CallumConnects Micro-Podcast is your daily dose of wholesome entrepreneurial inspiration. Hear from many different entrepreneurs in just 5 minutes what hurdles they have faced, how they overcame them, and what their key learning is. Be inspired, subscribe, leave a comment, go and change the world! Every entrepreneur featured has been recommended by one of our previous guests.
Callum Connects special guest Richard Blank
Callum Laing
I am CEO of MBH Corporation PLC, an agglomeration of small, profitable companies from around the world. I straddle the world of small business and investing and hope to share as much as I can from those two disperate worlds with you.In my videos I'll share what I[m up to, what I'm learning and share as much as I possibly can so that you don't have to go through the mistakes I've made along the way!
Author of "Progressive Partnerships - The Future of Business" &
"Entrepreneurial Investing - Connecting sophisticated capital to talented small business"
Co-author of "Agglomerate - Idea to IPO in 12 months"
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. In addition, inducted into the 2023 Hall of Fame for Business. 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://costaricascallcenter.com/en/outbound-bpo-campaigns/
#RichardBlank #CostaRica #CallCenter #Outsourcing #Telemarketing #BPO #Sales #Entrepreneur #B2B #Business #Podcast #Gamification #CEO #callumconnects
https://youtu.be/JQkbPqb6wjA
Embrace the experiences as those times help develop the gift that you're meant to share. If you're not embracing the experiences, who are you missing out on to impact? Within this episode, Scott and Patrick had an amazing conversation with Richard Blank discussing the unlikely journey of being able to impact the lives of others as a result of tapping into the uncommon. When you understand the power of what you possess, you can create major impact in the lives of others.
In this episode, Scott, Patrick, and Richard talk about:
•Approaching from an inside out perspective.
•Power of connecting and plugging in.
•The need for relationship building.
•Realness and journey scars you possess.
•Understanding levels and growth.
Memorable Quotes
“....To me the 1st draft is the best draft.”
“I'm really only as stable as my foundation....”
You have a story that others need to hear, but how deep does your story run and what impact will that create? We are all planting seeds in a garden that we will never see, but how are you viewing the seeds you're planting? The power of your legacy and the depth of the impact is something many don't consider or focus upon. Life isn't about us, but the lives we impact. Scott and Patrick are finding ways to introduce the stories of others, the view on the legacy of others, and what others are working on that many don't know. They are driven on helping others find their heart story and what makes them unique. What's your view on legacy and your heart story that's central to your core? Let's go!
Legacy Digging with Two Native Sons Podcast has accepted Richard Blank's invitation to join the audience for a solid discussion regarding starting a company from scratch in Costa Rica as an expat. Topics discussed with Richard: advanced telemarketing strategy, conflict management, interpersonal soft skills, customer support, rhetoric, gamification, pinball machines, employee motivation, phonetic micro expression reading.
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://costaricascallcenter.com/en/outbound-bpo-campaigns/
#RichardBlank #CostaRica #CallCenter #Outsourcing #Telemarketing #BPO #Sales #Entrepreneur #B2B #Business #Podcast #Leadgeneration #Appointmentsetting #LEGACYDIGGING2nativesons
https://youtu.be/-Rb_4sdnpbg
https://lnns.co/a_cUsjrLO6q
https://open.spotify.com/episode/50j5DnUy2pLsM5sycG103u?si=34375f5570044591
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/are-you-creating-an-environment-others-want-to-join/id1569763319?i=1000567516820
Who has the sort of vigor to really put their hat in the ring? Stand Out Get Noticed podcast (The C Method Episode 283) guest Richard Blank Costa Rica's Call Center.
My base foundation would be play , empathy, and just showing that sort of respected people because, um, it's done well for me. I have a very nice reputation here and I am a guest in this country. And so the fact that I was embraced, I was able to build a business in a very competitive industry, got my blessings every day, this should have never happened.
And so it really puts things in perspective on being bold. And fortune does favor the brave. And from time to time, my friend, there may be naysayers and gray believers out there, and it's only because they love you, but you have this sort of thing in your heart, then by all means, you should drink life and you should go for it.
And I really respect people that are responsible financially and with their family, but have this sort of vigor to really put their hat in the ring. Or as John Wayne said, die with your boots on. And, and I love seeing people like that because you know, they're living the most fulfilled life.
Influence People Over The Phone With These Powerful Communication Techniques – with Richard Blank Costa Rica's Call Center [The C Method podcast Episode 283]
The C Method podcast has accepted Richard Blank's invitation to join the audience for a solid discussion regarding moving abroad and starting a company from scratch in Costa Rica. Christina Canters discusses with Richard advanced telemarketing strategy, conflict management, interpersonal soft skills, customer support, rhetoric, gamification, employee motivation, phonetic micro expression reading and INXS.
The C Method provides public speaking and communication skills training for high performing professionals.As a manager and leader, your ability to speak up, present with confidence and communicate well is key to career success.You may be highly skilled, intelligent and work harder than anyone, but if you can’t articulate your ideas clearly, engage your team or influence others to take action, it will hold you back from getting the promotions, opportunities, and recognition you deserve. Listen to the 'Stand Out Get Noticed' podcast. Now at 2 million+ downloads! Discover how to develop a success mindset, speak with confidence, articulate yourself clearly and build strong relationships for more influence and impact in the workplace. Topics include: public speaking, mindset, social skills, overcoming fear, workplace communication, relationships and leadership.
Have you ever wanted to have more influence over the phone?
My guest this week is Richard Blank, CEO of Costa Rica’s Call Centre. He is a master of the cold call, and has trained over 10,000 telemarketers to improve their communication techniques over the phone.Richard is here to share his powerful techniques for improving your ability to lead and influence in conversation – and some of them are much simpler than you think!This will benefit you if you want to build better relationships and be more persuasive with your team, senior managers and clients.
“I love to allow people to feel more comfortable with me, to become more engaged in a conversation. This is not a lecture, and I’m not just checking off boxes and interrogating you. It’s a conversation. And it’s I mean, I don’t learn anything new when I speak. I love hearing what other people have to say to see what I have in common.”
This is Richard Blank’s story…
My name is Richard Blank and I’m the CEO of Costa Rica’s Call Center. I’m skilled in reading phonetic micro expressions and use this to my advantage when speaking with people, especially over the phone.
I’ve found that by using someone’s name, asking how their company is doing, and sharing interesting facts about myself, I’m able to build rapport and influence the person I’m speaking with. This has been beneficial in both my personal and professional life.
In this episode, you will discover:
Phonetics is the purest form of communication, the sound of speech, not the semantics or even the tone.
The tone of voice should always be positive and empathetic.
0 seconds to 2 minutes is the best time to gauge a person.
How to gauge someone. They discuss some of the techniques they use to do it.
Richard believes in open-ended questions and specific name drops.
He also believes in the art of speech and meeting minutes to avoid conflict.
Richard’s advice to people is to be authentic.
When he was in his 20s, he tried to change his personality for a job interview, but he realised it was not going to work for him. Now he allows people to grow naturally.
He believes that people that feel seen, they feel heard, and they feel like they matter through the way that they communicate with others.
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://costaricascallcenter.com/en/outbound-bpo-campaigns/
https://youtu.be/fpq8w6ojYgs
https://youtu.be/Wl_tS1ielGg
https://youtu.be/fE6Ufvn-1Nc
https://youtu.be/NWxjuBEkzMI
https://youtu.be/R2GTKLTPkiA
https://youtu.be/M-x7nAeWBxw
https://youtu.be/dQWPUr_rsII
https://youtu.be/XnFQgNqQ3iA
https://youtu.be/iPP49p8dagI
https://youtu.be/rOWVfIfV-U8
https://youtu.be/z1jowztV8EA
https://youtu.be/GXeM9dLxS6U
https://youtu.be/2ubPpIbOZdQ
https://youtu.be/TCnwu_30QUo
https://youtu.be/aavMoBx-ndQ
https://youtu.be/aX85iiUrR88
https://thecmethod.com/podcast/standoutgetnoticed/influence-people-over-the-phone-with-these-powerful-communication-techniques-with-richard-blank-ceo-of-costa-ricas-call-centre-episode-283/
https://open.spotify.com/episode/0JaJIUI4BKQ7mhAmW4b8To?si=5cc254ba7af14830
https://player.fm/series/2694716/346501897
https://podtail.com/podcast/stand-out-get-noticed-by-the-c-method-business-com/283-influence-people-over-the-phone-with-these-pow/
https://www.stitcher.com/show/stand-out-get-noticed/episode/283-influence-people-over-the-phone-with-these-powerful-communication-techniques-with-richard-blank-208353649
https://podknife.com/episodes/283-influence-people-over-the-phone-with-these-powerful-communication-techniques-with-richard-blank
https://getpodcast.com/es/podcast/stand-out-get-noticed/283-influence-people-over-the-phone-with-these-powerful-communication-_1ba52e93a1
https://podcasts.apple.com/pe/podcast/283-influence-people-over-the-phone-with-these/id984946507?i=1000585579846
https://deezer.page.link/pPgVrtZwEi988y6H6
https://chartable.com/podcasts/stand-out-get-noticed-by-the-c-method-business-communication-skills-confidence-public-speaking/episodes/127787912-283-influence-people-over-the-phone-with-these-powerful-communication-techniques-with-richard-blank
https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9hdWRpb2Jvb20uY29tL2NoYW5uZWxzLzQ0MjAzODAucnNz/episode/aHR0cHM6Ly90aGVjbWV0aG9kLmNvbS8_cG9zdF90eXBlPXBvZGNhc3QmcD0yNTM5Mg?sa=X&ved=0CAUQkfYCahcKEwjoi-a949v7AhUAAAAAHQAAAAAQAQ
https://pdcstly.com/en/episod/283-influence-people-over-the-phone-with-these-powerful-communication-techniques-with-richard-blank/17826865
https://poddtoppen.se/podcast/984946507/stand-out-get-noticed/283-influence-people-over-the-phone-with-these-powerful-communication-techniques-with-richard-blank
What's one final tip you could give to a leader or a manager? Stand Out Get Noticed podcast (The C Method Episode 283) guest Richard Blank Costa Rica's Call Center.
Love it.
Christina Canters: Um, Richard, I, I know that we're, we are running out of time somewhat, which, and I know you said at the start of this conversation, we could talk all day, but we actually don't have all day. I know. , we don't have all night. I know it's nighttime where you are. Um, Couple fi. Final last question. Final two questions, Richard.
Sure. What's one final tip you could give to a leader or a manager? Someone who has a team who would like to, you know, do more of what you've just talked about, you know, have, have that, that great camaraderie and have the trust and respect of their team and have, have their team just love being at work.
What, what final tip would you have for.
Richard Blank: These amazing individuals that rose to those possession positions, they earned it, but they also can't forget where they came from. So people need me time. They need to walk away. I I, I'm not sure of your outside activities, but I myself, I, I like working out in the gym.
I wash my convertible on Sundays. We did speak about pinball marathons, and these are the sort of Richard Times where I put my phone away, I can decompress. I'm not really into Eastern meditation, but I have my other areas in which I can tap into my consciousness, and so it will allow me to, and we mentioned this earlier about luxury of time.
If people are running groups and they can think about things, they might have overextended themselves in one meeting, they might have not said enough. Or maybe what they should do, once again, is to allow every individual. To give every single opinion out there and collectively through synergy, you can bring that group together.
And so your ego is fine and you don't want people to fear you, and you'll get the job done and your employees have the leverage. They can always quit. So I don't think cursing, yelling, and screaming does any. But I, I do believe that these individuals that work with you have families and children, and as long as you take that into consideration and you give them the benefit of the doubt, and I've even told agents to log off, go to the bathroom, throw some water in your face, and get back on that phones where somebody might need the unofficial timeout because they're having a moment.
And so you, you have to do that. If you think people are robots, they will leave. You don't need to go out drinking with them. That's their private time. And some people don't even like to drink and don't think pizza parties solve things either. It's gotta be the time that they don't expect the flowers.
And sometimes they even claim that the greatest gifts are not store bought cards, but the ones that you personally write. And how, how about this? I'm not gonna say, Christina, you're doing a great job. You're my favorite. High five. You now, last Tuesday when you got on the phone with Mrs. Jones, I had listened to that 33 minute conversation.
Wow. I cannot believe you confirmed her email. Four. Dog was barking in the background. You put the dog away, you asked about the dog. Everyone's laughing. The client loved you, and then you're saying to yourself, my God, you actually listened to me for 33 minutes. And I'd say, Christina, of course I did, because if you were in my shoes, you would've done the same.
And so when you look at me, you go, you know, I'm not going anywhere. This guy's great. Forget the pizza party. This guy actually listened to me for 33 minutes and really picked apart my call. So your your amazing end Dear Supervisors and managers, show some authenticity. Just don't say good job champ and call 'em Chief and Ace.
Really let 'em know. Really let 'em know what they did and try to assist them in every way that you have to get them to different levels. And if you feel insecure that they're gonna take your job and your position, then you're not doing a good enough job. All is fair in love and. If you earned it, somebody else could too.
And so just be the best you can be and try to bring other people up because who's to say that you're not gonna get promoted? And then these people are gonna work with you. And so, um, don't be selfish. Everybody deserves their chance. And if you're number one, then you get that position. If that. And look how hard you and I work.
You make it look easy. This sea method. Look at this. They should only know what you're doing behind the scenes. . And so I, I think if people are willing to take that sort of responsibility and the golden ring could be theirs,
Christina Canters: love it. Love those final words. Richard. Um, look, I really appreciate you taking the time to join us on the show.
I'm, I'm, I'm gonna have to listen back to this conversation and take notes and unpack everything that you shared cuz there was a lot in there. If people want to reach out to you, connect with you, learn more about you, Richard, uh, where can they find you?
Richard Blank: Well, they can buy a first class plane ticket and come visit me here, which would be wonderful.
I'm all over the internet with my websites and, but I also have a Facebook fan page of about 103,000 people, and so when this goes live, you're gonna have a lot of new fans and it will also give your audience a chance to see the business process outsourcing. In Central America, just real quick. We're north of Panama, south of Nicaragua.
We're the only democratic society in Central America. There's no standing arm in Christina, so there's a 95% literacy rate. We have the best infrastructure. They claim that Costa Rica has the most neutral English accent. We're known for medical tourism and especially ecotourism. So if you like surfing, which I know Australia does, we have waterfalls and monkeys and iguanas and butterflies, and it's just a wonderful place to visit.
I'm here, your friend, I got a thousand suggestions for you and your audience. And uh, Christina, I really can't thank you enough. I thorough. Enjoyed our time this evening.
Christina Canters: Oh, Costa Rica sounds absolutely wonderful, Richard. It's gonna have to go on my list now of places to visit. Sounds wonderful. Um, thank you so much again.
It's been such a,
Influence People Over The Phone With These Powerful Communication Techniques – with Richard Blank Costa Rica's Call Center [The C Method podcast Episode 283]
The C Method podcast has accepted Richard Blank's invitation to join the audience for a solid discussion regarding moving abroad and starting a company from scratch in Costa Rica. Christina Canters discusses with Richard advanced telemarketing strategy, conflict management, interpersonal soft skills, customer support, rhetoric, gamification, employee motivation, phonetic micro expression reading and INXS.
The C Method provides public speaking and communication skills training for high performing professionals.As a manager and leader, your ability to speak up, present with confidence and communicate well is key to career success.You may be highly skilled, intelligent and work harder than anyone, but if you can’t articulate your ideas clearly, engage your team or influence others to take action, it will hold you back from getting the promotions, opportunities, and recognition you deserve. Listen to the 'Stand Out Get Noticed' podcast. Now at 2 million+ downloads! Discover how to develop a success mindset, speak with confidence, articulate yourself clearly and build strong relationships for more influence and impact in the workplace. Topics include: public speaking, mindset, social skills, overcoming fear, workplace communication, relationships and leadership.
Have you ever wanted to have more influence over the phone?
My guest this week is Richard Blank, CEO of Costa Rica’s Call Centre. He is a master of the cold call, and has trained over 10,000 telemarketers to improve their communication techniques over the phone.Richard is here to share his powerful techniques for improving your ability to lead and influence in conversation – and some of them are much simpler than you think!This will benefit you if you want to build better relationships and be more persuasive with your team, senior managers and clients.
“I love to allow people to feel more comfortable with me, to become more engaged in a conversation. This is not a lecture, and I’m not just checking off boxes and interrogating you. It’s a conversation. And it’s I mean, I don’t learn anything new when I speak. I love hearing what other people have to say to see what I have in common.”
This is Richard Blank’s story…
My name is Richard Blank and I’m the CEO of Costa Rica’s Call Center. I’m skilled in reading phonetic micro expressions and use this to my advantage when speaking with people, especially over the phone.
I’ve found that by using someone’s name, asking how their company is doing, and sharing interesting facts about myself, I’m able to build rapport and influence the person I’m speaking with. This has been beneficial in both my personal and professional life.
In this episode, you will discover:
Phonetics is the purest form of communication, the sound of speech, not the semantics or even the tone.
The tone of voice should always be positive and empathetic.
0 seconds to 2 minutes is the best time to gauge a person.
How to gauge someone. They discuss some of the techniques they use to do it.
Richard believes in open-ended questions and specific name drops.
He also believes in the art of speech and meeting minutes to avoid conflict.
Richard’s advice to people is to be authentic.
When he was in his 20s, he tried to change his personality for a job interview, but he realised it was not going to work for him. Now he allows people to grow naturally.
He believes that people that feel seen, they feel heard, and they feel like they matter through the way that they communicate with others.
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://costaricascallcenter.com/en/outbound-bpo-campaigns/
https://youtu.be/Wl_tS1ielGg
https://youtu.be/fE6Ufvn-1Nc
https://youtu.be/NWxjuBEkzMI
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https://thecmethod.com/podcast/standoutgetnoticed/influence-people-over-the-phone-with-these-powerful-communication-techniques-with-richard-blank-ceo-of-costa-ricas-call-centre-episode-283/
https://open.spotify.com/episode/0JaJIUI4BKQ7mhAmW4b8To?si=5cc254ba7af14830
https://player.fm/series/2694716/346501897
https://podtail.com/podcast/stand-out-get-noticed-by-the-c-method-business-com/283-influence-people-over-the-phone-with-these-pow/
https://www.stitcher.com/show/stand-out-get-noticed/episode/283-influence-people-over-the-phone-with-these-powerful-communication-techniques-with-richard-blank-208353649
https://podknife.com/episodes/283-influence-people-over-the-phone-with-these-powerful-communication-techniques-with-richard-blank
https://getpodcast.com/es/podcast/stand-out-get-noticed/283-influence-people-over-the-phone-with-these-powerful-communication-_1ba52e93a1
https://podcasts.apple.com/pe/podcast/283-influence-people-over-the-phone-with-these/id984946507?i=1000585579846
https://deezer.page.link/pPgVrtZwEi988y6H6
https://chartable.com/podcasts/stand-out-get-noticed-by-the-c-method-business-communication-skills-confidence-public-speaking/episodes/127787912-283-influence-people-over-the-phone-with-these-powerful-communication-techniques-with-richard-blank
https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9hdWRpb2Jvb20uY29tL2NoYW5uZWxzLzQ0MjAzODAucnNz/episode/aHR0cHM6Ly90aGVjbWV0aG9kLmNvbS8_cG9zdF90eXBlPXBvZGNhc3QmcD0yNTM5Mg?sa=X&ved=0CAUQkfYCahcKEwjoi-a949v7AhUAAAAAHQAAAAAQAQ
https://pdcstly.com/en/episod/283-influence-people-over-the-phone-with-these-powerful-communication-techniques-with-richard-blank/17826865
https://poddtoppen.se/podcast/984946507/stand-out-get-noticed/283-influence-people-over-the-phone-with-these-powerful-communication-techniques-with-richard-blank
Learning a second language is 10 times harder than any telemarketing call. Stand Out Get Noticed podcast (The C Method Episode 283) guest Richard Blank Costa Rica's Call Center.
Christina Canters: You are really ha people then feel seen, they feel heard, they feel like they matter. And that sounds exactly what you are able to do through the way that you communicate with others.
Richard Blank: Sure. And in their first day when they come to work, I let 'em know that learning a second language is 10 times harder than anything.
I'll put them on, I'll give 'em all their resource. and I'll support you a hundred percent. And before we go into the training room, why don't we go play some pinball for 20 minutes and go ? And so we start with dessert first. And so I've seen individuals on their first day instead of just absorbing, now they're contributing.
I really do see that sort of momentum and breakthrough very fast.
Christina Canters: Wait, can you dive a little bit more into that? So when you say you have dessert first. What exactly are your team doing on the first day? Is it the playing the pinball?
Richard Blank: Of course. Before even the training class ,
Christina Canters: so everyone, so it's basically having fun.
So it's having fun building culture before they've even watched the first onboarding video, my
Richard Blank: friend is helping them relax, love it, because they just probably came from an environment where they left because of a bad coworker, bad supervisor. Obviously they're not there anymore, so it's, they're on a rebound.
But I cracked a code. When people are filling out their applications and putting in everything that you want, hire them for. I asked them to turn their paper over and why don't you write me a couple paragraphs of a coming of age moment? Let me know when you had your walkabout, when you beat up a bully or saved a kitten out of a tree.
And so I do this to see what sort of depth they have, where their mind goes immediately when it comes to how they see themselves in their proudest moment, and also on a rainy Wednesday. I can remind you of when you were a champion and let them know that you're better than that and I, I know where you could be.
And so these are the sort of things where you try to really grow with somebody with synergy, because as I say, they look at me as a boss and they come into work and everyone does their 40 hours a week. I, I see it differently. I was given a career. I came to Costa Rica at 27 and worked at my friend's center for four years.
So it was a one in a million opportunity. I, I learned it from the inside out. I wasn't C level. I sat in the cubicles, broke bread, saw all the good and the bad, and it allowed me to understand areas in which I could extend more empathy and give, not just call center industries, any sort of person, more dignity.
And I knew if I was ever given that. My base foundation would be play , empathy, and just showing that sort of respected people because, um, it's done well for me. I have a very nice reputation here and I am a guest in this country, and so the fact that I was embraced, I was able to build a business in a very competitive industry.
I got my blessings every day. This should have never happened, and so. It really puts things in perspective on being bold. And fortune does favor the brave. And from time to time, my friend, there may be naysayers and gray believers out there, and it's only because they love you, but you have this sort of thing in your heart, then by all means, you should drink life and you should go for it.
And I really respect people that are responsible financially and with their family, but have this sort of vigor. To really put their hat in the ring, or as John Wayne said, die with your boots on . And, and I love seeing people like that because you know, they're living the most fulfilled life.
Influence People Over The Phone With These Powerful Communication Techniques – with Richard Blank Costa Rica's Call Center [The C Method podcast Episode 283]
The C Method podcast has accepted Richard Blank's invitation to join the audience for a solid discussion regarding moving abroad and starting a company from scratch in Costa Rica. Christina Canters discusses with Richard advanced telemarketing strategy, conflict management, interpersonal soft skills, customer support, rhetoric, gamification, employee motivation, phonetic micro expression reading and INXS.
The C Method provides public speaking and communication skills training for high performing professionals.As a manager and leader, your ability to speak up, present with confidence and communicate well is key to career success.You may be highly skilled, intelligent and work harder than anyone, but if you can’t articulate your ideas clearly, engage your team or influence others to take action, it will hold you back from getting the promotions, opportunities, and recognition you deserve. Listen to the 'Stand Out Get Noticed' podcast. Now at 2 million+ downloads! Discover how to develop a success mindset, speak with confidence, articulate yourself clearly and build strong relationships for more influence and impact in the workplace. Topics include: public speaking, mindset, social skills, overcoming fear, workplace communication, relationships and leadership.
Have you ever wanted to have more influence over the phone?
My guest this week is Richard Blank, CEO of Costa Rica’s Call Centre. He is a master of the cold call, and has trained over 10,000 telemarketers to improve their communication techniques over the phone.Richard is here to share his powerful techniques for improving your ability to lead and influence in conversation – and some of them are much simpler than you think!This will benefit you if you want to build better relationships and be more persuasive with your team, senior managers and clients.
“I love to allow people to feel more comfortable with me, to become more engaged in a conversation. This is not a lecture, and I’m not just checking off boxes and interrogating you. It’s a conversation. And it’s I mean, I don’t learn anything new when I speak. I love hearing what other people have to say to see what I have in common.”
This is Richard Blank’s story…
My name is Richard Blank and I’m the CEO of Costa Rica’s Call Center. I’m skilled in reading phonetic micro expressions and use this to my advantage when speaking with people, especially over the phone.
I’ve found that by using someone’s name, asking how their company is doing, and sharing interesting facts about myself, I’m able to build rapport and influence the person I’m speaking with. This has been beneficial in both my personal and professional life.
In this episode, you will discover:
Phonetics is the purest form of communication, the sound of speech, not the semantics or even the tone.
The tone of voice should always be positive and empathetic.
0 seconds to 2 minutes is the best time to gauge a person.
How to gauge someone. They discuss some of the techniques they use to do it.
Richard believes in open-ended questions and specific name drops.
He also believes in the art of speech and meeting minutes to avoid conflict.
Richard’s advice to people is to be authentic.
When he was in his 20s, he tried to change his personality for a job interview, but he realised it was not going to work for him. Now he allows people to grow naturally.
He believes that people that feel seen, they feel heard, and they feel like they matter through the way that they communicate with others.
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://costaricascallcenter.com/en/outbound-bpo-campaigns/
https://youtu.be/Wl_tS1ielGg
https://youtu.be/fE6Ufvn-1Nc
https://youtu.be/NWxjuBEkzMI
https://youtu.be/R2GTKLTPkiA
https://youtu.be/M-x7nAeWBxw
https://youtu.be/dQWPUr_rsII
https://youtu.be/XnFQgNqQ3iA
https://youtu.be/iPP49p8dagI
https://youtu.be/rOWVfIfV-U8
https://youtu.be/z1jowztV8EA
https://youtu.be/GXeM9dLxS6U
https://youtu.be/aX85iiUrR88
https://thecmethod.com/podcast/standoutgetnoticed/influence-people-over-the-phone-with-these-powerful-communication-techniques-with-richard-blank-ceo-of-costa-ricas-call-centre-episode-283/
https://open.spotify.com/episode/0JaJIUI4BKQ7mhAmW4b8To?si=5cc254ba7af14830
https://player.fm/series/2694716/346501897
https://podtail.com/podcast/stand-out-get-noticed-by-the-c-method-business-com/283-influence-people-over-the-phone-with-these-pow/
https://www.stitcher.com/show/stand-out-get-noticed/episode/283-influence-people-over-the-phone-with-these-powerful-communication-techniques-with-richard-blank-208353649
https://podknife.com/episodes/283-influence-people-over-the-phone-with-these-powerful-communication-techniques-with-richard-blank
https://getpodcast.com/es/podcast/stand-out-get-noticed/283-influence-people-over-the-phone-with-these-powerful-communication-_1ba52e93a1
https://podcasts.apple.com/pe/podcast/283-influence-people-over-the-phone-with-these/id984946507?i=1000585579846
https://deezer.page.link/pPgVrtZwEi988y6H6
https://chartable.com/podcasts/stand-out-get-noticed-by-the-c-method-business-communication-skills-confidence-public-speaking/episodes/127787912-283-influence-people-over-the-phone-with-these-powerful-communication-techniques-with-richard-blank
https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9hdWRpb2Jvb20uY29tL2NoYW5uZWxzLzQ0MjAzODAucnNz/episode/aHR0cHM6Ly90aGVjbWV0aG9kLmNvbS8_cG9zdF90eXBlPXBvZGNhc3QmcD0yNTM5Mg?sa=X&ved=0CAUQkfYCahcKEwjoi-a949v7AhUAAAAAHQAAAAAQAQ
https://pdcstly.com/en/episod/283-influence-people-over-the-phone-with-these-powerful-communication-techniques-with-richard-blank/17826865
https://poddtoppen.se/podcast/984946507/stand-out-get-noticed/283-influence-people-over-the-phone-with-these-powerful-communication-techniques-with-richard-blank
It's better to clean a window than to break a window in childhood.Stand Out Get Noticed podcast (The C Method Episode 283) guest Richard Blank Costa Rica's Call Center.
Christina Canters: For you, star, when did you first realize that this type of skill was so powerful?
Richard Blank: When I was a young man, I was, I was taught when you go over to a friend's house to wipe your feet and ask for permission and, and just. Know, your pleases and thank yous. And so instead of being known in elementary school as a bad child and not asked to come back, most of the parents said, you're one of the few friends I allow Christina to hang out with.
And so, um, I realized that by being polite was better than cursing. It's better to clean a window than to break a window. And, you know, you could always grow up and, and, you know, live life and, and figure out the stupid things to do in your childhood. . But when I was in my twenties and individuals were going for job interviews and they were too well rehearsed, they would stumble upon themselves.
And I tried that one time and I was very out of character. And then I said to myself in the mirror, it was right when I graduated college, I was never gonna do that again. Christina, either they're gonna love me or they're not gonna wanna work with me because if they love me, it's gonna allow me the sort of liberty and freedom
To be me and you'll get the best out of. Because if I'm in a in a box, I'll be miserable and you will not know the real person. And I try to do that here. I allow people to grow naturally. There's labor laws and people have to do certain things, but if somebody has an idea, Or I see the potential in someone, I will bend them but not break them.
I'll get them to stand up and do public speaking. I will have them sit in meetings with me and contribute. I will listen to their calls and not just say, Hey, great job, but I will let them know what they did. And so by allowing me to work with individuals from a C level where I could be humble. I could be, um, you know, show this sort of gratitude and interest in them.
It's amazing how many people tell me I'm the only boss that's ever done something like that. And so with all these people, cuz I compete against Amazon, they have thousands of people here, all the bells and whistles. But I do know this, Jeff Bezos didn't play pinball with everybody. . I walk the roads and I know everybody's.
I'll be there downstairs to say hello to your mother when she fix you up at work. And I don't need to be thousands, but my couple hundred that I have, the people that are with me, that's what they were looking for. They wanted the smaller shot. They wanted their name to be known. They wanted to grow. And that's why my friend, I believe that water seeks its own level.
Influence People Over The Phone With These Powerful Communication Techniques – with Richard Blank Costa Rica's Call Center [The C Method podcast Episode 283]
The C Method podcast has accepted Richard Blank's invitation to join the audience for a solid discussion regarding moving abroad and starting a company from scratch in Costa Rica. Christina Canters discusses with Richard advanced telemarketing strategy, conflict management, interpersonal soft skills, customer support, rhetoric, gamification, employee motivation, phonetic micro expression reading and INXS.
