The Science of CX podcast. Key Takeaways Into More Productive Customer Engagements with Richard Blank
The Science of CX is a groundbreaking new weekly podcast developed to
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Getting to know Richard the man. How did he end up with such a large collection of restored pinball machines and jukeboxes?key ingredients to ensure an effective micro-expression conversationHow agents can positively handle and grow from negative calls and feedback from customersRunning a small business? Well tune in and find out what tips Richard has to help you leverage your everyday conversations into a goldmineTime and numbers. Find out whether or not it's productive to measure your employee’s efforts based on the number of hours or sales made Richard shares with us his unique and world-class system of training and mentoring new agents An exercise you can easily pick up in helping you become a better micro expression reader
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Learn how to turn new customers into the most loyal customers and be on the
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CXpert - interviews with CX Leaders and Influencers that have made it their
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Steve has built a career transforming, growing, expanding and turning around businesses. He has created successful companies by delivering remarkable customer experiences. Steve makes sure each employee has the actionable knowledge necessary to make better decisions, build great culture and serve customers in a way that increases loyalty, referrals, sales and satisfaction.In his recent role with Panviva, the knowledge cloud company, Steve expanded the Australian software company successfully into the US to a market powerhouse position. Steve also advises many companies annually on their CX strategies. Industry associations, publications, and Fortune 500 companies invite him to speak and write about CX best practices in healthcare, finance, utilities, insurance, and telecommunications.A successful entrepreneur in his own right, Steve has built and sold six companies. He has spent many years cultivating his approach to CX and each company has held to the mantra of “the customer is at the center of the universe.
In fact, his first CX initiative was a college Honors project where Steve redesigned the student registration system to ease the process of registering for classes and enhance the student registration experience. He then went on to running an Technology Division with over 12,000 employee customers, while working for one of the largest global government contractors. All the while addressing internal customer expectations and increase customer satisfaction and productivity.Next, he perfected the concepts of personalization with marketing automation tools to better target and deliver one-on-one communication with customer messaging. Now, Steve is focused on helping business leaders build great strategies to deliver the ultimate in customer experiences and drive their business to new heights.When he is not driving CX strategy or launching companies, Steve plays the guitar and mentors startup business. He lives in New Hampshire with his wife and sons.
you're listening to the science of C. X. A podcast that hopes to inspire business owners and leaders to learn new techniques and turn prospects into customers, enter customers into raving fans. My name is Steve Pappas. I'm known for my relentless pursuit of all thing’s customer across my career. And in my six startups, I've had to learn how to make decisions in business that customers really respond to. Let's spend some time together and help your business soar grow and accelerate. Well, welcome everybody to another episode of the science of C. X. I'm Steve Pappas, your host and as always, we look everywhere to find the experts that can help you in your business journey as well as your customer experience initiatives within your organization.
Today is No exception. Today we're going to be talking about some remarkably interesting areas. We're going to cover a lot of material. Please take notes if you want or you can come back and listen to it multiple times because that makes it seem like we have more listeners. Hey, yeah, do that. Instead listen to this episode 3, 4 or five times. That'll do it. Anyway, we're going to be talking about advanced telemarketing strategies. We're going to be talking about conflict management, interpersonal skills, customer support, rhetoric, Gamification, employee motivation and phonetic micro expression reading.
Have I piqued your interest yet? Well, we have a gentleman on today. His name is Richard blank, and he comes to us from Costa Rica, and he is the head of a great business process, outsourcing contact center, but he's also an expert in so many different areas that we want to talk about. So why don't we bring him in from the virtual green room? You know, there's no real green room of course by now, but let's pretend he's coming in from the green room and we'll welcome him to the show.
Richard, thanks for joining us today on the show. See, that's an amazing introduction. I'm so happy to be here, really enjoy your work and cannot wait to share amazing ideas with your audience today. That's great. Well, I'm going to give folks a little bit about your bio just so they understand where we're going to start from and maybe some interesting things about you too. So, Richard's journey in the car Contact 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 Costa Rica 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. I think he learned a few things along the way. Richard blank has the largest collection of restored American pinball machines and antique rock ola jukeboxes in central America making Gamification a strong part of Costa Rica Contact center. Culture. Richard blank is the chief executive officer for Costa Rica’s Call center since 2008. Richard also holds a bachelor's 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 Honor Society induction ceremony.
Giving back to the high school is especially important to Richard as such. He endows a scholarship each year for students that plan on majoring in a world language at the university level. So, I've got to start Richard with the first part here that just jumped right at me as the largest collection of restored American pinball machines and jukeboxes. Now if anybody knows me, they know that I love pinball aside from playing guitar for the last for years. I love pinball, I don't quite go into the Galaga and those things that my wife loves but I love playing pinball.
So, tell us what you have got, I'd love to know what kind of pinball machines you have Steve, I'm so glad that you started with dessert first and naturally our favorite class in school was recessed. So absolutely. I grew up in the seventies and eighties and the arcades were just some of the most amazing places to make friends and compete. It was so new and the artwork on the cabinets and the marquees, it really was an experience and always wanted that game room like Ricky Schroder and silver spoons.
I was jealous. So, I wanted one and down here since I own a call center and I have the space, I go treasure hunting and one man's trash is another man's treasure and they just really do not know what they have in their bodegas. And so, I will find a machine and bring it back here. And with specialist I restore them now regarding my pinball machines. The oldest one that I have is a 1976 Bally's freedom. And one of the newer ones would be like, let's say a last action hero where a doctor who I have an M. B. A fast break in a mouse.
And around I got Williams, space shuttle 1987 I got a judge Dredd Street fighter, two lethal weapon, three jokers, World cup hook and Jurassic Park. So, it turned out into a hobby became an obsession. And when you're a married man, you decide which hills to die on which swords to fall upon. And my wife and I have this agreement where pretty much everything is in her favor. But the one thing she knows that makes me happy of restoring these old classic jukeboxes and pinball machines because what an error and the craftsmanship and the fact that they've been preserved for decades shows that people really cared about these machines.
Now you and I was awfully expensive growing up. So, it seemed like a luxury. But the fact that we can afford it. It really is something that I take full advantage of when I have the moments with just not my agents but myself. There's always a pinball marathon going on down here. Well, it's great that you have the employee engagement to do that. But I'll tell you, we had bought one, we had a terminator pinball machine at one point that had the gun for the pinball release, but it took so much to get it into the basement of the home that we were living in when we sold the house.
We negotiated to sell the pinball machine, so I didn't have to get it out of there. It was so heavy to move, and I wasn't about to, but I have been in the market for another one right now. The prices are through the roof on all those two. I was looking for an Adam’s family or another terminator, but the Adams family was the one that kind of thrilled me and as well as jukeboxes, it's funny, we have a lot of similar interests in collection.
I don't have any jukeboxes. I wanted to cut my teeth on the first one and I have a buddy in the UK that restores German jukeboxes and he's one of the largest in the world that restores those early seventies and eighties jukeboxes that were built in Germany. I think it was like N C D M or something like that and that's an interesting market. But let's get on to some of the other areas that we're going to talk about. I gave folks at the beginning of the episode, a lot of terminology that we're going to be talking about today.
And one of the things that I really wanted to discuss, this idea of phonetic micro expressions, I don't know if our audience knows what that really is or maybe some do and of course they'll yell at me in the comments etcetera. But can we talk about these things because let's jump into some of these areas that we're going to get across and are these all used the things we're going to talk about? They all used in the contact center, and can you train people in all these areas?
They're used in my call center and just depends on the sort of profiled agent that you have there. Let me take it back a bit. Everybody studies micro expression reading. There was a tv show called Lie to Me that specialized in where you can judge people's postures, their eyes, their face, their hands. I mean there's books and seminars about it now when you're on the phone, three of your senses are removed, your taste, touch and smell. And the scientists claim that when you do have one that is removed, your others expand.
So, I expect you to do much more active listening and then people can also argue that you can't see people on the phone, but I beg to differ because there is image streaming, you have metaphysics when you read a book, it's better than the movie because of imagination. You can use more descriptions and more adjectives but let's just concentrate on the sound of speech. The average attention span is about 30 seconds to two minutes, conversations have introductions, bodies and conclusions. So, if you have a controlled environment, you can have a consistent variable and then you can see inconsistencies.
So now we have a base of how we're going to study speech and 32nd segments. Okay your tone is what represents your emotion, and it should be confident and empathetic because that should be consistent on your end. People will talk about a mirror imaging technique Steve, and I agree with that. But you also need to know how you're speaking for your adjustments. So, your mirror imaging isn't about you sitting across from someone and crossing your arms and tapping a finger. No, you don't have that over the phone.
So, eliminate any sort of mirror imaging face to face. I study the rate and the pitch. These are things that can be done in any language. I do not study semantics. The word choice. I'm studying the tone of your voice which is mine is consistent. I could care less what your tone is. That could be a flag or a mask, but you study someone's rate of speech and how loud they speak their pitch and every 30 seconds to two minutes. Think about the X. Y. Chart that you had in pre-algebra, you can see how fast or how loud they're going.
You consistently market every 30 seconds to two minutes. I would back it up with an answering speed because that is something that you cannot control. It's more subconscious, you can manipulate your tone rate and pitch. But the professional interrogators and police officers’ usual throw the question in the fourth or fifth time to really judge the answering speed. So, if you can do that xy chart with a horizontal line behind it and kind of gauge from 0 to 10 where you're going, you will see areas of spikes or dips and in my opinion that's the time to ask a tie down or pin down question or clarification question.
