I saved enough money to purchase and build a 300 seat center. Positive Talk Radio guest Richard Blank Costa Rica's Call Center
Should that have lost their way. We have, we have those encampments here now. And, uh, and it's, it's a, it is a big problem here. And it's because we, as a people, don't take care of each other as, as well as we should. Um, and, and there is some drug abuse and there is some, you know, uh, stuff like that, but.
it's interesting that if that people will, you know, give you a banana, if you're, if you're down there or whatever, and I, I think, I think it's great. And I, and I really applaud you for doing, for working the way you're working and doing what you're doing. It is really outstanding. I would say, by the way, we're talking with.
Richard blank. He is the CEO of Costa Rica's Call Center. They do everything under the sun, from web design to everything else. You can go to, uh, costaricascallcenter.com and you can get all the information about Richard, his team, the folks that are there, because I'll, I'll tell you I I'm. I am as a human and, and by the way, you're one of the most human people.
And by the way, that's a, that's a huge compliment. Uh, you're one of the most human people that I've ever met. Thank you be, I really appreciate you. And would you, would you come back so that we can have more of a conversation about other stuff and, and more about this? Anytime I'd love to be a guest that comes back a reoccurring guest on a TV show.
So it's like Larry from three's company. You gotta have me on, on a couple scenes. I definitely love to come back. Absolutely. Because the. The way that you word things, the way that you respect people and stuff is it can be really helpful and energizing to other people who may want to do the same thing, but just don't know how well let's break those stereotypes.
A CEO can be one that's empathetic. Someone can take the chance and move abroad, but I make it look easy. My good friend, I started my business at 35. I wish I was a teenager. That was a whiz kid or a genius in my twenties. But I'll be forthright with you after working at my friend's call center for four years, I learned the business, but I wasn't matured enough.
It took me to my mid thirties to have impulse control maturity and enough money saved where I was responsible. For those contracts and job stability. And also, I didn't take a loan now. I don't have a partner. I don't pay interest. I did slow and steady. I first started renting a seat at a opened air blended call center.
Then after a couple years, I rented space and built out 150 seats and bought the equipment. After six years, I saved enough money to purchase and build my 300 seat center. So it's more of the tortoise, not the. It's grandma telling me if you can't pay for it in cash, don't do it. And it's also me saving enough acorns for the winter.
So I could weather storms. I wish it was bells and whistles and shortcuts and exciting, but it's not, it's being very responsible and taking your time and just making sure that you are fulfilling the needs of these agents by giving them their job stability. And in this industry, that's so competitive, especially against.
The best thing that I can do once again, is as you say, just have these sort of ethics and put my best foot forward and you don't owe anybody any money. And which means that your business is growing slower, but it. In order, you know, sometimes in, as you know, sometimes in order to get really RevD up and to really take out a big loan and then grow it and stuff you may have to, at one point in time, compromise your ethics and to do things that you don't otherwise wouldn't otherwise do because of you're chasing the almighty dollar.
At that point, you don't have to do that. So it makes it, it must be really freeing to be able to be an employer of 300 plus people. And their families and by, uh, jute boxes and, and, and, uh, and things, and, and to have a, a happy, a happy life, even if you're not a multimillionaire or a billionaire, well, it made the most sense.
I wanted to sleep at night and imagine if I lost an account, I don't want to be pissed off on the floor and then, you know, stressing about it. And it was very simple. As long as I was making my margins, renting this seat made. Then after you got to four dozen agents, it doesn't make sense to spend five grand a month to some guy when I could have my own place and buy the equipment and build it out.
And instead of buying brand new, you know, computers can be excellent secondhand. And a lot of the call centers were going out of business. So they bought it new. I pretty much got it with the wrapping on it, even though it's second a it's not out of the store, but it's pretty much brand new with the furniture.
Also, since I am a guest here and you look at me in my suit, there's a very good chance. It might charge 20% more. So I'd have local representatives for me with connections that would go and get me the best prices and bring me things. So you gotta build a team around you. You can't do it all on your own, and you gotta trust people to represent you and to speak for you.