The C Method provides public speaking and communication skills training for high performing professionals.As a manager and leader, your ability to speak up, present with confidence and communicate well is key to career success.You may be highly skilled, intelligent and work harder than anyone, but if you can’t articulate your ideas clearly, engage your team or influence others to take action, it will hold you back from getting the promotions, opportunities, and recognition you deserve. Listen to the 'Stand Out Get Noticed' podcast. Now at 2 million+ downloads! Discover how to develop a success mindset, speak with confidence, articulate yourself clearly and build strong relationships for more influence and impact in the workplace. Topics include: public speaking, mindset, social skills, overcoming fear, workplace communication, relationships and leadership.
Have you ever wanted to have more influence over the phone?
My guest this week is Richard Blank, CEO of Costa Rica’s Call Centre. He is a master of the cold call, and has trained over 10,000 telemarketers to improve their communication techniques over the phone.Richard is here to share his powerful techniques for improving your ability to lead and influence in conversation – and some of them are much simpler than you think!This will benefit you if you want to build better relationships and be more persuasive with your team, senior managers and clients.
“I love to allow people to feel more comfortable with me, to become more engaged in a conversation. This is not a lecture, and I’m not just checking off boxes and interrogating you. It’s a conversation. And it’s I mean, I don’t learn anything new when I speak. I love hearing what other people have to say to see what I have in common.”
This is Richard Blank’s story…
My name is Richard Blank and I’m the CEO of Costa Rica’s Call Center. I’m skilled in reading phonetic micro expressions and use this to my advantage when speaking with people, especially over the phone.
I’ve found that by using someone’s name, asking how their company is doing, and sharing interesting facts about myself, I’m able to build rapport and influence the person I’m speaking with. This has been beneficial in both my personal and professional life.
In this episode, you will discover:
Phonetics is the purest form of communication, the sound of speech, not the semantics or even the tone.
The tone of voice should always be positive and empathetic.
0 seconds to 2 minutes is the best time to gauge a person.
How to gauge someone. They discuss some of the techniques they use to do it.
Richard believes in open-ended questions and specific name drops.
He also believes in the art of speech and meeting minutes to avoid conflict.
Richard’s advice to people is to be authentic.
When he was in his 20s, he tried to change his personality for a job interview, but he realised it was not going to work for him. Now he allows people to grow naturally.
He believes that people that feel seen, they feel heard, and they feel like they matter through the way that they communicate with others.
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://costaricascallcenter.com/en/outbound-bpo-campaigns/
https://youtu.be/Wl_tS1ielGg
https://youtu.be/fE6Ufvn-1Nc
https://youtu.be/NWxjuBEkzMI
https://youtu.be/R2GTKLTPkiA
https://youtu.be/M-x7nAeWBxw
https://youtu.be/dQWPUr_rsII
https://youtu.be/XnFQgNqQ3iA
https://youtu.be/iPP49p8dagI
https://youtu.be/rOWVfIfV-U8
https://youtu.be/z1jowztV8EA
https://youtu.be/aX85iiUrR88
https://thecmethod.com/podcast/standoutgetnoticed/influence-people-over-the-phone-with-these-powerful-communication-techniques-with-richard-blank-ceo-of-costa-ricas-call-centre-episode-283/
https://open.spotify.com/episode/0JaJIUI4BKQ7mhAmW4b8To?si=5cc254ba7af14830
https://player.fm/series/2694716/346501897
https://podtail.com/podcast/stand-out-get-noticed-by-the-c-method-business-com/283-influence-people-over-the-phone-with-these-pow/
https://www.stitcher.com/show/stand-out-get-noticed/episode/283-influence-people-over-the-phone-with-these-powerful-communication-techniques-with-richard-blank-208353649
https://podknife.com/episodes/283-influence-people-over-the-phone-with-these-powerful-communication-techniques-with-richard-blank
https://getpodcast.com/es/podcast/stand-out-get-noticed/283-influence-people-over-the-phone-with-these-powerful-communication-_1ba52e93a1
https://podcasts.apple.com/pe/podcast/283-influence-people-over-the-phone-with-these/id984946507?i=1000585579846
https://deezer.page.link/pPgVrtZwEi988y6H6
https://chartable.com/podcasts/stand-out-get-noticed-by-the-c-method-business-communication-skills-confidence-public-speaking/episodes/127787912-283-influence-people-over-the-phone-with-these-powerful-communication-techniques-with-richard-blank
https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9hdWRpb2Jvb20uY29tL2NoYW5uZWxzLzQ0MjAzODAucnNz/episode/aHR0cHM6Ly90aGVjbWV0aG9kLmNvbS8_cG9zdF90eXBlPXBvZGNhc3QmcD0yNTM5Mg?sa=X&ved=0CAUQkfYCahcKEwjoi-a949v7AhUAAAAAHQAAAAAQAQ
https://pdcstly.com/en/episod/283-influence-people-over-the-phone-with-these-powerful-communication-techniques-with-richard-blank/17826865
https://poddtoppen.se/podcast/984946507/stand-out-get-noticed/283-influence-people-over-the-phone-with-these-powerful-communication-techniques-with-richard-blank
You gotta do the quarter second slide pronoun technique on a sales call. Stand Out Get Noticed podcast (The C Method Episode 283) guest Richard Blank Costa Rica's Call Center.
Christina Canters: Oh, you've trained thousands. I know about like 10,000 call center, uh, sales people a a lot. Um, this is your bread and butter. This is what you're really good at. Yeah. What you were talking about before in terms of your voice going up and then a pause. Uh, I'm trying to, I'm trying to do it, uh, right now, but I'm not sure how effective it's been.
How do you go
Richard Blank: back? You gotta do the quarter second slide.
Christina Canters: The quarter, second slide. Where do you do that at the end of the sentence?
Richard Blank: No, no, no, no, no, no. There's, there's even forced stutters that you can do. I, it's, it's natural speech. The, the greatest form of speech, my friend is sincerity. And so you can tell there's certain subjects where I extend and there's others like I did earlier with that phonetic micro expression reading.
It was almost military. I was just going through it quick and and banging it out. But I believe in the art of speech, there's nothing better than that. The source. So you can expand on your vocabulary with similes. For an example, I don't like to use the word help, I think Okay. That you could adjust it with a certain assisting.
How about a guiding tone? And my favorite Christina is lending a hand sort of approach. Okay. And so just that way alone, you can almost give yourself an advantage in regards to your momentum because you're being sincere, you are standing solid ground and obviously, , you are very excited about what you're talking about.
It could be any subject, but here's the beauty of it. You don't need to sell anything first. Put that stuff away. You and I should be talking about our lives prior to me sharing my products with you. Now, how about this as a salesman, no one ever bats a thousand, but you gotta let me go the 15 rounds, or at least I gotta earn it.
And from an educated point of view, make a decision. If, if I explain everything and. The sweetest peach in you just don't like peaches. I'm willing to accept that, but we're good. Thanks. No, thank you. Click. You didn't even gimme a chance. And so these techniques that I do in the beginning, I'm not lying, I'm not compromising ethics, values of morals, but my goodness, Aaron heard me say the name of your company better than he did.
I answered him well. I got excited. He, I cracked enough codes to transfer the call and I also gave a gift. And so these are the sort. First impressions that you can do that is just natural. There's no money exchanged. All you're doing is just putting your best foot forward and, and that should make for amazing days where you jump clouds, where every call could be 80% the same, but there's still 20% special sauce.
I mean, you do like a certain topping on your ice cream, and I love those sort of things. I always try to look for that on every single.
Christina Canters: Okay, so it's like you, you don't even need to change a lot of how you're talking. It's, it's maybe tweaking a few of those things, especially to start with. So if someone's never even thought about this before, never thought about their tone, or thought about making that great first impression, these are some tiny tweaks that they could start to do in order to make, you know, put the icing on on top.
Like you say,
Richard Blank: Richard had you practice. Yeah, they need to record themselves. No one likes having a sound, but they do realize that they can make that sort of adjustment. Maybe they have certain actors or actresses where they find that their tone of voice is not offensive. They like their rhetoric. They like their delivery.
Some people watch Pacino movies like Sent of a Woman, and they get inspired. Others will see the Wolf of Wall Street or Glen Gar. Glen Rosson get inspired or, or how about, uh, dead Poet Society? You might see a movie or you know, or Patch Adams when you have an inspirational doctor or teacher that could then move you.
And inspire you. And so maybe you study that sort of rhetoric because the market speaks Christina, because as much as movies and you and I have our opinion, if the masses get influenced by a speech or by an action, that is what you should study and, and potentially try to emulate.
Influence People Over The Phone With These Powerful Communication Techniques – with Richard Blank Costa Rica's Call Center [The C Method podcast Episode 283]
The C Method podcast guest Richard Blank Costa Rica's Call Center.
The C Method podcast has accepted Richard Blank's invitation to join the audience for a solid discussion regarding moving abroad and starting a company from scratch in Costa Rica. Christina Canters discusses with Richard advanced telemarketing strategy, conflict management, interpersonal soft skills, customer support, rhetoric, gamification, employee motivation, phonetic micro expression reading and INXS.
The C Method provides public speaking and communication skills training for high performing professionals.As a manager and leader, your ability to speak up, present with confidence and communicate well is key to career success.You may be highly skilled, intelligent and work harder than anyone, but if you can’t articulate your ideas clearly, engage your team or influence others to take action, it will hold you back from getting the promotions, opportunities, and recognition you deserve. Listen to the 'Stand Out Get Noticed' podcast. Now at 2 million+ downloads! Discover how to develop a success mindset, speak with confidence, articulate yourself clearly and build strong relationships for more influence and impact in the workplace. Topics include: public speaking, mindset, social skills, overcoming fear, workplace communication, relationships and leadership.
Have you ever wanted to have more influence over the phone?
My guest this week is Richard Blank, CEO of Costa Rica’s Call Centre. He is a master of the cold call, and has trained over 10,000 telemarketers to improve their communication techniques over the phone.Richard is here to share his powerful techniques for improving your ability to lead and influence in conversation – and some of them are much simpler than you think!This will benefit you if you want to build better relationships and be more persuasive with your team, senior managers and clients.
“I love to allow people to feel more comfortable with me, to become more engaged in a conversation. This is not a lecture, and I’m not just checking off boxes and interrogating you. It’s a conversation. And it’s I mean, I don’t learn anything new when I speak. I love hearing what other people have to say to see what I have in common.”
This is Richard Blank’s story…
My name is Richard Blank and I’m the CEO of Costa Rica’s Call Center. I’m skilled in reading phonetic micro expressions and use this to my advantage when speaking with people, especially over the phone.
I’ve found that by using someone’s name, asking how their company is doing, and sharing interesting facts about myself, I’m able to build rapport and influence the person I’m speaking with. This has been beneficial in both my personal and professional life.
In this episode, you will discover:
Phonetics is the purest form of communication, the sound of speech, not the semantics or even the tone.
The tone of voice should always be positive and empathetic.
0 seconds to 2 minutes is the best time to gauge a person.
How to gauge someone. They discuss some of the techniques they use to do it.
Richard believes in open-ended questions and specific name drops.
He also believes in the art of speech and meeting minutes to avoid conflict.
Richard’s advice to people is to be authentic.
When he was in his 20s, he tried to change his personality for a job interview, but he realised it was not going to work for him. Now he allows people to grow naturally.
He believes that people that feel seen, they feel heard, and they feel like they matter through the way that they communicate with others.
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://costaricascallcenter.com/en/outbound-bpo-campaigns/
https://youtu.be/Wl_tS1ielGg
https://youtu.be/fE6Ufvn-1Nc
https://youtu.be/NWxjuBEkzMI
https://youtu.be/R2GTKLTPkiA
https://youtu.be/M-x7nAeWBxw
https://youtu.be/dQWPUr_rsII
https://youtu.be/XnFQgNqQ3iA
https://youtu.be/iPP49p8dagI
https://youtu.be/aX85iiUrR88
https://thecmethod.com/podcast/standoutgetnoticed/influence-people-over-the-phone-with-these-powerful-communication-techniques-with-richard-blank-ceo-of-costa-ricas-call-centre-episode-283/
https://open.spotify.com/episode/0JaJIUI4BKQ7mhAmW4b8To?si=5cc254ba7af14830
https://player.fm/series/2694716/346501897
https://podtail.com/podcast/stand-out-get-noticed-by-the-c-method-business-com/283-influence-people-over-the-phone-with-these-pow/
https://www.stitcher.com/show/stand-out-get-noticed/episode/283-influence-people-over-the-phone-with-these-powerful-communication-techniques-with-richard-blank-208353649
https://podknife.com/episodes/283-influence-people-over-the-phone-with-these-powerful-communication-techniques-with-richard-blank
https://getpodcast.com/es/podcast/stand-out-get-noticed/283-influence-people-over-the-phone-with-these-powerful-communication-_1ba52e93a1
https://podcasts.apple.com/pe/podcast/283-influence-people-over-the-phone-with-these/id984946507?i=1000585579846
https://deezer.page.link/pPgVrtZwEi988y6H6
https://chartable.com/podcasts/stand-out-get-noticed-by-the-c-method-business-communication-skills-confidence-public-speaking/episodes/127787912-283-influence-people-over-the-phone-with-these-powerful-communication-techniques-with-richard-blank
https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9hdWRpb2Jvb20uY29tL2NoYW5uZWxzLzQ0MjAzODAucnNz/episode/aHR0cHM6Ly90aGVjbWV0aG9kLmNvbS8_cG9zdF90eXBlPXBvZGNhc3QmcD0yNTM5Mg?sa=X&ved=0CAUQkfYCahcKEwjoi-a949v7AhUAAAAAHQAAAAAQAQ
https://pdcstly.com/en/episod/283-influence-people-over-the-phone-with-these-powerful-communication-techniques-with-richard-blank/17826865
https://poddtoppen.se/podcast/984946507/stand-out-get-noticed/283-influence-people-over-the-phone-with-these-powerful-communication-techniques-with-richard-blank
Can we talk about the buffer boomerang technique? Stand Out Get Noticed podcast (The C Method Episode 283) guest Richard Blank.
Christina Canters: Can we talk about the buffer boomerang technique? Because you held up the piece of paper and for the people who are listening on the audio, can you explain, so I'm gonna read it now. So at one side there's buffer and a two in the circle, and then there's a, it's like a smiley face. And at the other end of the smiley face it says boomerang.
And underneath it says, that is a good question. Can you explain, Richard, what the buffer boomerang
Richard Blank: technique is? Well, you saw the negative two in the buffer cuz someone's negative. And so what I need to do is I need to buffer the negative name, drop you to get your attention. Again, I can't say it's a great question every time.
You can't beat that horse of death, but let's just use it to the, that's an excellent question. Repeat the question back, which I did to Aaron, and then send it, and if your audience can't see or the ones that can, I was smiling the entire time talking to you, and I was leaning forward the entire time using my hands as illustrators.
To give myself that balance and rhythm. I mean, you could tell, and there are certain extended pauses. I like to adjust my voice to go really high and then to loud whispers to make a statement.
Christina Canters: So why is that effective? Why, why is that
Richard Blank: effective? Because monotony, you only catch a, a monotonous speaking in monotone.
You catch one in five. So you really need to, it's almost like a dessert tray, Christina, you, you don't bring everything out on one level. You know how they have it stacked in different levels so you can see it and enjoy it. Each one deserves its own marquee and imagery, and so each one deserves its pause to see if there's a positive or negative reinforcement.
You never know, and I don't like jumping the gun because some people could be so amazed. And they're pondering and they're waiting to say something back. And so I love to allow people to feel more comfortable with me, to become more engaged in a conversation. This is not a lecture, and I'm not just checking off boxes and, and, and interrogating you.
It's a conversation con with sation. And it's, I mean, my, I don't learn anything new when I. I love hearing what other people have to say to see what I have in common. And I get a lot of compliments for being a very good listener. And I take copious notes. I believe in meeting minutes because there's accountability.
People might forget something. And it's just an excellent way to avoid any sort of conflict and, and you could take the initiative, you can be proactive, you can make sure the target dates are hit and the times to call back are. , um, everyone needs to lead the dance. Might as well be you and allowing them to think that they are, which is fine.
Influence People Over The Phone With These Powerful Communication Techniques – with Richard Blank Costa Rica's Call Center [The C Method podcast Episode 283]
The C Method podcast guest Richard Blank Costa Rica's Call Center.
The C Method podcast has accepted Richard Blank's invitation to join the audience for a solid discussion regarding moving abroad and starting a company from scratch in Costa Rica. Christina Canters discusses with Richard advanced telemarketing strategy, conflict management, interpersonal soft skills, customer support, rhetoric, gamification, employee motivation, phonetic micro expression reading and INXS.
The C Method provides public speaking and communication skills training for high performing professionals.As a manager and leader, your ability to speak up, present with confidence and communicate well is key to career success.You may be highly skilled, intelligent and work harder than anyone, but if you can’t articulate your ideas clearly, engage your team or influence others to take action, it will hold you back from getting the promotions, opportunities, and recognition you deserve. Listen to the 'Stand Out Get Noticed' podcast. Now at 2 million+ downloads! Discover how to develop a success mindset, speak with confidence, articulate yourself clearly and build strong relationships for more influence and impact in the workplace. Topics include: public speaking, mindset, social skills, overcoming fear, workplace communication, relationships and leadership.
Have you ever wanted to have more influence over the phone?
My guest this week is Richard Blank, CEO of Costa Rica’s Call Centre. He is a master of the cold call, and has trained over 10,000 telemarketers to improve their communication techniques over the phone.Richard is here to share his powerful techniques for improving your ability to lead and influence in conversation – and some of them are much simpler than you think!This will benefit you if you want to build better relationships and be more persuasive with your team, senior managers and clients.
“I love to allow people to feel more comfortable with me, to become more engaged in a conversation. This is not a lecture, and I’m not just checking off boxes and interrogating you. It’s a conversation. And it’s I mean, I don’t learn anything new when I speak. I love hearing what other people have to say to see what I have in common.”
This is Richard Blank’s story…
My name is Richard Blank and I’m the CEO of Costa Rica’s Call Center. I’m skilled in reading phonetic micro expressions and use this to my advantage when speaking with people, especially over the phone.
I’ve found that by using someone’s name, asking how their company is doing, and sharing interesting facts about myself, I’m able to build rapport and influence the person I’m speaking with. This has been beneficial in both my personal and professional life.
In this episode, you will discover:
Phonetics is the purest form of communication, the sound of speech, not the semantics or even the tone.
The tone of voice should always be positive and empathetic.
0 seconds to 2 minutes is the best time to gauge a person.
How to gauge someone. They discuss some of the techniques they use to do it.
Richard believes in open-ended questions and specific name drops.
He also believes in the art of speech and meeting minutes to avoid conflict.
Richard’s advice to people is to be authentic.
When he was in his 20s, he tried to change his personality for a job interview, but he realised it was not going to work for him. Now he allows people to grow naturally.
He believes that people that feel seen, they feel heard, and they feel like they matter through the way that they communicate with others.
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://costaricascallcenter.com/en/outbound-bpo-campaigns/
https://youtu.be/Wl_tS1ielGg
https://youtu.be/fE6Ufvn-1Nc
https://youtu.be/NWxjuBEkzMI
https://youtu.be/R2GTKLTPkiA
https://youtu.be/M-x7nAeWBxw
https://youtu.be/dQWPUr_rsII
https://youtu.be/XnFQgNqQ3iA
https://youtu.be/aX85iiUrR88
https://thecmethod.com/podcast/standoutgetnoticed/influence-people-over-the-phone-with-these-powerful-communication-techniques-with-richard-blank-ceo-of-costa-ricas-call-centre-episode-283/
https://open.spotify.com/episode/0JaJIUI4BKQ7mhAmW4b8To?si=5cc254ba7af14830
https://player.fm/series/2694716/346501897
https://podtail.com/podcast/stand-out-get-noticed-by-the-c-method-business-com/283-influence-people-over-the-phone-with-these-pow/
https://www.stitcher.com/show/stand-out-get-noticed/episode/283-influence-people-over-the-phone-with-these-powerful-communication-techniques-with-richard-blank-208353649
https://podknife.com/episodes/283-influence-people-over-the-phone-with-these-powerful-communication-techniques-with-richard-blank
https://getpodcast.com/es/podcast/stand-out-get-noticed/283-influence-people-over-the-phone-with-these-powerful-communication-_1ba52e93a1
https://podcasts.apple.com/pe/podcast/283-influence-people-over-the-phone-with-these/id984946507?i=1000585579846
https://deezer.page.link/pPgVrtZwEi988y6H6
https://chartable.com/podcasts/stand-out-get-noticed-by-the-c-method-business-communication-skills-confidence-public-speaking/episodes/127787912-283-influence-people-over-the-phone-with-these-powerful-communication-techniques-with-richard-blank
https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9hdWRpb2Jvb20uY29tL2NoYW5uZWxzLzQ0MjAzODAucnNz/episode/aHR0cHM6Ly90aGVjbWV0aG9kLmNvbS8_cG9zdF90eXBlPXBvZGNhc3QmcD0yNTM5Mg?sa=X&ved=0CAUQkfYCahcKEwjoi-a949v7AhUAAAAAHQAAAAAQAQ
https://pdcstly.com/en/episod/283-influence-people-over-the-phone-with-these-powerful-communication-techniques-with-richard-blank/17826865
https://poddtoppen.se/podcast/984946507/stand-out-get-noticed/283-influence-people-over-the-phone-with-these-powerful-communication-techniques-with-richard-blank
A style that immediately anchors with the client 100%. Stand Out Get Noticed podcast (The C Method Episode 283) guest Richard Blank Costa Rica's Call Center.
Richard Blank: Because I'm letting you know that I'm vulnerable. I'm showing with you three or four things that I do it my call center by playing pinball with the agents by moving from Philadelphia to Costa Rica by once again talking about walkabouts and in excess and stuff. At least I'm showing some major interest.
And you're amazing country. Yeah. And so, um, these are the sort of soft skills that could be a me too technique that someone could. I, I chose three different things. Travel, music and games and business. And so one of 'em had to hit, I could talk about food if you want . You're not gonna do shrimps on the barbie.
Yeah, I could have done that one, but everyone does that one. But, um, yeah, and I, I, I try to be non-threatening. I don't do this on every call. I mean, once again, someone says, who are you? Well, that's when we used the buffer boomerang technique. Not saying Aaron's tone was negative. But sometimes they are. And so what I like to do is do the name draw, let 'em know it's an excellent question.
Repeat the question for active listening, and send it positive. And you know what my favorite part was before I was transferred to Christina? The fact that I was just about to get transferred. I stopped there and stop, stop, stop. And I'm getting transferred. I could have killed the call, but I said, stop. I gotta let you know.
That I'm gonna compliment you, . You
Christina Canters: gotta be feeling me. Oh, I love that. Yes, yes, of course you do. It's a positive
Richard Blank: escalation. Some people get paid on that at call centers and other companies, but it's really, so how about this one, Christina? Imagine if, if hypothetically, Aaron transferred me to the mail room.
And then I got transferred over into it, and then I got transferred over here and there. I write everybody's name down. So even though I spoke about Aaron, imagine if I mentioned two or three people. You'd be like, who are you? You got passed around. My company, no one speaks to Matt in the, in the mail room.
I go, he's like the nicest guy I ever met. Don't tell me that. That immediately anchors. With the client, hundred percent. It's yours. Hundred percent. It's yours to lose,
Christina Canters: and if the person doesn't say their name, I'm assuming you ask for their name.
Richard Blank: They don't need to. I just need to say my name. And I have to let them know and if I'm about to transfer them and they still don't wanna gimme the name, err.
Put out your nails. Well, good for you. Why don't you have a nice lunch? Relax a little bit. You should be a little sweeter on the phone. But let me put to you this way, you know perfectly wont. When I get transferred to you, I'm going to get their name cuz I'm gonna compliment Mr. Or Mrs. Bidder. And then when I call you company back, I'm be like, how you
Christina Canters: doing Buddy
And they're gonna be, how did you get my name? You know, I was gonna get your.
Richard Blank: You remember me, and then they love me to death. I, I, I get them. The shed is skin a little bit. Once someone gets complacent, especially is the first impression of a company that's terrible. They should be bells and whistles, trumpets, red carpets, guns a blazing.
And so maybe it's just to remind them that they need to sell that sizzle and to bring somebody in appropriate. So you can meet in the middle and start strong. That's, that's just my thought. Hm.
Influence People Over The Phone With These Powerful Communication Techniques – with Richard Blank Costa Rica's Call Center [The C Method podcast Episode 283]
The C Method podcast guest Richard Blank Costa Rica's Call Center.
The C Method podcast has accepted Richard Blank's invitation to join the audience for a solid discussion regarding moving abroad and starting a company from scratch in Costa Rica. Christina Canters discusses with Richard advanced telemarketing strategy, conflict management, interpersonal soft skills, customer support, rhetoric, gamification, employee motivation, phonetic micro expression reading and INXS.
The C Method provides public speaking and communication skills training for high performing professionals.As a manager and leader, your ability to speak up, present with confidence and communicate well is key to career success.You may be highly skilled, intelligent and work harder than anyone, but if you can’t articulate your ideas clearly, engage your team or influence others to take action, it will hold you back from getting the promotions, opportunities, and recognition you deserve. Listen to the 'Stand Out Get Noticed' podcast. Now at 2 million+ downloads! Discover how to develop a success mindset, speak with confidence, articulate yourself clearly and build strong relationships for more influence and impact in the workplace. Topics include: public speaking, mindset, social skills, overcoming fear, workplace communication, relationships and leadership.
Have you ever wanted to have more influence over the phone?
My guest this week is Richard Blank, CEO of Costa Rica’s Call Centre. He is a master of the cold call, and has trained over 10,000 telemarketers to improve their communication techniques over the phone.Richard is here to share his powerful techniques for improving your ability to lead and influence in conversation – and some of them are much simpler than you think!This will benefit you if you want to build better relationships and be more persuasive with your team, senior managers and clients.
“I love to allow people to feel more comfortable with me, to become more engaged in a conversation. This is not a lecture, and I’m not just checking off boxes and interrogating you. It’s a conversation. And it’s I mean, I don’t learn anything new when I speak. I love hearing what other people have to say to see what I have in common.”
This is Richard Blank’s story…
My name is Richard Blank and I’m the CEO of Costa Rica’s Call Center. I’m skilled in reading phonetic micro expressions and use this to my advantage when speaking with people, especially over the phone.
I’ve found that by using someone’s name, asking how their company is doing, and sharing interesting facts about myself, I’m able to build rapport and influence the person I’m speaking with. This has been beneficial in both my personal and professional life.
In this episode, you will discover:
Phonetics is the purest form of communication, the sound of speech, not the semantics or even the tone.
The tone of voice should always be positive and empathetic.
0 seconds to 2 minutes is the best time to gauge a person.
How to gauge someone. They discuss some of the techniques they use to do it.
Richard believes in open-ended questions and specific name drops.
He also believes in the art of speech and meeting minutes to avoid conflict.
Richard’s advice to people is to be authentic.
When he was in his 20s, he tried to change his personality for a job interview, but he realised it was not going to work for him. Now he allows people to grow naturally.
He believes that people that feel seen, they feel heard, and they feel like they matter through the way that they communicate with others.
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://costaricascallcenter.com/en/outbound-bpo-campaigns/
https://youtu.be/Wl_tS1ielGg
https://youtu.be/fE6Ufvn-1Nc
https://youtu.be/NWxjuBEkzMI
https://youtu.be/R2GTKLTPkiA
https://youtu.be/M-x7nAeWBxw
https://youtu.be/dQWPUr_rsII
https://youtu.be/aX85iiUrR88
https://thecmethod.com/podcast/standoutgetnoticed/influence-people-over-the-phone-with-these-powerful-communication-techniques-with-richard-blank-ceo-of-costa-ricas-call-centre-episode-283/
https://open.spotify.com/episode/0JaJIUI4BKQ7mhAmW4b8To?si=5cc254ba7af14830
https://player.fm/series/2694716/346501897
https://podtail.com/podcast/stand-out-get-noticed-by-the-c-method-business-com/283-influence-people-over-the-phone-with-these-pow/
https://www.stitcher.com/show/stand-out-get-noticed/episode/283-influence-people-over-the-phone-with-these-powerful-communication-techniques-with-richard-blank-208353649
https://podknife.com/episodes/283-influence-people-over-the-phone-with-these-powerful-communication-techniques-with-richard-blank
https://getpodcast.com/es/podcast/stand-out-get-noticed/283-influence-people-over-the-phone-with-these-powerful-communication-_1ba52e93a1
https://podcasts.apple.com/pe/podcast/283-influence-people-over-the-phone-with-these/id984946507?i=1000585579846
https://deezer.page.link/pPgVrtZwEi988y6H6
https://chartable.com/podcasts/stand-out-get-noticed-by-the-c-method-business-communication-skills-confidence-public-speaking/episodes/127787912-283-influence-people-over-the-phone-with-these-powerful-communication-techniques-with-richard-blank
https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9hdWRpb2Jvb20uY29tL2NoYW5uZWxzLzQ0MjAzODAucnNz/episode/aHR0cHM6Ly90aGVjbWV0aG9kLmNvbS8_cG9zdF90eXBlPXBvZGNhc3QmcD0yNTM5Mg?sa=X&ved=0CAUQkfYCahcKEwjoi-a949v7AhUAAAAAHQAAAAAQAQ
https://pdcstly.com/en/episod/283-influence-people-over-the-phone-with-these-powerful-communication-techniques-with-richard-blank/17826865
https://poddtoppen.se/podcast/984946507/stand-out-get-noticed/283-influence-people-over-the-phone-with-these-powerful-communication-techniques-with-richard-blank
Secrets to properly introduce yourself on the phone. Stand Out Get Noticed podcast (The C Method Episode 283) guest Richard Blank Costa Rica's Call Center.
Christina Canters: Prospecting, you. Can we role play this? I would love to. Let's role play this. So can I, I'm gonna pretend that I'm the secretary. Right. And did I hear you say before that you say the company name better than how we would say it? How's
Richard Blank: the C method doing today? ? Yeah, let's reaction , you know?
Christina Canters: Um, let's play this.
Okay, so I'm gonna be the secretary and then I'm gonna put you through to me, Christina, and I wanna hear how, what's
Richard Blank: your secretary's name, who you're gonna be in Charact.
Christina Canters: Uh, let's make my secretary Aaron, my husband .
Richard Blank: I love it. There you go. Are you gonna use a gr voice when you answer the phone? Being
Christina Canters: character?
He's very friendly, but I'll make, try to make my voice deeper. There you go. Okay, so ring, ring, ring, ring. Hello, the same method. This is Aaron speaking.
Richard Blank: Hey Aaron. How's the SEA Method doing today?
Christina Canters: Oh, you know, ticking along. That's what he would say, .
Richard Blank: Well, that sounds good to me. My name is Richard Blank, and I'd like to see if I might be able to speak with Christina for a minute,
Christina Canters: please.
