The Irreplaceable Human Connection

Time Doctor presents The Future Workforce Podcast by Liam Martin. human interaction nearshore with Richard Blank Each episode features industry titans and visionaries, sharing their unique perspectives on topics ranging from technological advancements to shifting workforce demographics.With this podcast, you'll be equipped with the knowledge you need to navigate and succeed in the future of work. Tune in to stay ahead of the curve and gain valuable insights. In the age of artificial intelligence, Liam Martin sits down with Richard Blank, the founder of Costa Rica's Call Center, to discuss the vital role of human interaction and relationship-building. Discover how Richard's BPO industry supports this approach and learn about the top changes in the contact center industry over the past 23 years, including the impact of COVID-19 and advancements in technology. https://youtu.be/m4zPlCaePJI Gain insights into building a unique company culture, prioritizing empathy, and creating long-term partnerships with clients. Don't miss this deep dive into the power of authentic human connection! Liam Martin is the co-founder and CMO of Time Doctor and Staff.com — one of the most popular time tracking and productivity software platforms in use by top brands today. He is also a co-organizer of the Running Remote Conference. He consults on outsourcing and process design and is passionate about how to gain insights into the inner workings of how people work. He is an avid proponent of remote work and has been published in Forbes, Inc, Mashable, TechCrunch, Fast Company, Wired, The Wall Street Journal, The Next Web, The Huffington Post, Venturebeat, and many other publications specifically targeting the expansion of remote work. The mission statement that feeds all the products and services that Liam is involved with stems from empowering workers to work wherever they want, whenever they want. Liam has an undergraduate and graduate degree in Sociology from McGill University. He lives in Canada but travels 3-6 months out of the year due to his ability to work wherever and whenever he likes. He chooses a new place to travel a few times a year but usually spends time in Austin, Las Vegas, and Ubud each year and loves to encourage others to work remotely on his travels. Liam Martin The future of work is remote. There is no need to have an office anymore. I can help you transition your company to working remotely or scale your remote organization towards success. If you need help, let me know. My Projects: Time Doctor TimeDoctor.com is one of the worlds leading time tracking software for remote teams. We help companies to be able to manage remote workers just as if they were in the same office, maintaining a high level of productivity. Our goal: To help individuals and organizations to be more productive, to help stop people wasting time on distractions and instead finish what is important to them. Remote workers can easily and quickly track their time so they remain productive, and business owners can relax knowing their team is being effective. Running Remote Conference Running Remote is the largest conference on building and scaling remote teams especially for remote business owners and leaders. Check it out at www.runningremote.com Running Remote Book The Running Remote book is focused on asynchronous, remote work methodology. In this groundbreaking book, entrepreneurial thought leaders share their lessons learned about harnessing the async mindset and growing their businesses remote in the most cost-effective, seamless, and enjoyable ways. Time Doctor is a Workforce Analytics Platform that gives managers actionable insights to improve team productivity and performance. Uncover people, technology and operational insights with full access to premium features and unlimited users and groups. Use your newly gain insights to help your teams be more effective and identify gaps Prevent burnout, increase engagement through people and operational process optimisations Gain access to on-demand resources, webinars to guide you and your team Shared with Public Improve your team's productivity & performance Actionable insights to boost visibility, processes and profitability across all teams Integrated time management Reduce operational costs Streamline inefficient process Ensure organisational compliance Your productivity lens for your team Take the guesswork out of managing remote teams No more worrying or awkward conversations about whether your remote or hybrid teams are working. Keep an eye on everyone from one people analytics dashboard — wherever they are in the world. All with real-time employee data. All without breaking their focus. Interactive time tracking software Silent time tracking software Real-time dashboards Screenshots Your productivity lens for managers Spot work bottlenecks & team burnout Uncover workflows and processes that slow your teams down. Use people analytics to see who’s struggling, overworked, or quietly quitting. Improve employee experience and reduce employee turnover. Timeline report Project and task management Team productivity ratings Work-life balance metrics Keep teams on track and money in your pocket Protect your teams, profits, and business outcomes. Cut down on payroll headaches. Get rid of unused software licenses. And stay compliant with workforce analytics. Payroll reporting Tool usage Web & app usage reports Executive dashboard Join Liam Martin, the host of The Future Workforce Podcast, for engaging discussions and insider insights on the ever-evolving landscape of work. 1. Interpersonal Communication Conflict Management Strategy 2. Phonetic Micro Expression reading for mastering verbal tell signs. 3. The Famous Buffer-Boomerang Technique Advanced telemarketing strategy, conflict management, interpersonal soft skills, customer support, rhetoric, gamification, pinball machines, employee motivation and phonetic micro expression reading. Richard’s vision quest journey is filled with twists and turns. At 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 over two decades. 