And have I been disappointed a few times, but I've also been amazed. By some people that have been with me over a decade and have grown with my company. I have two people with me that have been with me over 10 years. One is my chief technical officer, another one's my floor manager. And I wouldn't have it any other way.
I could bring someone in with 10 times the amount of experience, no way these people wore my stripes. They walked with me, they know my culture. I will allow them to learn, facilitate their on the job training. As long as it takes, I'll bringing specialists for the it depart. But there's no way I'm gonna bring in a, a, a general manager or supervisor from another call center, no way they need to earn their stripes.
They need to work with me for a little while and have the respect of the agents. If not, it's just definitely not gonna work out. And have I said, we experienced that never. I never brought in an outside supervisor. Everything is always promoted from within that is that, and it's the only way to go, because especially if you've got a unique.
Because you're gonna have somebody that comes in that is, comes from a different style of culture, and they're going to try and change that culture that has been so successful. And that would you you'd probably have a, like twenty two hundred and eighty nine people at your house the day after you hired that guy.
saying, get rid of that guy. We can do, you know, it, it it's, it's just amazing. So. I Richard, I really appreciate your time today and it's, it's been awesome. And I gotta, I gotta tell you I'm my team is growing as well. Mm-hmm and I I've got a, uh, a young lady that we just, that we just hired. She's a, an assistant she's just dynamite and you're right.
You have to have the right people and slow and steady. So, um, what is her name? Your new assistant. Her name is de. Well, Demi's getting a positive escalation, cuz I'm sure she's doing an excellent job. Oh, she's fabulous. As a matter of fact, the ending that you're about to, uh, um, watch she did yesterday and Demi.
All right. She's she's. She's awesome. So, and we, we appreciate having her and I, I subscribe to your philosophy of management and management style and company culture and philosophy. I, I, I tell you, I wish I would be sitting at, if we were in the same room, I'd be sitting at your feet. We'd be high fiving, each other, and telling each other how great we are.
But my good friend water seeks its own level. That's why, when I first started watching your podcast, it inspired me enough to write. Here we are. And mind you, this, there were a couple times back and forth because of scheduling conflicts and stuff. It was a mutual goal of ours was to get on a show together and to share ideas.
And we fulfilled that today. And so I am very humble and I'm very thankful for your time and your audience is time as well. We will do this again. Oh yeah, because we, we got more to say and I sounds more, I really, I really appreciate. You you coming here and again, Richard blank has been our guest go to Costa Rica, call center.com.
If you need remote services, he can provide you with all kinds of stuff. So it's just, I so much that, that I can't, I can't describe it all. So it's just really good. And by the way, thank you. You, you watched some of my, some of my other podcasts. You're good. You're addicting. And I can't wait to put this episode on my Facebook page with 98,000 Ticos that are gonna love to meet you.
I've I'm humbled. Thank you so much. I, I, I really appreciate the time that you've spent with me and the, and thank God. There are people out there like you, that's all. I gotta say you too. Powell. That's why we're together. And we're gonna keep on grow. Absolutely. And thank you, Richard, and stay right where you are.
I've gotta do this and I'll be right back. Hey, thanks for enjoying this episode all the way to the end. Please give us a like, and subscribe to this channel. This has been a production of positive talk radio.net. Please visit our website, oddly name positive talk, radio.net for more details about us and our mission, which is to provide great positive programming designed to inspire us.
I'm Kevin McDonald's and I'm proud of these shows. And I truly hope that you'll like them and share them with friends and family. So on behalf of our entire team, remember be kind to one another because each other's always.
Positive Talk Radio has accepted Richard Blank's invitation to join the audience for a solid discussion regarding taking a chance by moving abroad and starting a company from scratch in Costa Rica. Kevin McDonald discusses with Richard advanced telemarketing strategy, conflict management, interpersonal soft skills, customer support, rhetoric, gamification, employee motivation and phonetic micro expression reading.