Uh, can I ask what the
call's
Richard Blank: regarding? Absolutely, Aaron. The reason for this phone call is that I'm in Costa Rica. I got an amazing call center. I collect pinball machines In excess is my favorite band in Australia, and I just would like to touch base with it for 30 seconds to properly introduce myself.
Christina Canters: Oh wow. What kind of pinball machines
Richard Blank: do you have? Oh my goodness gracious. My oldest is a 1976 Ballet's Freedom. I got 13 of. One man's trash is another man's treasure. And I'm so glad, Erin, that you brought that up. I tell you what, when you ever come and visit in Costa Rica, we'll do a pinball marathon.
How does that sound?
Christina Canters: That sounds absolutely fantastic. I love, I love me bit of vintage, uh, gaming. Uh, alright. I'll put you through to Christina.
Richard Blank: She should be available Before you transf me or I just wanna let you know that you did an excellent job and when I speak to Christina, I'm gonna let her know that.
Christina Canters: Thank you. That means our, our marriage is strong, man. Still strong. . I'll transfer her through. Excellent. Then ring, ring, ring, ring. Uh, hello, Christina
Richard Blank: speaking. Hey Christine, this is Richard Blake. I just gotta let you know that Erin is probably the greatest employee that I've ever spoken to. You should be very proud working.
Christina Canters: Ah, thanks Richard. Um, can I ask her
Richard Blank: what the call's about? Well, absolutely. He was kind enough to transfer. My name is Richard Blank. I'm with Costa Rica's call center, and I just wanted to touch base and introduce myself. Let you know I got a great call center in Central America. I collect pinball machines in excess is my favorite band.
And I just wanted to share some of our services with you to see if this is something that you may be interested in.
Christina Canters: Awesome. All right. Pause, role play. Big round of applause, Richard .
Richard Blank: But check it out. When I call your company back and I speak to your amazing husband, you know he is gonna remember me and he's also going to thank me for saying that to you and in writing.
And then he might also tell me your direct extens. In anniversary or promotion, something of your company culture that may move the ball forward a bit. And those are the sort of things, my friend, that we just paid it forward. And as you can see, your husband actually gave me the pass, the pitch. So rock on.
I got you. .
Christina Canters: Can I, okay. So can I summarize what I believe you. Yes ma'am. So firstly, you said you asked how the company was going and you said the C method name. With so much joy and excitement that I got excited just hearing, you know, what my company was up to. So that was one thing. Yeah. The second thing you used Aaron's name, you said, hi Aaron, how are you doing?
You know, how are you doing? Um, which I believe builds that rapport cause people also love hearing their own names. You also mentioned a couple of interesting facts about yourself that I wouldn't have expected on an initial call. Exactly. So you said you've got a pinball collection and that in excess is your favorite band.
Why do you do that? And is that random and weird?
Richard Blank: No, because I'm extremely proud of in excess and everybody in the world should listen to them. Um, why? Because if not, I'm gonna sound like everybody. And you're gonna hang up on me and it's gonna put a bad taste in your mouth. And yes, you don't need my pinball machines and I'm sure you love inaccessible.
What's that have to do with the C method? It's got a lot to do with the C method. Everything's got to do with everything.
Influence People Over The Phone With These Powerful Communication Techniques – with Richard Blank Costa Rica's Call Center [The C Method podcast Episode 283]
The C Method podcast guest Richard Blank Costa Rica's Call Center.
The C Method podcast has accepted Richard Blank's invitation to join the audience for a solid discussion regarding moving abroad and starting a company from scratch in Costa Rica. Christina Canters discusses with Richard advanced telemarketing strategy, conflict management, interpersonal soft skills, customer support, rhetoric, gamification, employee motivation, phonetic micro expression reading and INXS.
The C Method provides public speaking and communication skills training for high performing professionals.As a manager and leader, your ability to speak up, present with confidence and communicate well is key to career success.You may be highly skilled, intelligent and work harder than anyone, but if you can’t articulate your ideas clearly, engage your team or influence others to take action, it will hold you back from getting the promotions, opportunities, and recognition you deserve. Listen to the 'Stand Out Get Noticed' podcast. Now at 2 million+ downloads! Discover how to develop a success mindset, speak with confidence, articulate yourself clearly and build strong relationships for more influence and impact in the workplace. Topics include: public speaking, mindset, social skills, overcoming fear, workplace communication, relationships and leadership.
Have you ever wanted to have more influence over the phone?
My guest this week is Richard Blank, CEO of Costa Rica’s Call Centre. He is a master of the cold call, and has trained over 10,000 telemarketers to improve their communication techniques over the phone.Richard is here to share his powerful techniques for improving your ability to lead and influence in conversation – and some of them are much simpler than you think!This will benefit you if you want to build better relationships and be more persuasive with your team, senior managers and clients.
“I love to allow people to feel more comfortable with me, to become more engaged in a conversation. This is not a lecture, and I’m not just checking off boxes and interrogating you. It’s a conversation. And it’s I mean, I don’t learn anything new when I speak. I love hearing what other people have to say to see what I have in common.”
This is Richard Blank’s story…
My name is Richard Blank and I’m the CEO of Costa Rica’s Call Center. I’m skilled in reading phonetic micro expressions and use this to my advantage when speaking with people, especially over the phone.
I’ve found that by using someone’s name, asking how their company is doing, and sharing interesting facts about myself, I’m able to build rapport and influence the person I’m speaking with. This has been beneficial in both my personal and professional life.
In this episode, you will discover:
Phonetics is the purest form of communication, the sound of speech, not the semantics or even the tone.
The tone of voice should always be positive and empathetic.
0 seconds to 2 minutes is the best time to gauge a person.
How to gauge someone. They discuss some of the techniques they use to do it.
Richard believes in open-ended questions and specific name drops.
He also believes in the art of speech and meeting minutes to avoid conflict.
Richard’s advice to people is to be authentic.
When he was in his 20s, he tried to change his personality for a job interview, but he realised it was not going to work for him. Now he allows people to grow naturally.
He believes that people that feel seen, they feel heard, and they feel like they matter through the way that they communicate with others.
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://costaricascallcenter.com/en/outbound-bpo-campaigns/
https://youtu.be/Wl_tS1ielGg
https://youtu.be/fE6Ufvn-1Nc
https://youtu.be/NWxjuBEkzMI
https://youtu.be/R2GTKLTPkiA
https://youtu.be/M-x7nAeWBxw
https://youtu.be/aX85iiUrR88
https://thecmethod.com/podcast/standoutgetnoticed/influence-people-over-the-phone-with-these-powerful-communication-techniques-with-richard-blank-ceo-of-costa-ricas-call-centre-episode-283/
https://open.spotify.com/episode/0JaJIUI4BKQ7mhAmW4b8To?si=5cc254ba7af14830
https://player.fm/series/2694716/346501897
https://podtail.com/podcast/stand-out-get-noticed-by-the-c-method-business-com/283-influence-people-over-the-phone-with-these-pow/
https://www.stitcher.com/show/stand-out-get-noticed/episode/283-influence-people-over-the-phone-with-these-powerful-communication-techniques-with-richard-blank-208353649
https://podknife.com/episodes/283-influence-people-over-the-phone-with-these-powerful-communication-techniques-with-richard-blank
https://getpodcast.com/es/podcast/stand-out-get-noticed/283-influence-people-over-the-phone-with-these-powerful-communication-_1ba52e93a1
https://podcasts.apple.com/pe/podcast/283-influence-people-over-the-phone-with-these/id984946507?i=1000585579846
https://deezer.page.link/pPgVrtZwEi988y6H6
https://chartable.com/podcasts/stand-out-get-noticed-by-the-c-method-business-communication-skills-confidence-public-speaking/episodes/127787912-283-influence-people-over-the-phone-with-these-powerful-communication-techniques-with-richard-blank
https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9hdWRpb2Jvb20uY29tL2NoYW5uZWxzLzQ0MjAzODAucnNz/episode/aHR0cHM6Ly90aGVjbWV0aG9kLmNvbS8_cG9zdF90eXBlPXBvZGNhc3QmcD0yNTM5Mg?sa=X&ved=0CAUQkfYCahcKEwjoi-a949v7AhUAAAAAHQAAAAAQAQ
https://pdcstly.com/en/episod/283-influence-people-over-the-phone-with-these-powerful-communication-techniques-with-richard-blank/17826865
https://poddtoppen.se/podcast/984946507/stand-out-get-noticed/283-influence-people-over-the-phone-with-these-powerful-communication-techniques-with-richard-blank
My executive staff are not yes men. I don't need a Simpson's Show Smithers on my team. TrulyYourVA with Janis podcast guest Richard Blank Costa Rica's Call Center.
Richard Blank: May be different from mine. And so as long as there's no surprises prior, and we can adjust that accordingly, it should flow exceptionally well.
Janis Melillo: Right. So the next question that I wanna ask you, obviously you know a lot about your business of course, but what sort of systems? For instance, like I love Trello.
Trello is my go-to organization thing. Devices or what type of applications do you use within your own business and why do you love them? Like why do you use them because you like them or because of their pro productivity or.
Richard Blank: Most of the time we're logging into the client CRM and their phone system.
But let, let me go back to something that's original pen and paper. I, my reliable system is if the lights go out and the internet goes down, my supervisors . I need to make sure that I have the right individuals that are with me, support me. They're not yes men. I don't need to Smithers. To say yes to everything I say.
I want someone that could be a devil's advocate or make suggestions. And so besides plugging and playing into my client's systems, what I have once again are individuals that rose the ranks, know my culture, earn their stripes, and are some of the best supervisors and directors in this country. And so these are the ones that are molding the newer agents and supporting the other agents to continue to perform.
Cause once again, your systems in place could be helpful, but if the agent is not competent, is not reliable, is not dedicated, your system's just gonna collect dust. And so once again, it's really about the individual that will be managing these systems that I have. But I always learn things that are seamless.
I like stuff that will reduce any sort of wrap up time. If somebody has dropdowns while we're on the phone or can do an easy transfer or there's information that can be, um, Shown to me prior to a call or during a call. That's helpful. A lot of my clients are creating lists, so we are sent to do some due diligence and research, which can slow us down, but then again, could also give us advantages if we find certain things on a LinkedIn or a company website.
So really, I, I kind of take it on a, on a vertical basis, but to me, if somebody is doing something manual, Compared to a predictive dialer, you can't expect me to do four times the amount of work. What can, I can have almost a hundred percent contact ratio on a predictive dialer, 1000 leads. So these are the sort of things, Janice, I almost have to, I have to explain from an educated point of view, the advantages and possibly disadvantages of the suggestions that they are making.
And it's nothing personal, but you can't expect me to do a certain amount of. When there's a certain amount of talk time and a wrap up time and you're using things manually. And so, um, once again, we have a lot of resources to offer, but most of the time the clients are buried at the ready.
Janis Melillo: Wow, that is amazing.
I have so enjoyed this conversation. How can people, um, our, my viewers and listeners,
TrulyYourVA with Janis podcast has accepted Richard Blank's invitation to join the audience for a solid discussion regarding moving abroad and starting a company from scratch in Costa Rica. Janis Melillo discusses with Richard advanced telemarketing strategy, conflict management, interpersonal soft skills, customer support, rhetoric, gamification, employee motivation and phonetic micro expression reading.
In a now all consuming digital world, Virtual Assistant's are in such high demand. From choosing which social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Clubhouse and many others; knowing how to hire a VA is just as important as to which social media outlet you should use. Did you know that hiring a VA will actually save you money? Janis Melillo is a Virtual Assistant, Business Coach, Ghostwriter, Author, Publisher, Speaker, Podcast Co-Host.
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://costaricascallcenter.com/en/outbound-bpo-campaigns/
https://youtu.be/kJus0bLJBCI
https://youtu.be/CeaeZlgcA_Q
https://youtu.be/WyBcKPONXhw
https://youtu.be/SeXAlO8kQR0
https://youtu.be/x9uYZb_c4VI
https://youtu.be/tGyk9vWbgUc
https://youtu.be/JonGMOF7xB4
https://youtu.be/RmvKuK4N-q4
https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/trulyyourva-with-janis-4667344/episodes/this-is-not-your-usual-call-ce-143296088
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyv7cqXIykc
https://rumble.com/v1als7a-this-is-not-your-usual-call-center-ceo-richard-blanks-approach-to-business-.html
https://www.bitchute.com/video/fhZZj4h2ALw7/
https://anchor.fm/janis-melillo/episodes/This-Is-Not-Your-Usual-Call-Center---CEO-Richard-Blanks-Approach-to-Business---06-30-22-e1klioj
https://www.trulyyourvawithjanis.com/this-is-not-your-usual-call-center-ceo-richard-blanks-approach-to-business-063022/
https://fb.watch/gSeXAmSk5J/
Buffer Boomerang Technique explained on the TrulyYourVA with Janis podcast. Special guest Richard Blank Costa Rica's Call Center.
Janis Melillo: K. Another question, and I'm not sure what this is, I'm very intrigued by it, and I have to tell you about four or five times I went to go on Google just to search this term, but I'm like, I, I wanted to save that suspense for this question. Yes. Tell me more about the famous buffering boomerang
Richard Blank: technique.
The buffer boomerang technique? Mm-hmm. , I like it. It's really more of conflict management because somebody may ask you a question with a very negative tone. In fact, I'll show you the image. There's my famous buffer boomerang technique, so somebody might ask you a question with a negative tone. What I like to do is buffer the negative tone.
I like to do a name. Bring it around by saying, that's an excellent question. Repeating the question to show active listening and then sending it back as a plus two. So for an example, let's say I'm prospecting your company. I'm calling truly your va, and somebody says, What is your name? I go, Ah. Janice, I'm so glad that you asked that question.
Once again, my name is Richard Blank, and so you can almost reset the tone on something like that. People will be asking you questions and so I think instead of just answering it as a, you know, a toe to toe's office answering a question cuz you're in trouble. Sometimes you need to buffer the tone, smooth that out a bit, show the active listening and send it back.
And so a lot of the times people will also be doing desert pitching or they'll just be going through a list of the services that they have. I, I think people need to pause every now and again for rest and for drink. In a desert, you need an oasis. And there's also times for positive and negative reinforcement.
And when you find a certain area that you like, you take it from a horizontal to a vertical. And then you start stacking open-ended questions. These like your virtual assistants, they need to show empathy on the phone and a lot of active listening. I believe that using names are very important. You should do that during tie down or pin down or clarification questions, and then amongst the conversation, using the pronouns of your and are to keep their attention in every 32nd.
Two minute intervals. And so buffer Boomerang is really just one of many techniques just to show active listening, so you're not just reacting, you're almost in mode of acting because of listening and adjusting your conversation accordingly. So the most frustrating thing is repeating. And so as long as that you once again, understand where that person is coming from, it could lower temperatures, bring back a speed and give you a little bit more control on a call.
Janis Melillo: I love that because Richard, I think there is such a difference from hearing to listening. So you take an active engagement, for instance, obviously we're on Zoom, we're streaming live through, uh, through my Facebook page and people can hear it, but are they listening?
Richard Blank: Most of the time though.
Janis Melillo: Yes, I, I, I agree.
I agree. Objections right there. There's a lot of distractions and I think in, in our, like I said, in the digital world today, you know, there's, for instance, news notifications. I've had to turn off all my news notifications as much as possible because it's distracting. Because when I'm working for a client, as I'm sure you are, because I think we have the same, uh, work ethic, I have to tune, I turn, tune all that stuff out because that is a distraction and it's only human nature to, you know, look down.
Oh, you know, there's some other news alert. Turn off the distractions. Cause I think that's a lot of outside clutter. We don't need clutter when we're focusing on the task at hand.
Richard Blank: We may not have the luxury of that sort of controlled environment in our offices Right now, there's no distractions. But if you and I were somewhere having lunch and there's a lot of noise, we still might need to find that focus.
So that's why I mentioned 30 seconds to two minutes. And I also believe, once again, when you are, um, engaged with the individual by having checkpoints either repeating what you say, confirming what you say, thumbing up what you say, moving on on what you say, because it would be foolish of me to be three or four points down or thinking of that.
We haven't even confirmed the one that we are on right now. Mm-hmm. . So people need to slow down a bit. And I think what's very important for me as well, and it can almost set the pace as a positive escalation, if there are individuals that assist you prior to being transferred or just anybody along the way, they should be mentioned verbally and in writing.
So let's just say hypothetically I'm calling a company back. This individual answering the phone will thank me for that compliment. Give me more company information, company culture, and would love to transfer the call. So it's almost like the philosophy of wwe, Janice. Well, we're just trying to reduce any sort of resistance.
Go with the current. Mm-hmm. , let the wind be in your sales. And so when you're trying to force a fit, you're trying to shove in your point, you're stepping on someone's toes, you're interrupting. We're not dancing well. And I think there's a very good place. Where through deductive reasoning, letting the person talk and then choosing.
What is the area of focus and possibly getting back to what you need to later in the conversa? Your conversation may be prolonged, but it's also a quality call, and I'm not saying we're repeating anything. What we're possibly doing, Dennis is expanding on certain topics where I couldn't get it before. I love meeting minute.
Because when someone concludes a conversation, if they can send an email back on all the points that they talked about, a, they're accountable for it. It's dated, so someone can't say they forgot about it. And it's an excellent point that where you pick up, where you left off, you start going through the, the checkpoint and delegating.
Who has a responsibility, if these are just first time relationships, we need to create certain boundaries and parameters and protocols because your way of working may be different from mine. And so as long as there's no surprises prior, and we can adjust that accordingly, it should flow exceptionally well.
Janis Melillo: Right. So the next question that I wanna ask you,
TrulyYourVA with Janis podcast has accepted Richard Blank's invitation to join the audience for a solid discussion regarding moving abroad and starting a company from scratch in Costa Rica. Janis Melillo discusses with Richard advanced telemarketing strategy, conflict management, interpersonal soft skills, customer support, rhetoric, gamification, employee motivation and phonetic micro expression reading.
In a now all consuming digital world, Virtual Assistant's are in such high demand. From choosing which social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Clubhouse and many others; knowing how to hire a VA is just as important as to which social media outlet you should use. Did you know that hiring a VA will actually save you money? Janis Melillo is a Virtual Assistant, Business Coach, Ghostwriter, Author, Publisher, Speaker, Podcast Co-Host.
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://costaricascallcenter.com/en/outbound-bpo-campaigns/
https://youtu.be/kJus0bLJBCI
https://youtu.be/CeaeZlgcA_Q
https://youtu.be/WyBcKPONXhw
https://youtu.be/SeXAlO8kQR0
https://youtu.be/x9uYZb_c4VI
https://youtu.be/tGyk9vWbgUc
https://youtu.be/JonGMOF7xB4
https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/trulyyourva-with-janis-4667344/episodes/this-is-not-your-usual-call-ce-143296088
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyv7cqXIykc
https://rumble.com/v1als7a-this-is-not-your-usual-call-center-ceo-richard-blanks-approach-to-business-.html
https://www.bitchute.com/video/fhZZj4h2ALw7/
https://anchor.fm/janis-melillo/episodes/This-Is-Not-Your-Usual-Call-Center---CEO-Richard-Blanks-Approach-to-Business---06-30-22-e1klioj
https://www.trulyyourvawithjanis.com/this-is-not-your-usual-call-center-ceo-richard-blanks-approach-to-business-063022/
https://fb.watch/gSeXAmSk5J/
on the TrulyYourVA with Janis podcast. Special guest Richard Blank Costa Rica's Call Center.
Janis Melillo: K. Another question, and I'm not sure what this is, I'm very intrigued by it, and I have to tell you about four or five times I went to go on Google just to search this term, but I'm like, I, I wanted to save that suspense for this question. Yes. Tell me more about the famous buffering boomerang
Richard Blank: technique.
The buffer boomerang technique? Mm-hmm. , I like it. It's really more of conflict management because somebody may ask you a question with a very negative tone. In fact, I'll show you the image. There's my famous buffer boomerang technique, so somebody might ask you a question with a negative tone. What I like to do is buffer the negative tone.
I like to do a name. Bring it around by saying, that's an excellent question. Repeating the question to show active listening and then sending it back as a plus two. So for an example, let's say I'm prospecting your company. I'm calling truly your va, and somebody says, What is your name? I go, Ah. Janice, I'm so glad that you asked that question.
Once again, my name is Richard Blank, and so you can almost reset the tone on something like that. People will be asking you questions and so I think instead of just answering it as a, you know, a toe to toe's office answering a question cuz you're in trouble. Sometimes you need to buffer the tone, smooth that out a bit, show the active listening and send it back.
And so a lot of the times people will also be doing desert pitching or they'll just be going through a list of the services that they have. I, I think people need to pause every now and again for rest and for drink. In a desert, you need an oasis. And there's also times for positive and negative reinforcement.
And when you find a certain area that you like, you take it from a horizontal to a vertical. And then you start stacking open-ended questions. These like your virtual assistants, they need to show empathy on the phone and a lot of active listening. I believe that using names are very important. You should do that during tie down or pin down or clarification questions, and then amongst the conversation, using the pronouns of your and are to keep their attention in every 32nd.
Two minute intervals. And so buffer Boomerang is really just one of many techniques just to show active listening, so you're not just reacting, you're almost in mode of acting because of listening and adjusting your conversation accordingly. So the most frustrating thing is repeating. And so as long as that you once again, understand where that person is coming from, it could lower temperatures, bring back a speed and give you a little bit more control on a call.
Janis Melillo: I love that because Richard, I think there is such a difference from hearing to listening. So you take an active engagement, for instance, obviously we're on Zoom, we're streaming live through, uh, through my Facebook page and people can hear it, but are they listening?
Richard Blank: Most of the time though.
Janis Melillo: Yes, I, I, I agree.
I agree. Objections right there. There's a lot of distractions and I think in, in our, like I said, in the digital world today, you know, there's, for instance, news notifications. I've had to turn off all my news notifications as much as possible because it's distracting. Because when I'm working for a client, as I'm sure you are, because I think we have the same, uh, work ethic, I have to tune, I turn, tune all that stuff out because that is a distraction and it's only human nature to, you know, look down.
Oh, you know, there's some other news alert. Turn off the distractions. Cause I think that's a lot of outside clutter. We don't need clutter when we're focusing on the task at hand.
Richard Blank: We may not have the luxury of that sort of controlled environment in our offices Right now, there's no distractions. But if you and I were somewhere having lunch and there's a lot of noise, we still might need to find that focus.
So that's why I mentioned 30 seconds to two minutes. And I also believe, once again, when you are, um, engaged with the individual by having checkpoints either repeating what you say, confirming what you say, thumbing up what you say, moving on on what you say, because it would be foolish of me to be three or four points down or thinking of that.
We haven't even confirmed the one that we are on right now. Mm-hmm. . So people need to slow down a bit. And I think what's very important for me as well, and it can almost set the pace as a positive escalation, if there are individuals that assist you prior to being transferred or just anybody along the way, they should be mentioned verbally and in writing.
So let's just say hypothetically I'm calling a company back. This individual answering the phone will thank me for that compliment. Give me more company information, company culture, and would love to transfer the call. So it's almost like the philosophy of wwe, Janice. Well, we're just trying to reduce any sort of resistance.
Go with the current. Mm-hmm. , let the wind be in your sales. And so when you're trying to force a fit, you're trying to shove in your point, you're stepping on someone's toes, you're interrupting. We're not dancing well. And I think there's a very good place. Where through deductive reasoning, letting the person talk and then choosing.
What is the area of focus and possibly getting back to what you need to later in the conversa? Your conversation may be prolonged, but it's also a quality call, and I'm not saying we're repeating anything. What we're possibly doing, Dennis is expanding on certain topics where I couldn't get it before. I love meeting minute.
Because when someone concludes a conversation, if they can send an email back on all the points that they talked about, a, they're accountable for it. It's dated, so someone can't say they forgot about it. And it's an excellent point that where you pick up, where you left off, you start going through the, the checkpoint and delegating.
Who has a responsibility, if these are just first time relationships, we need to create certain boundaries and parameters and protocols because your way of working may be different from mine. And so as long as there's no surprises prior, and we can adjust that accordingly, it should flow exceptionally well.
Janis Melillo: Right. So the next question that I wanna ask you,
TrulyYourVA with Janis podcast has accepted Richard Blank's invitation to join the audience for a solid discussion regarding moving abroad and starting a company from scratch in Costa Rica. Janis Melillo discusses with Richard advanced telemarketing strategy, conflict management, interpersonal soft skills, customer support, rhetoric, gamification, employee motivation and phonetic micro expression reading.
In a now all consuming digital world, Virtual Assistant's are in such high demand. From choosing which social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Clubhouse and many others; knowing how to hire a VA is just as important as to which social media outlet you should use. Did you know that hiring a VA will actually save you money? Janis Melillo is a Virtual Assistant, Business Coach, Ghostwriter, Author, Publisher, Speaker, Podcast Co-Host.
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://costaricascallcenter.com/en/outbound-bpo-campaigns/
https://youtu.be/kJus0bLJBCI
https://youtu.be/CeaeZlgcA_Q
https://youtu.be/WyBcKPONXhw
https://youtu.be/SeXAlO8kQR0
https://youtu.be/x9uYZb_c4VI
https://youtu.be/tGyk9vWbgUc
https://youtu.be/JonGMOF7xB4
https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/trulyyourva-with-janis-4667344/episodes/this-is-not-your-usual-call-ce-143296088
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyv7cqXIykc
https://rumble.com/v1als7a-this-is-not-your-usual-call-center-ceo-richard-blanks-approach-to-business-.html
https://www.bitchute.com/video/fhZZj4h2ALw7/
https://anchor.fm/janis-melillo/episodes/This-Is-Not-Your-Usual-Call-Center---CEO-Richard-Blanks-Approach-to-Business---06-30-22-e1klioj
https://www.trulyyourvawithjanis.com/this-is-not-your-usual-call-center-ceo-richard-blanks-approach-to-business-063022/
https://fb.watch/gSeXAmSk5J/
I love the fact that we start with dessert first. TrulyYourVA with Janis podcast guest Richard Blank Costa Rica's Call Center.
Janis Melillo: Good afternoon everyone. I am so excited to be here today. My name is Janice, and I am the host of Truly Your VA with Janice. For those of you don't know, VA of course stands for Virtual Assistant, and I am also a podcast manager. Go figure today. I am so excited to have on my podcast. Mr. Richard Blank, welcome to the truly year BA with
Richard Blank: Janice.
Janice, I'm so happy to be here with you today and to share ideas with you and your amazing audience. Well,
Janis Melillo: wonderful. Thank you so much. So I have so many questions to ask you, and before we hopped on, you know, I did make reference to your boxes. And before we get into the, the business discussion, I understand that, uh, you have the largest collect.
Of American pinball machines in, um, I'm gonna pronounce this, rock out, juke boxes in Central America. Is that, is that
Richard Blank: so? I love the fact that we start with dessert first. Absolutely. . I am an avid collector of retro pinball machines, juke boxes. Arcade machine. So I've created a gamification culture so the agents can meet people from other departments, let off steam and hang out with their hefy in the game room, old school style.
Janis Melillo: Oh my God. I absolutely love that. So that leads me to the next question. Of course. Um, you have a business that is, I think so, is underrated in my opinion, because, Why don't you start us off before I just go any further on what led you to be where you are today? You're in Costa Rica, correct?
Richard Blank: That is correct.
In Central America. Been here for the last 22 years.
Janis Melillo: Wow, and your business
Richard Blank: is Costa Rica's Call center. We're a bilingual dedicated. Nearshore call center that deals with appointment setting, lead generation, and inbound support. And so our agents here are brilliant college educated. They're coming to the table once again with structure and discipline by speaking a second language.
Mm-hmm. . And by creating a certain sort of work culture where they're synergy and I look to promote people and we invest in them. Our attrition is very low and our production is extremely high.
Janis Melillo: Wow. So, You, you were, you've been in Costa Rica for 22 years. What led you to start this type of business?
Richard Blank: There's really no blueprint for it, and so when I was in high school in Northeast Philadelphia, I doubled down on my favorite class, which was Spanish. So when I graduated Abington in 91. , I went to the University of Arizona, was a Spanish communication major. Mm-hmm. , because at 18, what are you gonna choose unless you have a predestined career and you follow certain opinions where people raise you compared to you raising yourself.
Mm-hmm. , I had to understand that I needed to be marketable. And versatile. And if there was a way that I could separate myself from friends, by being able to translate and to speak, I might be able to have a different career path. And so at 27 I was given a one and a million opportunity. It was only supposed to be for two months, and I came down to my friend's call center to train and teach English, and I just fell in love with it so much.
I decided to put my stuff in storage in the United States and. You know, throw my hat in the ring and try a life here. And when you learn a business from the inside and out and you're with the people, the proletariat, you can really understand ways to enhance the experience. And so in my mid thirties, I decided to throw my hat in the ring and start my own company.
That
Janis Melillo: is just so amazing to me. Now internal. Interpersonal communications conflict, Like in reference to like management strategy? Yes. Must of, especially with training, how many people that you've trained, of course those skills must have been like second nature to you.
Richard Blank: Well, I believe in manners and you and I have spoken off the air multiple times.
I believe that we were raised in, in. Fashion's from our grandparents and parents. So I'm coming to the table with agents in a very strict Catholic country. So it's very family oriented, even multi-generational family. So people do live with others that influence them. And secondly, I believe in empathy and dignity.
As long as I don't treat somebody like a robot or a number, I properly prepare them and support them. Why shouldn't I get that sort of positive reinforcement where people would wanna continue to walk with? And to grow with me. And also there are things that do happen outside the office that may affect their work performance here.
So as long as we take people's personal situations into consideration, I think there's a better chance to find sort of resolutions. And also solidifying even a better relationship cuz we were able to get through certain challenges together. Right. And so I really take it from a case by case old school basis when I'm dealing with the people that work with me.
Janis Melillo: Wow, that is amazing. So you.
TrulyYourVA with Janis podcast has accepted Richard Blank's invitation to join the audience for a solid discussion regarding moving abroad and starting a company from scratch in Costa Rica. Janis Melillo discusses with Richard advanced telemarketing strategy, conflict management, interpersonal soft skills, customer support, rhetoric, gamification, employee motivation and phonetic micro expression reading.
In a now all consuming digital world, Virtual Assistant's are in such high demand. From choosing which social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Clubhouse and many others; knowing how to hire a VA is just as important as to which social media outlet you should use. Did you know that hiring a VA will actually save you money? Janis Melillo is a Virtual Assistant, Business Coach, Ghostwriter, Author, Publisher, Speaker, Podcast Co-Host.