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, entered into the 2023 Hall of Fame for Business along side other famous alumni. Paying it forward 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/ #TimeDoctor #TheFutureWorkforcePodcast #LiamMartin #RichardBlank #CostaRica #CallCenter #Outsourcing #Telemarketing #BPO #Sales #Entrepreneur #B2B #Business #Podcast #Gamification #CEO #learnpodcasting #podcastepisode #podcastguest #podcasting #podcastinterview #podcastplaylist #podcasts #podcastskills #podcastshow Time Doctor, The Future Workforce Podcast, Liam Martin, Richard Blank, Costa Rica's Call Center, Outsourcing, Telemarketing, BPO, Nearshore, Sales, Entrepreneur, B2B, Business,Podcast,Gamification,Leadership,Marketing, Radio, Guest, Money, education, trainer, Authenticity Over Rehearsal in Recruitment Blah, blah, blah. I don't believe in any of that stuff. I want you to turn the piece of paper over. And why don't you give me a coming of age moment? A hero's journey. Let me know the time when you beat up a bully or saved a kitten. Why? Because Liam's going to ask you a zig and zag question before he signs that $100,000 contract. He wants to know if you have depth. Are you just so well rehearsed or can you be a painting and actually be unique in the moment? And so if I can't get people to disclose a little bit with me, become vulnerable, so then we can make them powerful, then they're not the right fit for me. They're going to be a mercenary. They're going to stay here for a little bit, find a job that pays $10 more, peace out on me without a two weeks notice. Next thing you know, character during chaos. Empathy: The Key to Success in BPO Sector So not the answer that pops into your head and you say, oh, I can't tell Liam that one. That's the one that I really want, by the way. So if you're game, let's go through a couple of these and I'd love to be able to get your perspective on it. Sure, I'll play with my id. All right. Perfect. I'll take the ego and persona out. All right. Let's just go with it. Let's do it. All right. So first question, what counterintuitive advice would you give to other BPO contact center founders to hit the kind of numbers that you've hit inside of your business over the last 24 years? Empathy. Empathy. A thousand percent. Because when I first got to Costa Rica, I worked at my friend's center for four years. So I sat with the proletariat, not sea level, inside out. I learned the industry. Fine. That's the added bonus I got. But the number one gripe, they felt expendable. They felt like a number. They did not have their dignity. So yeah, if the only thing I need to give you is your dignity and empathy. And that's really what it takes to get 50% there. I'm gonna do it. And I'll give you extra sauce on it too. Giving Back: A Personal Philosophy This was a gift that was given to me, a one in a million shot. I cannot believe I married the girl of my dreams and have a company. Made my parents proud. So what am I supposed to do? I'm supposed to give. Until I can't gives no more. And that's when people will really look in my eyes. And it's not a company culture. It's a stage, man. It's that stage you're deciding to go into. And they get it. And I'm probably about 90 percent accurate on this. And the 10 percent is their own guilt. They can't come and shake my hand and say that they had a good wrong with me. Learning from Mistakes: Leadership and Maturity Next question that I've got for you here. What's the biggest mistake you made in your business? That's very simple. It was really about putting the wrong people in certain positions because it's a lot of its maturity. And you were mentioning before about how people look or where they come from. Well, you should really judge somebody on their skill sets. I did the wrong thing. I know bringing in specialists for IT and for the accounting and human resources, I'm cool with that. But supervisors, no. Someone needs to earn their stripes. And someone definitely needs to earn the respect of those that are around them. Because if you bring somebody else on the outside, in my experience, it never worked. And so I'd rather have somebody that grows with the company and learns as they go along compared to some supervisor for 10 years. Who cares? You might have bad habits. And I don't want that. So a lot of my mistakes was rushing certain positions. But the good side was because I was growing so fast. So sometimes you don't have a choice. You point to the kid and you tell him to grab something and hold on to the ship. Sure. But here's the best part, too. During COVID, There were individuals that disappointed me, and then I had others that were brand new at the company that stepped up to the plate. And so you might want to, kind of like your dinner with the Filipinos, you might want to see where people really are in life and see that sort of transparency. And unfortunately, you needed to travel halfway around the world for a dinner, and I needed to go through COVID. Never Stop Dreaming But did I grow up late? No. The problem was, no, it wasn't the problem. The beauty was that I didn't stop dreaming because there are people when they graduate college or they get into certain family financial responsibilities that the game is over. They got to just do the grind and, and do what's expected of them. The Art of Speech And giving one or two additional minutes on the call so you can piss off your supervisor and let them know that you're giving better quality calls. Let them know Richard Blank in Costa Rica told you to do that. If he fires you, I'll hire you, damn it. And so as I say, my friend, don't lose the art of speech, please. And if you can keep that sanctity, then I think, once again, there's just universal fulfillment in that sort of work. The Hero's Journey Damn it, Liam, let's see if I can slay a dragon and find a princess in my life. And is it being selfish? I guess. But is it also selfish to feed 150 families like I do and employ people? The Irreplaceable Human Connection It's empathy. I'll take 99% of the time of using an ATM machine or doing something online to save me time and to make it seamless and effortless. But if I need to speak to a doctor, an attorney, right the accountant or some sort of counselor or coach the last thing i want is a robot to extend their metal hands to try to give me a hug compared to my boy liam that's there for me when i'm hitting a home run giving me a high five and celebrating with me or if i need to take a walk and talk to a best friend and so i i always believe that there will be one thing that will never be authentic in regards to AI, no matter how hard you try. Human interaction nearshore with Richard Blank. Time Doctor presents The Future Workforce Podcast by Liam Martin. https://youtu.be/m4zPlCaePJI https://youtu.be/JQYguf_OIRw https://youtu.be/MvOraBLw-qI https://youtu.be/CdHQQh7gK6U https://youtu.be/pbbG70SCeZM https://youtu.be/3HvK9I76tRQ https://youtu.be/lTyyBcS7BEQ https://youtu.be/31wl9M13euU https://youtu.be/ymE9eeuLNi0 https://youtu.be/mUV-IyNWS08