Monday, November 13, 2023
In this episode of Leaders On The Rise: The Podcast, the host, Lydia Pierre, talks with Richard Blank all the way from Costa Rica.
Tuesday, November 7, 2023
Lead Generation Strategies Podcast. How using an outbound lead provider to grow a telemarketing team
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This is an interview with Richard Blank, CEO of Costa Rica’s Call Center, which is an outbound lead services provider BPO (Business Process Outsourcing) company. Discover example benefits of a lead generation outbound call center, job opportunities for those living or looking to move to Costa Rica, and an insight into some of the processes.
Hi! I’m Joey, founder of EnFuegoMedia and LeadGenerationSEOServices.com. I use my connections, special deals, and strategies with major media sites to help businesses like yours get seen and get new clients in a less stressful yet highly profitable way.
Here are the questions Richard answers in this interview:
- What does Costa Rica’s Call Center do? - What’s the biggest problem that you solve for your clients? - What makes Costa Rica’s Call Center special or unique? - Who’s your ideal client? - How do your clients typically connect with you and then how do you market to them? - What are some of the tactics and strategies you use to get around gatekeepers? - What do you look for in hiring a call center agent? Do you start from scratch or are you looking for a particular personality? - What top challenge or two challenges are you experiencing in the call center business that maybe somebody in my network or myself could possibly help with? - Where can people find you if people wanted to reach out?
Richard Blank Costa Rica's Call Center Interview 2022-06-01
[00:00:00] Joey Myers: Hello, and welcome to the Lead Generation Strategies podcast, here with me today is Mr. Richard Blank and we'll be talking about call center. [00:00:15] This is costaricascallcenter.com and that is Rica’s with an S at the end. So not Costa Rica call center, Costa Rica’s with an S cause that's a possessive, I think on that side of it. [00:00:27] Richard, first, I want to welcome you to the show. [00:00:30] Richard Blank: It's great to be here, Joey. I can't wait to talk to you and your audience on lead generation strategies. I got a ton of stuff to share with you today. [00:00:37]
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Welcome to EnFuegoMedia and LeadGenerationSEOServices.com, where I – Joey Myers, your expert guide, am ready to unleash the power of organic Google traffic for your service-based business! Strap in and get ready to skyrocket your online presence like never before!Joey Myers - EnFuegoMedia
Now, let me introduce myself. I’m not your average Joey; I’m a seasoned digital marketing expert with a captivating background. Picture this: I played four incredible years of division one baseball at Fresno State University, where I honed my skills and learned the secrets of discipline, strategy, and teamwork. That experience ignited a fire within me that led to the creation of my thriving 6-figure baseball and softball hitting website, HittingPerformanceLab.com.
But that’s not all! I’ve also mastered the art of building a massive 6-figure email list in this niche. So, when it comes to generating leads and nurturing relationships, I’ve got you covered like a well-oiled baseball glove. And hey, I’m not just a player—I became an Amazon Bestselling author in 2018 with my groundbreaking book, “Catapult Loading System: How To Teach 100-Pound Hitters To Consistently Drive The Ball 300-Feet.” Trust me, I know a thing or two about hitting home runs!
Now, let’s step off the diamond for a moment and into the world of fitness. For over 15 years, I donned the hat of a personal trainer specializing in mobility, stability, functional training, and even Yoga. I’ve helped countless individuals reach their physical peak, and now I’m here to help your business reach its digital peak!
But let’s talk about what truly drives me. My priorities in life are crystal clear: Jesus, Family, and everything else. These values ground me and push me to deliver exceptional results for you and your business. When you work with me, you’re not just another client; you become a part of our digital family, and your success becomes my mission.
So, let’s dive into the heart of the matter. Picture a world where your business is a shining star, attracting droves of potential customers through the power of organic Google traffic. No more relying solely on social media marketing—let’s unlock the true potential of your online presence.