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://youtu.be/CeaeZlgcA_Q
https://costaricascallcenter.com/en/outbound-bpo-campaigns/
https://youtu.be/kJus0bLJBCI
https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/trulyyourva-with-janis-4667344/episodes/this-is-not-your-usual-call-ce-143296088
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyv7cqXIykc
https://rumble.com/v1als7a-this-is-not-your-usual-call-center-ceo-richard-blanks-approach-to-business-.html
https://www.bitchute.com/video/fhZZj4h2ALw7/
https://anchor.fm/janis-melillo/episodes/This-Is-Not-Your-Usual-Call-Center---CEO-Richard-Blanks-Approach-to-Business---06-30-22-e1klioj
https://www.trulyyourvawithjanis.com/this-is-not-your-usual-call-center-ceo-richard-blanks-approach-to-business-063022/
https://fb.watch/gSeXAmSk5J/
Richard Blank: And my twin down in Costa Rica. .
Louisiana Country Boy: That's right. I, But look, I want you to, uh, but lastly, lastly, what I'm gonna do is I am gonna shut up and if there's a, uh, a word, a message, um, that you, your last words that you want to leave, what the people will remember, Richard, by your last words, uh, have your way
Richard Blank: fortune favors the.
Mm-hmm. . That's it. Wow. And if you can get past your parents' guilt, you can live anywhere in the world.
Louisiana Country Boy: Hey, there
Richard Blank: it is. And our family's got strong guilt.
Louisiana Country Boy: Yes, indeed. Yes indeed. Look, Richard, I thank you so very much. I thank you. I, I greatly appreciate you gracing the table. Um, you
Richard Blank: southern gentleman. I had a great time hanging out with you too. .
Louisiana Country Boy: Look, y'all go and as I say about all my guests and anybody that comes on, That took the time out to come to share, that took the time out to come to share openly, honestly, and transparent to share.
Um, go follow him. Look, you can look this man up on Facebook, LinkedIn, uh, Twitter, uh, uh, all that stuff. I, I can't even name my, He's all over there. Y'all can go look him up, y'all. emailing, calling, whatever, get your plane ticket going on down the Costa Reef. So I'll be down there next week. Um, . But honestly, just, you know, it doesn't cost anything to, to share.
It doesn't cost any anything to go and support people. It really doesn't. It doesn't. Um, he's doing wonderful things. He's doing wonderful things, and that's the thing about it. There are. They are doing wonderful things. It's an amazing man doing an amazing job in Costa Rica. Well, water
Richard Blank: seeks at own level.
That's how we found each other, right?
Louisiana Country Boy: That's it. That's it. Um, you know, so just go follow support. Follow support of all my guests cuz they're doing one for. Richard, I thank you. I thank you so very much. Thank you, sir. I, I look forward to, uh, to hooking up later, know that there's always a spot right here at the table for you.
Anytime you got another dish you want to cook, just be like, Look here. I've got another dish that wants to bring to the table. And I'll be like, Okay, let me clear the table. .
Richard Blank: Maybe we'll do our second podcast when you're visiting me here as. Oh yeah, I like that. We gonna take the show on the road. I was just gonna say, , That's it.
That
Louisiana Country Boy: would be beautiful. That would be beautiful. Do it from right there. Mm.
Richard Blank: I mean, the Brady Bunch went to Hawaii and you can come down here.
Louisiana Country Boy: They show did it. Wait a minute. But then they had that little thing, Remember that little thing that they were looking for? And then, Then G got I, I can't remember.
I'm going, You finna go? You're talking
Richard Blank: about Oliver and the Tiki stuff? Yeah. Yes.
Peter almost dies with the, with the, with the spider Greg. Surfing wrong with these people. Who the hell does that on vacation? Oh my God. See?
Louisiana Country Boy: Oh my look, I thank you again, Richard. I thank you so very much. And uh, like I say, y'all go like, follow support my friend. He's doing wonderful things, but like I say, folk, I leave.
Thank you. I love each and every one of you unconditionally and ain't nothing you can do about Richard. We on our way to cold.
We on our way up to college. I appreciate your, Thank you. Hey, y'all have a good one, .
Richard Blank: Have a good night my friend.
My Worthless 2cents Table Podcast has accepted Richard Blank's invitation to join the audience for a solid discussion regarding moving abroad and starting a company from scratch in Costa Rica. Donnie Lewis-The Louisiana Country Boy- discusses with Richard advanced telemarketing strategy, conflict management, interpersonal soft skills, customer support, rhetoric, gamification, employee motivation and phonetic micro expression reading.
A place to freely express our thoughts and feelings where your worthless 2cents is priceless sharing our journey with each other,and always remember “Your Approval Not Needed “
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://youtu.be/xdxLRZ0K440
https://costaricascallcenter.com/en/outbound-bpo-campaigns/
https://youtu.be/1USx0n2RMoQ
https://youtu.be/_nEDb7cvu_A
https://youtu.be/O2jukpEruYQ
https://youtu.be/mKnzAfDDx7k
https://youtu.be/ZgI2PGn1EDQ
https://youtu.be/7gZ1e2vgLKg
https://open.spotify.com/episode/6g8yr6ltjMRm2HZlL5NoFf
https://www.spreaker.com/user/14867186/my-worthless-2cents-table-is-with-richar
Louisiana Country Boy: Can you please if it's okay, and again, just tell the people about the other side of Richard I, not the personal side, not the business side of Richard, the business side of Richard. I mean, I mean, you ain't got to now. You ain't got to you. You know, you tell me. I, Well,
Richard Blank: it's my pleasure. I, you know, I'm a CEO of a, of a bilingual call center in Costa Rica.
These agents here make outbound appointment setting and lead generation. They also take inbound customer support and non-voice support. We do not call you at dinner cuz if I do, you're never gonna, you're never gonna talk to me again. And we're very selective of the campaigns that come in here cuz this is a very strict Catholic country.
I wanna make sure that the agents can go home and tell their parents what they do for a living. I prefer to bring in people that sometimes do not have call center experience because they could be bringing in bad habits or be a. I prefer somebody that is bilingual and has these skills where I can mold them.
It's very easy to teach 'em a CRM and and phone system, but you know, if they're coachable, if as you say, they have the grit and desire, it's my pleasure to find ways to delegate in order to promote them. It's very important for me as well to give positive reinforcement to the. I do it through quality assurance.
We listen to their recordings and I can grade them on certain metrics and I just don't grade on the simple stuff. You and I talk about bedside manner and certain soft skills diplomacy, since English is their second language. Donnie, I really focus on the FSOs so I can expand their vocabulary with similes.
So instead of saying words like help, they'll use assist guide or lend a hand, Little things like that. And let's say we're even making outbound prospecting. A lot of people are concerned about gatekeepers and filters. To me, I think they're the greatest people. We like to do positive escalations. So where if I speak to somebody and then I get transferred to you, I will say verbally how amazing this individual was.
And also do certain things in writing. If you get that at a call center, you can get money and prizes for it. That's how they get bonuses out. Wow. But if you call certain businesses, churches, schools, organizations, or even friends and family, And you mention others, you give the gift of a positive escalation.
They're gonna be happy that you call back. They'll give you information on how to close a deal or a company culture, right? And so instead of just going in there and trying to sell Donnie a 1995 book, it's very important for us to build rapport, to do a little bit more due diligence on your LinkedIn profile, on your podcast episodes, or your website.
So if I have to leave you a voice, or an email, I can custom make it. Mm. And that's only going to separate us from thousands of people that are knocking on your door trying to get sales. Now, not every time we make a call, we get a sale, right? But I increase our percentages by being on the phone longer, by asking more questions and knowing more people in your organization that I can refer to, that added momentum in my sales.
So it's not like what you see in the movie. We're not the Wolf of Wall Street, Glen Gary, Glen Ross Boer, and there are a lot of call centers that do that. I could personally do that if I wanted to, but I once again have chosen a certain environment where the profiled agent is something that not only the client could be comfortable with, but the agent would feel comfortable making those calls.
And so owning a company, if I try to force a fit, someone may not come back. They might. And you're only as good as the foundation that you have. That's it. And so it's, it's extremely important just to have that sort of sweet spot and balance for the client and for the agent. So it meshes in that it works because as I say before, if nobody shows up at your Chucky cheese birthday party, You have no friends,
Yeah. I'm just not gonna break you. So as a business owner, I'm constantly looking for ways for you to master levels and to crack some codes and to get better. But I, I, I just can't, You let you become complacent and, and, um, Monotonous and, and board on the phone where you just go through the motions.
That's, that's, as I say, you become plastic. Yes. Yes. And there's nothing that's, uh, raw about you anymore. And, and that's a shame when people get into that sort of trap.
Louisiana Country Boy: Most definitely. You know, and what I, what I hear originally I'll say this, is that you're not building a, a company. You have built a culture.
Mm-hmm. . Um, and that's, that's, you know, and that's a lot of people. It's, it's, that's how you can call it. , that, that's how people can say CC is home. It it because you built a culture. You, you, you. They're not just employees. They're not just people that work here. This is like a family and these are people that you know sometimes and, and I, you know, just doing what I do and learning that and, and working for others.
Some places you can work and it's just a job. Some places you can be and it's, and it's a home because you feel. Not excluded. Not like, Oh, well this is just a person over there that just does this over here. But they are, you look at them and everything that you've said and just talking to you. These are, these are what we forget to call people, humans.
I
Richard Blank: take stuff further. You remember our favorite class in school was recess. I have a gamification culture here. I collect pinball machines and juke boxes and Oh wow. machines. I have a neutral environment, Donny, where people can go down and meet agents from other departments, let off steam recharge batteries.
Hang out with me. Because if you're having a cigarette outside or on your phone on Instagram, you're by yourself. Right. But this is a very social environment and these games are older than they are . It's so important that they, That they have fun. Yes. And that there is a work life balance that's essential.
Louisiana Country Boy: Yeah. And that's great. That's great. Cause you know, and, and I know, fortunately for me, that makes you want to get up and go because you're looking, you're excited to get there. Like, man, I can't wait to get there. Um, I hear so today and, and, you know, in so many different places how people just be like, uh, gotta go.
Because it's, for me, when they say that, it's because of the culture. There hasn't been a, a, a positive culture. There's no positive. Feedback there. There's nothing positive and, and they're not a part of it. They're just an employee. When, when you change that whole scope around, oh man, you have you, you have done it, you, you have, you have put your hands on the crystal ball again.
You have made people understand like, we are in this, this ain't just me. You know what you just said. There's not a lot of places that genuine. I can go with the CEO and, and you know, he's right there and we can have a conversation. And it's not like, Oh dad, you know, what is
Richard Blank: work? Right? And a lot of the times, my friends, something outside of the office could be affecting their performance here.
They're not robots, they're not expendable numbers as you were talking earlier where people aren't even known at an office. And so, um, I have to take that into consideration because sometimes people have moments. Yes, but my favorite is when they bring their family along, a wife or a husband or their mother or father.
And I'll go downstairs and they have to pull me away cuz I'm gonna be telling them for 10 minutes how amazing their son is. And that's just a gift that keeps on giving. And I'm not just saying he's great. I'll give five examples cuz I care. Right? I know about phone calls. He makes a two year anniversary, what he did last week.
I pay attention to these small things because they claim that I, that people don. , but you and I notice these little details
Louisiana Country Boy: Yes. That, that make a difference. And that's, I'm telling you that is if, if, if, if there's any business owners out there that might not hear what we are talking about mm-hmm. , if you want to retain and grow, if you, I'm gonna say it again.
If you want to retain and grow mm-hmm. , these are the things coming from O employee and coming from a ceo. Mm. These things right here. I'm telling you, you would have the happiest people there. They would break down the door just to come work for you what you know. And that, I think that that here is why so many people decided, you know, with, Oh, I'm not going back to work.
Or when the pandemic thing, they didn't want to go back. They gonna go out and do they own thing because they felt so mistreated or they felt so de. They don't, they don't value me. I'm just, But when you, again, that's just me, You know? That's just my old family when, when it's like this and, and we are, and we can have a conversation and what you just said, those things, Well, I know anniversaries, I know birthday, I know these things and, and I can sit and talk to 'em and I can talk to their family.
When you can do that, that means that, that you have said, this is. Well,
Richard Blank: these are people as well. They don't need to sell their soul for a dollar. They have options. They don't need to go to an environment like that. But let's address something for a second here. I, I might create the greatest office environment ever, but there is a natural attrition that happens here.
Amazon's in Costa Rica, hpn, Tele, Andor. There's a hundreds of call centers. Right. So I compete especially against the big boys. So Donnell will lose somebody from time to time for scheduling conflict. If they go to the university, their boyfriend or girlfriend may work there. It might be closer to their home, or sometimes it even pays more.
There's different types of vocations here, right? But the one thing that they will not do, and you'll definitely appreciate this, they're not gonna say, Richard defaced me, insulted me, made me do the walk of shame. Yelled at me. No, no, no. That just doesn't happen. And I, I'm okay with that. As long as somebody is here and we can walk together and grow together, that's great.
I, I sometimes get a two weeks notice. Sometimes they just piece out on me. The next thing you know, I gotta call my client with a solution, which is fine, because if you can work through minor. Issues with a client, they see how you act during tough times. Yes. And how it is during good times. And so that, that just solidifies the relationships with my clients.
But I get disappointed from time to time. People I expected a little more from just disappear or they become a fading flower because this industry does, does create burnout. And in the United States, people look a certain way towards telemarketers and call center work. And for me, I was a gladia that not only survived it, but I thrived in this industry, in my own.
So go figure, . I saw the art and the speech. Yes. I saw the vocabulary and the delivery and I thought it was incredible if people were able to have that sort of conversations and convert sales site on. , there is an art to it, and as long as you practice that craft, I mean the, the earnings are, are, your potential is just limitless.
You could do very
Louisiana Country Boy: well. Hey, that is, that, that is definitely, definitely amazing. You know, I I, and again, Richard, I, I applaud you. I, I keep applauding you for just your.
My Worthless 2cents Table Podcast has accepted Richard Blank's invitation to join the audience for a solid discussion regarding moving abroad and starting a company from scratch in Costa Rica. Donnie Lewis-The Louisiana Country Boy- discusses with Richard advanced telemarketing strategy, conflict management, interpersonal soft skills, customer support, rhetoric, gamification, employee motivation and phonetic micro expression reading.
A place to freely express our thoughts and feelings where your worthless 2cents is priceless sharing our journey with each other,and always remember “Your Approval Not Needed “
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://youtu.be/mKnzAfDDx7k
https://costaricascallcenter.com/en/outbound-bpo-campaigns/
https://youtu.be/xdxLRZ0K440
https://youtu.be/1USx0n2RMoQ
https://youtu.be/_nEDb7cvu_A
https://youtu.be/O2jukpEruYQ
https://youtu.be/ZgI2PGn1EDQ
https://youtu.be/7gZ1e2vgLKg
https://open.spotify.com/episode/6g8yr6ltjMRm2HZlL5NoFf
https://www.spreaker.com/user/14867186/my-worthless-2cents-table-is-with-richar
Richard Blank: Your potential is just limitless. You could do very well.
Louisiana Country Boy: Hey, that is, that, that is definitely, definitely amazing. You know, I I, and again, Richard, I, I applaud you. I, I keep applauding you for just your, your, again, your tenacity, but how you have and the culture. that you are creating have created. I mean, it ain't like you just started today over the years, and I know it was, I can just assume that it was something that you had to go in and slowly change or whatever it may have been.
But you, you created this wonderful, wonderful, wonderful culture.
Richard Blank: Um, did it slow and steady. I started off working out of my home and I was renting a turnkey. Wow. I'd like a, a glorified internet cafe, no privacy, open floor plan C by C. Did that for a couple years. I, I wanted to reduce my risk. I wanna add enough capital.
Then I rented out a place where I could put 150 stations, which I did the furniture in the server room. So I made that large investment. And then after so many years, I had enough money to build this 300 seat center. So it's the tortoise, not the hair. If you don't have money for. , you don't pay for it.
Right? Right. And so I went very, very conservative. I also did it for the wi uh, the acorns for the winter philosophy because Covid set me back. And in 2010, I had a small setback as well, but I had enough reserves to weather that storm. I was responsible for the job stability and the payroll. And I also wanted to make sure to, in that I could ensure endurance.
Yes. So that I could, I, I could beat. . And so sometimes people overextend themselves and that's when they get into trouble, right? So as much as you wanna see it as fancy dancing now my friends, it's very .
Louisiana Country Boy: Mm-hmm. . Slow and steady. Slow and steady. Well look rich, we are.
My Worthless 2cents Table Podcast has accepted Richard Blank's invitation to join the audience for a solid discussion regarding moving abroad and starting a company from scratch in Costa Rica. Donnie Lewis-The Louisiana Country Boy- discusses with Richard advanced telemarketing strategy, conflict management, interpersonal soft skills, customer support, rhetoric, gamification, employee motivation and phonetic micro expression reading.
A place to freely express our thoughts and feelings where your worthless 2cents is priceless sharing our journey with each other,and always remember “Your Approval Not Needed “
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://youtu.be/ZgI2PGn1EDQ
https://costaricascallcenter.com/en/outbound-bpo-campaigns/
https://youtu.be/xdxLRZ0K440
https://youtu.be/1USx0n2RMoQ
https://youtu.be/_nEDb7cvu_A
https://youtu.be/O2jukpEruYQ
https://youtu.be/mKnzAfDDx7k
https://youtu.be/7gZ1e2vgLKg
https://open.spotify.com/episode/6g8yr6ltjMRm2HZlL5NoFf
https://www.spreaker.com/user/14867186/my-worthless-2cents-table-is-with-richar
I love looking at my face. It is another day of giving myself five in the mirror. Table Talk My Worthless 2 Cents podcast guest Richard Blank Costa Ricas Call Center
Louisiana Country Boy: And what you just said is so true. You know, uh, for me, I said that, you know, the pandemic, I looked at a little bit different here. Mm-hmm. for me, I, I said that what happened was now the people that have been wearing the mask all the time, you can actually see the mask. Cause that's what people were doing.
People have been wearing mask for so long. Um, faking it and shaking it here and there, and over here, and you can, you can't keep it up forever. You really. You, you really, really can't. Um, and I could just speak personally, you know, I, I, I, for years I was that person trying to live something. I don't know what that something was until I just, it, it, it came that, that point in life.
It was like, no, just be who you are. Look, I know this. I don't know nothing else. There are people that's gonna like you, and there are people. And them ain't, I ain't gonna like it no matter what. And them is, they, they heal no matter what. And, and, and that's just how it is. You can't, for me, I'm not fitting to juggle over here and be like this over here today and, and be like this over here.
If you see me next week, you going, I'm gonna be just like this him. There you go, Lord, him and it big mouth, can you shut him up? That, that's, that's just who I. I just embrace that and that's what I tell people. Just embrace who you are.
Richard Blank: Um, well that helps you sleep well at night. Could you imagine that sort of conflict when you look in the mirror and you don't even recognize yourself anymore?
Louisiana Country Boy: Hey, you know my old saying, right? Most people got their mirrors in their house covered up cause they don't want to see themselves. Save
Richard Blank: I love looking at myself cause it's another day of me giving myself five and saying, Go Richie. Go look what you just did. What's tomorrow gonna bring my friend? What are you gonna do there? Hey, that's it. Hey. Okay Richie. I, I got now you got me
Louisiana Country Boy: all. Cause look, when we get out sale, I'm gonna ask you for a job,
Richard Blank: I'm be, I'm be, I'm be, I'm
Louisiana Country Boy: gonna lump me some Spanish. Don't be over there after file. You gonna be like, We don't have to. No, you gonna have to go home. But look, can you, can you please if it's okay,
My Worthless 2cents Table Podcast has accepted Richard Blank's invitation to join the audience for a solid discussion regarding moving abroad and starting a company from scratch in Costa Rica. Donnie Lewis-The Louisiana Country Boy- discusses with Richard advanced telemarketing strategy, conflict management, interpersonal soft skills, customer support, rhetoric, gamification, employee motivation and phonetic micro expression reading.
A place to freely express our thoughts and feelings where your worthless 2cents is priceless sharing our journey with each other,and always remember “Your Approval Not Needed “
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://youtu.be/O2jukpEruYQ
https://costaricascallcenter.com/en/outbound-bpo-campaigns/
https://youtu.be/xdxLRZ0K440
https://youtu.be/1USx0n2RMoQ
https://youtu.be/_nEDb7cvu_A
https://youtu.be/mKnzAfDDx7k
https://youtu.be/ZgI2PGn1EDQ
https://youtu.be/7gZ1e2vgLKg
https://open.spotify.com/episode/6g8yr6ltjMRm2HZlL5NoFf
https://www.spreaker.com/user/14867186/my-worthless-2cents-table-is-with-richar
Mastering Spanish before moving to Costa Rica. Table Talk My Worthless 2 Cents guest Richard Blank
Louisiana Country Boy: If you don't, if you don't want to go in the deep, So I mean, actually, how was it, you know, making the transition? Was it, was it difficult for you? I mean, you know, I don't like to ask questions, but I don't know. I mean, was it, was it a difficult thing or did you go like, you know what, I feel comfortable with what I'm about to do.
I'm about to make this step and this is, I'm led to do this and, and this is at peace. That's it. You were just at peace with your decision. Um, and never thought about turning.
Richard Blank: I was taking it a day at a time. It was only supposed to last two months. So being here 22 years is really a godsend. But let, let's look at it a couple different ways logically.
The first thing is I, I mastered Spanish before coming to Costa Rica, so that transition was very easy for me. I could James Bond it all day long. Yeah. Secondly, I knew that I was a guest in this country, so I wasn't the loud foreigner. I wasn't expecting certain things, and I had a lot of. Keeping an open-mindedness for a new culture and tradition.
That made it easy for me because a lot of things that you hold dear in Louisiana and Philadelphia don't mean anything here, So you don't have that home court advantage. You need to show who you are and that essence and, and also, I wasn't looking for trouble. I wasn't licking my thumb and counting dollars on the side of the.
Right. I wasn't being insulting to taxi drivers of the locals. I wasn't throwing trash on the ground or being rude. So there wasn't no sort of violence, right. Or any sort of aggression. Or, or pressure naturally I stand out. I'm a, you know, we call me a Blanco, I'm an extra arrow. I look like I'm from the United States, no matter how and, and I never really volunteer my Spanish initially, depending on the situation.
Cuz I just wanna see the good faith, right? And I let them assume that I don't speak Spanish, so at least I use that to my advantage. You have to do certain things strategically, right? I don't keep the earbuds in. I'm looking around the street. I'm not paranoid. Uh, you know, I'm astute. I'm looking around.
This is not a game. I'm 3000 miles away from you and my mother, and so I, I need to take this seriously. Right? And so I was really kinda like, if you're getting through the desert, I could look in the direction of where I was going, but if you're not looking at your feet, you could sprain an ankle. You're dead.
And so I was really taking it a day at a time just to make sure I was getting positive reinforc. Acclimating Well, cost of living was good, so there wasn't pressure there earning very good money, and so my friend, a lot of things just kind of fell into place to make it easier. Now, I'm, I'm telling you the end result of it.
Trust me, there are certain times where, you know, I needed to really use my resources here to make my life comfortable. There's certain things you can do. There are local people that will assist you cut a certain line if you know somebody or get things done quicker. You know, there's a lot of red tape here with the government.
So if you have accountants and attorneys, your life can be a lot easier too, and I prefer that. And, um, but I, I guess I just didn't want the United States rat race. I could have done it, but I didn't want it. Right. And so at 27 years old, I put up the white flag and said, You can have. Let me just see if I could do something else, and fortunately, This paid off and I just didn't know.
But that's what makes life exciting. That's it. Who wants to have things planned out like school or camp? You, you really wanna have a zig and a zza every now and again and a and a mix up because it keeps it exciting. And you and I were talking earlier, it's not really about what happens to you, it's how you react to what happens to you.
And the more that even though things could. difficult. Mm-hmm. , when I can look back at it and realize that I handled myself in a certain way with good faith, yes, and with good intentions. My good friend, I can live with myself. And those are the sort of personal. Positive reinforcements that let me know that I was doing the right thing and to keep doing.
It's not for everybody. And trust me, Costa Rica is gorgeous. I don't iberia, I'm not gonna stay there for 22 years. So, um, but it's nice. It's a good cocktail. Story to tell people and and a lot of my friends from Philadelphia, when they see me and they've done exceptionally well, they've all said, Richard, I wish I tried my own adventure.
Not specifically mine, right? But all of them had something in them that they always want at least test or try before the kids, the career, the mortgage, the pressures, right? Just to take a bite outta life just to see what it tastes like. And for me, I guess it was being a little selfish. I just. . I was a romantic.
I wanted to see what could happen in this beautiful hundred years that I have. Mm. And so that's why you see me so smiling. Right now. I have a luxury trade. I married the girl, my dreams, and I'm on a podcast with a
Louisiana Country Boy: mine.
You know? And you know, but I'll say it is wonderful. It is wonderful. And you did it. You, you walked out on again, I say that you, you know, you climbed. Uh, you didn't allow the things, whatever it may have been, whether it was this whole thing, you know, that's the worst one. This whole thing in between these old heels right here telling you don't, do you, You didn't listen to that.
You know, You didn't go like, Okay, well this is the box. I gotta be in this box. You didn't and may I, I, I applaud that and that's what I tell, I say to anybody, That's what you should do. Um, no, they can't be a Richard and they can't be a Louisiana country worker. We already taken. Uh, but they can be who they are.
And man, I applaud you for what you're doing and going there and, and, and staying and sticking with it. And, because I'm sure that old thing in between here again, say you need to come on back home now. You need to go on back many a times. But you said no. Mm-hmm. . Well, yes
Richard Blank: and no. You kind of live it now.
Prior to coming here, I. W besides the schooling, Imagine the sort of work I did with the Spanish outside of the classroom, with the movies and the reading and the writing and the, and the practice. So you wield your sword. You are prepared for this. Yes. And if you live it, then it's really just a natural progression.
This was my destiny, my friend. It had to be done.
Louisiana Country Boy: That is, that is, that is, You know, I, I'll say this, What you. And I tell everybody, this is what, what you should always do. You walked in purpose. On purpose. Mm-hmm. and, And people miss that. You know, some people know when you walk in purpose, on purpose, everything that's purposed for you, you get.
You walk into your destiny, that's the only way you can walk into your destiny. You have to do it in purpose. On purpose. You, you ain't gonna trip into your destiny. You ain't gonna just back bow into it. No, no, no. It requires something from us. It requires what you did and you did it. I mean, you did it. Um, and, and again, like I say, man, I, I applaud you for it.
I applaud you. I applaud you. For, for being able to just come here and, and, and, and share, like, you know, to tell the story about it. You know, this is not okay. Lemme say that. Look here, y'all, this man right here was not born in Costa Rica. Oh. I don't know. I don't know if y'all missed it. He was not born in Costa Rica.
He took the steps before he went, He said he learned Spanish. Okay. He took the, Okay. That's, that's that thing, right? He took the steps. He was walking up, parked up here. I need to do something outside the box. This is what I'm gonna do if I want to go here, then this is what? See, when you got to Costa Rica, my opinion, I don't know, You had everything in your toolbox already that you needed to fix, whatever it was.
Richard Blank: I wish you was shining brighter than I've ever done in my entire life since that first. And I never did tell a marketing before I got on the phone.
My Worthless 2cents Table Podcast has accepted Richard Blank's invitation to join the audience for a solid discussion regarding moving abroad and starting a company from scratch in Costa Rica. Donnie Lewis-The Louisiana Country Boy- discusses with Richard advanced telemarketing strategy, conflict management, interpersonal soft skills, customer support, rhetoric, gamification, employee motivation and phonetic micro expression reading.
A place to freely express our thoughts and feelings where your worthless 2cents is priceless sharing our journey with each other,and always remember “Your Approval Not Needed “
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://youtu.be/_nEDb7cvu_A
https://costaricascallcenter.com/en/outbound-bpo-campaigns/
https://youtu.be/xdxLRZ0K440
https://youtu.be/1USx0n2RMoQ
https://youtu.be/O2jukpEruYQ
https://youtu.be/mKnzAfDDx7k
https://youtu.be/ZgI2PGn1EDQ
https://youtu.be/7gZ1e2vgLKg
https://open.spotify.com/episode/6g8yr6ltjMRm2HZlL5NoFf
https://www.spreaker.com/user/14867186/my-worthless-2cents-table-is-with-richar
Secrets to getting the highest QA scores when working at a call center? INspired INsider Podcast guest Richard Blank Costa Rica's Call Center
Dr. Jeremy Weisz: Just as far as a quality over quantity, I mean the quality interactions over, yeah, we can go ahead and, and call a thousand people, but maybe we research, uh, and call 200 people and have a closer connection. It's more targeted.
Richard Blank: I would prefer you do the thousand, but instead of doing 150 calls a day, I'd rather you do about a buck 20.
Richard Blank: And so give about 30 seconds. Per person, so you don't have to reduce it that much because you need to have a certain sort of momentum. You need to have a certain sort of metric there to get a certain return. So maybe only doing 20% might not be good enough because you were working before, you know, at a hundred percent.
Richard Blank: But I could reduce it to about an 85% and use that 15% as you were mentioning, to make it custom made. And that could potentially, Any sort of, you know, latency that you might have in regards to the phone calls. But, um, I also, I always believed in a quality phone call, and I don't want somebody, it's, it's almost like a painter when you're commissioned, compared to doing it on your own, you might have a different sort of way to create that work.
Richard Blank: And so I just don't want somebody on the clock. I don't want them to go on the phone for five hours if it happens, you know, so be it. It'll be an amazing phone call, but they should never rush the middle or the ending of the call, or when they're getting a referral or if they're talking about a company's promotion, because that my friend is where I give the most points when I'm grading their calls.
Richard Blank: Not that they go through the motions to see if they had that breakthrough with that individual. So when we're taking notes and putting in the system and have to call them back, they're gonna compliment us. On our note taking skills because they're so detailed and we've taken the time, unlike other people to remember certain facts about them, that when they take our offer into consideration, they realize how we work prior to any sort of context to talk about.
Inspired Insider Podcast 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. Dr. Jeremy Weisz discusses with Richard advanced telemarketing strategy, conflict management, interpersonal soft skills, customer support, rhetoric, gamification, employee motivation and phonetic micro expression reading.
INspiredINsider.com Show features interviews with successful and inspirational entrepreneurs, authors, and visionary leaders.The interviews reveal deeply personal stories and explore the tough journey of Big Challenges or Big Mistakes that the inspirational leaders overcame to achieve success. Have You Ever Hit a Wall in Business or Life?
Dr. Jeremy Weisz is the Founder of InspiredInsider.com & CEO of Rise25.com He has been featuring top entrepreneurs with video interviews since 2010 that include founders/CEO’s of P90X, Atari, Einstein Bagels, Mattel, the Orlando Magic, Rx Bars and many more on InspiredInsider. He was senior producer for 6 years at one of the early top business podcasts helping to put systems in place and to run some of the behind the scenes operations.He continues to run his own chiropractic & massage facility in downtown Chicago and is founder of a nutritional supplement business.