And these are certain times in which you're able to assist the conversation of moving forward for better clarification and it's not really giving away your power on that. You're really doing more of the Wuwei the less struggle the rudder of the ship. And so, this phonetic micro expression reading can be done just mind you this in your 1st 30 seconds. I don't know you and one is the loneliest number in your second minute. We could have a match off one and a one fast and high, low and slow by five at least.
You might have an odd man out in regard to your quadrants because after you've gone all four quadrants you have to repeat a quadrant, but most of the time people are in quadrant, on the top and the fast and so by your 10th 30 seconds to two minutes. Think about it like this, it's about 4. 5 to 5 minutes on something like that. And by your 11th you should know how somebody is speaking that's 5. 5 minutes in on a 10-minute conversation. And by then you will know how to close the deal.
And so, once you see it you can't unsee it. After three weeks it becomes habit and once you start paying attention to it it becomes very lucid and clearer. You are not lying and I'm not manipulating but these people are obviously giving away certain tell signs on how they speak on first time or even long term conversations and if you do catch somebody being facetious or not as clear, maybe ask them to repeat it using other senses or using another example to see if they're consistent. And so, I think it's an excellent way not to be offensive because passive aggressively you could once again use a me-too technique with somebody.
Let's just say you can't hear them. It's a bad connection on a cellphone or a dog is barking in the background. I try to fall on that small sword instead of placing blame on them, it's for my clarification Steve, did you say 123 or ABC because the worst thing you could ever do Is have somebody so upset and go down rabbit holes because now you need to restart your phonetic micro expression, reading the Tarot Card Reader said you could read two different reads in 10 minutes depending if it's sunny or raining, same person, same hour, but it could be a different read.
So, the greatest thing you could do is to ride that weight and keep it at that apex if you can. It's like when people said lucid dreaming, you really don't want to readjust your body to be able to keep that consistent breathing and body posture. With someone that you're speaking with, you try to keep them as consistent as possible. There's a little wiggle room there but don't go extreme and if you can handle something like that, fall on these swords, get clarification.
I think your audience would have some extremely effective conversations with people on the first time. This is a remarkably interesting area because we do have an awful lot of folks that either work in contact centers or are managing contact centers or even outsource to contact centers. And the training of agents tends to be remarkably similar in most organizations but they're not thinking about how they can better control they’re usually using the approach where gee I'm sorry you're having that problem. So, they're falling on the sword most of the time.
But if you think about the calls, right? If you think about the types of calls that come in, I mean they're not picking up the phone because they're just calling to say thank you or their colleagues to say gee what an excellent product this is. They're usually picking up the phone or they're making a contact with them because there's an issue, there's some type of an issue either they don't understand, they don't know how to fill out, they don't know how to do something or there's a more negative issue.
So, if you think about the incoming approach that happens, a lot of it tends to be negative. And unfortunately, the contact center agents these days are feeling increasingly of society's negativity coming out of the pandemic. You know, because people who are very understanding more, more understanding during the pandemic, but they’re taking it out on front line people. So, I don't know how you guys have seen things. But from the folks that I've spoken to in the last few months, it seems like most of the calls are key issues and they have to diffuse right away.
So can they use the phonetic micro expression method that you talk about to kind of even the playing field and get them to calm down so that they can explain what their issue is better rather than they're ready to blow up at any moment type of thing. Sure. And I'm glad that you brought that up, that's a subject that I can easily address and apply the phonetic micro expression read because mind you my friend you could start the call yelling and cursing and at the end thanking them.
So naturally your phonetic micro expression reading might be adjusted with raid and Fitch. But I would never say that I'm sorry unless you specifically spilled the drink or broke the window because then you might get offended because this individual speaking with you is so nice, they didn't do it but they're apologizing for someone else's broken window. So, my suggestion from my agents immediately is to thank you Steve for sharing that with me. I understand your position didn't mean that I agree with it, but I understand your position and allow me a moment to make it work and fix it for you.
And so now the audience, your client coming in, guns a blazing isn't really putting all that anger at the individual because that individual did not make that problem. They're taking the shrapnel; you say the incoming. That's a wonderful way to use it incoming Obama grenade. But I like to defuse. There's a technique that I use called the buffer boomerang technique. And so, if somebody comes at me with a negative tone, I will like sponge and buffer that negative tone. I will name drop you and say Steve.
That's an excellent question, repeat back your question what it was to show active listening. So, there's a connected key lock there and then boomerang it back as a plus three. So, I could potentially my friend readjust the tone and the pace of the call to then put it back into that phonetic micro expression reading that you need to really nail it. But I believe that people are frustrated and mind you this there's a lot more omnichannel non voiced support. So, prior to that phone call they might have filled out a couple forms, send a couple of emails that only elevates the stress.
So, when they're calling, they're almost letting off steam. And if you allow them to speak, you'd be surprised how it goes from attend to it to both in pitching the rate they cry it out and then everyone calms down. You've taken copious notes. Now, Steve, you mentioned A B. C. And D. What about the Richard? Thank you, Steve. And e there's nothing wrong with raking and reviewing and meeting minutes. It's I can't just solve it with you with a magic potion. These things, someone is coming to you emotional, they don't know you you might need to repeat your name multiple times in third person because now they're embarrassed.
Three men it's in to ask your name Steve. So, you could say okay at the end of this call, Richard, you're going to say Steve. You really helped me out in this section you know, oh thank you Steve. Great. I got them I anchored. And so, these are certain soft skills to just be polite, show your manners, Take that certain control of a conversation, more of a shepherd with its sheep. They zigzag but they still go back in the barn. So, I don't need so many jagged edges.
There are no straight lines in nature and and I love empathy with somebody because when I use your name, I will usually use it in a transitional sentence or confirmation. And then during the conversation I will use personal pronouns as you know the yours and ours just to make sure that I'm keeping your conversation going in your attention and then landing in the bomb when I dropped the name drop and you should take these calls every 30 seconds to two minutes because as you say, they could change. But this gives you an excellent chance, my friend, if you really want to look at it logically that if somebody is calling in, you have a chance to retain the client, you have the chance to up sell them.
If that's what you're doing, you could get a referral out of it. But look at it like this, let's say we drop the ball. Worst case scenario, this individual will take the time to do an exit interview and tell us areas in which we could have improved or what our competition had done to earn their business and as long as you're willing to keep an open mind and I don't like the word constructive criticism. I mean you fumbled the ball; you should have known what you were doing.
Then just call the balls and the strikes and let you know that you made this error and learn from it and don't do it again. And these are the sort of things call by call person by person instead of doing 100 calls a day Steve. Why don't you have your agents take 95? They're taking extra couple three minutes on the phone to let Mr. jones relax a little bit. That is the secret to the successor old school style. This is interesting because as you're explaining some of these tips and techniques, it occurs that it doesn't just apply in the contact center world.
I mean this could be if you're a brick-and-mortar store, it could be your pizza place. There could be people calling because hey, you got the wrong toppings on my pizza. The delivery was wrong or there could be all kinds of things, but it applies to all areas of business and people running small businesses could learn from these same techniques. Don't you agree? This could save a thanksgiving dinner. A marriage. These are just diplomatic soft skills of attentive listening and prioritizing, but I couldn't agree with you more and I never even shared with you.
My favorite technique. It's the positive escalation when I call a place and people always give the gatekeeper a bad rap. But these are the individuals that the CEO and the owners love the most and they're the first impression and the strongest warrior of the tribe. They're the first one there, representing them in the best light. And so, for me, I'd like to understand their protocol. I like to properly introduce myself and say the name of their company and ask how their company is doing sometimes better than they do just to at least give them a taste of how I speak instead of just immediately asking to speak to you Steve.
And then if this individual decides to transfer me the first thing, I'm going to let them know prior to the transfers that they did an excellent job. And I will be mentioning that verbally to the owner of the company and at the conclusion of the call with the owner of the company, I will also mention that in writing. So, if I happen to call your company back, the Richard Circle's complete because this individual remembers me, and I've heard dozens and dozens of times. I thank you and saying I've been here for a decade and you're the first person that wrote about me to Mr. jones.
And these are individuals that will tell you anniversaries and promotions or no Steve’s direct extensions. 1 25 calms on Thursdays at two. Thank you, Catherine. I appreciate it and I love them to death. Those are the greatest insiders. It's a plethora of information and the moment that you start bullying your way in there or pretending they're waiting for your call or your insistent. That's why they're there to hang up on you. But there's a certain way to be not clever, but you have 30 seconds to make a first impression.
Half of that is your speech her speech and give a couple of seconds of silence. So, you really got about 12 seconds to speak. That's not a lot. My suggestion is to say things that they're most familiar with which is the name of their company and their own name and then you got to do your own name as well because you can't be anonymous. The whole call that's shady. You can use a little bit of that in the beginning by just doing a name spike in a proper introduction and if you get the past to pitch, you have the momentum and then you do once again that sort of escalation.
It It seems to work for me because it separates you from hundreds if not thousands of people that are prospecting that business interesting back to the contact center for a second. You talked about have your agents take 95 calls instead of 100 but most of the contact centers that I've dealt with over the past 20 plus years. They're driven by their average handle time. They're driven by the numbers to some degree. They're even told when they're going to the bathroom. How do you resolve that to a contact center manager that is just driving everything by the numbers.
So, you're an intake coordinator for a law firm for lawsuits against firings or disabilities and somebody calls in and they happen to become emotional for a minute. What are you going to do Steve look at the clock and say Mrs. jones. Please hurry up. I only have two more minutes to talk to you. You know what would happen? It wouldn't be for the client or for me, the agent might resign on something like that. So as much as we want to stick to certain metrics, you're talking about an artist of speech.
