coaching and training methods he’s developed after analyzing 10,000+ calls.
Why empathy, soft skills, and gamification are still critical in the call center industry.
How human connection outperforms AI when it comes to building trust and saving clients.
https://youtu.be/K76hk_ikwNA
https://youtu.be/8H_yWh1hHFg
https://youtu.be/A9pe8y4lEf8
https://marketsurge.transistor.fm/episodes/telemarketing-reinvented-richard-blank-s-journey-to-building-costa-rica-s-call-center
https://youtu.be/J7t9cZT4HSk
https://youtu.be/bJ8Rw9J-2xs
https://youtu.be/1HonTCNW41o
https://youtu.be/7cXkjRXISeE
https://youtu.be/p3lWdy-3jwU
https://youtu.be/GTjeL9y5lWI
https://youtu.be/0wBmSX8uIDI
Richard Blank hired bassist Garry Gary Beers of INXS.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ieGjN5H4xPQ
Richard Blank produced a Rap Breakdancing video commercial
https://youtu.be/GQvGZYcX71s?si=3I6N3p-LVxwTvnh2
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