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://youtu.be/qUPls0fWIMM
https://costaricascallcenter.com/en/outbound-bpo-campaigns/
https://www.inspiredinsider.com/richard-blank-interview/
https://www.iheart.com/podcast/263-inspired-insider-wi-29650573/episode/improving-your-customer-support-with-richard-99381742/
https://player.fm/series/inspired-insider-podcast/improving-your-customer-support-with-richard-blank-of-costa-ricas-call-center
https://www.deezer.com/en/show/38477
https://podcastaddict.com/podcast/2939630
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/improving-your-customer-support-with-richard-blank/id729464589?i=1000569868046
How to make a custom made email template when prospecting new business? INspired INsider Podcast guest Richard Blank Costa Rica's Call Center
Dr. Jeremy Weisz: Will you, when you do the outbound uh, calls, will you also do emails and texts as well? Or is that, or the company handling those things and you're following up with the call?
Richard Blank: It really all depends. Um, a lot of the times we're logging into their system, so something is automated or if they're not doing it, I would make a suggestion to do it, just to make sure it's not too labor intensive.
Richard Blank: But then again, I just don't want them clicking an email template and just sending it to you, calling you, sir. I mean, that's, that's nothing special. You're probably not gonna look at it. It's like, almost like jump bail and you're gonna throw it away. And so if I could have some takeaways as I mentioned it, either on a phone call, a positive escalation, where if I didn't even speak with you, but I spoke with in your coworkers.
Richard Blank: I could almost once again separate myself, and instead of doing half court, not even three point, now you and I are looking at foul shot percentages. I'll never give you a hundred percent slam dunk. I mean, nothing is a hundred percent. There's not even straight lines in nature. But what we can also do is just increase our percentages by doing things that are not too aggressive or misleading.
Richard Blank: We're just, once again, trying to separate ourselves from others that are trying to earn your.
Dr. Jeremy Weisz: From an inbound perspective, So that was the outbound from inbound perspective. Talk about some of the things that you do in the, in the movie and music space.
Richard Blank: Well, this is a wonderful demographic. It's a 55 plus female, so they get like almost a, a, uh, phone book sides book of movies and music that they get to go through every year.
Richard Blank: And this company's actually outta Chicago. They're an incredible company. We've had them for over a decade, and what's beautiful about this account is that these are existing clients and they already know. So we call, we, you know, once again, their contact information so we can get into their account. But when they're explaining the sort of movies that they like and the music, most of the agents here are so young that they've never seen a Humphrey Bogar movie before.
Richard Blank: Or they don't know who John Wayne is, or even Elvis Presley's a loha special. And so the agents, little by little, when they'll go home at night, they'll YouTube some of this stuff and get to know it. So the agents that have been on this campaign for a long time will know these genres and the most beautiful thing.
Richard Blank: And I will say this is how excited. The client gets when we can find their movie because then they, for a moment tell us on how that was the first date they went to with the drive-in with their husband X amount of years ago, where this is the music that they danced to at their wedding back in 1960, or this is what reminds them of Sunday afternoons with their grandmother watching that movie.
Richard Blank: And I love. I find it fascinating because you're learning so much about these people and when we do have their information and what they're looking for in stock, you should really hear the reactions of them. Are the talk times longer? Of course they are because besides double checking prices and shipping information and, and what they ordered, I want them to explain the passion for each thing that they're purchas.
Richard Blank: And do you remember Columbia House? It was like when you were ordering those CDs for a penny? As I say before, most people can order things online with Amazon and they could just click a button, but, but not these clients, they love to go through the book. They love to call us. They usually ask for the same individual that assisted them a couple months ago cuz they have that sort of relationship.
Richard Blank: And the reason I believe that I grew so much was the ups. When we were on the phone with them, you might hear, as I mentioned in this, I have a funny story. They, they, they were ordering Elvis Pres. And we heard dogs barking in the background. So the agent mentioned the dog, and then this client loves dogs.
Richard Blank: So we had this Beethoven special of like six movies that you could just include without the shipping. And we just told them about it and this, and this individual loved her grandchildren, loved dogs, and the Beethoven, you know, movie pack was perfect for her. And so how did Elvis Presley go to Beeth? Just as easy as anything else.
Richard Blank: There's a thousand topics to talk about in regards to movies of music, and if somebody lived a life, we can make a suggestion. But the reason I was able to grow so much was because of that upsell that was done flawlessly and just without resistance and just making a mention. And the client realized that we had not only the active listening skills, but the assertiveness to make that sort of suggestion and to be able to convert that sort of sale.
Richard Blank: They love this account and the attrition on this account is next to nothing. And some of my oldest supervisors that have been with me over a decade are managing this account. And so for me it it, it was really a gift to be able to work with this company for so long out of your amazing Chicago.
Inspired Insider Podcast 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. Dr. Jeremy Weisz discusses with Richard advanced telemarketing strategy, conflict management, interpersonal soft skills, customer support, rhetoric, gamification, employee motivation and phonetic micro expression reading.
INspiredINsider.com Show features interviews with successful and inspirational entrepreneurs, authors, and visionary leaders.The interviews reveal deeply personal stories and explore the tough journey of Big Challenges or Big Mistakes that the inspirational leaders overcame to achieve success. Have You Ever Hit a Wall in Business or Life?
Dr. Jeremy Weisz is the Founder of InspiredInsider.com & CEO of Rise25.com He has been featuring top entrepreneurs with video interviews since 2010 that include founders/CEO’s of P90X, Atari, Einstein Bagels, Mattel, the Orlando Magic, Rx Bars and many more on InspiredInsider. He was senior producer for 6 years at one of the early top business podcasts helping to put systems in place and to run some of the behind the scenes operations.He continues to run his own chiropractic & massage facility in downtown Chicago and is founder of a nutritional supplement business.
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://youtu.be/Ypd-Ochx_Vc
https://costaricascallcenter.com/en/outbound-bpo-campaigns/
https://www.inspiredinsider.com/richard-blank-interview/
https://www.iheart.com/podcast/263-inspired-insider-wi-29650573/episode/improving-your-customer-support-with-richard-99381742/
https://player.fm/series/inspired-insider-podcast/improving-your-customer-support-with-richard-blank-of-costa-ricas-call-center
https://www.deezer.com/en/show/38477
https://podcastaddict.com/podcast/2939630
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/improving-your-customer-support-with-richard-blank/id729464589?i=1000569868046
What is a perfect volume of calls per month for a telemarketer? INspired INsider Podcast guest Richard Blank Costa Rica's Call Center
Richard Blank: And this sort of company culture, I think you can then once again readjust your prospecting accordingly,
Dr. Jeremy Weisz: Richard, in that situation with a company, go, Great. We want you to actually. You know, these are customers that aren't using, decide not to use this anymore for whatever reason. And what volume does it make sense for them to call you?
Dr. Jeremy Weisz: Like let's say if they have one a month, it probably doesn't make any sense, right? To have them use your services. Is there a certain volume of calls that make sense for a company before they, you know, uh, I guess a baseline of a volume? You're like, Yeah, this makes sense to work with us.
Richard Blank: I think as long as they get full-time work for somebody.
Richard Blank: Cuz I, I, by labor laws, I don't do part-time work here because they won't be able to get their benefits. But if somebody only has enough leads to call for one month and it's an individual working out of their home and it's a startup company. Not saying that I have a preferred child, but I was in those shoes back in the day.
Richard Blank: So I guess I have more, uh, empathy and compassion towards the startup company. That might even almost be embarrassed that they're not able to give me a hundred seat, 10 year commitment. Well, once again, everybody had to start with their first step. And it's almost like when somebody says, How do I get job experience if somebody doesn't hire me?
Richard Blank: Not saying I'm willing to take any campaign. I'm extremely selective of those that come in here. But if they make their case and if they're willing to, you know, invest in a process and there's no surprises, and we can share resources, It's my pleasure to see what happens. I mean, Pete Rose should have been in the Hall of Fame for singles.
Richard Blank: It's still okay and 100 singles opens up to a huge 100 seat account. And so, as I mentioned before, uh, a little at a time equals a lot in the end. And from time to time, a client may be testing you small or it might be an iceberg where they want to see how I would react to a one seater before they give me 100 seats.
Richard Blank: And for me, as I mentioned before, everybody gets the same red carpet treatment and everybody gets the same sort of attention, and I would love to earn their business. And so I have had certain clients, as you were mentioning, test me on a certain volume just to see what my reactions are and I've earned that business.
Richard Blank: And so anybody out there, you should be extremely appreciative of anybody that walks into your door that orders one slice to 20 pies. You just never know because the 20 pi guy come is a one and a done. The one slicer could be there for the next 20 years. And so as I mentioned before, I believe in good faith and stars being aligned in energy.
Richard Blank: And as somebody has that sort of, uh, interest to contact me, it's my obligation to be able to share ideas with them. So, on an educated point of view, Jeremy, they can make a decision to move forward with me. Richard.
Inspired Insider Podcast 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. Dr. Jeremy Weisz discusses with Richard advanced telemarketing strategy, conflict management, interpersonal soft skills, customer support, rhetoric, gamification, employee motivation and phonetic micro expression reading.
INspiredINsider.com Show features interviews with successful and inspirational entrepreneurs, authors, and visionary leaders.The interviews reveal deeply personal stories and explore the tough journey of Big Challenges or Big Mistakes that the inspirational leaders overcame to achieve success. Have You Ever Hit a Wall in Business or Life?
Dr. Jeremy Weisz is the Founder of InspiredInsider.com & CEO of Rise25.com He has been featuring top entrepreneurs with video interviews since 2010 that include founders/CEO’s of P90X, Atari, Einstein Bagels, Mattel, the Orlando Magic, Rx Bars and many more on InspiredInsider. He was senior producer for 6 years at one of the early top business podcasts helping to put systems in place and to run some of the behind the scenes operations.He continues to run his own chiropractic & massage facility in downtown Chicago and is founder of a nutritional supplement business.
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://youtu.be/ADwIu8q76yM
https://costaricascallcenter.com/en/outbound-bpo-campaigns/
https://www.inspiredinsider.com/richard-blank-interview/
https://www.iheart.com/podcast/263-inspired-insider-wi-29650573/episode/improving-your-customer-support-with-richard-99381742/
https://player.fm/series/inspired-insider-podcast/improving-your-customer-support-with-richard-blank-of-costa-ricas-call-center
https://www.deezer.com/en/show/38477
https://podcastaddict.com/podcast/2939630
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/improving-your-customer-support-with-richard-blank/id729464589?i=1000569868046
Clever ways to buy time on a telemarketing call.INspired INsider Podcast guest Richard Blank Costa Rica's Call Center
Dr. Jeremy Weisz: So Richard, let's say there's a company and um, they have a list of whatever every month of clients who decided not to use a service, they can hire a company like you to go, Hey, Richard, here's the list right now. We don't offer support via phone. Here's a list of these clients every month, and your company would call them and almost do kind of like an exit type of interview.
Dr. Jeremy Weisz: Sure. Is that.
Richard Blank: We can, I'd be very much interested to see the tone of the script, the voicemails, and the email templates that you have to offer me. If I have to start that, I'd like to start off positive or one of the first things I could say is, Hey, we didn't forget about you, and unlike other companies that just sent emails, I'm giving you a personal courtesy call.
Richard Blank: May I have a few moments to be able to find out what we could do in order to earn your business? What the competition did to get your business. And I'd like to see if I could match it or to be able to exceed those sort of expectations. And so as long as I mentioned before that you could almost custom make this, you'd have to gimme the exact vertical, how long you communicated with them, the sort of communication they gave to us services we were offering.
Richard Blank: So as I say before, there's certain ways there. There's a philosophy of Wu wei. Where it's least resistance. I don't want to call you and badger you on why you're not giving me the business, but if you're kind enough to spend the time with me, even if I'm starting five touchdowns behind, there is a chance we can come back and win this game.
Richard Blank: It's just a matter of earning time. At least let me get the first 30 seconds and if I can get the 30 seconds, maybe I can get a 10 minute conversation out of you and we can take it step by step and piece by piece. And even if I have to stop midway, To reschedule it or to follow through with information to pick up where we left off.
Richard Blank: That's your protocol and I'm okay with that. As long as your clients can build a pipeline, depending on sense of urgency and the sort of company culture, I think you can then once again readjust your prospect rich.
Inspired Insider Podcast 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. Dr. Jeremy Weisz discusses with Richard advanced telemarketing strategy, conflict management, interpersonal soft skills, customer support, rhetoric, gamification, employee motivation and phonetic micro expression reading.
INspiredINsider.com Show features interviews with successful and inspirational entrepreneurs, authors, and visionary leaders.The interviews reveal deeply personal stories and explore the tough journey of Big Challenges or Big Mistakes that the inspirational leaders overcame to achieve success. Have You Ever Hit a Wall in Business or Life?
Dr. Jeremy Weisz is the Founder of InspiredInsider.com & CEO of Rise25.com He has been featuring top entrepreneurs with video interviews since 2010 that include founders/CEO’s of P90X, Atari, Einstein Bagels, Mattel, the Orlando Magic, Rx Bars and many more on InspiredInsider. He was senior producer for 6 years at one of the early top business podcasts helping to put systems in place and to run some of the behind the scenes operations.He continues to run his own chiropractic & massage facility in downtown Chicago and is founder of a nutritional supplement business.
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://youtu.be/JUTNIPTMztY
https://costaricascallcenter.com/en/outbound-bpo-campaigns/
https://www.inspiredinsider.com/richard-blank-interview/
https://www.iheart.com/podcast/263-inspired-insider-wi-29650573/episode/improving-your-customer-support-with-richard-99381742/
https://player.fm/series/inspired-insider-podcast/improving-your-customer-support-with-richard-blank-of-costa-ricas-call-center
https://www.deezer.com/en/show/38477
https://podcastaddict.com/podcast/2939630
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/improving-your-customer-support-with-richard-blank/id729464589?i=1000569868046
Work from home virtual telemarketers need composure and maturity.INspired INsider Podcast guest Richard Blank Costa Rica's Call Center
Richard Blank: For my clients.
Dr. Jeremy Weisz: Let's talk about culture for a second and when, when Covid hit, again, like you have the tools and opportunity to do things virtually, obviously, cause people call you, you're a call center and you're doing things virtually, but what about in house? Did things change at all with Covid? Did you find that more people were able to work from home, Um, and then, you know, or did they come back in the office?
Dr. Jeremy Weisz: How'd that transition look like? Kind. During Covid and then, and then post Covid.
Richard Blank: It's an excellent question, Jeremy. Well, nobody knew what was happening. You're a doctor. I mean, nobody really knew what was happening when Covid first did. So the Costa Rican labor law gave me up to 50% capacity in my call center.
Richard Blank: I chose to make it 20%. I did need people here for PCI compliance onboarding. Something happens at home. They can have a turnkey station. What we lost is the camaraderie. This is a very social environment. I do believe in synergy and unlike certain vocations where people can just sit in a cubicle and get their job done, this is a very open floor plan where people were feeding off of the energy and we're all public speakers.
Richard Blank: And so it really reduced my effectiveness in regards to onsite training where I could just walk the rows and, and stand there and give someone shadowing or some sort of positive reinforcement. But I also saw the isolation side of it. People once again, loved coming to work to eat lunch and spend time with their best friend.
Richard Blank: And we also had some people here that were so influential that if you sat next to 'em, you were definitely gonna be better. Like, you know, when you're playing basketball, if you play with someone better than you, you're probably gonna hit better shots. And so the positive side of it has a lot of people that lived far away could save their time and money, spend more time with their family.
Richard Blank: And once again, they showed some sort of composure and maturity to be able to work from home, even though we are able to monitor their work. And so it was really a give or a take. You and I, what we had to do was just adjust accordingly. And so besides just following the labor laws, we had to open up a lot more communication channels.
Richard Blank: We had to be a lot more active. And in the best way that we can try to continue our company culture of empathy, of caring about the agent, letting them know that we're still investing in them and they're not expendable, are we capable of doing it? Sure. And I think everybody needs to adjust to this virtual world.
Richard Blank: It's, it's a shame, my friend, because I think a lot of it we're losing a certain artist perspective of what it's like to do something live in front of people. Compared to just doing something virtually. And so as long as people, once again, can make sure if they're on a Zoom call to represent themselves properly or if they are working with somebody, just take the extra efforts to let them know that you're thinking about them and that you support them in that sort of way and, and those sort of messages.
Richard Blank: Doctor, as you know, go a long.
Inspired Insider Podcast 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. Dr. Jeremy Weisz discusses with Richard advanced telemarketing strategy, conflict management, interpersonal soft skills, customer support, rhetoric, gamification, employee motivation and phonetic micro expression reading.
INspiredINsider.com Show features interviews with successful and inspirational entrepreneurs, authors, and visionary leaders.The interviews reveal deeply personal stories and explore the tough journey of Big Challenges or Big Mistakes that the inspirational leaders overcame to achieve success. Have You Ever Hit a Wall in Business or Life?
Dr. Jeremy Weisz is the Founder of InspiredInsider.com & CEO of Rise25.com He has been featuring top entrepreneurs with video interviews since 2010 that include founders/CEO’s of P90X, Atari, Einstein Bagels, Mattel, the Orlando Magic, Rx Bars and many more on InspiredInsider. He was senior producer for 6 years at one of the early top business podcasts helping to put systems in place and to run some of the behind the scenes operations.He continues to run his own chiropractic & massage facility in downtown Chicago and is founder of a nutritional supplement business.
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://youtu.be/We3tK5VfIYY
https://costaricascallcenter.com/en/outbound-bpo-campaigns/
https://www.inspiredinsider.com/richard-blank-interview/
https://www.iheart.com/podcast/263-inspired-insider-wi-29650573/episode/improving-your-customer-support-with-richard-99381742/
https://player.fm/series/inspired-insider-podcast/improving-your-customer-support-with-richard-blank-of-costa-ricas-call-center
https://www.deezer.com/en/show/38477
https://podcastaddict.com/podcast/2939630
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/improving-your-customer-support-with-richard-blank/id729464589?i=1000569868046
INspired INsider Podcast welcomes guest Richard Blank Costa Rica's Call Center
Dr. Jeremy Weisz: What I've got. You care by every side between my eyes. Walk through the, came out better on the other side. See? Looks like a, You find the same. Right now I'm feeling like a hundred grand. You are listening to Inspired Insider with your host, Dr. Jeremy Wise. Dr. Jeremy Weiss here, founder inspired insider.com, where I talk with inspirational entrepreneurial leaders.
Dr. Jeremy Weisz: Today is no different. I have Richard blank of Costa Rica's call center. You can check it out. I'm gonna formally introduce Richard in a second. But Richard, I always like to talk about other episodes people should check out of the podcast. And because, uh, Richard is a pinball fanatic, we will definitely point out Roger Sharp.
Dr. Jeremy Weisz: Um, they call him the Babe Ruth of pinball. He called his shot in 1970. To, I guess pinball in the day was illegal and he made it legal somehow. So watch that. There was an episode on Drunk History of Roger Sharp. That's hilarious. Um, also because we're talking call centers in direct response, um, you know, I've had some direct response legends on the podcast.
Dr. Jeremy Weisz: You can check 'em out. Um, Ron Po. Peel, if anyone's heard this saying, But wait, there's more. He is an infomercial legend selling over $2 billion worth of stuff. Unfortunately, may rest in peace. He passed. But check that episode out. He was fantastic and Rick Sari as well was a great episode. Direct response.
Dr. Jeremy Weisz: He helped Santa Care toothbrush and George Foreman Grill with their infomercials and juice Man Juicer and so many other legendary companies. So check that episode out as well. This episode is brought to you by Rise 25 and it rise 25. We all businesses give to and connect to their Dream 100 relationships.
Dr. Jeremy Weisz: How do we do that? We help you run your podcast. You know, for me, Richard, the number one thing in my life is relationships. I'm always looking at ways to give to my best relationships, and I've found no better way to do that than to profile the people and companies I most admire over the past decade and have them on and shout from the rooftops what they're working on, what they're doing.
Dr. Jeremy Weisz: So if you've thought about podcasting, you should, uh, if you have questions, go to Rise 20 five.com or email. At Support Rise 20 five.com and Richard Blank is a CEO of Costa Rica's call center. His journey in the call center space is filled with a lot of twist and turns, and I know Richard, for you, when you were 27 years old, you relocated to Costa Rica and you started training employees from a larger call centers in San Jose.
Dr. Jeremy Weisz: You've shared your knowledge and trained over 10,000. Bilingual telemarketers, and I know, um, people could check out Costa Rica's call center.com, where they have a variety of services we're gonna dig into, um, like customer care, telesales, lead generation, appointment setting, and much more. And Richard, thanks for joining me.
Richard Blank: So happy to be here today. Jeremy, thank you so much for having a guest in podcast.
Dr. Jeremy Weisz: I'm excited because there's so much stuff we wanna talk about gamification of culture, um, expat moving there, some of the challenges of call centers, training, soft skills. But I wanted to start off with people of misconceptions.
Dr. Jeremy Weisz: Of call centers, right? They picture is just like a churn and burn calling people. What are some of the misconceptions that you come across in the call spanner call center space?
Richard Blank: Well, the first thing is my friend, they say that I call them during dinner, and we don't have any campaigns that do that. But, uh, it's pretty much what you've seen in Hollywood from Glen Gary, Glen Ross Boiler room, and of course the Wolf of Wall Street.
Richard Blank: You see these environments where it's fast paced aggression and they're selling stock well. Not every single environment has those sort of verticals. In fact, at my call center, most of our campaigns revolve around inbound support, outbound lead generation and appointment setting. So there's a certain level of assertiveness, not aggressiveness in regards to the campaigns that we accept in work with at the center who's not a fit.
Inspired Insider Podcast 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. Dr. Jeremy Weisz discusses with Richard advanced telemarketing strategy, conflict management, interpersonal soft skills, customer support, rhetoric, gamification, employee motivation and phonetic micro expression reading.
INspiredINsider.com Show features interviews with successful and inspirational entrepreneurs, authors, and visionary leaders.The interviews reveal deeply personal stories and explore the tough journey of Big Challenges or Big Mistakes that the inspirational leaders overcame to achieve success. Have You Ever Hit a Wall in Business or Life?
Dr. Jeremy Weisz is the Founder of InspiredInsider.com & CEO of Rise25.com He has been featuring top entrepreneurs with video interviews since 2010 that include founders/CEO’s of P90X, Atari, Einstein Bagels, Mattel, the Orlando Magic, Rx Bars and many more on InspiredInsider. He was senior producer for 6 years at one of the early top business podcasts helping to put systems in place and to run some of the behind the scenes operations.He continues to run his own chiropractic & massage facility in downtown Chicago and is founder of a nutritional supplement business.
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://youtu.be/wxjdupp_RpA
https://costaricascallcenter.com/en/outbound-bpo-campaigns/
https://www.inspiredinsider.com/richard-blank-interview/
https://www.iheart.com/podcast/263-inspired-insider-wi-29650573/episode/improving-your-customer-support-with-richard-99381742/
https://player.fm/series/inspired-insider-podcast/improving-your-customer-support-with-richard-blank-of-costa-ricas-call-center
https://www.deezer.com/en/show/38477
https://podcastaddict.com/podcast/2939630
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/improving-your-customer-support-with-richard-blank/id729464589?i=1000569868046
B2B tips on how to upsell on a telemarketing call. INspired INsider Podcast guest Richard Blank Costa Rica's Call Center
Richard Blank: In Chicago
Dr. Jeremy Weisz: that, you know, there's, there's such an art and a science to this and you talk about upsells, right? How do you teach upsells when there is an art to it as well? Like what are some of the, the parameters or guidelines you give? Cause you have to give some type of guidelines. It went from Elvis to do to Beethoven, the, you know, but you probably gave them training and guidelines.
Dr. Jeremy Weisz: What's your process for at least giving guidelines for the upsells?
Richard Blank: It's composure, it's timing. I mean, I can't start mentioning dog movies before this individual started talking. All Elvis present. If her dog never bark, I would've never known. I could have heard something else in the background. Could have been anything, but as long as the agent is in the moment.
Richard Blank: Because a lot of the times they'll be stressed because of the past, anxious of the future or thinking about lunch. And if I didn't hear that dog bark for two seconds out of a 15 minute phone call, I would've never sold those additional movies. And so almost like a boxer, you need to be focused 100%. When you were on that call, in between calls on your break and lunch zone out as much as you.
Richard Blank: But you will be getting these sort of clues that are on these calls in regards of and, and in upsale sometimes is not even offering additional stuff. An up sale could also be retention because if I can keep you and get a referral that's an up sale cuz we're getting business out of that, or you'll be calling us back again to order a second time, I can consider that a client upsell in regards to fidelity and loyalty.
Richard Blank: So as long as they use their common sense, Jeremy, if they have the sort of manners that we were raised with, with our parents and grandparents, our amazing grandparents, then what we can do is we can relate with individuals in a natural way, and we have a huge menu. And all we have to do, and we don't have the time to go over every movie, but as long as you're not hanging up and you're excited and we just keep talking, we can make suggestions and some of the best, as you wanna say, sales people are the ones that will let you know that it's not the right fit.
Richard Blank: You play basketball. Not every shoe is perfect for you on the court. And so the greatest salesmen for sneakers will look at your size and the way that you play and make those sort of suggestions. And almost the takeaway is what adds to your credibility? Because you're not just throwing everything at the wall to see what fits.
Richard Blank: When someone is not just a yes man, but can be almost a devil's advocate and explain why today or at this moment, this is not a perfect fit for you. That individual not only will come back in spades, but tell all their friends, Hey, I finally got someone that calls the balls in the strikes and will tell me if my tie is not straight.
Richard Blank: So I've earned so much of my business by being forthright with my clients and as much as I'd like to earn their business, a lot of times by default, I'm not able to take the account because of one reason or another. But then again, when I am capable, we've established such trust before even working together that if any sort of complication or challenge comes.
Richard Blank: It's nothing. We've already established that sort of working relationship where we can get through it together. And so upselling is not a forced fit, my friend. I'm not forcing a hand or telling you I only got two left and you got a minute to buy it. Uh, that's a one and a done. You'll have them one time.
Richard Blank: But if we're talking about long term clients, these are the individuals that you need to walk with, not hit the ball and drag. Richard,
Dr. Jeremy Weisz: I wanna be the first one to thank you. Everyone should check out Costa Rica's call center.com to learn more and more episodes of the podcast. And Richard, thank you so much.
Richard Blank: Had the best time today. Thank you so much, Jeremy. What I've got you between my eyes. Walk the.
Inspired Insider Podcast 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. Dr. Jeremy Weisz discusses with Richard advanced telemarketing strategy, conflict management, interpersonal soft skills, customer support, rhetoric, gamification, employee motivation and phonetic micro expression reading.
INspiredINsider.com Show features interviews with successful and inspirational entrepreneurs, authors, and visionary leaders.The interviews reveal deeply personal stories and explore the tough journey of Big Challenges or Big Mistakes that the inspirational leaders overcame to achieve success. Have You Ever Hit a Wall in Business or Life?
Dr. Jeremy Weisz is the Founder of InspiredInsider.com & CEO of Rise25.com He has been featuring top entrepreneurs with video interviews since 2010 that include founders/CEO’s of P90X, Atari, Einstein Bagels, Mattel, the Orlando Magic, Rx Bars and many more on InspiredInsider. He was senior producer for 6 years at one of the early top business podcasts helping to put systems in place and to run some of the behind the scenes operations.He continues to run his own chiropractic & massage facility in downtown Chicago and is founder of a nutritional supplement business.
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://youtu.be/mMWaMwU4nGc
https://costaricascallcenter.com/en/outbound-bpo-campaigns/
https://www.inspiredinsider.com/richard-blank-interview/
https://www.iheart.com/podcast/263-inspired-insider-wi-29650573/episode/improving-your-customer-support-with-richard-99381742/
https://player.fm/series/inspired-insider-podcast/improving-your-customer-support-with-richard-blank-of-costa-ricas-call-center
https://www.deezer.com/en/show/38477
https://podcastaddict.com/podcast/2939630
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/improving-your-customer-support-with-richard-blank/id729464589?i=1000569868046
Richard Blank: Enhanced communication.
Joe Killinger: Yeah. I You get it. Um, who is your, What does your typical client look like?
Richard Blank: Well, there's two types. Okay. It could be someone like yourself in the United States that needs to scale, and sometimes it's difficult to find qualified individuals that will meet your requirements in the states.
Richard Blank: Yep. Otherwise, individuals might not have the resources. We do, like I was mentioning earlier, manual dialing to predictive dial. Quality assurance department, human resources department supervisors, in my experience. So a lot of the times my consulting could enhance their, uh, I guess plug in place system.
Richard Blank: Mm-hmm. . Cause I can log into your crm. I could even log into your phone system. Yeah. But once again, by using my dialer and other sort of resources we have, we can almost just enhance what you have. And then other companies use us for overflow. Like if they have a dedicated workforce and their queue gets filled, then calls will come into our department too.
Richard Blank: But I always believe if we're on a level playing field and we're given all the resources as corporate, I have on multiple occasions be able to match and exceed expectations. Yeah. And that's why I'm able to earn these seats. But my ideal client would be someone that would first ask me about the labor laws.
Richard Blank: Just to make sure that everything is followed perfectly. Yeah. And the second thing is to judge me on merit, not on price. Because offshore centers in the Philippine and India obviously have much more. Competitive pricing. Sure. And then finally, metrics. I would like realistic expectations. And you asked me earlier about how many calls somebody could do.
Richard Blank: I was mentioning the dialer. I understand reverse psychology, but if you could only make 10 calls an hour, six minute calls, you can't expect me to do 15 or 20. I can't expand time. But you are mentioning manual dialing, I'm talking predictive dialing, and my backend structure. There may be a chance, Joe, that I could do 50% more an hour and recuperate those costs and earn those seeds, but it's really more for somebody to have an open mind.
Richard Blank: A lot of the times they have made phone calls before, but there are things they haven't experienced yet, and so just by me, as you say, listening first and one by one reviewing with them. They don't have enough numbers to call. I need some more rebuttals. You don't have an email template. No one's answering when I try to do a hotly transfer.
Richard Blank: Mm-hmm. , these are certain ways to see if they qualify for me. Gotcha. I just wanna make sure I fulfill the agents' needs, right?
Joe Killinger: Mm-hmm. . Yeah. So are you focused mostly on mid, uh, single agents or midlevel companies or large companies for all of the above?
Richard Blank: Oh, pretty much all of the above. All the above. And so we're half and half.
Richard Blank: We do 50% inbound, non-voice and customer support, and then the other half does appointment setting lead generation in some. Okay,
Joe Killinger: well, I'm gonna make sure we have your website in the bottom of this video so people can reach out to you. Talk about pricing. I don't, we don't wanna get into it now, I don't think, but they'll definitely be able to reach out to you and, um, you know, this, this was amazing.