Somebody that is in the moment that's in the now that wants to assist this individual the best way that they can and by limiting their ability to build that sort of rapport or to allow someone to get it out. Which could be the key to closing the deal or to Upsell for something or to get that referral. I don't do things like that. Now we're not doing extreme where someone's doing 50 calls a day instead of 100. But you can see there's an average but that's what it's called an average and if you say you just want to look at conversion ratios.
Look at that too. But everyone once again is an artist and they have their own special sauce and some people are graded intros, other bodies, other conclusions. But my goodness gracious is somebody is in the moment and they're connecting with someone and they're standing up instead of sitting down and you could tell they have the glaze where they're not staring at anyone. They're just thinking of the client, and everyone can see them doing this. You don't think that that energy spreads on the floor. You don't think that that's important as well.
That sort of synergy. So, these rigid centers that judge you on your bathroom breaks and your handling time you're going to break the agent. I mean you can do that and grind it out, but you might have an attrition rate. But if I give somebody the ability to expand on a call and to be themselves my friends. So, they're not just plastic and going through the motions then I can create an ace, I can create a leader. I can create someone that will come to me at the conclusion of the call and say you know, Mrs. jones started crying.
I go she alright, She goes, yeah, it took a couple more minutes but I connected her through to the counselor and I gave additional notes because we had to speak about her husband just passing away and the fact that she has to move and other things that would have never been qualifying the call because you're supposed to be asking her just certain questions but know this individual added additional things and then they say, thank you for listening. You're the different company than the ones before that. Just put me through the assembly line and you know that it's the mom and pop.
It's the bed and breakfast. You'd rather go to the small hardware store sometimes because you know the man, I'll drive an extra couple of miles from my favorite restaurant Steve. That's the sort of the science that you're talking about. It's amazingly simple. It's how you feel and how you were treated. What about the price? What about the price? Sometimes it's worth the money. It's not always about saving a dollar. It's about supporting your business or if I'm having a day with some blues, you come over to me and just let me know you're happy that I'm there and you sit with me for a second.
So, as we get older, my friend, those are the sort of relationships that we see at businesses and you, and I understand that the grind and we also understand when your favorite client walks through the door. So, I like to pay that forward the best that I can. Absolutely. So, I went down that path and I think your answer and your philosophy is brilliant. Unfortunately. I mean it's the way I believe too that the contact center folks in an organization should be revered because they are your front line.
They hold things together. They are the impetus for the referral the up sell the further sell the expansion all those things. Yet still in today's world, C E O s don't always think that way. They look at a contact center as a cost center rather than the proper way of looking at it as it's an expansion center. It's a focus group. It's the lifeblood of the company because those folks have the most contact with our customers post sale, they become the hub of the post-sale journey and unfortunately maybe it'll take another generation before enough sea level folks understand that.
So that brings me more to the conversation of culture. How do we develop a culture in our contact centers especially and I know this can spill out into the rest of the business, but how can we develop a culture that rewards and reveres the contact center agents as being the customer success vehicle, the people that help our customers become more successful using our products and our services. You must look at it Two ways. If you yourself are not centered in balance, it would be exceedingly difficult to expand and to think of others.
I can't hit the ball and drag johnny as much as my agents here have become bilingual, which shows structure and dedication over years outside the classroom. I expect them to do the same thing if they're thinking about being a telemarketer as a profession besides the eight hours that they put in here, they should be doing dedicated practice outside of the center, reading in English watching certain movies or speeches so they can take certain parts of rhetoric that inspired them. That they saw transitional sentences or effective. You could do case studies in history and find out certain speeches that moved people.
And then secondly, I mentioned the word synergy. These individuals were a very social environment. If you and I are working out at the gym Steve, we're going to be pumping each other up to put up three or four more on the bar and put more plates up. So, I expect the audience, the agents to feed off their energy and to share ideas and to pick someone up when they're feeling down. As I mentioned, I created a Gamification culture. So, I have a place where people can let off steam, recharge batteries hang out with me and meet people from other departments.
So that assists me in one way. But also, since once again English is their second language. The fact that they are getting a return on investment. I see that these agents are much more focused for intense periods of time because of the translation. So, it's less area for distraction. But here's the best part my man regarding my culture when I first came down here 27 years old, I didn't start sea level of my friends call center. I taught English decided to stay and then worked at the center and so I was with the proletariat for four years, I went through so many departments.
I saw the good and the bad and what it did for me was it enabled me to see areas to enhance it for the agent and for the client to give them their dignity, so they don't feel like robots are expendable. And when I had the opportunity to start this business, they couldn't fool me because I was on the phone, I've done this before and I hate to say it, I'm not bragging but I am the sin save my dojo in this industry where people burn out and they look down upon it, I thrived really excelled.
But I saw the art in it. Look at it like this, you're very selective of the campaigns that come in here, we're in a strict catholic country. They must go home and tell their parents what they do. If I brought in something gray area or shady, no one would take it. So I'd have no friends of my chuck e cheese birthday party and so you have to do an account to not only where the client feels okay offering it, but the Asian would feel comfortable making the calls because if it's a forced fit, if it's out of place and out of character, they're not going to last long, they're not going to sound natural and we're not giving anything real specific here.
But as I say, I must ensure that what I'm bringing into this call center something where I'm able to fulfill the needs. Now I can add scripts and suggestions, but initially it must be something that just does not compromise any sort of ethics interesting. Well, let's cover a little bit more because I'm fascinated by not only the culture, but the organization that you've built to help organizations that want to outsource their contact center. So, we could talk a little bit about your training, you're coaching your mentoring methods and then what does the knowledge base look like for your agents to always do a better job?
Because quite frankly, I mean you're going to do as good or better a job than the company you're representing because you're going to keep the account and you're going to keep them happy and keep them over the course of a lifetime. So how do you train differently? How do you coach and mentor folks and keep them so that you don't have the attrition level that a lot of places have today. That's a wonderful question real fast in regards to attrition, I have more of a natural attrition than a forced attrition because companies such as amazon hp intel and oracle and Sykes are here, so I'll lose somebody for a scheduling conflict for the university of boyfriend or girlfriend works there closer to their home, very rarely, if not never someone will say that I insulted them, yelled at them, gave them the walk of shame.
It's just maybe an ex-employee with some sour grapes. I treat everybody with dignity, and I look for ways to delegate and promote them, but initially it's really the psychology prior to any sort of skill set. So, fear is a morbid anticipation of things that haven't happened yet. The fact that they learned a second language is 10 times harder than any campaign. I'll put them on. I also believe in the right bus, right seat philosophy. And so, when they come into the call center besides starting their day playing pinball to make friends and relax a little bit.
We really do focus on quality assurance so we can grade their calls for certain metrics. But I try to do certain breakthroughs like when they're filling out their resumes with me and putting in all their credentials, I'll ask them to turn the page over Steve and give me a couple of paragraphs of a coming of age moment, let me know when you beat up a bully or save the kitten from a tree. And so, I could use this when they're having a rainy Wednesday to remind them of when they were a champion.
These are things they always have in them. It's just a matter of getting it out and keeping it consistent and so let's just say in the first day of class, it's especially important not just to lecture them when they just nodded you and walk out the door. You need to have checkpoints; you need to have interaction. You can go over a certain segment and then just maybe have somebody stand up in front of class and read the next paragraph. Why? Because you're triple gunning. They're reading out loud their public speaking, they're doing it in front of the boss.
Imagine those sorts of butterflies you would have, but if you could triple or quadruple your training daily where then you go upstairs, you record yourself reading the script, where you're practicing it. You're not just reading it, you're speaking into a recording device, then you're listening to it and then you're doing a self-analysis for self-adjustments over the things we spoke about. You'll know when you're pausing is off or when you're too loud or too best. Are you stuttered or mispronounced a word and I'm allowing you Steve to write it out phonetically, at least learn how to spell it.
But the vowels are sometimes tricky for Latinos, so it's okay to be able to switch things around so it's pronounced a certain way, and these are the sort of adjustments, minor adjustments that we make for somebody to feel more comfortable initially. So, they don't pick up unhealthy habits and kind of like bedside manner. I can't stress enough; the name drops and the act of listening and the confirmations because people feel much more comfortable when they're being listened to, and you are taking your meeting minutes and if we need to repeat something in the military alphabet.
A it shows that you're extremely involved and engaged in the conversation. A lot of the times people served in the military, so they think that's cool and you're not just making up words and going along. These people know that you are actively trying to spell their name, their email address correctly. And so, I've seen the tens of thousands of phone calls. That that's the most effective way of not to offend somebody when you can't hear them well or they have an exotic name or if it's something where you just say, yeah, okay, but the next thing, you know, your email bounces back.
It would have been better off to confirm if it's L for lima, you know, and just to make sure that you got it. And as I say, these are the sort of things like in school, you come to class, you do your homework and you do your quizzes, you can still not do so well on the final exam, but you're going to pass the class, you will be preparing yourself and marinating and softening up the call in the relationship in order to convert it. And sometimes my friends, it happens a second or third time don't expect a cold call close.
I tell my clients to put their checkbook away. A lot of the times, I just want to answer their questions and show credentials and reintroduce them to other people on the floor that they can meet and make a better decision. So don't feel rushed. People will see that, and they will be apprehensive to move forward with you. So let it happen at a natural pace. So, you said something about you QC. All the calls and I think I remember you were talking about your Hall of Fame, you know, the best and the worst calls.
I mean is that used as a training method for everyone to understand both the good and the bad types of calls. Absolutely. Remember you were mentioning earlier about people calling in the first round of calls coming where people are upset if they can ride that wave and they see the bark is, there's no bite. It's just barking and that we calmed mars jones down. We listened to Mrs. jones, we separated piles, we were able to move forward. The call didn't take that long because we didn't have to repeat things because we were confirming things.