Positive Talk Radio with Kevin McDonald
"Evolving Ideas One Conversation At A Time"
Positive Talk Radio podcast was originally started in 2003 by Kevin McDonald and friends on KKNW 1150 AM in Seattle with great guests, dynamic stories and interviews, plus new thoughts on a wide range of topics. The concept is to provide positive informative content designed to educate, entertain, empower and inspire all who listen Our content includes positive thoughts and idea's and is truly unique in the podcast industry and now again on KKNW 1150 AM on Monday's at 9 and Wednesdays at 4 pm pacific.
Kevin McDonald - Creator and Host. Born and raised in Seattle, Washington. This jovial fun loving man experienced life in a big way from star athlete, to actor, Voice Actor, Restaurateur, Sales and Sales Management, Transit Operator, Audio Producer, Talk Show Host, Creative Consultant, Motivational Leader and current podcast creator. (My Independence Report) Who’s mission is to Declare Our Freedom From Hate, Division and Fear, featuring positive motivational guest, music interviews and fun episodes. KM Media.pro is the parent site for, Positive Talk Radio. We are a live podcast/ Video cast that focuses on todays life challenges. In addition we are able to produce audio/ video products for other companies and people looking to find a voice in the crowded world of podcast journalism
Richard’s journey in the call center space is filled with twists and turns. When he was 27 years old, he relocated to Costa Rica to train employees for one of the larger call centers in San Jose. With a mix of motivational public speaking style backed by tactful and appropriate rhetoric, Richard shared his knowledge and trained over 10 000 bilingual telemarketers. Richard Blank has the largest collection of restored American Pinball machines and antique Rockola Jukeboxes in Central America making gamification a strong part of CCC culture.Richard Blank is the Chief Executive Officer for Costa Rica’s Call Center since 2008.
Mr. Richard Blank holds a bachelors degree in Communication and Spanish from the University of Arizona and a certificate of language proficiency from the University of Sevilla, Spain. A Keynote speaker for Philadelphia's Abington High School 68th National Honors Society induction ceremony. Giving back to Abington Senior High School is very important to Mr. Blank. As such, he endows a scholarship each year for students that plan on majoring in a world language at the university level.
Costa Rica’s Call Center (CCC) is a state of the art BPO telemarketing outsource company located in the capital city of San Jose, Costa Rica. Our main focus has been, and will always be to personally train each and every Central America call center agent so that we may offer the highest quality of outbound and inbound telemarketing solutions and bilingual customer service to small and medium sized international companies, entrepreneurs as well as fortune 500 companies.
We encourage you to visit one of our call centers on your next personal vacation or business trip to Central America’s paradise, Costa Rica. While you are here, we would recommend taking an extra day of your trip to visit breathtaking virgin beaches, play golf next to the ocean, try your luck at deep sea fishing, explore tropical jungles, climb volcanos or just relax in natural hot springs. Come and see for yourself why call center outsourcing in Costa Rica is a perfect solution for your growing company and a powerhouse in the BPO industry.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XO0R1aN1WU
https://costaricascallcenter.com/en/outbound-bpo-campaigns/
https://positivetalkradio.podbean.com/e/richard-blank-ceo-and-amazingly-gifted-business-man/
https://www.positivetalkradio.net/richard-blank-ceo-and-amazingly-gifted-business-man/
https://www.positivetalkradio.net/191-richard-blank-chief-executive-officer/
https://www.positivetalkradio.net/191-richard-blank-chief-executive-officer/
https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?ref=watch_permalink&v=1736657096686275
https://www.positivetalkradio.net/guests/richard-blank/
https://www.positivetalkradio.net/208-richard-blank-ceo-of-costa-ricas-call-center/
https://www.positivetalkradio.net/160-richard-blank-ceo-and-amazingly-gifted-business-man/
https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/positive-talk-radio-3982674/episodes/richard-blank-ceo-and-amazingl-141119081
https://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-positive-talk-radio-87062639/episode/richard-blank-ceo-of-costa-ricas-100280727/