Joe Killinger: I appreciate all the information. Thanks. I'm gonna have to go write some of this down. Actually. I'm gonna, I'm gonna utilize that and so thank you for coming on today.
Richard Blank: The pleasure is mine. Thank you for spending the time with me today.
Real Estate Jam Session Podcast 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. Joe Killinger discusses with Richard advanced telemarketing strategy, conflict management, interpersonal soft skills, customer support, rhetoric, gamification, employee motivation and phonetic micro expression reading.
Joe Killinger has been an active member in the real estate industry for many years, wearing different hats, and at times multiple hats! Over the years he has been an Agent, Investor, Syndicator, Founder and Operator of companies as well as properties he invests in. His expertise has been developed over the past 30 years. During that time he has been personally responsible for the sale of and/or directly involved in the marketing of over 5,900 assets, resulting in closed transactions totaling over 900 million dollars throughout the United States.
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://youtu.be/n3QEVAlvv6o
https://costaricascallcenter.com/en/outbound-bpo-campaigns/
Joe Killinger: you gotta create the connection past the pitch, you know, from there. Yeah. Well, um, so tell us a little bit about what you do. You've got a call center down in Costa Rica, so I'm a little jealous about, I gotta come down there and scuba dive. I swear to God it's on my bucket list. I made it to Belize.
Joe Killinger: That was great. But Costa Rica's gotta be next. But tell us about your call.
Richard Blank: Well, I've been in business for 14 years in the industry for 22. I have bilingual agents here. They're college educated and they're dedicated, so they only work on specific campaigns, and so I have a gamification culture here. Okay, So I believe in restoring old pinball machines, jute boxes.
Richard Blank: I have an air hockey table, so I've created a neutral environment for agents from other departments to meet one another. They can let off steam and recharge batteries and, and it's an environment where I, as the el jefe can spend time with my people. Sure. And, and so this sort of gamification environment has enabled me to reduce any sort of attrition.
Richard Blank: and to have some sort of bridge with the agents here. And so let's say it's a first day of training. Training class doesn't start till seven 30 cuz seven to seven to 30 we start with recess. So everybody can have a great time together. Yeah. And when they enter the first training class, they're loops.
Richard Blank: They have friends. Yep. They're just absorbing now Joe. They start contributing so, So I believe with your training sessions with the agents, there's nothing better than Interac. Role playing and suggestions and pausing it and showing different techniques. It's a dojo. They all, Does everybody work in the same office or are they virtual agents,
Joe Killinger: Joe?
Joe Killinger: Well, uh, about half and half the newer agents are in the office. The guys have been with us for 10 plus years, or at home. Most of you
Richard Blank: know the synergy in your office, you know, the new agents, they feed off of that energy with one another. Oh. And if somebody gets one, the high fives are
Joe Killinger: plenty. Yeah. One of 'em gets a good call and you know, they got a listing employment or something.
Joe Killinger: It's just the energy it just through the roof. Rock on.
Richard Blank: Yeah. I missed that. With Covid that got taken away from me. The essence of my call center was to walk the rose and to break the bread and the high five. Yeah. And so I missed that, but um, I'm glad to hear you have that sort of culture there. I'm sure it's amazing.
Richard Blank: What, do you guys ring a bell? What do you do
Joe Killinger: when someone gets to leave? We don't ring a bell, but it's, it's, it's just fun. And you know what, it motivates the other agents, you know? So I find that if we really support that and, you know, make that a focus, the other agents are like, So what did you do? What did you.
Joe Killinger: How did it happen? And then they kind of grow from that as a team. Can you
Richard Blank: pull the call? What? Pull the call. Pull the call for the agents. Oh yeah. Listen to it. Go right into the training room right after you cut it and then cut it up and everyone gets a slice. Let 'em see. Cause it's still fresh off the griddle, what that call was like.
Richard Blank: It's,
Joe Killinger: I just love the inter, I love this business. First of all, I love the real estate business. I've done auctions and real estate auctions here in the US when it was a startup that worked, went very well and residential. And now I've been focused on commercial the last. 20 some years. So, uh, I love the business and the people, and I love watching new people, you know, build a business and bring it in.
Joe Killinger: And I think, you know, e everybody's afraid that the economy's gonna slow down here. And, you know, being in Southern California we're a little bit spoiled and that we don't, and we are usually the last one in, if we go into recessions. I'm not saying we are, but if we. We're always one of the last ones in one of the first ones out.
Joe Killinger: I think our biggest dip has been in under, even under 10%. So we don't take a big hit, large population in the small geography. Right. But um, yeah, so it works pretty well. Now you get into Inland Empire, that's different deal, but LA proper. But yeah, I love the business. I love the love the energy. So I could imagine being in your call center, you know, it's gotta be.
Joe Killinger: That would be fun. That'd be a fun environment. And you even make it more fun with all this stuff, all that. Box and
Richard Blank: a candy I five at an eating lunch every day. If you were here, it's best time.
Joe Killinger: Yeah. You know, as we get older we re appreciate that even more, I guess, you know, so it's, it's just fun to be around youthful energy that makes me want to go back in and do more work.
Joe Killinger: So I probably,
Richard Blank: These agents here are bilingual. Yeah. So once again, in regards to their intensive. Listening. Yeah. It could be exhausting. Yeah. And so the respect to them using what they've studied as I have with my Spanish Yeah. To recuperate that education costs and, and to earn a very, very good living.
Richard Blank: So once again, people are chatting and texting. I prefer the artist speech and if they can write and cursive, I think that's nice as well. So I'm always encouraging enhanced communication. Yeah.
Joe Killinger: I You get it. Um,
Real Estate Jam Session Podcast 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. Joe Killinger discusses with Richard advanced telemarketing strategy, conflict management, interpersonal soft skills, customer support, rhetoric, gamification, employee motivation and phonetic micro expression reading.
Joe Killinger has been an active member in the real estate industry for many years, wearing different hats, and at times multiple hats! Over the years he has been an Agent, Investor, Syndicator, Founder and Operator of companies as well as properties he invests in. His expertise has been developed over the past 30 years. During that time he has been personally responsible for the sale of and/or directly involved in the marketing of over 5,900 assets, resulting in closed transactions totaling over 900 million dollars throughout the United States.
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://youtu.be/swjtRP1X1vg
https://costaricascallcenter.com/en/outbound-bpo-campaigns/
Joe Killinger: Yeah, finding those people and making sure they have, We have a bad habit as real estate agents. We are, you know, we're a type personalities are entrepreneurs, most of them, and that I run into, and so they just go, go, go, go, go. But if they've got a great individual like you're talking about, you really want to give them the opportunity to really enhance the experience that they're trying to create for you.
Joe Killinger: Really give 'em the proper training. And I think we, we tend to not do that. And so having the proper training, I think is.
Richard Blank: Oh, I couldn't agree with you more. It reduces fear. Yeah, it prepares them. And, um, let me share something with you. Since I'm a CEO of a company like yourself, we have leverage. We can hire and fire, make or break somebody.
Richard Blank: And I choose with this sort of position to encourage and to move people forward. And so these individuals, and I break the stereotype because a lot of people say, Wow, you are so hands on and you know people's names and you break bread with them. And I say, Well, As you and I do, Joe. Yeah. We break bread with our people.
Richard Blank: And I heard how you spoke about this individual prior, so I don't need to remind you. Uh, but the greatest thing is with these individuals is it's about maturity. And when they realize that each individual is a unique experience, they might be making their hundredth call, but it's the first call for them.
Richard Blank: And so you really have to take that sort of delicate situation and not, and not be bored with your pitch. Yeah. Because as I mentioned before, you're, you're becoming plastic. Yeah. You'll burn out on something like
Joe Killinger: that. Yeah. If they don't, we we, what we do is we make sure our agents know the market very, very well.
Joe Killinger: So let's say if you're gonna be a multi-family agent in, in Hollywood, and you better know every property that's on the market. Average days on market, average price per square foot, average size of units, everything. That makes the conversation a lot easier because you've got all this data in your head that you can give to these people cuz you're bringing value.
Joe Killinger: And that's another thing, you know, we get so many people that hey, they'll, they'll call like caught one a couple weeks ago, his calling was, Hey, are you somebody to answer? And he goes, Are you thinking about selling your building? Oh you're not. Okay, thank. I'm like, No, no, no, no, no. . That's not
gonna
Richard Blank: work.
Richard Blank: What's, what's his nickname? Fonzi.
Joe Killinger: Yeah. I was like, Oh dude. Um, but yeah, it just doesn't work. There's gotta be a connection and I really think, you know, being in real estate the last 10 years has been, it's been really, really good. Right. You know, the economy's been booming. Uh, real estate's been. That's changing.
Joe Killinger: You know, we're gonna, The fundamentals kind of got pitched out the windows when times were great. And so we're going back to fundamentals. So cold calling's gonna be a big part of it for a lot of people, so you gotta get back to it. I
Richard Blank: listen to their calls, self analysis, self improvement. If they can take a step back.
Richard Blank: And I know you were mentioning that you have scripts. Mm-hmm. , I make a huge suggestion not putting the script on an Excel sheet, but you have qualifying. At least put them in there. Two or three soft skills, Joe, that has made you successful, like positive escalation, pronouns, Name drops, military alphabet.
Richard Blank: Since you have me on the phone, I'm sure you like at least one. Those sort of soft skills just to ensure active listening because they are name dropping and they're putting back on the straight line grade them. Hall of Fame call them. When you bring everybody together, not just for cake, but for training, and when the training session comes, you bring out the call and you watch the tapes like an athletic team does.
Richard Blank: And since this is an individual effort like wrestling and boxing, your team knows the plays, they know the moves. Mm-hmm. , but they're watching an individual, so there's no way to spin it. Yeah, that's new. And if your tone is negative, if you're interrupting. We spoke about desert pitching with no oasis, just to take a breath and a drink.
Richard Blank: If they're not name dropping or having their name dropped, then we need to pause it for a second and say, What do you think you could? Why didn't you ask a follow up question? When someone's father passes away and gives the house to the daughter and the daughter is in a certain state, and I've, I've seen people show, Oh, I'm sorry to hear that and continue with their next question, their closers, but I would've stopped immediately.
Richard Blank: Yeah. And
Joe Killinger: you gotta create the connection, have the pitch,
Richard Blank: you know, from there.
Joe Killinger: Yeah.
Real Estate Jam Session Podcast 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. Joe Killinger discusses with Richard advanced telemarketing strategy, conflict management, interpersonal soft skills, customer support, rhetoric, gamification, employee motivation and phonetic micro expression reading.
Joe Killinger has been an active member in the real estate industry for many years, wearing different hats, and at times multiple hats! Over the years he has been an Agent, Investor, Syndicator, Founder and Operator of companies as well as properties he invests in. His expertise has been developed over the past 30 years. During that time he has been personally responsible for the sale of and/or directly involved in the marketing of over 5,900 assets, resulting in closed transactions totaling over 900 million dollars throughout the United States.
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://youtu.be/ImjaWfrYQr0
https://costaricascallcenter.com/en/outbound-bpo-campaigns/
Why you should listen more than you talk on the phone? Real Estate Jam Session Podcast guest Richard Blank Costa Rica's Call Center
Joe Killinger: Richard is the, um, not listening. They're so busy. They've got somebody on the phone, they're trying to get everything out so fast and, but they're not listening to what the person on the other end is saying. And I just think that if you, you, you know, my, my father, it's amazing how the older I get, the smarter he gets it, just, you know, he goes, Joe, you've got two ears and one mouth.
Joe Killinger: He goes, Listen more than you talk. And he's right. He was right on, and I just am like in sales. That is something that you really have to take into consideration.
Richard Blank: So I have a follow up question to your statement there. Do your agents know your script by? A to Z, one to three. Do they know everything? No.
Joe Killinger: No, they don't.
Joe Killinger: They, you know, and depending on the personality, you know, we have so many different scripts, so most of them don't even really follow a script. They go by. What we try and teach is, you know, when somebody picks up the phone, you need to be listening to them and you know, kind of, I don't wanna say mirror, but understand how they're coming out of there.
Joe Killinger: You can tell right in the first few seconds how somebody is that day if they feel like they're bothered. But I mean, they do have scripts, don't get me wrong. And they have like three of 'em that they all play off of, but nobody has one of them memorized, I don't think. But it's, But that's fine.
Richard Blank: As you say that, they're well versed.
Richard Blank: They know they're subject well, yeah. And, and what I've seen happen multiple times is that they become plastic. Plastic to commercialize. They're not a painting, they're not raw. They're a character, not in character. That's why when your dog was barking, Joe, I asked what the dog's name was. Yeah. As a follow up question, or how many years have you been in this position, this promotion at your company?
Richard Blank: Now, congratulations on being ceo. How many years has it been, Joe? You know what? You know, where are you at right now? Yeah. And so when you say active listening to me, it's really more of an engagement. Because you're saying also as well that you might be upsetting somebody, but I'm telling you this, these are people you're meeting for the first time.
Richard Blank: I can't gauge the first round of the fight as I can on the 12th because things do change, like tug of war. It goes back and forth. There's a push in a bull. Yeah. But if I can. Match just your speed and how loud you go. Then there's no crosstalk or interruption cuz I'm really moving with you at your speed.
Richard Blank: But then I know when to interject to do the follow up. That's the active listening they need checkpoints. They need pauses. Do you remember the show gets smart when he was walking down the hallway and the doors were closing behind him? They're gonna leave. Yes, I do. Yo, my main man, you know, they're gonna leave a door open.
Richard Blank: So after 15 minutes they wonder why they didn't get the appointment. And all the client says is, Hey Joe, send me information. Yeah, no, because that's why when you gauge these people, you ask a follow up question to see if it makes sense or if it sounds good, I'd rather take a three second insurance policy.
Richard Blank: To ask you a tie down question, then to assume, which as you know, it makes an ass out of you and me and just keep moving forward for the fear of being hung up upon. And yeah, I believe in selling sizzle. So somebody has a beautiful building. I would love to take a look at it because when I was doing residential real estate, the MLS was a gold mine for me because you talk about the, the bedrooms, the kitchen, the sport court, the pool, the, the, the, the crown molding or even the curve appeal.
Richard Blank: And obviously it was the biggest glaring tell sign of what the people were most proud of. Oh yeah. And what they loved the most. And so I allowed through least resistance. It's called Woo Way. To, as you say, two on one. Listen, twice I know what I know. I need to know what Joe knows. Yeah. And so by me allowing you to ask these questions and, and me bringing you back in the conversation, don't be surprised if you not only can get everything out of it, but once again, they're probably gonna call you and tell you how great I was by setting the appointment.
Richard Blank: Mm-hmm. , that should be the goal of your staff. is to get that positive escalation when you call back Mrs. Jones to represent her property. Mm-hmm. and I always gave the most points on the call, Joe, when the client says your name. Yeah, I know you want a conversion and, and the scripts and, and I'm so proud of what you built.
Richard Blank: But to me, if they are not capable of having that sort of balanced, grounded in the moment. Sort of conversation where they are selling or buying one of the most expensive investments of their entire life. You have to put, it's almost like a vulnerable state for somebody. You really have to take that into consideration, and so instead of being a prospector, you're almost more of a consultant.
Richard Blank: Yeah, but you're not, Joe, The closer. That's not a problem at all. What I'm here to do today is to clarify for our edification additional things above and beyond your specs that Joe would need to know in order to be in the moment with you to move forward emotionally and to either purchase or let.
Richard Blank: Property go. So you're are such a good man in regards to the psychology, like someone's best friend or older brother, making sure I don't get in a fist fight and stay out of trouble. And Joe, that's why you get these accounts. I don't know if they could price shop around or give it to a family member, but you've closed a lot of deals of people you've met for the first time and these people once again are entrusting this in you.
Richard Blank: And so as much as I'm telling you before, there's no real secret sauce to this. If you show empathy, if you take an extra five minutes to speak with somebody when you're online with them, just start looking at the website and making compliments and asking how Eddie in the, in the mail rooms doing. Don't be surprised if Joe's gonna be way too busy and is gonna have to eat two lunches to get his energy back.
Joe Killinger: Yeah. It's, you know, as far as you know, sales people we're always taught, get the league, get the deal, you know, get the appointment, you know, and I'm like, you, it's just kind of like, you know, it's a process, you know, you gotta have the process in place.
Richard Blank: You gotta do clean business. Yeah. You gotta properly represent yourself in the best light and, And there's no surprises with you, Joe, like as much as you'd like to give somebody a price or sell it with certain terms.
Richard Blank: Mm-hmm. , you're also realistic. And if you're able to have that sort of conversation with your clients, I think once again, they respect you that much more. Yeah.
Joe Killinger: I would bet that when you were doing.
Real Estate Jam Session Podcast 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. Joe Killinger discusses with Richard advanced telemarketing strategy, conflict management, interpersonal soft skills, customer support, rhetoric, gamification, employee motivation and phonetic micro expression reading.
Joe Killinger has been an active member in the real estate industry for many years, wearing different hats, and at times multiple hats! Over the years he has been an Agent, Investor, Syndicator, Founder and Operator of companies as well as properties he invests in. His expertise has been developed over the past 30 years. During that time he has been personally responsible for the sale of and/or directly involved in the marketing of over 5,900 assets, resulting in closed transactions totaling over 900 million dollars throughout the United States.
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://youtu.be/sdL9DJOHz6o
https://costaricascallcenter.com/en/outbound-bpo-campaigns/
The sweet spot for making callbacks to potential clients? Real Estate Jam Session Podcast guest Richard Blank Costa Rica's Call Center
Richard Blank: You're probably gonna get to the front of the line and you will be given your true chance to state your case and to earn this business.
Joe Killinger: Yeah. How often do you, if you, you can't get through two or three or four times, how often do you call them back? Every two weeks. Three weeks?
Richard Blank: That's a great question.
Richard Blank: Depends on the sense of urgency, the size of the list and what vertical you're calling about. Yeah. You could be. Over killing it. And then how many times can you be creative on a voicemail? I mean, after you're, you're just cussing '
Joe Killinger: em off, right? You know, Now they're just angry at
Richard Blank: you. It depends. You could be clever and you could talk about, unlike other people that are doing one thing, you're doing another.
Richard Blank: Or if this person is celebrating an anniversary, you could be calling on those days and saying congratulations on your 14th year. You could really time it perfectly for certain things that you know, they're celebrating if you want to do that. Um, You know, persistence is fine. Yeah. And as I mentioned before, sometimes people only prefer to do non-voice.
Richard Blank: Yeah. And I have to respect that. But if they're gonna be doing non-voice, then I'm gonna be expanding 50 times the descriptions of the emails that I'm gonna be sending to you. Mm-hmm. , or I might just, you roll the dice and go to page seven on your website and describe some sort of machinery or some sort of photograph you took with your crew.
Richard Blank: And mention how awesome that was. Why, Right? Why not ? We might as well try. And so, no, that's
Joe Killinger: it, right? You've gotta try and. Well,
Richard Blank: you're gonna catch my attention. Yeah. I mean, if you really take the time to Google me and to go to my website, it's obvious I've given you three things that will get you to, for me to take your call, write you back and say, Thank you, my man, for taking the time.
Richard Blank: Mm-hmm. , you know, it has to do with the beautiful art building, the pinball machines I have. Yep. And also the writings that I do with the empathy and the relationship I have with my agents. Those are the keys to unlock my door, to pitch me on buying or selling my building. Yeah, so I'll at least give you five minutes no more, and you have to earn more time after that.
Richard Blank: No one's giving you 20. It might just give you a minute. What I believe is that, Joe, you're buying time. I have a huge suggestion for you and it's a soft skill suggestion. Okay? A lot of people say you have to name drop 'em. Well, yeah, you do. But I would suggest doing a five to one name drop pronoun, where you're gonna say your, your, are your.
Richard Blank: Right, Joe , you know, so I think you set 'em up, set 'em up, set 'em up, power bomb. And so if you practice that sort of speaking structure to keep their attention, then there's a good chance you don't have to repeat something, ruin the tone of the call. Next thing you know, the information has to be done.
Richard Blank: Again, you don't want to walk home to get your homework. And so you should really slice and dice these calls very, very carefully. And I've even seen calls that had to go halfway in. And then you pick up where you're left off and as long as you take meeting minutes, as long as you're up to speed and can recap, maybe it is a 50% call.
Richard Blank: And then Joe and I go over next Thursday, next week to finish the call. And as don't be surprised when I call you back on Thursday on time and I am ready to go pen it. The ready the odds. Once again, Joe, are in our favor. Mm-hmm. ?
Joe Killinger: Yeah.
Real Estate Jam Session Podcast 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. Joe Killinger discusses with Richard advanced telemarketing strategy, conflict management, interpersonal soft skills, customer support, rhetoric, gamification, employee motivation and phonetic micro expression reading.
Joe Killinger has been an active member in the real estate industry for many years, wearing different hats, and at times multiple hats! Over the years he has been an Agent, Investor, Syndicator, Founder and Operator of companies as well as properties he invests in. His expertise has been developed over the past 30 years. During that time he has been personally responsible for the sale of and/or directly involved in the marketing of over 5,900 assets, resulting in closed transactions totaling over 900 million dollars throughout the United States.
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://youtu.be/k1VMUwh1oaQ
https://costaricascallcenter.com/en/outbound-bpo-campaigns/
Joe Killinger: Welcome to the Real Estate Jam session. You know, I always try and bring value to you guys and it's all geared toward the real estate industry, and I'm always looking for ways that I can really enhance the experience of being in this industry. And cold calling, like it or not, is a big part of our industry.
Joe Killinger: So as fortunate to run into Richard Blank, Richard has been a cold collars entire life. Matter of fact, he runs a cold collar company down in uh, Costa Rica, which I think I need to go visit. Looks beautiful down there, but he came on the show today and really gives us tips and tricks to really be more successful with our cold calling.
Joe Killinger: So make sure you check it out. Give us a like while you're there. Now, if you're new to the channel, my name is Joe Klinger. I've been a real estate entrepreneur for over 20 years, and I use this channel to bring on people like Richard to really help you learn all that tips and tricks to be successful in this industry.
Joe Killinger: So make sure you check it out. Give us a like while you're there, and if you haven't done so, make sure you.
Joe Killinger: So Richard, you know, is a, a real estate agent. Breaking those barriers, getting in front of a client, a serious client, and, you know, a, it's, it's daunting, right? You know, you gotta pick up that phone and be ready for rejection and, um, you know, it, it's very hard. So, can you kind of, uh, let's, let's start with commercial real estate first.
Joe Killinger: Let's, let's start there and talk about what tactics do you put in place to really help you, um, get through to the decision maker?
Richard Blank: Well, first and foremost, very happy to be sharing these ideas with you and yeah, I appreciate it. Really enjoying the time that we're having today on this podcast. And so what I do here, I have a simple structure.
Richard Blank: I have an introduction of body and conclusion, usually in a normal conversation, and the average attention span, in my opinion, is 30 seconds to two minutes. So let's say you're making a prospecting outbound phone call, as you were mentioning, B to. B to B business to business, the first thing I would do is when somebody answers the phone, is to use your anonymity and do a company name spike better than they would.
Richard Blank: So I'd say, Hey, how's Joe doing today? , you know, and then just to make sure that the whole company is doing great. And then the individual that answers the phone would usually ask me. What is your name? And the first technique I would mention is a buffer boomerang technique because they're usually, as you mentioned, black and blue, from getting so many phone calls.
Richard Blank: Mm-hmm. . And the fact that they are just gonna say, We're good. Thanks. Hang up or not transfer the call. You almost have to differentiate yourself, mothers, So usually I like to say even the name of the company, how the company's doing the first time. And then when they ask me this buffer boomerang technique, I will say, Hey Joe, that's an excellent question.
Richard Blank: My name is Richard Blank, and so this individual sees the active listening. I can readjust their negative tone into a positive tone, repeat their question, and then send it back once again with a name drop and who I am. And so after gaining the trust of this gatekeeper, as you would call them, I'm also gonna let them know that I'm transferred to the decision maker.
Richard Blank: I'm gonna let them know how great you are on the phone. We call that a positive escalation. So it increases your odds of actually having that call transferred. Didn't say you get the appointment but transferred. So then when the call is transferred, you are given the gift of telling this individual how amazing Joe was who answered the phone.
Richard Blank: And so you still have your anonymity. And don't be anonymous. The whole call, that's a little bit of shape, right? But if you just start off strong by complimenting someone that works with them. , it separates you from the others that have been calling and shows what you do prior to contracts. And so this individual, once again will ask who you are.
Richard Blank: So another with Buffer Boomerang, that's an excellent question, Mr. Decision Maker. My name is Richard Blank, and so we're having these conversations with the individual and if you're mentioning all the different services, options, and features of your real estate business, In your way. I just wouldn't do desert pitching Joe, because a lot of times people are so scared or reluctant to let someone speak for the fear of being hung up upon, So I believe pitch.
Richard Blank: Desert Pitchings. If you give a list of five things in a row and not even giving the person a chance to look at your dessert and make sort of reaction on it, there's no oasis in the desert.
Joe Killinger: I'm gonna learn a lot today, I can tell. Ok. And so
Richard Blank: it's almost like the MLS when you're talking about a house, you know, you're mentioned ways of the house.
Richard Blank: With the commercial real estate, you have to go over certain sections, and since it's a non-visual call, you have to gauge the positive or the negative reactions from. This potential client. And so I say slow down on your list of things that you're offering. Take the horizontal to a vertical because you are gonna find one or two things of interest, and then stack that with opened ended questions so they can explain to you.
Richard Blank: Why commercial real estate is important, why they may move forward. Okay. And so as we're continuing this conversation, my suggestion, cuz you're very keen on this, is that this is a first time phone call and there are certain tele signs you can get from somebody over the phone. Once again, I talked about 30 seconds to two minutes.
Richard Blank: My tone needs to be consistent of empathy and confidence, right? There's four sections to phonetics. It's tone, rate, pitch, and duration. Everyone talks about mirror imaging, but I'm not gonna mirror image someone that's negative, so I will always stay positive and always have the answer, but this is the part Joe.
Richard Blank: Of manipulation that you will enjoy if you pay attention to how fast and the speaking level, the pitch of somebody. In every 30 seconds to two minutes, you might see a spike or a dip, and you know perfectly well that's the perfect time to ask a tie down, pin down question. Or potentially if there's noise in the background because some people are working from home, that's still even within, uh, commercial real estate that you would passively, inadvertently and passive aggressively.
Richard Blank: Let them know the Me Too technique on how much you like dogs. Because the dog is making noise or there's a distraction. Someone's on a cell phone. In a car. And so you can always ask the follow up question, What's the dog's name? And so if someone says, Fluffy , Well, I love dogs. Yeah, Put fluffy outside. It's throwing in the call.
Richard Blank: And when they come back, Joe, and I know you're trying to lock in in an appointment, but this is the time that your audience can anchor the coal. You've already made your introduction and you're in the body of the call, but the fact that you and I could talk about your dog for a couple minutes, What that does is that's when you will usually ask me again, excuse me, what is your name?
Richard Blank: And then I'd say, That's an excellent question Joe. My name is Richard Blank. And then your name dropping me the rest of the call. And so when we finish it up, when we go to the conclusion, I want you to say, Joe, since you still have me on the phone, are there any other questions that you have? Cuz you showed me you like A, B, C, and d.
Richard Blank: I know you don't like 'em all, but you showed me you'd like two. Any other questions that you may have, You may or may not. But I always review the information, Joe in military. Because A is the cleanest way, but instead of ending the call, a lot of the times the people have served in the military, nobody's that has.
Richard Blank: Yeah. And then instead of ending the call, you're on the call for another five minutes. Yeah. But I'm still not done. When I'm doing the follow up email to the individual, I will definitely give a written positive escalation on Joe who assisted me. Mm-hmm. to transfer the call. So when I do the Richard Circle and I come back again making the follow up, call the individual yourself, that answer the call is gonna say, In 10 years, no one has ever written something like that about me.
Richard Blank: Yeah. Thank you. And so I'm not saying that you're gonna get the deal, but obviously going from half court to three point to foul line, Yeah. I think you've increased your odds and you've also separated yourself. A lot of people that are just trying to angle in on that goal. Yeah. Oh yeah.
Joe Killinger: You're not just.
Real Estate Jam Session Podcast 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. Joe Killinger discusses with Richard advanced telemarketing strategy, conflict management, interpersonal soft skills, customer support, rhetoric, gamification, employee motivation and phonetic micro expression reading.
Joe Killinger has been an active member in the real estate industry for many years, wearing different hats, and at times multiple hats! Over the years he has been an Agent, Investor, Syndicator, Founder and Operator of companies as well as properties he invests in. His expertise has been developed over the past 30 years. During that time he has been personally responsible for the sale of and/or directly involved in the marketing of over 5,900 assets, resulting in closed transactions totaling over 900 million dollars throughout the United States.
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=DgL4aBGjWqU&t=328s
https://costaricascallcenter.com/en/outbound-bpo-campaigns/
The company game room pinball machines are older than the young telemarketing agents. Positive Talk Radio guest Richard Blank Costa Rica's Call Center
I, I couldn't agree more. I am just thoroughly enjoying this conversation. Me too. Uh, good time. you? You're you're, you're an amazing guy and you're also a fun loving guy, uh, because you've got one of the largest, uh, if not the largest, um, jukebox and, um, pinball collections in all of central. Forget my business.
That's what I'm proud of. People say you could go back and talk to your 14 year old self and tell 'em what you do. I'd be you got pinball machines. , you'd be the first question I'd ask myself. Yes, yes, yes I do. And it's, it's an obsession of mine and people have no idea. The treasures that they have that are in their bodegas.
And so all the time I will be driving a couple hours. To kick a tire or two on an old jukebox or an old retro arcade machine, or especially a pinball machine. And for a couple hundred hours, I'm driving back in 1961, Racola Regis that's in mint condition. And so one man's trash is another man's treasure.
And if that's the way it is, call me Oscar, the grouch I'll take as much charge as you got. And as long as I have the space for it and my wife doesn't get angry, I'll be grabbing as many machines as I can. I, I currently have 13 pinballs. Six jukeboxes, five retro machines and an air hockey table. And as I mentioned before, these machines are older than the agents.
I have an area coming where people can, it's a neutral environment where people can meet others from other campaigns. They can let off steam, they can recharge their batteries. I haven't seen people fall in love by the Backman machine and it, and it gives somebody the chance to hang out with the Hefe in a neutral environment where we're just having.
Fun. And so when people are best friends and you mentioned this earlier, attrition goes down, people want to come to work. And I really believe that a gamification company culture is imperative. Not Xbox, not, not placing. You can do that at home. Do like you, did you, before this podcast, you told me that you bought the thing.