We eliminated rabbit holes. We did the mirror imaging. We did the phonetics; we did the drops. It's beautiful. Now you have this toolbox. It's not a to Z. There are steps that can be skipped or moved back to how about we look at it like this? I loved romantic tragedy. So, I consider that a hang up call is a romantic death. Where am I going with this? Let's just say you're just hardcore carpet bombing, making outbound calls and no matter what you say, you're calling a place that she says, don't call again or not interested or we're good.
Thanks, and hang up. I always look at it like this. If you can do a company named spike and do a name, drop of the individual before they hang up on you. I think that's a beautiful death. I think at least poor lome knows you got something out of that call. But then they wouldn't be surprised that you could anchor yourself by just getting them out of that trance by saying their name in that 1st 30 seconds. I've had Times where we bought another minute, bought another three minutes and just by default, nothing on our own.
We couldn't move forward. I'll give you an example. People can call me, and we could be on the phone and 99% were ready to sign the contract. But then they ask if we do Chinese, I don't have Chinese agents, I don't do graveyard shift and I can't match offshore prices India and the Philippines. So just by that alone, I'm not able to move forward, but 99% fit. So how do I feel about that? A little disappointed. But then again, I was able to go 15 rounds lost on the decision, but I was still able to make my points listen to their points build rapport, have some labs introduce, fantasize good call.
So, another couple of questions, what type of companies or what type of industries do you guys mostly handle calls for inbound or apa? Well, I'll let you know five. We don't do, we don't do sports books, casino stocks, pharmacies or sweepstakes. I have nothing against it. Just don't want to do it. But I'm looking for small to medium sized companies in the United States, Canada Central America and Europe that would need individuals to make outbound lead generation, appointment setting or inbound customer support. And it's amazingly simple.
Our agents are college educated; they're dedicated. I don't have a blended or mixed center. They only work for your campaign, and they have some amazing skill sets here. Costa Rica really packs a punch regarding business process outsourcing. I have mentioned some of the big boys, but there are tons of call centers here and since we're the only democratic society in central America, they don't have a standing army. So, there's a 95% literacy rate Steve so as much as people might see telemarketing call centers as transitional sort of jobs or something in the United States, as you say, has a certain rap here.
It pays more than most vocation. So, I'm having some extremely educated bilingual people with degrees walking in this door and working with me. So, it's amazing the sort of people that you meet here. Very eclectic, all diverse types. That's great. So, if a company called and says, okay, we want to get started, what is that initial onboarding looks like time wise especially and system wise and how quickly can you be up and running to take their calls? Great. Well let's just say I accept the vertical and I'm comfortable with that.
There's a pre-launch checklist that my floor manager and chief technical officer sent to that company. It's exceedingly difficult for me to start moving forward without stations being set up connections, made scripts for bottles, reporting and contact because once the ads go out and people come in, it's really a seller's market. I got to be able to explain it to their candidates a, the campaign that they're doing the incentives that they have and the metrics that they're expecting. It just can't be fantasy time. It needs to be something that's concrete.
And so, once we bring the people in, it really all depends on the training time. I've had people go as low as a half a day just to teacher CRM and do a little bit of role play for fun and others do longer training sessions, even up to a month. That concerns me because we do follow all Costa Rican labor laws and there are certain call centers that are known for like for an example, sykes has the MetLife account and supposedly people will be there for an entire month training and then on their first day of coming back to work, they just don't show up.
And by Costa Rican labor law, they need to get paid for that month they go on a certain list as being a jumper and it's not fair, but that's the name of the game. So, the longer the training, the more I'm concerned because people sometimes can take advantage of that and just use that as a placeholder until they can find another job. So, if we have certain awfully specific checkpoints to ensure that this agent really has done their due diligence, really engage really up to speed.
That's a good risk compared to just doing five days’ worth of classroom, talking about merchant process outsourcing and stuff like that. It needs to be awfully specific, and I have to ensure that this client that I'm speaking with does have a track record. If it's a brand-new pilot project, then we need to invest in the process and there shouldn't be any surprises and I must let them know what to expect when building a campaign, there may be attrition. We may need to readjust the script, call certain area codes, or do certain things.
But I guess the most important thing about it is being forthright, when it comes to onboarding people, I can easily have somebody in five business days, depending if you need 10 people give me up to 10 business days, you know, and maybe we can hire people piecemeal, we can catch them when certain campaigns and other centers and as I mentioned, it's very competitive out there. The more that you put out the start date, the more that you're going to lose people because they need a job between those times and now since Covid came, it really adjusted to the work from home.
So there is an advantage of the brick and mortar because of internet redundancy, my generator and on site I. T. Support but Steve, I was exceptionally fortunate during Covid to be able to adjust my business model virtually because if I owned a brick and mortar only like a bike shop or a pizza parlor, I'm in big trouble as much as I lost a lot of the essence of the center and the camaraderie? I was able to survive. But you know, the labor pools changed. I must ensure if there is training, they should be on site to know the company culture and at least meet us before going home.
It's one of those things my friend where I really did see a huge shift that when I first started this back in 2000, that's great. Well, in the last few minutes that we've got, you know, I'd ask you whether we could give our listeners an exercise. We talked about the two-paragraph coming of age. Can you explain an exercise that folks can do as homework after they listen to this episode. And that might be interesting for them to learn more about the content that we gave them here today and then when we come back maybe you can give folks a way of getting in touch with you guys if that's something that they're looking for.
Thanks Steve, I appreciate it. Let people do the Triple watch. They should watch something without sound, they should watch something without sight. And if you want to study the visual body language, that's great. Just watch something without sound. You can assume what they're doing and then if you want to study the phonetics, to choose a channel that you don't understand the language. Like for me it would have to be Chinese or German or something like that. Italian French and Portuguese are too like Spanish for me.
But if I watch the Chinese channel, it's extremely easy for me to do that phonetic micro expression reading because I don't understand any semantic. So even I'm taking out the tone, I'm just studying their rate in their pit. Do not get study it that way while you're on the phone, once again these are things that you can do. You just draw your xy chart the horizontal line and every 30 seconds to two minutes point to how Mr. Jones's speaking just for practice, but it is about practice. It's about dedicated practice.
Record yourself, listen to yourself. I don't like how I sound. That's what everybody says. But guess what you that's what you got. So, you need to adjust it and as you and I have a mirror and our beards look great because we do look great. You could do the same thing with your voice as well. Record it, master it adjusted. And if you do that, you'll see that you'll get more positive reinforcement from people. There will be more I guess inclined to ask you for advice because you were sympathetic about it and the way you spoke about it and finally if you are in a certain situation where there's emotion and its tense, you should choose to speak last.
And if it's not something where you need to immediately give an answer then you should sleep on it so you can decompress and come back the next day a little more levelheaded and prioritize and that's an excellent way to grow and to crack some codes and to get to various levels. You don't always need to prove your point at that moment. There are other ways to do it. So, you don't overreact overextend and say something you regret. So, it's not like you're being weak. No, you're being considerate of it and you're being tactful about it.
If you're in the moment and its face to face with somebody if you must, even though it looks funny, you should close your eyes when speaking. So, there's less distraction and you're not energy being sucked from you. They might say why you close your eyes. I'm allowed. There's no rules to this. It's not tag you're asking me something emotional, so allow me my focus and my balance and if somebody is being aggressive with you, I think you should look in between their eyes, it looks like you're looking in their eyes.
So it's not like you're looking away or allowing them to suck the energy out of you, like Medusa, but it is a certain technique sir where instead of losing your direction and your energy and your breathing, you can regroup yourself and these are the sort of conflict management skills that have assisted me and having more productive conversations when they could have really gotten out of hand. That's great. I mean this has been filled, filled with great techniques, tips and insight as well. Thank you for being so generous with your expertise.
This has really been a wonderful episode, Richard. How can people get in touch with you if they're thinking about outsourcing if they're thinking about needing a contact center because I think by the end of this, they understand what you bring to the table. So how can they get in touch with you? I really appreciate having me on the show today with you, your audience and allowing me to share this information. The first thing they should do, my friend is by a first-class plane ticket. Come down here to Costa Rica so you can enjoy some eco-tourism, go to some beaches and waterfalls but your audience can give me a call at triple 82716750.
Or send me an email. CEO Costa Rica’s call center dot com. And finally have an exceptionally large Facebook fan page about 98,000 local Costa Rican Ticos. And they can't wait to meet you, Steve. You're going to have tens of thousands of new fans in central America. I can't wait. Well, Richard, thanks again for joining us today. I really love the thing that you said earlier and I'm going to add something to it. So, each agent is a voice artist, and this is a message to all the C E. O. S out there that have contact centers and folks that have agents working for them that each agent is a voice artist and I think you should let them create a great interaction.
So let them create, let them build those great interactions. So that's it for our episode of the Science of C. X. I'm Steve Pappas, your host. We've had Richard blank on today from Costa Rica call center and I want to thank you all for joining us. If you like the content that we bring to you, please feel free to drop us a review wherever you get your podcasts and until we meet again, please stay safe. Stay healthy and do take care everyone. Bye bye. You've been listening to the science of C. X. My name is Steve Pappas.
I really hope you've enjoyed this episode and if you have the highest compliment that you can give us is to subscribe rate and review the science of C. X. Thanks. And we'll see you in the next episode. Finding one place to see all customer experience related tools of technology has been difficult until now. We just built it. Get ready for a science of C. X. Original customer experience technology has been helping to drive businesses by giving them insights into better methods to engage and delight their customers for some time now.
But if you're looking for C. X. Tech you must search everywhere to understand the whole landscape. C. X stash is your simple why stop directory of all the Great Sea X related technology you need. It breaks down all C. X by collections like analytics, crm, journey mapping, voice of the customer, you ex customer support and more. It's free to create an account and use no advertising. Cluttering up your experience just one place to find all the great C. X. Tech. Sign up today at www.
Richard’s vision quest journey 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.
https://costaricascallcenter.com/en/outbound-bpo-campaigns/
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Science of CX, The Forgotten Art Project, Richard Blank,Costa Rica's Call Center, Outsourcing, Telemarketing, BPO, Nearshore, Sales, Entrepreneur, B2B, Business,Podcast,Gamification,Leadership,Marketing, Radio, Guest, Money, education, trainer,
https://youtu.be/RJnuK2lPYFc?si=yrsPGin8LM1sXy5F
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Embark with us on a journey to the heart of entrepreneurship as Richard Blank shares the vibrant tale of his rise to business success in Costa Rica. From his early days as a Spanish major, Blank's path diverged from family expectations, leading him to the lush tropics where he cultivated a top-tier bilingual call center. His story is one of embracing individuality, with a healthy dose of risk-taking, as he lays bare the trials and triumphs of building a business anchored in empathy and the genuine acknowledgment of his team's dedication.
In our dialogue, Blank unveils the crucial role of interpersonal relationships in business development and the art of fostering a customer service ethos that prizes personalized interactions over rote transactions. His approach to leadership—judging performance over a season and embedding 30-second checkpoints in conversations—reveals a philosophy that sees beyond the numbers to the people and passion that drives enduring success.
Blank discusses his philosophy of workplace dynamics, emphasizing the symbiosis of discipline and understanding in nurturing a growth-centric environment. He underscores the enduring value of human engagement in an age where automation often overshadows the personal touch.
https://youtu.be/ZYQMvo9exKE?si=YOcEMKC6aUiupADq
Koh Chang is the second largest island in Thailand and a very popular place to visit. The Ghost Ship Hotel seen from a drone.
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"True" is a song by the English pop band Spandau Ballet. It was released in April 1983 as the third single from their third studio album of the same name.
Second track is the B-side.
“Super Trouper” was a hit single for Swedish pop group ABBA, and was the title track from their 1980 studio album Super Trouper, written by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus. The song, with lead vocals by Anni-Frid Lyngstad, was the last to be written and recorded for this album. “Super Trouper” is included on the Gold: Greatest Hits compilation, as well as in the Mamma Mia! musical.
The name “Super Trouper” referred to the spotlights used in stadium concerts.
Music video
In October 1980, the music video for “Super Trouper” used the largest number of artists that ABBA have ever used in a music video. The spotlight featured throughout the music video is, in fact, a CCT Silhouette follow spot, as opposed to a real Super Trouper. The city of Glasgow mentioned in the lyric was suggested by Howard Huntridge who worked with their then-UK publishers Bocu Music. The music video was directed by Lasse Hallström.
Reception
“Super Trouper” was a successful single for ABBA. It topped the charts in Belgium, West Germany, the UK (their ninth and final No. 1 in the UK Singles Chart),[1][2] Republic of Ireland and the Netherlands. It reached the Top 5 in Austria, France, Norway, Switzerland and Mexico, while peaking in the Top 10 in Finland and Spain. In the United States, where ABBA never quite managed to achieve the same sort of popularity experienced elsewhere, the single reached No. 45. However, combined with “Lay All Your Love on Me” and “On and On and On”, it topped the US Hot Dance Club Play chart.
“Super Trouper” was A-Teens' second single from their 1st album The ABBA Generation, a cover of ABBA’s song. When the single came out in the fall of 1999, it became a hit around the globe, just as its predecessor “Mamma Mia”, also an ABBA cover. “Super Trouper” debuted at No. 2 in Sweden and was later certified platinum .[5]
It also became their only Top 5 hit in Germany peaking at #4. The single also reached No. 21 in the United Kingdom, No. 18 in Switzerland, No. 15 in Norway, No. 11 in Austria and No. 12 in Netherlands.
Music video
The music video was directed by Sebastian Reed and was filmed in Sweden. The video shows a girl so obsessed with the band that she owns posters, magazines, mugs, clothing, and even a key chain. She also copies the band’s choreography that is shown on TV. Some of the articles that feature pictures of the band come to life in the video.
In the first few seconds of the video, before the actual song starts, Mamma Mia can be faintly heard in the background.
The video was a hit in most TV stations charting inside the Top 10 countdowns in late 1999 and early 2000.
American alto pop singer Debbie Sims covered this song from her 1998 album, “Songs of Andersson & Ulvaeus”, produced by disco producer Ed O'Loughlin (who produced for American girl-group disco/soul singer Carol Douglas) in an American disco style with a lot of rhythmic, percussive disco beats that sound like “Do You Love What You Feel” by R&B star Chaka Kahn and her band Rufus.
Personnel
Acoustic Guitar – Björn Ulvaeus
Bass – Mike Watson
Drums – Per Lindvall
Guitar – Janne Schaffer
Keyboards, Synthesizer – Benny Andersson
Percussion – Åke Sundqvist
Debbie Sims 1998 cover
Lead Vocals – Debbie Sims
Backing Vocals – Christine Burnett, Dennis Englewood, Helen Taylor, Joyce Berry, Laurie Maitland, Liz McKay, Lupe MacKenzie, Matthew Foster, Tricia Copperfield
Bass – Vince Fay
Drums & Congas – Daryl Burgee
Electric Piano – Joel Bryant, Greg Phillinganes
Grand Piano – Laurie Maitland
Guitars – Paul Jackson Jr.
Horns Arranged by Lou Del Gatto
Percussion – Alan Estes
Producer – Ed O'Loughlin
Strings Arranged & Conducted by Don Renaldo
Not only one of the landmark records of the disco era, Donna Summer's "I Feel Love" also anticipated the emergence of techno -- sleek, pulsating, and sensual, its signature galloping bass line and sequencer-driven rhythm established the sonic blueprint for virtually all of the dance music to follow in its wake. Written by Summer in tandem with her longtime production team of Giorgio Moroder and Peter Bellotte, upon its 1977 release "I Feel Love" heralded a massive shift from the lushly orchestral disco records popular during the middle of the decade toward a harder-edged, electronic approach -- completely computer-generated, the song's futuristic sheen combines with its dreamily orgasmic vocal to create an experience that's both clinically remote and primally erotic. Summer's second Top Ten hit, "I Feel Love" ranks alongside Brian Eno's Another Green World and Kraftwerk's Trans Europe Express among the era's seminal electronic recordings, and is perhaps even more pivotal because of its mainstream success; a subsequent 20-minute remix by Patrick Cowley pushed the envelope even further, while in 1985 the Jimmy Somerville-led Bronski Beat recorded a hit cover featuring Marc Almond.
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Original song and video submitted to The Association of Composers and Musical Authors of Costa Rica (ACAM) for the 2024 awards.
The famous Latino guitarist, IGNI FERROQUE teams up with CCC to produce a classic MTV retro video.The band is promoting their 44th anniversary album and national tour sponsored by Costa Rica's Call Center. The hot single has become the official 15 year anniversary theme song for CCC. Pura Vida.
IGNI FERROQUE. Banda de rock original costarricense fundada en 1978.
Shine like the sun lyrics:
Have you every thought of leaving home?
How far would you go to find you space?
Are you willing to start all alone?
Without letting your mind scatter...Out of place
Working hard everyday dawn to dawn
Hitting the phone to reach the goal
Fitting in your spot in paradise
Never take your eye off the prize
YOU BETTER SHINE LIKE THE SUN
YOU BETTER DO THINGS RIGHT
IT'S A GAME OF WIN OR GO BACK HOME
BUT YOU'RE A WINNER, YOU TAKE IT ALL
No matter how strong you feel you are
No time for breaks until you're all done
With all your goals there is always stress
And everybody needs to rest
And yet there is no dream that comes alone
Once you feel great, you feel at home
You find the beauty of a smiling face
You find the love, you find the GRACE
YOU BETTER SHINE LIKE THE SUN
YOU BETTER DO THINGS RIGHT
IT'S A GAME OF WIN OR GO BACK HOME
BUT YOU'RE A WINNER, YOU TAKE IT ALL
Producer: Greibyn Krriyo
Executive Producer: Richard Blank
Production Assistant: Rolando Araya
Igni Ferroque
Roberto Ferroque Ruiz
Eduardo Doryan Jara
Models:
Dayana Solis
Silvia Rojas
Rebeca Meneses
Shirley Rodmon
Fabiola Castillo
Julissa Meneses
Yoselyn Fonseca
Maria Jose Castro
Free Spirit Hippie: Eddie Fridovich
Grips:
Edder Nuñez
Fabian Sequeira
Special Guest Appearance: Grace Borbon
Video Record: Jersan Jimenez
Edition / Post Production: Michael Arce Mora
Sunset Productions CR 2023
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1995 Midway Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 Arcade Machine
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ACAM
The Association of Composers and Musical Authors of Costa Rica, committed to the cultural development of the country and in compliance with its objectives derived from the constitutive statutory statements, has decided to hold the COSTAR RICAN MUSIC AWARDS, hereinafter the Awards ACAM.
The ACAM Awards will always try to recognize the musical talent of the country, through the evaluation of the productions made during the review period, having to review everything that happened around this field, such as musical, audiovisual, incidental, advertising and other new ones, to select by means of a highly qualified jury, installed sufficiently in advance, the various events that have occurred that serve to stimulate future creation, provoke the interest of young people in composition, all thanks to the promotion and defense of Law Author who assists them.