You always wanted an old retro machine with the main ator and 3000 games. And we're talking about how much fun we're having you deserve. I think that if an environment creates a game environment where people can play, they will become that much closer. And so I, I really, really stand behind that and play with each other.
And, and there one is shooting, uh, the pinball or the others are watching and, and everybody's laughing and you're having a Coke or whatever it is. I got enough games where everyone can play. No, one's waiting. unless they want to and put their quarter on the Marqui. Oh, no, no, no. Everyone's. And, and so how much space now the games are actually at the facility, is that right?
Yes. I got some in my own home where I have a private man cave, but the majority of my machines are here on the first floor. It's kind of funny. I got my air hockey table. That's in my training room. It's so loud that I had to take the plastic pucks and they got these now more of like a rubber sort of puck.
And with the Wildcat 1 25, you can create these really smooth surfaces. And so literally I had to put the air Hawk in there, cuz it is so loud. People are screaming. So when there's not classes, doors are shut. You see people sitting in the chairs, watching that, that that's really where our tournaments happen.
And it's, uh, it's amazing because the littlest, smallest Asian we have has got the greatest skills until we stop those shots. And so, um, I love it. It's fun and people stay later after their shift or they'll come a little bit earlier to just hang out. And, um, obviously we're doing something right.
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=gaah6tQaqnc&t=50s
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/
What motivated you to get into the nearshore call center business? Positive Talk Radio guest Richard Blank Costa Rica's Call Center
It's because she, I have to ask. What motivated you to get into this business and to, and to really study it the way that you have so that you could pay it forward and impart your employees with some real success strategies, as well as your customers and your clients. They receive results because of the style with which you make the calls and the style with which you do.
So what motivat, what, what, what makes you different than everybody else that I've met? Well, the first thing is I wanted to find a job, so I didn't have to move back to the states. I live in paradise. I was gonna, I was almost gonna paint shells on the beach if I had to, but do they have snakes there?
excuse me. Do they have snakes there? Uh, they most certainly do. Oh, then I can't go. I'm sorry. I would wear big rubber boots if you're treking out into the rain forest, but, uh, nah, I think most places you'll be safe, but you know, where I really saw it is once again, for those four years in my late twenties, when I was sitting with the Costa Rican Ticos at the call center, as much as I was amazed by their bilingual abilities.
Conversations and positive escalations. I saw the tough side of the job I really did. And I needed to once again, find a way to make it efficient, but not to have them burned out and to keep their dignity. And so I really took it from the area of the language aspect. I really do encourage them to study the, the source.
So instead of using words like help, they can use guide, assist and lend to hand instead of telling somebody, excuse me, could you repeat that for my clarification? For my edification, Kevin, was it 1, 2, 3, or ABC? I teach 'em the fall on certain swords on a call. And so once again, if I can assist them in teaching them what the north American market is.
What our genres are certain vocabulary, certain styles. And I mean, if they wanna learn bad words, I'll teach 'em bad words, but that doesn't help anybody. I, I want them to be prepared so they could walk into a board room. Improperly represent themselves in their company, and that's been my goal. And through these years I've seen some incredible people and, and you're gonna love this.
The most I'll hire people with experience. They come in, they're hot. Sometimes they could be cancers. It depends on the person. I like the person more. That's got no experience at a call center. I mean, they're brilliant college educated bilingual, the whole shit bank. They just don't know what a phone system is or a headset who cares.
I can teach that an hour, but I love the fact that I could mold somebody and I can show them certain skills. And as long as they're coachable and they show up on time pen, the ready I am the first. To put, win in their sales and find as many ways as I can to promote them. And I'll delegate, even though they're not a supervisor, I'll let them write a script.
I'll let them do a training class. They can pull their hall of fame, call out and talk about it with 15 people. Why not to practice their public speaking, you know? And, and I always love making suggestions cuz no one makes a perfect phone call. So I don't think you're getting away with it. I will definitely find something to make a suggestion on.
And these are just building their own self reli. And self confidence. And I love seeing that with the people that work here with me. .
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://youtu.be/r1diLQXrrkQ
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/
Telemarketers are literally able to have almost a full hour's worth of talk time. Positive Talk Radio guest Richard Blank Costa Rica's Call Center
and that will buy you success at the same time. That's true because, because the more that you build a relationship with somebody and, and, and treat them like a, a real person, the, the one I always hate is when I get a, um, um, telemarketing call. And the first thing that happens is I pick up the. There's a delay.
Now I realize that that delay is because it's an automated, uh, dialing, right? That's correct. Predictive dialer. Mm-hmm yes. And so they wait until you pick up and say hello before it actually connects to a human being. Am I correct? In that? It can be, there could be some latency. I'd have to really look into that through the it department, but sometimes it's seamless where you can't tell.
And it's an immediate, but, um, no, and, and really that predicted dialer is amazing because it really gives you all of the information about the person with whom you're calling. And at the end, you get to do a disposition report so quickly, you can just do a drop down and explain what happened on the call.
And so what happens there is that these agents are literally able to have almost a full hour's worth of talk time, minus any sort of wrap up or CRM time. But, um, you know, that's something regarding the center. I don't know. A lot of the times they'd like to do these voicemail drops and then you would have to opt in that you're interested to speak with somebody legally to talk to them.
That could be a pain as well. And you know, I, I have somewhat empathy towards these agents making these calls. It depends, you know, a lot of times they'll tell me that. Car warranty is expiring, but guess what? Champ? I haven't lived in the United States for 22 years. So obviously I don't have a car warranty expiring.
So that upsets me a little bit. But if I get somebody on the phone and it's something I may qualify for, like telecom, for an example, and I compare rates, I'll listen to them pitch and with their permission. I'm gonna ask to do a QC on them. A quality control. We do 22 KPIs, which are key performance indicators, and we can gauge a call through the questioning and the answering.
But I usually look more for soft skills when they do name draws, positive, escalations, military, alphabet, rebuttals, and things like that. And so when I'll speak with somebody, I'll, you know, let them qualify me, send me info and maybe set up an appointment, but I'll ask them if they have a couple. I'd like to give them some professional feedback, and I'm not saying your tone was this or tone was that I will literally restructure their arguments and explain to them open ended to close ended questions and certain sort of vocabulary that I think will be more diplomatic and change the tone a little bit.
And I know that they're listening because they will repeat back to me or even ask me, follow up questions on some of these skills. And thank me for that. And even send me a personal email to thank me for that. Now, what am I doing this for? I'm paying it forward because there are a lot of times I was having weird days and someone would just take my call to warm me up and say, go Richard, go.
Even though I'm not gonna buy from you, but I like you, but I think you're great. And hang in there and I know what that's like. And I will sometimes reset them and ask them to re, could you please repeat that sentence for me again? You went too fast. I couldn't hear you. Was it 1, 2, 3, or ABC? And so I'm telling them to relax and calm down because you sound great.
I just can't understand you. And once they do, and once they give a perfect pitch, then I'm proud of them. And that's just, as I mentioned before, just paying it forward.
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://youtu.be/KCeuxYCFUOI
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/
In 30 seconds you can build a relationship on the phone. Positive Talk Radio guest Richard Blank Costa Rica's Call Center
Oh, exactly. Well at the, at the, at its core. Sure. This is all about relationships has to be, and it is amazing to me. How, in 30 seconds you can build a relationship or begin a relationship with somebody to keep them on the phone. Cuz that, that, how do you teach them? How do you teach your, your, your folks?
To start building that relationship right away. That is why you have the best podcast. You literally are asking me some of my really is this underhand whiffle ball pitches. You're just giving me the best questions I'll give you. I'll give you a wonderful technique that I do. I call it the company name, spike.
This is your first. Not even 30 seconds. It could be the first three seconds of a call. Let me give you an example. You have positive talk radio, right? And I'm calling your company and somebody answers the phone. They're like, hello, it's Kathy positive talk radio. I'm not gonna ask Kathy Al she's doing or even to speak to you yet.
I'm going to utilize anonymity just for my opening, not the whole call cause that's shady, but I will say, Hey, how's positive, tall radio. Doing. So, what I'm doing is I'm saying the name of your company better than your person did and they're gonna realize that I could be a mystery shopper, your best friend or your best client.
So obviously they're gonna answer me. We're doing great. And that's usually when they ask my first buffer boomerang question, who are you? I'm gonna go, Kathy. That's an excellent question. My name is Richard blank, and then we're gonna have a nice conversation. I'm gonna let them know that I'm gonna give them a positive.
When I do get transferred to speak with you, we spoke about that earlier. And so all I'm doing is using my first couple seconds to say something that you are familiar with. I said it better than you cuz you know, I'm gonna say it better than you. And I'm going to use this anonymity cuz most of the time when they start asking how Kathy is doing or being able to speak to you directly, usually they say we're good, thanks.
Or no thank you. Or what he is selling. I'm not doing any of that. I'm immediately showing good faith and I'm taking it from certain percentages of a half point shot to not even a three point shot. Now it's like foul shot percentages. I'm not guaranteeing you a hundred percent, but what I can do is increase your percentages of prolonging a conversation because no one's going to ever give you 10 minutes.
Gavin, you know this? No, you're lucky if you get 30 seconds. So my opinion is to keep buying. And if you're capable of doing that by some due diligence, if you mention pinball machines on my phone call calling me, unless I got something to do, it's really yours to lose. I will literally give you five minutes to pitch me because it showed that you took a couple extra seconds like you did prior to this podcast.
You're telling me all this stuff you researched about me. I can't thank you enough. That's the sort of thing as a CEO of a company that will give you the pass to pitch, and I will let you do it because you just showed that extra effort, do that in an email template, do that in a voicemail that you're leaving, just make it custom made.
And if you just take that one extra thing that, you know, the company loves so much, it may buy you time.
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://youtu.be/f9mg6HjDYx0
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/
Listening is how you find out what the customer needs on the phone. Positive Talk Radio guest Richard Blank Costa Rica's Call Center
Exactly and, and you're growing it enough that you can have a bunch of games that we're gonna talk about here in just a minute. but, uh, um, I, I wanted to, to ask you, because I believe that at least in, in the United States, actually listening is a lost art. And a lot of, I was a sales manager for a long time.
Mm-hmm and I had sales guys that I would go on calls with and they would be, we would be talking to the owner of the re. And he, and the sales guy would ask a question. The owner would answer the question, but I could see it in the sales guy's eyes that he was thinking of a rebuttal to what he was going to say next, rather than listening to the concerns of the person he was talking to and directly addressing those concerns, he was thinking about, okay, what am I gonna say next to?
And so he didn't even listen to 'em. So he would respond in a way that was completely different than what the. Um, owner of the restaurant was trying to get out of him. And so I would have to take him aside and say, you need to stop. You need to listen because listening is how you find out what the customer needs, how they, how you can best serve them.
Mm-hmm and what it is within your power to do for them once you know what they want. But if you don't listen, you'll never know what they want. That was my philosophy. Is that do, would you, can I, can I come work? Let me share some visuals with you and absolutely you can definitely come work with me. Never for me.
Oh, you know what I mean? You're my main man. You're starting with me starting center division one. um, this is what happens. My good friend. And you, and you saw it yourself. They're too well rehearsed. They're too commercialized. They're a print. They're not a painting. They're not raw. There's no essence to it.
Like what got them into this in the first place. They they're a character they're not in character. And so that's a shame because they have such potential and the moment that they can put their checkbook away and just start speaking with this individual at this restaurant or wherever else, that's how you're going to get the sale.
And I was mentioning before with the me too techniques, speaking about dogs and stuff. That's usually when I can anchor in and speak to somebody from the noises in the background from a child or music or a dog, that's when I know I got, because we can actually have a real conversation that's outside of what you and I were even talking about initially.
And so if they can find that sort of me too, Then a they'll be more active listening, then they can reduce any sort of friction and be a lot more comfortable to speak with them. But no, I do agree that they should be planning their rebuttals ahead, but they're, they're doing more acting. They're not reacting.
So I think once again, that has to do a lot more with dedicated practice. It's not about memorizing your script. It's about when to use it and how to use. And so as much as they're trying to impress you, they're depressing you by seeing that they're too stiff. And that bothers me. I, I think people should sway with the wind a little bit, and sometimes things happen naturally.
And instead of making 100 phone calls a day, why aren't you and I making 89? So we can be on the phone for an extra three to five minutes to look up a website to compliment an anniversary or promotion, or just to talk. Just just to see if I can get the pass to pitch in order to suggest my services. And so they have those skills, but right now people are more non-voice omnichannel.
They're doing things through chat, through email support and the challenges that they would have. My good friend is that when you don't speak to somebody on the phone, you're reducing the chances of a client retention. You're not able to upsell somebody, forget getting a referral, an even worse case scenario where let's say you're losing the client or their competition is getting, if they're willing to give you an exit interview and tell you areas in which you could improve or how your competition was able to earn your business, I sometimes find those calls to be even more valuable than.
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://youtu.be/V7dcFT-NZPY
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/
They can do anything and go anywhere and sell anything. Positive Talk Radio guest Richard Blank Costa Rica's Call Center
Good Lord. I had no idea how complicated this whole whole system is. And, but at the end of the day, when somebody gets trained, like you're talking about, they can do anything and go anywhere and sell anything. And because they get it, they, they understand how it all works. Well, just like you see in the movies of the Wolf of wall street, Glen Gary, Glen Ross, or the closing scenes in boiler room, that's only a specific vertical.
That's a certain sort of assertiveness that sometimes the not fit every profile agent that we have here. So I, I, I do appreciate the compliment, but if I may, I never force a hand. What I like to do is from an educated point of view, people make a decision, if anything, and nothing. My good friend, you and I are gonna go to the distance.
I'll go 15 rounds. They'll at least hear me the whole way. And then they're able to make a decision. I rarely get hung up on in the middle. Um, but the most important thing once again, is to do active listening and through deductive reasoning, I can share with you my expertise to see if it fits. And unfortunately there are some times, and I can give you three quick examples where as much as they want to give me the business, I can't take it.
I'm not 24 7, so I don't do grave. We don't speak Chinese or other sort of languages. I'll take Portuguese, Spanish and English. That's what I'll do. But if I can't speak the language or understand the language, I'm uncomfortable with that, that's difficult for me. And the third thing that I have to turn down accounts is I can't match the rates on offshore call centers in India and the Philippines Costa Rica is central America.
We're nears. We're the most expensive in central America, uh, companies such as Amazon, HP into and Oracle here. So expecting a Costa Rican to work for a dollar an hour, as much as I could offer to 'em no one's gonna take it. So the clients have to be very realistic when I'm forthright with them and give them sort of feedback.
They might not want to hear it, but they're respect me for the respect.
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://youtu.be/-A-NasvJato
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/
It makes a lot of sense that call centers would have a high stress level. Positive Talk Radio guest Richard Blank Costa Rica's Call Center
And it's interesting that call centers would have, well, actually it makes a lot of sense that call centers would have a high stress level and a lot of turnover because of that high stress level. And I, I can only imagine what it's like to get on the phone all day, eight hours a day and get hung up on like a bunch and stuff.
Does that. Well, it really depends on the vertical that you're calling, but I see it as this it's like the gym. When somebody first comes into a call center, you really need the endurance to make 40 hours worth of phone calls a week. It, it could be draining, but when you're used to it, it just seems like a normal day.
When you're on a predictive dialer, you have a much higher contact ratio than you would if you were manually dialing, which could be exhausting. But mind you, this English is their second language. They're getting a return on investment of their education. And for me speaking Spanish, it was always stimulating for the jobs I had in the United States prior to Costa Rica.
And for them. Once again, they find it enjoyable. And so what I like to do is I put things in perspective. If they're getting yelled at and hung up upon, we need some coaching on that. That really shouldn't be happening that much. And there's other sort of soft skills that we can do to become more diplomatic and strategic to reduce any sort of friction and to move conversations along.
But they have to realize that by learning a second language is 10 times harder than what they're about to do and all that dedicated practice they did prior to even working with. Shows. So fear is really a morbid anticipation of something that hasn't happened yet. So if I can properly onboard them, prepare them and give them that support.
A lot of what you had mentioned earlier, pretty much gets eliminated. And once again, there are certain soft skills that we can do on the phone to eliminate any sort of cursing and frustration. Now, naturally clients could have questions. They need clarification. And by doing active listening, by using a name by talking about pronouns, to keep their attention by reviewing information with people, to show that you are active listening and they don't have to repeat it, there's a very good chance.
You can get a first call resolution for less time. And so once again, this is a skill that people can build up and if they just practice it outside of the office, like you and I do with dedicated practice, because you, you make it look. And I make it look easy, but your audience doesn't really see the amount of hours and preparation that we do off camera.
And so, as long as people are willing to train and prepare themselves, then it should be very easy, any sort of job that they go into, how difficult.
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://youtu.be/qaeh4K3obgk
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/
A certain circle to handle call center stress. Positive Talk Radio guest Richard Blank Costa Rica's Call Center.
It it's a it's remarkable, isn't it? Um, it is. I had, um, when I was a general manager of a restaurant in Seattle, mm-hmm we had what we called the Mexican pipeline. Okay. And one of the, one of the guys that was working as a bus boy for me at, for 40 hours a week, and then he had another job working 40 hours a week.
And he was a, he had been a principal in Mexico of, of a high school, but he found that to support his. Which is, this goes back to the eighties, but to support his family, he needed to, uh, work a 40 hour job to pay for his living expenses. And then he worked the other job and sent that paycheck home. Okay.
So he was actually supporting his mom, his dad, his little sister and stuff, because he could make that here. And, uh, um, and so he worked, they work incredibly hard and, and they're used to working hard and I think that's. that's true. And, and burnout is big in call centers and rotation and attrition. And so once again, I, I make sure that when people are here, they have their job stability and they can recharge their battery.
So when they leave the office, they can confront any sort of challenges that they have. So it's a certain circle. So when they come back to work again, they're ready to go. And. Once again, if, if somebody's having a tough day, I will pull them aside off, off the floor. Um, put a little water on their face and get 'em to relax a little bit and to refocus and reset themselves because you and I have been in those shoes.
I never walked in as a sea level executive. I worked in my friend's center for four years, so I got to see the gripes, the good and the bad times, and, and really learn this business from the inside. And. And I got to see what I could do to enhance the experience for the agents and for the clients. And I could grow a lot faster, Kevin, but I'm very selective of the campaigns that come in.
I I'd rather fulfill the needs of the agent before the client, because if they're not comfortable with the account, they're just not gonna wanna do it. Hey, if.
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://youtu.be/1zg_XgAvrp0
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/
A progressive type leader in a call center? Positive Talk Radio guest Richard Blank Costa Rica's Call Center
From your bio and from everything that I've, I've read about you, you are a progressive type leader that, that works with people to get the best out of them and, and to help them to become the best that they can be. Sure. And, and that's, that's go ahead. Well, I was gonna say, as a CEO, you have leverage Kevin, you can hire and fire somebody make or break them.
And I'm not the kind of guy that would like to embarrass somebody on the floor or make them. Or even make them quit. My goal is to delegate and define individuals here that shine. So all I can do is discover ways to promote them and get the best out of them. Of course.
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://youtu.be/I-TkH3OEtUE
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/
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/
It's amazing. I I've talked to a lot of people that have traveled internationally. I haven't had the ability to, yet. I plan on doing it at one point in time, but I will, I don't think I'm not gonna no. So, but what they tell me is that when you leave this country and you go elsewhere, mm-hmm, people who have nothing.
And I mean, nothing mm-hmm can still be happy. It. Absolutely. Doesn't take a car. Doesn't take, you know, a lot of money. Uh, they've got water, they've got food, they've got a roof over their head. They've got family and they're happy. And I, I think we've, you've been gone a while. I think we've lost that we've lost touch with that in this country.
And I would hope to get it back. They also have faith. They have faith in themselves. They have faith in their family and they have spiritual faith. And I like things like that. And I believe that everybody in the world has that in common. It doesn't matter your culture, religion, your language, your skin color, or whatever.
No, there, there a smile is universal. And when people offer food and share things like that's universal, too. and in this culture, you cannot turn down a second plate of food as an insult. So just be prepared to eat and be prepared to be taken very well cared of, and also have the pleasure of reciprocating that as well.
And so I've seen that as part of this culture, but no, the, the United States is fine. We have this, I just think people need to slow down. Calm down a little bit and just get back to the basics, get back. As I mentioned, the way that we were raised by our parents and grandparents, and if we can get back to that sort of simple sort of mind frame and, and communication, people have much more, uh, effective and fulfilling relationships.
What what's happening is people are texting too much and they're not calling. or they're not seeing one another, because it may be COVID people got isolated and it's not easy. It's really, the tough road is to get back into that. The easy way is just to keep doing what you're doing, but the, but the more challenging way is to walk next door to your neighbors and to say hello, or to make that extra effort to not break a plan and to see your friends or to do a follow up email or phone call for courtesy.
And not be latent about it because people are expecting that. And so as long as you can do those sort of things on a daily basis, it won't pile up. You won't forget about it and you'll be invited to a lot of parties and events because you're showing interest in that sort of relationship. Absolutely.
Yeah. I ask my youngest son. When he was, uh, 18, 19, this is about 10 years ago, but he, he was to the, he was so good at texting that he could in class have his phone in his pocket and be able to text without looking at the, the number to the, uh, uh, letters as to mm-hmm. what he was. I mean, he was so gifted at texting.
He did it so much. So I asked him one day, I said, Don't you find that texting takes away from the personal attention of having a conversation with somebody. And he said, no, I'm fine with texting besides I can talk to five girls at the same time when I'm texting. And I can't do that when I'm on the phone.
So it's like, well, okay, but what's your son's name? The Fs . That sounds great. Five girls at the same time. He's remember our generat. Okay. We had to call people's homes to ask permission to speak to our friends. Yes, we did. Cuz dad would pick up the phone and it would be like, who's this that's right. Oh, you know, can I talk to Lisa please?
Uh, you know, and uh, but nowadays none of that's, but I think you're right. We've lost a human touch and we, and you would be great to get that human touch back. I gotta ask you in Costa Rica, what's the homeless situation like. It's there. Uh, and I, I see it a lot in, in San Jose, but really what I see is it's more of somebody that's lost their way.
It's usually a young man or a young woman that might be indulging. too much. Wow. Yes. And so that's what I see. And so, but other areas where yes, it is a third world country. And I have seen individuals out there asking for the most asking for OS from people. And you can tell that this individual might be a senior citizen or have a handicap.
Or something that's not drug or bad habit related. And a lot of people, including myself, not just give money, but then all of a sudden you ask, is there something that you need specifically? I need some sneakers, I need a jacket. I need something. You get that for them. It's not like a one and a done, like in my neighborhood, there was a corner and there was, there was Donna Katia.
She must have been at least 75 years old. And this woman was out there every day, sweetest woman. And she was literal. Almost supporting her family. I didn't ask too many questions, but this woman was out there asking for money and saying, you know, blessings for people. And she was very smart. She remembered people's names too.
And so when I would see her, I would give something. And then when Christmastime came along, I asked if there was something specific. She mentioned the sneakers for, you know, a grandchild and I, and I got that for her. And so, um, there's certain ways to do it. Like I'll give somebody money on the corner if they're juggling knives or doing some sort of acrobatic event.
Yeah, sure. I'll give you a couple dollars. But then when you see somebody every day and you realize they're part of your community, it's, it's something where people want to take care of them. It's interesting how neighbors will talk about this individual that you saw and they start learning about them.
And so this is a culture that really likes to take care of their own. And I've seen on the side, like if you walk past the banana plantation, they'll be a worker there and you're just walking and he's like, Hey, would you like a few bananas? You know, it's just, people are always sharing and they're always, um, Once again, trying to make people feel welcome, but I don't see it that bad.
I don't see really tent encampments here. We just see certain packets of the city that might have individuals, as I've mentioned that.
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://youtu.be/lHwxCUKsY9E
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/
First question. Sure. Why did you decide to open a call center in Costa Rica?
That's one of my favorite questions, Michael, and I appreciate you asking it. I have to go back a couple years and tell you where it all began. When I was growing up in Northeast Philadelphia, a lot of opinions were provided for you and sometimes your destiny and careers were predecided for you.
So a lot of my friends were going to Ivy league to study medicine and law engineering and architecture. And I, myself, I wasn't really sure what to do, but I knew my favorite class was Spanish. So as a dreamer that felt a little bit alone because no one else could relate to it. I decided to double down and go to the university of Arizona and be a BI major.
I, I majored in Spanish and communication and like yourself, Michael, as a teacher and a really effective public speaker, I decided to study that. In addition to that, I concentrated on a rhetoric. So your message and delivery was more effective and everyone needs a special sauce. So my special sauce was phonetic, micro expression reading.
I used to like to study body language, and then here at the call center, I was able to do it where we're more voice micro expression reading, which we'll get to later in the show. And when I had the opportunity post grad to move here at 27, a friend of mine owned a call. I said, Richie, why don't you come down for a couple months and teach some English and naturally a 27 year old kid.
You fall in love with central America, tropical beauty. And when I was at the call center, I kind of shed some skin. I realized that I had a calling. This was an environment where people were using the art of speech. They were converting phone calls and giving positive customer experiences. And actually since English was their second language, they were fulfilling their studies.
I took to that. I embraced it. I decided to stay and work there for four years. So obviously I learned the business, but the one thing I did learn Michael, was I learned how to enrich the experience being politically correct. I saw certain things, the gripes and the tough times of working the phones or working in a certain structured environment.
And I realize that if people are given their dignity, if they're not treated as robots or as numbers. Besides the productivity, you'll get a much more fulfilled person working with you that will work longer with you. And in my opinion, in my goal will grow with you and be some of your future supervisors.
Oh, it's a great story and a great philosophy, all, all wrapped into that answer. So, and it happened in 2008. I mean, I worked at the center for a while and my thing came later in life. Everyone has a coming of age moment. I had certain stages that gave me an experience or a vision quest to complete certain goals.
But at 35, I started my company. The fact that I've lasted 14 years, a Philly boy here in another country. It says something. So I let my record speak for itself, but I'm very proud of the people that work with me. And my favorite thing is walking the rose. Michael, I love to stop on the occasion and listen to somebody, speaking with a client and smile and give a thumbs up.
And that's the essence of what I do.
Build and Balance Show has accepted Richard'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. Michael Neuendorff discusses with Richard advanced telemarketing strategy, conflict management, interpersonal soft skills, customer support, rhetoric, gamification, employee motivation and phonetic micro expression reading.
Build and Balance is dedicated to serving salespeople with 0 - 5 years of experience; and anyone who wants to improve their public speaking skills. Michael Neuendorff been in sales and marketing for more than 20 years and know what it's like to start out in sales. Michael has 25+ years of sales and marketing experience; extensive team building and leadership experience; teaching, training and mentoring experience and a proven ability to think creatively and listen deeply. Michael was a marketing director at Oracle Corporation, and an assistant manager of direct marketing at Softbank Forums. Michael has also been a top inside sales manager and a private English instructor in Tokyo.
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://youtu.be/iYFB0Fj_HH4
https://costaricascallcenter.com/en/outbound-bpo-campaigns/
https://www.buildandbalance.com/an-interview-with-the-ceo-of-costa-ricas-call-center-richard-blank-best-practices-in-outbound-sales-conversations/#
https://www.buildandbalance.com/an-interview-with-the-ceo-of-costa-ricas-call-center-richard-blank-best-practices-in-outbound-sales-conversations/richard-blank-and-michael-neuendorff/#
Michael Neuendorff: Uh, when we talk about that, the, uh, the last question is when should a business consider using a call center like yours? What's the thought process that one would go through to make that decision?
Richard Blank: That's a very good question. And if I may, I have to, I guess, say something for my, my own piece. I would prefer Michael, that people choose me for merit over price. I can name 10 call centers that can do it for half my cost in the Philippines in India or anywhere in town. So if that's your first question for me, I'll answer you by saying a thousand dollars an hour.
They go, no, you're not. And I go, of course, I'm not, what's your second question. at least just to see what they have to say. And then a lot of the times on those calls, because people shop around which they. People do know certain telemarketing, they have done it in house, but they've never, uh, outsourced. So maybe they're not familiar with some of our infrastructure, our reporting, our supervision, onboarding training, quality assurance.
They've just done it with a half a dozen guys in their office. And a lot of the times they have unrealistic expectations. Sometimes people have to go through a certain process with me. So they qualify. I reject more campaigns than I accept because I'm very selective. I use the smart theory specific measurable, agreed upon realistic.
And timeframe oriented. But to answer your, your question in a certain way, anybody that would like to scale their company, maybe compare apples to what they're doing to my structure here. We're very price comparable to the United States, including full benefits here. I don't force hands. I don't twist arms.
And from an educated point of view, potential clients make a decision about working with. Most of the time and I will be candid about this it's price and how can I compete when we're the most expensive in central America, but we also have the best infrastructure. If that's important to you. We also have Spanish language capacity.
We're very close to the United States. We're on certain time zones and we have a democratic society here. We don't have an army, so there's a 95% literacy. So one of the questions that I would ask as let's say a salesman is since I have these skills and you're asking me because I'm 50% more, am I capable of doing 1.5 an hour compared to just one an hour?
If I put it on a predictive dialer, if I speak in Spanish, if I use Richard's coaching, if we do rebuttals, if I do voicemails, am I capable of doing 0.5? Because you're saying you pay half. Well, then that's fine. Put me on a level playing field. Maybe my agents are capable with the skills that they possess and the coaching and the environment that they have.
And I've seen it to do 0.5 more, which means that we even out and I'm worth my cost. And then we get seats. But my goodness gracious is I can't do 20 calls an hour. you know, if the average one is 10, you can't, you can't make up time, but those are the sort of questions that I would ask to see if it would be a good fit or not.
But, um, but I do appreciate anybody that calls me where they must have found me on the internet through search engine optimization or read an article, or at least took the time to reach out. And so I almost tell them to put their checkbooks away. No one sends me money on a first phone call. It's my pleasure to share information.
And I hope that I shared plenty with your audience today because there's so much more I could share, but there's only so much time, but I believe that I shared with you my best. Where it would give somebody such great foundation training where Michael, all they do is just dedicated practice. If they just do things when the cameras are off and no one's around and they just practice their kicks, punches and painting their guitar, they're gonna be amazing artists of speech.
But the one thing is when they're too well rehearsed and they're too commercialized, they they're not raw anymore. They lose that sort of sparking character that they first started off this journey with. And that's pretty much my final thoughts on that.
Yeah, no, that that's excellent. Uh, that, that was, that was a, a, a nice little nugget right there at the end, too, Richard.
So thank you very much for sharing with us today. Grateful for the time that you spent with us because you're, you're running a busy and successful business down there in Costa Rica. So I'm grateful.
Thank you, Michael.
Build and Balance Show has accepted Richard'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. Michael Neuendorff discusses with Richard advanced telemarketing strategy, conflict management, interpersonal soft skills, customer support, rhetoric, gamification, employee motivation and phonetic micro expression reading.