The award is for all those persons, natural or legal, who are selected by the qualifying jury and whose productions or musical works have been published or communicated to the public between the dates that will be duly announced according to the event. The evaluation period corresponds to the dates on which the industry releases its musical products to the national market.We are the Association of Composers and Musical Authors of Costa Rica, a Collective Management Entity, created by musical authors and composers with the objective of collecting and distributing copyrights.
Once the composer and/or author has understood the basic responsibilities and the minimum duties, both of the association towards him and of him towards the association, this agreement is signed. Through this ACAM is empowered to protect and administer on behalf of the author, exclusively and fully, all the rights mentioned in the first and second clauses, in accordance with the provisions of its Statutes and Regulations.
We are pleased to know your interest in protecting your musical works with ACAM, the association of musical authors and composers of Costa Rica is dedicated to the protection and care of Copyright. By declaring your work in ACAM you are obtaining worldwide protection for your creation.
Once your works are endorsed by this committee, the Board of Directors will approve your admission as a new associate and your works will be protected worldwide.
We are at your disposal to help you with the affiliation process and we hope that you will soon be part of our association.
A copyright management society must collect the amounts generated by the works of its associates and, therefore, must distribute them.
This Regulation will be governed by elementary principles inherent to the distribution of copyright worldwide, namely, the principle of equal treatment for all authors, the principle of equity, the principle of complete distribution and the autonomy of distribution.
For a better understanding of this Regulation, a series of definitions of the concepts of perception and apportionment that make up the technical language of Collective Management of Copyright have been added.
Richard Blank#Costa Rica's Call Center# Outsourcing# Telemarketing# BPO# Nearshore# Sales# Entrepreneur# B2B# Business# Podcast# Gamification# CEO# igniferroque# rocknroll# shinelikethesun# costaricarock# music
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nublj-mEkZ4&pp=ygUbc2hpbmUgbGlrZSB0aGUgc3VuIGZlcnJvd3Vl
September 21st, 2018. Hard Rock Cafe, Costa Rica.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQ3XowAhuD8&pp=ygUbc2hpbmUgbGlrZSB0aGUgc3VuIGZlcnJvd3Vl
IGNI FERROQUE live in concert. The LONDON ROOM. September 23rd 2022 SHINE LIKE THE SUN
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHC04SVgwXQ&pp=ygUbc2hpbmUgbGlrZSB0aGUgc3VuIGZlcnJvd3Vl
IGNI FERROQUE LIVE. El Club de Bella Escazu! October 15th 2022. Shine Like The Sun closed the set.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eM-KfL8_vpc&pp=ygUgc2hpbmUgbGlrZSB0aGUgc3VuIGlnbmkgZmVycm9xdWU%3D
SHINE LIKE THE SUN. LIVE JANUARY 8th 2022
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Every week this DIY For Business show is to help the entrepreneurs of the world navigate through all the decisions that need to be made to start and grow a company. Our hosts, Russ and Greg, weave through the maze of hurdles that start-up and young companies are dealing with every day.
Whether you are interested in the marketing, financial, HR, legal, or any other side of business, our hosts will discuss their thoughts and interview guests to provide insights. You might even have a few laughs along the way.
DIY For Business offers guidance and support to entrepreneurs as they navigate the often-daunting process of starting and growing a company. Our hosts, Russ and Greg, are here to help start-up and established companies overcome the numerous hurdles they face every day.
We understand that entrepreneurship can be a challenging journey, and that’s why we strive to bring you not only informative content, but also some humor and levity along the way. So, tune in and join us on this exciting adventure as we explore the world of business together.
DIY for Business 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 are advanced telemarketing strategy, conflict management, interpersonal soft skills, customer support, rhetoric, gamification, employee motivation, phonetic micro expression reading.
Richard Blank owns a call center in Costa Rica and he shares some fantastic sales techniques that work for his team and can also work for all people to improve their communication skills. If he can teach a team of phone sales professionals how to sell in a new language, he can help all of us become more effective at listening and carrying on purposeful conversations. He also gets into when the timing is right for your organization to use a call center versus hiring phone sales people. Great conversation that needs to be heard in December 2022.
Russ Catanach is an entrepreneur, marketer, and audio producer. He has produced countless hours of audio, consulted hundreds of companies, and founded a thriving entertainment and event production company. Russ started his career behind the scenes and behind the microphone of major market radio stations working with PBS, Clear Channel, and CBS. He currently hosts and produces three successful podcasts that highlight his audio production skills, sense of humor, and business intelligence. For the last 13 years, he has consulted small and medium-sized businesses throughout Northern California while developing database-driven marketing automation systems. As founder and CEO of Fog City Entertainment, Inc., he led a team that produced over 300 events annually for clients, including The Clorox Company, Major League Baseball, Yahoo, Google, and several major hotel groups. He has been on stage with acts including Penn & Teller, in the studio with Ryan Seacrest, and has interviewed hundreds of guests for broadcast and podcast. In addition to his professional background, he won second place in a stand-up comedy competition, won awards for acting and technical theater production, and is a trained improviser.
Greg Louie has been a business owner and radio personality for over three decades. Greg has founded and managed five companies that include a marketing company for the service, auto, and medical industries. He also started a chain of golf retail shops building custom-fit golf clubs, an international golf radio show, and a marketing consulting firm in the technology space, which led to a media company. Greg has had success in growing his companies to expand both nationally and with his radio show international. Greg’s experience as a radio personality combined with running two marketing businesses and a chain of retail locations has provided the perfect path to currently partnering in creating Sellory Media, producers of DIY for Business, and The Safe Bet podcasts.
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.
https://costaricascallcenter.com/en/outbound-bpo-campaigns/
#RichardBlank #CostaRica #CallCenter #Outsourcing #Telemarketing #BPO #Sales #Entrepreneur #B2B #Business #Podcast #Leadgeneration #Appointmentsetting #diyforbusiness
https://youtu.be/LxQRoMcYJk0
Podcast Host of Carry On with Criselda. Always floating along in life, never daring to reach for the extraordinary is how I got along for most of my life. Now having passed the midpoint of my lifespan, I asked myself one important question: Is this how I want to spend the second half of my life? Welcome to Carry On with Criselda, a podcast which will offer encouragement, direction, motivation and clarity for those in search of it. We will talk about ways to improve one’s life by using positive strategies that will make lasting changes in handling their thoughts and emotions. The way to reach the kind of life we seek is through improving our mindset, releasing negativity including the past, adopting a state of gratitude, seeking peace, setting boundaries and so much more. Offering hope and encouragement to others is at the heart of this podcast. Our goal is to lift up those who are looking for answers and a way to improve their lives and through this podcast, our intent is that they come out feeling better than they did before they listened.
After a chance encounter leads Richard Blank to double down on his Spanish Communication major and move abroad, he must navigate his family's expectations, guilt, and fear of the unknown to find success and fulfillment in a new life.How Richard Followed His Heart's Compass to Costa Rica:
"Fortune favors the brave. You have to be brave to at least start by looking in the mirror because a lot of people can't even look at themselves."
Richard Blank is a Philadelphia native who relocated to Costa Rica in 1997 to train employees for a call center. He has since become the CEO of Costa Rica's Call Center and has the largest collection of restored American pinball machines and antique jukeboxes in Central America.
Richard Blank was born and raised in Northeast Philadelphia and decided to double down on his favorite Spanish class. This led him to a one in a million opportunity to work at a call center in Costa Rica, where he learned the industry from the inside out. Despite his family's guilt, Richard decided to move abroad and showed his family that his true life was something to be proud of. Through his Tortoise philosophy and his maturity, Richard was able to create something out of nothing and has been living an incredible life ever since. Despite the fear and apprehension, Richard has been brave and has lived life to the fullest, following his dreams and passions with no regrets.
In this episode, you will learn the following:
Taking risks to pursue one's passions and live a fulfilling life, despite family guilt and expectations.
The importance of empathy, loyalty, and dignity in any job or career.
Living life with the "fool's" mentality, embracing the joys of the present and taking risks to achieve dreams.
https://costaricascallcenter.com/en/outbound-bpo-campaigns/
#RichardBlank #CostaRica #CallCenter #Outsourcing #Telemarketing #BPO #Sales #Entrepreneur #B2B #Business #Podcast #Gamification #CEO #carryonwithcriselda
https://youtu.be/advXhcAXMys
Are you looking for an exciting way to experience outdoor activities? Look no further than the Electric Gel Ball Blaster. This fast automatic blaster has a range of over 150 ft and comes with 30000 water beads bullets and goggles. It is perfect for those who want to have fun outdoors while still being safe. With its drum mag, it can fire up to 30 shots per second, making it ideal for target practice or competitive play with friends. Get ready to have an awesome time with the Electric Gel Ball Blaster! Thanks for watching, don't forget to give this video a thumbs up if you enjoyed it, and make sure to subscribe to our channel for more videos.
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■第1回【日本蜜蜂ヨーロッパ見聞録】
【ワルシャワ市内の様子】画像のリンクです
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1EMJ1IF8wRDtWnuGmvt-UGVNNr1oaPAJD/view?usp=share_link
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cN4pY1YOc-B4A5E8swHG0TD_4GsASCdT/view?usp=share_link
●年末年始は家庭の事情で帰省が難しく、ポーランドで過ごすことになりました。スイスで生活する私がポーランドの報告というのも何ですが、色々と良い経験となりましたので、発見を3点ほど先生にもお伝えできたらととても嬉しく思います。
まず第1点。ワルシャワで目に留まった点はポーランドはウクライナの隣国なのでウクライナ戦争の難民を多く受け入れている点です。ポーランドでは人口約3800万人のうち、今のところ約300万のウクライナ難民を受け入れており、世界で一番ウクライナ人を受け入れている国と知りました。全人口の10%弱を受け入れていることになります。この数はポーランドにおける第2次対戦中ナチスに消されたユダヤ人の数にほぼ等しい様です。
クリスマス前後は首都ワルシャワで過ごしました。知人曰く、家族の恒例として12月の24日は家族や友人と家庭の夕食を共にし、25日はクリスマス礼拝、午後からはワルシャワ市内の喫茶店やレストランに行って街のクリスマスの様子を楽しむそうです。ということで引き続き25日午後は知人が街に連れて行ってくれました。しかしウクライナの人を受け入れて人口が増えた為、街の喫茶店が満員で席に付けない状態でした。以前のゆとりある街の雰囲気がガラッと変わったそうで知人達は言葉を失っていました。東京で筋金入りラッシュや混雑を経験している私はさほど動揺しませんが、一年前までは街の喫茶店で過ごす記憶のある地元の人はさぞかし心痛むことでしょう。関係する課題としては医療体制ではウクライナ人が優先され地元の人々が後回しになる現実があると聞きます。ポーランドの人が払い続けている年金もウクライナから移り住む人を支えることで削減される年金と将来のビジョンは厳しそうです。ワルシャワ市内の、例えば以前の銀行の建物がウクライナ人受け入れの住居に代わっていました。過去の厳しい歴史から他人事ではなく、人々は現状を糾弾する空気はなくただただこの境遇を耐え偲ぶといった様子、嘆きと悲しみの雰囲気を感じました。
かつての銀行の建物を使って今はウクライナ人が宿泊している。
第一に感じた変化を述べましたが、それ以外ではポーランドは歴史文化が大変に奥深く、お食事やケーキの種類も豊富で美味しいです。場所の行き方などを尋ねる際、国によっては説明がいい加減な場所も多いのですが、ポーランドでは総じて丁寧で正確に説明してくれること、又ポーランドのお勧めの場所や歴史のことを尋ねてる際にも、聡明な答えが返ってきたことに好感を持ちました。コペルニクス、ショパン、キュリー夫人、ヨハネパウロ2世などなど、多くの影響力のある人物を生んだ国は奥深さがあると感じます。
2つ目。日本で起きた蒙古襲来の様な一大事件を、この国も経験していた。
ポーランドは13世紀に蒙古に3度襲撃されていていることを実感しました。(1240〜41年、 1259年、 1287年)。これは鎌倉時代の蒙古の日本襲撃、元寇(1274年文永の役、1281年弘安の役)と同じ、モンゴル襲撃ですよね。激しい襲撃に遭った古都クラクフでは当時の襲撃とその城壁で護衛中に矢で撃ち抜かれ殉職したその英雄(Bartoszという騎士)を讃えるために現在も、教会の塔からは毎時刻ラッパの情緒ある調に乗せてその時に殉死した英雄を語り継いでいました。この様に歴史を語り継いでいる様子は印象的でした。
ちなみに、当時の蒙古の襲撃はアルプス山脈を超えて来たため、私が住んでいるスイスのヴォー州のお隣、バレー州では蒙古タタールの子孫の血が流れているスイス人が残っているとのことです。
クラクフの広場に位置するSt.Mary's Basilica教会で毎時刻ラッパの調べが奏でられる。
その教会と目と鼻の先にあるカフェ/レストラン(Café Noworoloski)
レーニンはここで共産主義思想を書き上げていたらしい。
三つ目。ポーランドの北、バルト海に面した都市、グダニスクはソビエト占領下当時の政策を批判、民主化運動の指導者レフ、ヴアウェンサ(ワレサ議長)の活躍した都市と知りました。ハンガリー、オーストリア、ドイツ、ソ連など色々な隣国に関わる歴史で培われた反骨精神を感じる都市でした。ポーランドは琥珀で有名、その頂点に立つのがグダニスクだそうです。又、港町で第一次大戦の頃からグダニスクの造船と半田付け技術は世界一と聞きます。スイスでは現在、レマン湖の旅客船製造のためグダニスクの造船チームの男性が出稼ぎで来ています。
この彩溢れる都市グダニスクを観光中、グダニスクの歴史博物館で問題に出くわしました。ポーランドの歴史や、ナチスによるユダヤ人とポーランド人の迫害のことを知りたくて入ったのですが、実際にナチスの**戦略や当時のヨーロッパの貧困状況など色々と興味深い内容があり参考になりました。しかしおまけの発見もありました。第一次世界大戦に続く第二次大戦、ナチスによる迫害の歴史の様子の展示のそのすぐ脇に「平和への脅威はアジアでも起こっていた」と題され、日本の帝国主義をあたかもナチスの同類公の様な括りの展示がありました。日本とは直接戦っていない、関係が良好なポーランドのグダニスクの様な離れた都市の歴史博物館で日本の帝国主義と天皇に触れている点にもの凄く違和感を覚えました。かつてポーランドは人々がソビエト共産党に散々虐げられていて、むしろ日露戦争でロシアと戦った日本に共感を覚えてくれる国柄です。それにも関わらず日本と大戦を交えてもいない異国の博物館で「日本軍が中国人を虐げた」というどこかの外国勢力が好む歴史観が提示、見えないところの政治的意図の様なものを感じました。
展示の説明と写真をセットにイメージ付けが巧みで、限られた展示スペースで日本刀、天皇、東條英機と八紘一宇の垂れ幕と、惨殺された人々の写真。人々の脳裏、潜在意識に残りますよね。実際の写真はサイズがもっと大きいです。卑怯だな〜。展示場入り口の横には期間限定展示室では広島長崎の原爆投下の小規模展示会場があり、そちらも別料金プラスで入りましたが入場者数は少ないと感じます。
Museum of the Second World War (Muzeum II Wojny Swiatowej)
観光で足を運んだ者として限られている時間の中、何も出来ることなく課題を抱えて退場しました。海外の博物館や歴史的建造物を折に触れて訪れると、この様な歴史的不意打ちに遭遇することがあります。歴史認識の課題を日常の一場面、その時に日本側の主張の時間をとることは不可能です。「日本刀と虐殺」の様なイメージ付けは日本人としてどうかと思いますね。その様なことを世に広めたい人々があるのであれば、その様なものを遥かに凌ぐ日本からの美しく毅然とした発信、主張が求められていますね。この状況を力に変えて日本を、世界をよくして行きましょう。
2023年1月23日
スイス在住:日本蜜蜂🐝
How INXS can be used to close a deal on an Australian sales call. Stand Out Get Noticed podcast (The C Method Episode 283) guest Richard Blank Costa Rica's Call Center.
Richard Blank: I got through.
Christina Canters: Can I? Okay. So can I summarize what I believe you did there? Yes, ma'am. So firstly, you said you asked how the company was going and you said the C method named 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? Which I believe builds that rapport. Cause people also love hearing their own names. Yes. 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 INXS is your favorite band. Why do you do that? And is that random and weird?
Richard Blank: No, because I'm extremely proud of INXS and everybody in the world should listen to them. Um, Because if not, I'm gonna sound like everybody else and you're gonna hang up one 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 INXS, but 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 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/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
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
How Remington Steel and Templeton Peck demonstrate advanced speaking skills. Stand Out Get Noticed podcast (The C Method Episode 283) guest Richard Blank Costa Rica's Call Center.
Christina Canters: What do you say to people who might be listening, who might be thinking, well, what about me just being my authentic self? You know, if I'm trying to emulate someone else, isn't that then me becoming inauthentic or not true to myself in terms of how I communicate? What would you say to those people?
Richard Blank: Excellent question and, and let me rephrase that and thank you very much. You, you need to be you, because if you try to be somebody else, you're not gonna last long. You'll get caught after 20 minutes. And so since English is their second language in Costa Rica, really my suggestions were about proper grammar.
So they'd watch the bbc or they'd listen to Australia television and they would hear the different pronunciations so they can get the ear for it for the different clients. But there are certain dialect. You do pronounce words differently than we do in Philadelphia, compares to Queens English, and, and it's fine.
It's all beautiful speech, but as long as they keep training their ear, they, they might like, as I mentioned before, if they listen to something in parliament, a transitional sentence or a way that someone was able to diffuse conflict by saying, for my clarification, Christina, for my edification. Compared to, excuse me.
What'd you say? Could you repeat that? Or, as we discussed earlier, with word choices from help to lending a hand that's still authentic, these people aren't changing. All we're doing is assisting them in growing and giving them more, giving them more self-confidence and self-reliance. That is all. And so they would be capable of listening, contribut.
And giving that sort of impression to where people will wanna move forward and work with them, but it is practice now, if I could make some suggestions just for my own personal growth. I love television. I love all time radio, and so my favorite speakers were Basil Wrath Bone back in the forties and fifties.
I enjoyed very much Jeremy Brett that did a Sherlock Home series in the eighties, and I, I liked Pierce Brosnan as Remmington Steel and Dirk Benedict as Templeton Peck in the A Team. I thought these were phenomenal, glib, clever, poised, balance speakers, and I gravitated towards that and I thought that it was very nice and and charming.
To be able to have an extensive vocabulary to sit up straight, to speak. Well, and and I realize that a lot of doors open that way for you. You might get a second plate of food in someone's house, , you might get that back. And
Christina Canters: so when did this start? When did this journey?
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/rOWVfIfV-U8
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
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
This is my second guitar switch video.