Build and Balance is dedicated to serving salespeople with 0 - 5 years of experience; and anyone who wants to improve their public speaking skills. Michael Neuendorff been in sales and marketing for more than 20 years and know what it's like to start out in sales. Michael has 25+ years of sales and marketing experience; extensive team building and leadership experience; teaching, training and mentoring experience and a proven ability to think creatively and listen deeply. Michael was a marketing director at Oracle Corporation, and an assistant manager of direct marketing at Softbank Forums. Michael has also been a top inside sales manager and a private English instructor in Tokyo.
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://youtu.be/MVX44qrEXP0
https://costaricascallcenter.com/en/outbound-bpo-campaigns/
https://www.buildandbalance.com/an-interview-with-the-ceo-of-costa-ricas-call-center-richard-blank-best-practices-in-outbound-sales-conversations/#
https://www.buildandbalance.com/an-interview-with-the-ceo-of-costa-ricas-call-center-richard-blank-best-practices-in-outbound-sales-conversations/richard-blank-and-michael-neuendorff/#
Michael Neuendorff: How, how do you, how do you develop sales? People who are relatively green to become someone that is effective at following your methods and processes? That, what, what, what do you look for in salespeople to know that I'm working with someone who could be great?
Michael? Those are my favorite agents to.
I can mold them. They're not coming in with bad habits. They're coming in bilingual, which shows such education for them. I get to be their first coach, if it's their first call center, telemarketing job, but let's go through it in three stages. If we may, the first one is the psychological stage. I have to let them know that fear is a morbid anticipation of something that hasn't happened yet.
Just in my own instance, just by these agents being bilingual and myself, once again, it shows dedication and structure. So they've done something very difficult. If I can properly prepare them and put them on a level playing field with all of the resources, such as a proper script. Rebuttals training in the CRM, in the system, how to use their phone system, doing quality assurance, which is QA support, where we go through, we call them KPIs, which are key performance indicators.
So we can just see their consistency. Trust me, everybody. It's a test. You can easily pass. The points that I give are for the soft skills. We just judge you to ask their email address and mention your information. I don't do that. I, I concentrate on the ACEs. I, I expect you to do that. That's what I'm paying you to do.
Richard Blank: What I want you to do when you're in class is to once again, relax and realize that this could be something that could pay more than most vocations. And the fact that you have a Thor. And you should expand your vocabulary. So instead of using words like help, my suggestion would be to use in this specific order would be assist guide or lend a hand, same message, different delivery.
You're being more strategic on this. You're being a little more clever. You don't once again, need to say, I'm sorry. It's for my clarification. So once I expand their vocabulary, just with work words, and then they go home and learn additional words cuz they're just so into it. And so what happens then, then you start connecting people together.
So you have a certain sort of buddy system or unlike myself, who's the owner of the company telemarketer. When you have somebody that shine. Let them work with the local Costa Ricans in their own language, knowing their culture. It's very important for me that people get promoted here from within, and I'm able to delegate certain responsibilities.
Now you're talking about a new guy. But if the kid shows up on time, front row center takes notes, role plays participates, just a great all around kid. You don't think I'm gonna want him to stand up on Wednesday and do a little bit of the class just for fun to build his confidence, love kids like that, have to do things like that.
And they will make sure that the people that work with them break bread with them, know each other's names. And you just don't say, good job. What do you saying? Good job. Let them specifically know you listen to a call or let them know, thank you for your one year anniversary with us. I must be doing something right, because Amazon, Oracle, Intel, and HP they're here.
I compete against the big boys, but guess what? They don't play pinball with their people. They don't train their people personally, like I do. They're not selective of sometimes the campaigns that they choose, just to make sure that people feel comfortable with the sort of training that they have and the preparation.
And so that's why I believe that this smaller sort of company that I have is why certain people gravitate towards this. It may not be for everybody. Some people just wanna lose themselves in thousands of people. But those that work for smaller call centers can make a very, very good name for themselves.
Very fast. Yeah.
Michael Neuendorff: Excellent.
Build and Balance Show has accepted Richard'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. Michael Neuendorff discusses with Richard advanced telemarketing strategy, conflict management, interpersonal soft skills, customer support, rhetoric, gamification, employee motivation and phonetic micro expression reading.
Build and Balance is dedicated to serving salespeople with 0 - 5 years of experience; and anyone who wants to improve their public speaking skills. Michael Neuendorff been in sales and marketing for more than 20 years and know what it's like to start out in sales. Michael has 25+ years of sales and marketing experience; extensive team building and leadership experience; teaching, training and mentoring experience and a proven ability to think creatively and listen deeply. Michael was a marketing director at Oracle Corporation, and an assistant manager of direct marketing at Softbank Forums. Michael has also been a top inside sales manager and a private English instructor in Tokyo.
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://youtu.be/bcX13KGnqYI
https://costaricascallcenter.com/en/outbound-bpo-campaigns/
https://www.buildandbalance.com/an-interview-with-the-ceo-of-costa-ricas-call-center-richard-blank-best-practices-in-outbound-sales-conversations/#
https://www.buildandbalance.com/an-interview-with-the-ceo-of-costa-ricas-call-center-richard-blank-best-practices-in-outbound-sales-conversations/richard-blank-and-michael-neuendorff/#
Dave Lorenzo: Now welcome to another edition of the inside BS show. Today we go down to Costa Rica, a beautiful nation, just south of the United States, where the weather is always good. The people are always friendly and the work is really efficient. In fact, today, we're gonna talk about. Setting up a call center in Costa Rica and why you don't need to do that, cuz there's already one waiting there for you.
Dave Lorenzo: My guest today is Richard blank. He's the CEO of Costa Rica's call center. And he's gonna share with us. How easy it is for you to offshore the tedious stuff that you can't hire people to do here in the United States. This is gonna be a great show. I can't wait to bring you Richard blank. So without further ado, please welcome Richard too.
Dave Lorenzo: There we go. Inside BS show Richard. Welcome. It's so great to have you.
Richard Blank: It's good morning to you. Good morning to your audience. And as we say in Costa Rica, P Avita, I'm very happy to be here today.
Dave Lorenzo: Oh, it's so great to have you. So, Richard first, we let's start by having you explain to people, uh, some of the, um, some of the unique qualities of Costa Rica.
Richard Blank: But I, I visited Costa Rica. I shared with you probably 21 or 22 years ago. And before I visited, I didn't know very much about Costa Rica explained to folks some of the really unique characteristics of that country.
Richard Blank: Well, not only we a powerhouse in the, uh, call center industry, but we have an incredible labor force.
Richard Blank: We have a 95% literacy rate. So there's no standing army. All that money was put back into education. We have the best infrastructure in central America. We are below Nicaragua, north of Panama. A lot of people think we're an island, but no we're right there smack out right in central America. We're very close to the United States or our Proximic on a direct flight is just a couple hours.
Richard Blank: We're very attuned to the north American market. So a lot of people have lived in the United. Have family in the United States, or there's a lot of expatriates that live here, including myself, who is an expatriate for the last 21 years. And their skill set here is incredible. Besides them being bilingual.
Richard Blank: They also have very high skills in regards to it customer support, lead generation appointment setting, and even non-voice omnichannel support. So companies such as HP, Intel, Oracle, and. Have a very, very large presence here in Costa Rica for, for many reasons. But you know, personally from being here and me being here for 21 years, it's, it's a beautiful life.
Richard Blank: And the people here are very cultured and educated and kind, and it reflects over our phone calls. So I believe that's why a lot of our agents show very high levels of success.
Dave Lorenzo: Yeah.
Inside BS Show has accepted my invitation to join your audience for a solid discussion regarding taking a chance by moving abroad and starting a company from scratch in Costa Rica. Dave Lorenzo discusses with Richard advanced telemarketing strategy, conflict management, interpersonal soft skills, customer support, rhetoric, gamification, employee motivation and phonetic micro expression reading.
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://youtu.be/nybGZd8p2wI
https://getinsidebs.com/how-to-build-a-world-class-call-center-richard-blank-show-95/
https://player.fm/series/inside-bs-with-dave-lorenzo/how-to-build-a-world-class-call-center-richard-blank-show-95
https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/inside-bs-with/how-to-build-a-world-class-y0jPVSM64FX/
https://podcasts.apple.com/nl/podcast/how-to-build-a-world-class-call-center-richard-blank-show-95/id1506769228?i=1000567719961
https://www.audible.com/pd/How-to-Build-a-World-Class-Call-Center-Richard-Blank-Show-95-Podcast/B0B54HPXGK?ref=a_pd_Inside_c1_lAsin_1_7
https://open.spotify.com/episode/0lGBT4kd7026zRzP3C8mlu
https://tunein.com/podcasts/Business--Economics-Podcasts/Inside-BS-with-Dave-Lorenzo-p1258770/?topicId=173106229
https://www.ivoox.com/en/how-to-build-a-world-class-call-center-audios-mp3_rf_88970286_1.html
Dave Lorenzo:Is that, is that gonna be a permanent part of your, um, of your say employment offering now? There'll be certain people. You know, even when the government opens up completely you'll, you'll allow them to work from home because maybe they're in a place that's an hour and a half car ride or bus ride away.
And they're excellent. So they can work from home because their particular job is fine at home. Or do you plan on bringing PE everybody back at some point.
Richard Blank: I'm open for everything, but there's one thing I have to ask for a new hire. You gotta spend a little time with me. I'll send you. Yeah, but my goodness gracious.
Can you please come in the office for a day? Yeah. For at least a week. Yeah. So we can sit together. We can, I can send you home with my computer if it's not, if you were, but it's not even that. Can I at least have some pizza with you one day? Can I train you a little bit? Can I stand next to you when you make a phone call?
So I can be proud of you? Can you meet my supervisors? Can you meet my entire company? So at least you're not an independent, at least, even though you're virtual, you're still part of my culture. That is my only prerequisite. You can go home as fast as you want, but you're gonna have to know me a little bit.
And I'd like to know you too. So maybe as I said before, and I will stress this certain bad habits, or there may be certain areas where I could enhance their skills, make a suggestion or work on, or maybe be, maybe be that one coach, that parent, or that best friend that they didn't have. That one guy at 50 years old that wears a suit and takes the time to get to know this agent.
Maybe he will stay because of that. Maybe they might do dedicated practice after work because of that. So they come back to me the next day saying they practice recordings on their own. Nobody does that, but a few do that. And those usually are my future supervisors. Those are the ones that I promote from within Dave.
Those are the ones who, whom I delegate and whom I grow. so those are the sort of secrets or the inside BS, as you would say. of, of my success. It's really about building foundation. My man, it's about having people that are willing to come work with me for another day. And it's very humbling. As I say before, I'm a guest in this country.
I might have learned their language and I know their customs, but once again, I'm, I'm 3000 miles away from my mother and my father, but I was embraced. . And when I saw something that was positive, I realized I shed a skin that day and I realized that back in 2008 and February 6th, when I closed my first account, it was only one seed for 50 hours.
But my life changed that day. And I guess I was on a mission and that's why we're here because you can do this as long as you have good intentions and you have good faith. And remember the way that you were raised, people will accept. It might take a little bit longer, cause you might need to learn other customs and cultures or the way, but once you crack those codes, Dave, it kind of seems to be easy after that.
Dave Lorenzo: No, that's terrific.
Inside BS Show has accepted my invitation to join your audience for a solid discussion regarding taking a chance by moving abroad and starting a company from scratch in Costa Rica. Dave Lorenzo discusses with Richard advanced telemarketing strategy, conflict management, interpersonal soft skills, customer support, rhetoric, gamification, employee motivation and phonetic micro expression reading.
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://youtu.be/2y2TqpZowyw
https://getinsidebs.com/how-to-build-a-world-class-call-center-richard-blank-show-95/
https://player.fm/series/inside-bs-with-dave-lorenzo/how-to-build-a-world-class-call-center-richard-blank-show-95
https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/inside-bs-with/how-to-build-a-world-class-y0jPVSM64FX/
https://podcasts.apple.com/nl/podcast/how-to-build-a-world-class-call-center-richard-blank-show-95/id1506769228?i=1000567719961
https://www.audible.com/pd/How-to-Build-a-World-Class-Call-Center-Richard-Blank-Show-95-Podcast/B0B54HPXGK?ref=a_pd_Inside_c1_lAsin_1_7
https://open.spotify.com/episode/0lGBT4kd7026zRzP3C8mlu
https://tunein.com/podcasts/Business--Economics-Podcasts/Inside-BS-with-Dave-Lorenzo-p1258770/?topicId=173106229
https://www.ivoox.com/en/how-to-build-a-world-class-call-center-audios-mp3_rf_88970286_1.html
Dave Lorenzo: Where I live in Miami is I, I live, uh, probably 15, not even maybe 10 miles. The Western border of Miami-Dade county, uh, you know, heading toward the Western part of Florida. And this particular area is, uh, was settled by, uh, a lot of Cubans. So when we go to the supermarket, where in my neighborhood, we, more than likely we speak Spanish.
Dave Lorenzo: Um, when we go to get our car washed, we speak Spanish. When we, uh, go to the doctor's office and the, and the, the receptionist greets us, she'll greet us in Spanish. She speaks English in Spanish, but it's just the, it's the dominant language here in, in my neighborhood. Now, when you get toward the toward Miami beach, It's a tourist area.
Dave Lorenzo: So people there will, you know, the default there will be English, but the, the specific reason that my family and I moved to this part of Florida is because we wanted a, a culturally diverse experience for our kids. My kids go to a bilingual school. They speak English half the day. They speak Spanish half the day.
Dave Lorenzo: They speak Spanish with, um, their grandmother on my wife's side, they speak English with my parents and they have tested out. My son is in seventh grade. He's tested out of high school Spanish. My daughter is two years behind him. She's tested out of high school, Spanish. So they're taking other languages now in school.
Dave Lorenzo: My, my point about that. We were kind of forward thinking and we, we understand the global nature of the workforce today. And I think 20 years ago, when I visited Costa Rica, it was like a novelty to offshore your call center. Now, I think nobody, nobody would even think twice. And in fact, you may have people in Texas who have a heavier, uh, you know, who have a heavier accent than people in Costa Rica.
Dave Lorenzo: So I don't think it makes any difference today. I don't think people would be put off in any way, as long as they can get the level of service that they're accustomed to Richard. But before we get into the details of all the types of services you provide and. Do that? Tell us your story. How did you come to you now?
Dave Lorenzo: You've been in Costa Rica for 20 plus years. How did you come to be in Costa Rica in the first place?
Richard Blank: Well, my story began in Northeast Philadelphia. When I graduated Abington high school, you were very fortunate. Uh, Dave, because in my family, my grandparents were speaking Romanian, Russian, Polish, and German.
Richard Blank: And so I'm the first person in my family that decided that Spanish should be my major. all of my friends were going to Ivy league and they were studying law in medicine and architecture engineering, or going into their family's business. I chose to double down on languages and go to the university of Arizona.
Richard Blank: I chose a communication major, which made it a lot of fun for those five years, but I also realized that I could pick up public speaking skills, rhetoric skills, and nonverbal communication, micro expression, reading. I was able to get an internship at Telemundo. Jake home was kind enough to give me in 1995 and 96, my senior and super senior year, I worked for promotions and public relations at Telemundo and Tucson there.
Richard Blank: I was able to meet, and this is dating myself gentleman by the name of Pedro SEK and Miguel Kitana. One was in charge of the news out of Los Angeles. And the other had the main talk show in Miami, across from Christina, from uni. . And so imagine a 22 year old boy that is doing public speaking events with these players, these professional men that have made it and have taken the time to mold my confidence and to give me the self-assurance to stand in front of 5,000 people at a Tucson Toro's baseball game and do a Halina Cantina Chile in contest.
Richard Blank: And so given these opportunities that a young man, it molded my confidence that I could do. and I knew that I could do it in two languages. And so postgrad, I landed a job that was for the importers of Corona beer. So I worked that in the Southwest of the United States and that was incredible. And when I was 27, I had the opportunity to move to Costa Rica for a couple months to do some training at a friend of mine, from college, his call center.
Richard Blank: And as you know, when you fly here and you're here, you fall in love with Costa Rica. So everything of mine got put in storage. If you can get past your parents, guilt, Dave, you can live anywhere in the world. And I decided to take a chance. I worked at my friend's call center for four years, and this was back in the day when we were making calls with Cisco phones and printouts of Excel sheets with highlighter pens.
Richard Blank: And it was a young environment. It was a fun environment, a bilingual environment of, of artists, of speech. And I got to see the highs and the lows and the gripes and the successes of it. But. Between me and you. I also saw areas of improvement and the areas of improvement that I saw the most was how people are treated.
Richard Blank: Not saying my friend didn't do a good job, an amazing job, but a lot of people felt like numbers, where they felt like robots. And my other friends and supervisors from other call centers tell me that sometimes agents are not properly onboarded or they're not prepared, or the S scripts are shody. With spelling in grammar mistakes, and maybe some over aggressive language that you would see in a Glen Gary boiler room Wolf of wall street movie, that might be completely out of character for somebody here because we're, we're in a very strict Catholic country, Dave and these young men and women have to go home and tell their parents what they do for a living.
Richard Blank: So we are extremely selective of the campaigns that come in. Not, not only can I fulfill your needs, but I gotta make sure I don't have an attrition. And I gotta make sure that the, that the agents that come in, that we invest in that are able to stay here and build upon that. So we just don't waste that.
Richard Blank: And so my thoughts about how I got here, you don't say you're gonna be a call center CEO for a major in college, or when you're seven years old, you tell that to your mother, but I definitely knew this. I was the only one out of my group of friends that could speak Spanish. And not only that, but every job I had, I was the one that could go out to the Southwest Phoenix when I was selling telecommunications and sell a T1 to somebody and translate it for my supervisor.
Richard Blank: And I knew I had something that was different and it was wonderful for me cuz I enjoyed it and that I was embraced. I might had a grammar mistake in my subjunctive tense, but people would invite me in correct me and feed me and then recommend me to 10 of their. So why do you think that every environment that I was in when I was able to make these calls in Spanish, that I ran the board, I could do it in English and I did, but I also did it in Spanish.
Richard Blank: I could double gun it. I did two boards, English and Spanish. My point being is that you can show this sort of the first impression, respect Dave, when not only are you bilingual, but so am I, and we're doing this without even knowing each other. It. And so it really assisted me in having these sort of engagements and finding a lot of these things in common and really reduced any sort of defense or anger or setting a tone of aggression that that was eliminated immediately when I knew exactly what to say.
Richard Blank: And, and these are gonna be some of the additional selling techniques we'll talk about later and stuff. But my friend, I just wanted to discuss with you the ethics.. Of how I am and how I was raised. I'm when someone calls me a salesman and I take that as a compliment, I might look and sound like one, but Dave, I'm an educator.
Richard Blank: I don't ever force a hand from an educated point of view. My clients, my agents, my friends, and anyone I relate to then makes a decision. And I feel that if given the chance to explain how I feel and to answer their questions, everybody can leave with something on the. I, I think it's a wonderful way to start relationships.
Inside BS Show has accepted my invitation to join your audience for a solid discussion regarding taking a chance by moving abroad and starting a company from scratch in Costa Rica. Dave Lorenzo discusses with Richard advanced telemarketing strategy, conflict management, interpersonal soft skills, customer support, rhetoric, gamification, employee motivation and phonetic micro expression reading.
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://youtu.be/dbAl7gwXUEA
https://getinsidebs.com/how-to-build-a-world-class-call-center-richard-blank-show-95/
https://player.fm/series/inside-bs-with-dave-lorenzo/how-to-build-a-world-class-call-center-richard-blank-show-95
https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/inside-bs-with/how-to-build-a-world-class-y0jPVSM64FX/
https://podcasts.apple.com/nl/podcast/how-to-build-a-world-class-call-center-richard-blank-show-95/id1506769228?i=1000567719961
https://www.audible.com/pd/How-to-Build-a-World-Class-Call-Center-Richard-Blank-Show-95-Podcast/B0B54HPXGK?ref=a_pd_Inside_c1_lAsin_1_7
https://open.spotify.com/episode/0lGBT4kd7026zRzP3C8mlu
https://tunein.com/podcasts/Business--Economics-Podcasts/Inside-BS-with-Dave-Lorenzo-p1258770/?topicId=173106229
https://www.ivoox.com/en/how-to-build-a-world-class-call-center-audios-mp3_rf_88970286_1.html
Dave Lorenzo: All right, Richard. So before we went to that break, I asked you to think of a case study for us. Have you come up with one?
Richard Blank: I have, in fact, I can make it easy for you. I could do it across all verticals. How does that sound? So it applies to every account that I have. I always have an answer for that. A couple things we can do.
Richard Blank: The first thing is there's certain words that you have because the vowels in Spanish in English could give away. So we write certain words out phonetically for them, even though they need to know how to spell it properly, that can eliminate any sort of confusion or any sort of guessing. The second thing is, let's say for an example, that we're representing a company that's out of Chicago in a certain suburbs.
Richard Blank: What we like to do with a lot of the times is just take a Google. Right around the block and just to see the local pizza parlors, the parks, the churches, and what's going on around there. So instead of just giving us specific direction, we can talk about Mike's pizza, which everybody knows more than anything.
Richard Blank: And finally, we, we have to ensure that if people do follow up or even subcategory questions that we need to have every single sort of vocabulary for that. Doesn't mean that we need to have it memorized, but we should have a glossary of terms. So just, if something comes up, we're skilled enough to say that's an excellent question, Dave, and we could look it up while we're answering that question for you.
Richard Blank: Many people are capable of doing that. So as long as we're on a level playing field and we're given all the resources to, as you say, make it. Like we're in the United States and we know what the shore is and cheese fries and things like that. Then, uh, maybe tell us a couple more local flavors that we have or things that we should be aware of.
Richard Blank: And those are the sort of calls that we make to the people where it sounds like we have more in common with them and we know where we're going. It's. A simple, an example, like what we're calling businesses, instead of just saying, how are you a lot of the times we'll ask, Hey, how's Costa Rica's call center doing today in the tens of thousands of calls, I've analyzed.
Richard Blank: We find that company name, spike technique by asking about a company or organization, a lot of people have responded with you've been here before, or you an alumni sounds like, you know where you're going. You can parlay that with an extension or a person's name. And so you're rotting on that sort of high of familiarity, and they'll be able to transfer you.
Richard Blank: I always believe that lying on the phone is not ethical. I'm not saying I'm lying and I'm not saying that we're being slick. There's nothing wrong with being clever. And as long as you say a person's name a certain way, or a company's name a certain way with your anonymity, they can kind of maybe reduce the fact that you're a telemarketer or you're selling something and you make a different sort of first impression approach.
Richard Blank: And so these are the sort of things that enable us to prolong our conversations to at least increase our odd. Of a conversion ratio. I could give you 50 tips and tricks today, but we don't have as much time to go over that. But I think the most important thing, my, my friend, Dave, and thank you so much for you and your audience's time is that I think the first 30 seconds of the phone call is ideal.
Richard Blank: You need to, once again, not be egocentric, you need to put that company first and by saying their names and being polite to those that answer the phone. And making sure that they get credit when you are transferred or have given you information. And you should especially do that when you do a follow up letter, because you're probably separating yourself, Dave, from a thousand other people, and I've had the secretary or gatekeeper say, you know, thank you very much for that positive escalation.
Richard Blank: I got a raise or I got acknowledged, or it just made me feel good after 30 years, you're the first person to say that. So of course they're waiting for my call to transfer it for the close. I believe in woo way. Why have resistance do at least resistance allow the wind and the current to take you so any sort of friction and forced motion is not natural.
Richard Blank: I think that if I can gain their confidence in the beginning and show very nice, uh, reserved side where I can still close a deal, but I'm not gonna do it. Like you see in the movies I can, but that's out of character for. And if I'm looking to have long term relationships with people, it's not a one and a done, I want to get referred.
Richard Blank: I want Dave you and my network together to grow as well. And as I say before, coming on your show today, I, I wanted to share with you certain things that enabled me to be in business for 14 years and running this call center. If I were not able to do these sort of baseline ethics, morals, sort of phone calls for my clients, this would've never worked.
Richard Blank: and, um, if anything of nothing taking that away today is that if you, if you reject more than you accept, if you stand tall to your beliefs and you do things to make your great grandparents proud, you're gonna preserve, you're gonna last, you'll have the endurance. You'll make it through the tough times.
Richard Blank: Cuz those are the times you look in the mirror and you ask yourself, is this still worth it? Well, it is worth it. I have a luxury trade. This should have never happened. The fact that I'm here in Costa Rica for 21 years. And I have a company with my wife after 14 years. It's a long shot from Northeast Philadelphia.
Richard Blank: So I smile every day. I've learned to do that and I've learned to give my agents dignity and to know every single one of their names and to break bread with them. And I have the largest collection of pinball here. When you visit me, you'll see. So it's free play that it can play pinball with me, go to the Pacman machine, make yourself comfortable.
Richard Blank: Because that's my goal in a call center environment, which is a grind is, is to be the opposite. This is not a boiler room. This could be a career for these young men and women. They could build it like me. And if I could be the last boss they ever have, maybe when they move on, they can know every agent's name and keep that sort of tradition that I have. Dave.
Dave Lorenzo: That's terrific. I love it.
Inside BS Show has accepted my 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. Dave Lorenzo discusses with Richard advanced telemarketing strategy, conflict management, interpersonal soft skills, customer support, rhetoric, gamification, employee motivation and phonetic micro expression reading.
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://youtu.be/30D56dNySFU
https://getinsidebs.com/how-to-build-a-world-class-call-center-richard-blank-show-95/
https://player.fm/series/inside-bs-with-dave-lorenzo/how-to-build-a-world-class-call-center-richard-blank-show-95
https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/inside-bs-with/how-to-build-a-world-class-y0jPVSM64FX/
https://podcasts.apple.com/nl/podcast/how-to-build-a-world-class-call-center-richard-blank-show-95/id1506769228?i=1000567719961
https://www.audible.com/pd/How-to-Build-a-World-Class-Call-Center-Richard-Blank-Show-95-Podcast/B0B54HPXGK?ref=a_pd_Inside_c1_lAsin_1_7
https://open.spotify.com/episode/0lGBT4kd7026zRzP3C8mlu
https://tunein.com/podcasts/Business--Economics-Podcasts/Inside-BS-with-Dave-Lorenzo-p1258770/?topicId=173106229
https://www.ivoox.com/en/how-to-build-a-world-class-call-center-audios-mp3_rf_88970286_1.html
Dave Lorenzo: All right, Richard, take a second and think of three things we should take away from our time together. Three things we want people to remember from our conversation today, while you're doing that, I wanna remind folks that we're brought to you by St. Draki corporate advisors. So if you wanna reduce your tax exposure, you gotta give Sindrowski a call.
You can reach out to them at 8667171607, 8667171607. Cendrowski Corporate Advisors. Is there a CPA firm with a different perspective? We're also brought to you by my revenue roadmap guide. Go to revenue, roadmap, guide.com. Enter your contact info. Download your free business development plan today.
It's my gift to you for listening to the show for watching the show. Our guest today is Richard blank. You can call him at Costa Rica's call center eight eight eight two seven one sixty seven fifty eight eight eight two seven one sixty seven fifty. Or you can email him his emails down in the show notes.
All right, Richard, what should, what are folks listening? Are folks watching? What are the three? They should take away from our time together today.
Richard Blank: First thing they should take away is that I'm very grateful for their time. And thank you for listening to the entire podcast. I know a lot of people like short segments, hopefully I kept your attention, but anybody that wants to reach out to me just to say hello, and just to touch base or have any sort of suggestions, be more than willing to take any call and just to say, uh, in to meet some people.
I'm hoping that people after watching us today will see that you can be self confident in what you do. And also you can assist others to become more self-reliant. Success is built on 1 million thank yous. And I believe that like the bricks and the wall behind me in my building, that I built that you're capable of growing.
If you're assisting others. And I've learned that. And I learned that the easy way, not the hard way, because that's how I was raised. And the third thing is if you take these long shots and you take these risks, it can also pay off. I have a beautiful life here. As I mentioned before I collect antiques, I bought a limousine in 1984, Mercedes 300 D for my clients.
And I restored that was able to build out a building for my call center. So all of my dreams have come true. And I think the most satisfying thing that I did was I was true to myself, going back to Philadelphia and being a Spanish major and using that to being where I am today. Obviously I had this vision as a young man that I, that I stuck behind.
Most people quit 80% in, or there's a lot of naysayers that will say don't do it. And these are the ones that love you the most and care about you the most. But you also have to stand. and you have to also have to look at yourself in the nearer every day and what sort of man or woman do you want to see?
And so I had to make sure that I could live with myself and I'm very happy that I made these choices and especially making a choice to be on this podcast today. So, uh, Dave, thank you again in your.
Dave Lorenzo: No, thanks to you deco. Thank you so much. It was a pleasure having you on. I loved having this conversation with you and we're gonna have to have you back again to understand how you built a building and collect antiques in Costa Rica.
Richard Blank: I mean, we didn't even go my micro expression reading
Dave Lorenzo: We'll have I promise we'll have you back. We'll make it a regular segment. Richard Blank was such a pleasure having you on folks. If you wanna reach out to Richard. Let me give you his number one more time. Call him at eight eight eight two seven one sixty seven fifty eight eight eight two seven one sixty seven fifty.
That'll do it for another episode of the inside BS show my thanks to Richard blank for joining us today. We'll be back here again tomorrow with another great interview until then here's hoping you make a great living and live a great life.
Inside BS Show has accepted my invitation to join your audience for a solid discussion regarding taking a chance by moving abroad and starting a company from scratch in Costa Rica. Dave Lorenzo discusses with Richard advanced telemarketing strategy, conflict management, interpersonal soft skills, customer support, rhetoric, gamification, employee motivation and phonetic micro expression reading.
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://youtu.be/1XsmaT8Vnlc
https://getinsidebs.com/how-to-build-a-world-class-call-center-richard-blank-show-95/
https://player.fm/series/inside-bs-with-dave-lorenzo/how-to-build-a-world-class-call-center-richard-blank-show-95
https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/inside-bs-with/how-to-build-a-world-class-y0jPVSM64FX/
https://podcasts.apple.com/nl/podcast/how-to-build-a-world-class-call-center-richard-blank-show-95/id1506769228?i=1000567719961
https://www.audible.com/pd/How-to-Build-a-World-Class-Call-Center-Richard-Blank-Show-95-Podcast/B0B54HPXGK?ref=a_pd_Inside_c1_lAsin_1_7
https://open.spotify.com/episode/0lGBT4kd7026zRzP3C8mlu
https://tunein.com/podcasts/Business--Economics-Podcasts/Inside-BS-with-Dave-Lorenzo-p1258770/?topicId=173106229
https://www.ivoox.com/en/how-to-build-a-world-class-call-center-audios-mp3_rf_88970286_1.html