Watch for the guitar switch at 3:25
My first guitar video can be seen at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzIo0N5D0D8
I'm using two Holzer Guitars (both with Stringjoy strings), a Dunlop volume pedal, and a TC Electronic Flashback, through a Crate amp.
Filmed by Aaron Ure.
Thanks for watching!
YouTube Video: https://youtu.be/KEwiTi7DOFA
Custom made Richard from Philadelphia making it happen. Long shot sort of attitude. TrulyYourVA with Janis podcast guest Richard Blank Costa Rica's Call Center.
Richard Blank: And I understand what it's like to be able to start a company
Janis Melillo: and, and that's exciting, I would think from the client's perspective that hires you, that you, as you mentioned, you know, you started building that foundation and, you know, it was a lot of hard work and, you know, saving and all of that. So it's not like you.
Took something over you took it under your wing wing to learn the business inside out. And that's why through all of that hard work, you have been that successful.
Richard Blank: Clients love that mom and pop. Custom made Richard from Philadelphia making it happen. Long shot sort of attitude. They, they like that sort of grit.
But then again, a lot of people that contact me are looking for our infrastructure. They might be working out of a smaller office or might not have a predictive dialer or server room or an IT support. Mm-hmm. or you know, a QA department or even myself. That's excellent. With script writing, rebuttals and role play.
So it's okay if someone's doing a pilot campaign or even a plug and play. As long as the metrics are there and there's realistic expectations, I'm really open minded for everything. But I guess really what the selling point is because you can compare apples. You and I really have passion for what we do, and it's very sincere, and I think when people hear this, it's, it's not sailing.
What we're really doing is it's not even convincing. All we're doing is just sharing how we love what we do and the fidelity behind it, and as long as I'm able to convey my story and my structure, I'm pretty much able to convert most of the calls that come in.
Janis Melillo: That is so true because I think I may have shared with you on one of our calls, You know, I, as you know, I run three podcasts, this mm-hmm.
this being one of them. And I, and I manage all three of them. And some people may think that crazy, but the bottom line is I have grown my VA business organically because I've wa of what I do, I love what I do, I have a passion for it. And that goes a long way. Like I am not. I would say I am not an expert.
However, I am an expert in what I know.
Richard Blank: I think you and I are givers. I think we like to share information first prior to any sort of contract. It's, it's not like trying a free piece of sesame chicken. You're actually giving a half a pie , and if someone wants, they can buy the second half of the pie. But, uh, I like doing things like that.
It really gives the clients a chance to get to know us, to read a lot about us. And so instead of repeating the same hours worth of descriptions, they. Through their own convenience, find out certain areas of questions they'd like to ask me. So it really saves you and I a ton of time by sharing these thoughts with people prior to any sort of phone call or contact,
Janis Melillo: right?
Because it to me, you know, we know obviously do, do, do at a click of a button. You know, stuff travels around the world and that really is wonderful. However, if you have that, really that genuine personal connection, That makes it that connection so much better. Like who wouldn't want to, for instance, contact you to find out more about what you do and how you operate?
I mean, that's fantastic, right? And who wouldn't want to hire me to be their va? Because I think when you take on a client, for instance, you are a representative of that. Sure. I take that very seriously. I, I'm, when a client hires me, I am a representative. Even though I'm working remotely, I am a representative of that person.
And that's something that I handle with kit gloves, as I'm sure that you do. Now I have a really, uh, another question and. Not sure what this is. I'm very intrigued.
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://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
DELIVERY OF NEW PRODUCTS FROM CHINA(OCTOBER 27TH, 2022) WHICH POLICE SWITCHED WITH USED WORN OUT ITEMS OR EVEN FAKE ITEMS WAS DISCOVERED UPON THROUGH INVESTIGATION AT HOME
SWITCHED ACCORDINGLY WITH PREVIOUS VIOLENT MK ULTRA SCENARIOS - VIDEO WAS TAKEN AT LOCAL POSTAL OFFICE WITH 64GB INDICATING AS FAKE UNREADABLE FAKE CARD AND TWO RECORDERS INDICATING AS HIGHLY REDUCED BATTERY OPERATING LIFE - ONE WITH ABILITY TO AUDIO RECORD AT 3.3 HOURS AND SECOND ONE AT 3.15 HOURS OF TIME(THIS RECORDERS ARE EQUIPPED WITH BATTERY WHICH LAST MINIMUM 5 HOURS FOR EACH CHARGE ACCORDING TO INSTRUCTIONS).
How gamification pinball cultures reduce a call center attrition? INspired INsider Podcast guest Richard Blank.
Dr. Jeremy Weisz: So when you talk about gamification culture that you have there, tell me more about
Richard Blank: that. Whew. My job is my, my second half. I mean, the first thing of this company is buying more machines and finding places to put them. I grew up in the seventies and eighties and unless you were a really, really good game where your $5 really had to last you an entire Saturday, and so once I started my business and making some money, I got to choose my own pastimes.
Richard Blank: And one of them, once again, was this gamification. And so one man's trash is another man's treasure journey. So I am constantly looking for retro pinball machines, arcade machines, jute boxes, and I've created such a wonderful neutral environment so agents can meet people from other departments that can let off steam recharge batteries.
Richard Blank: And one of the greatest things is to spend time with the hefe down in the game room. And so prior to any sort. First day training class, the dozen agents will spend time in the arcade to get to know one another and relax. So when they do enter the training room in the class for the first time, instead of just absorbing information, they're so comfortable and having a great time, they start contributing.
Richard Blank: So I really start with a very strong momentum and can reduce any sort of fear that people can have without knowing individuals. So strangers or friends you haven't met. Once you have a recess and play with somebody, now that's your best friend, , and chances are your attrition rate will be reduced because you'll be working with people that you enjoy big with.
Dr. Jeremy Weisz: Yeah. I wanna talk about the training process, since I know you've trained over 10.
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/IsdNa9uueuw
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: 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/
How difficult is it to use English as a second language? Positive Talk Radio guest Richard Blank Costa Rica's Call Center
How difficult is it to get the lingo of, um, American English from Spanish? The, the words are said differently and stuff. How difficult is it to, to use English as a second language? Well, most of these individuals, once again, have been speaking English since they were very young, but I, I have a trick for that.
There there's a couple different things. If they don't know certain slang, instead of saying the beach, you might call it the. You know, I need to teach them that, but I would like for them to write out specific words, phonetically, because they might have issues in regards to their vowels, just in regards to the phonetics.
I want them to learn how to spell it, but if they want to, you know, give themselves a little cheat sheet on how to pronounce certain words correctly, or my clients will offer us, um, you know, glossary of terms and certain sort of definitions, or even a training manual. To, I guess, onboard them a lot quicker in regards to industries, because we, we're not really the experts.
Sometimes we're just doing more of lead generation, like real estate. For an example, these agents might not be real estate brokers, but they can still call people and prospect them without a license legally and be able to transfer the call. So they don't need to walk through escrow in contracts, but there's no reason why they can't ask somebody how many bedrooms they have and what sort of sport court they have in the backyard.
And so, as I say before with my client, There needs to be some extreme, realistic expectations on what the agent's capable of doing. And so I just wanna make sure that there's a good fit.
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/n6ZLdR0lwD4
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/
Positive Talk Radio introduces guest CEO Richard Blank Costa Rica's Call Center
The following presentation has brought you by KM media.pro, please visit KM media.pro for more inform. Now stay right where you are as we present.
Welcome to positive talk, radio, evolving ideas, one conversation at a time, great guests, dynamic stories and interviews. Plus new thoughts on a wide range of topics and concepts. I hope that you'll hang with me. Kevin McDonald, my friends. And of course you, as together, we work to understand why we are all here and what we can.
To make our world a better place for all of us to be happy, be kind and live in peace together. Yep. That's positive talk radio.
Until another episode of positive talk radio, we are gonna have an extraordinarily good time. And I hope that you'll stay with us the entire episode, because I've got a guy that is really, really talented in what he does. His name is Richard blank. He is a chief executive officer. He's a CEO. I, I don't get to talk to a lot of CEO.
It'll be fun. He's uh, he is a CEO of, uh, Costa Rica's call center, which is a huge call center. And it, uh, he teaches people that the, the indigenous people down there, how to speak English, how to sell, how to do all kinds of stuff. Um, he, his, uh, website Costa Rica's call center. You, he can. Just about anything in the service world that you can think of.
I was going through it. It's like, wow, they do that. Oh man, they do that. They do. They from web design to sales, to all kinds of different things. It's just really is remarkable. So, so Richard blank, how are you, sir? I'm doing great. Thank you so much, Kevin, for having me on this show. How in the world did you end up in Costa Rica?
Whew. Well, if you can get past your parents guilt, you can pretty much live anywhere in the world. So that's the first thing, but, uh, no, my story began in Northeast Philadelphia back in 1991. When I graduated Abington high school, I. My favorite class was in Spanish. So I decided to double down on it at the university of Arizona, the Spanish communication major.
And when I was 27, I had a one in a million opportunity to come down here for a couple months to work at my friend's call center. And a couple months turned into four years at his center and 22 years total. In Costa Rica. And so I've been in business for 14 years with my own center and no one really decides to be CEO of a call center.
You kind of fall into it, but since English is their second language in Costa Rica, and I found it fascinating, the artist speech I had to dive in and take it on to see what I could do.
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/18hL1rN3Hjc
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/
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AUDIO V SOVENSKEM JEZIKU/ IN SLOVENIAN LANGUAGE ONLY - Drugi obisk v Novomeški splošni bolnici(oddelek za urgence) glede bolečin v srčnem predelu telesa/Second visitation related to heart RELATED issues to Novo mesto general Hospital on March 24th 2022