As your guide through this digital adventure, I specialize in crafting multimedia content that grabs attention, generates media exposure, and enhances your SEO like magic. From captivating videos that bring your brand to life to compelling press releases that spread your message far and wide, I’ve got the tools to make your business the talk of the town.
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I cover businesses like yours for a variety of reasons including how they have responded to the current crisis, the quality of their services, and publish hyper local ads in major publications to bring more clients.In fact, ensuring you get a clear benefit from this media coverage is our top priority.Our team consists of writers, developers and advertising professionals that have helped hundreds of businesses get more clients, patients and customers in a variety of industries.We help you to reach your best clients by crafting meaningful hyper-local ads and media coverage. If there’s a service you offer in a specific location, neighborhood or region, we help you get seen.If your business is a good fit, we will be able to get hyper local ads and content on sites like NBC, local Fox and CBS sites, Google, YouTube, podcast sites, and hundreds of other brand name sites.Before I can move ahead I will of course first need to confirm some details to get an understanding of your business to see if we can help increase your exposure.
Episode Transcript
Richard Blank: Costa Rica's Call Center | Outbound Lead Services Provider BPO Company Benefits | Jobs, Processes, & Examples
Richard Blank Costa Rica's Call Center Interview 2022-06-01
[00:00:00] Joey Myers: Hello, and welcome to the Lead Generation Strategies podcast, here with me today is Mr. Richard Blank and we'll be talking about call center.
[00:00:15] This is costaricascallcenter.com and that is Rica’s with an S at the end. So not Costa Rica call center, Costa Rica’s with an S cause that's a possessive, I think on that side of it.
[00:00:27] Richard, first, I want to welcome you to the show.
[00:00:30] Richard Blank: It's great to be here, Joey. I can't wait to talk to you and your audience on lead generation strategies. I got a ton of stuff to share with you today.
[00:00:37] Joey Myers: Oh, very cool. So Richard, tell us what Costa Rica's Call Center does.
What does Costa Rica’s Call Center do?
[00:00:42] Richard Blank: It's a very simple inbound and outbound, bilingual dedicated call center.
[00:00:47] All of the agency are college educated. They have experienced before, prior coming into this account. As I say, half of them are inbound support for customer service. We do back-office support and non-voice support with chat and emails.
[00:01:00] I also have a lead generation appointment setting and a sales department. We pretty much hire and work with everything.
[00:01:07] Joey Myers: Very cool. We'll probably get into that, the lead generation side of things first. I just want to build some context for everybody.
[00:01:12] What's the biggest problem that you solve for your clients that you guys get?
What's the biggest problem that you solve for your clients?
[00:01:16] Richard Blank: A lot of the times it must do in regard to the metrics, they may have certain expectations in regard to their calling lists, the talk time, conversion ratios. With me, a lot of the times I'm able to plug into a list in a predictive dialer.
[00:01:30] I also have a quality assurance and a QC department, quality control, so we're able to coach and grade the calls as well. So, a lot of the times we're using our infrastructure, our experience, and the sort of once again, the mediums that we have on the different verticals that we must compare apples, to be able to give our clients back a lot better intel and much more effective strategies for their time and for their money.
[00:01:55] Joey Myers: Cool. Richard, have you worked for call centers or own call centers? What got you into [00:02:00] this business?
[00:02:00] Richard Blank: It almost started back in high school when I was in Northeast Philadelphia. My favorite class was in Spanish, so I decided from Abington High School to go to University of Arizona and be a Spanish communication.
[00:02:10] Like yourself Joey, I worked with public speaking rhetoric and nonverbal communication. So, at 27 years old, I had the opportunity to move to Costa Rica for just two months to work at a friend's call center.
[00:02:22] You and I will take that one in a million opportunity, and I did. When I was here, I was amongst hundreds of bilingual, mid 20 Costa Rican Ticos that were on the phone, that were conversing in English, converting calls, and getting wonderful, positive escalations and great marks.
[00:02:41] For me, I got to see from the inside and out, I wasn't C-level, I wasn't looking at contracts and the finances, but I was with the people. I could see the good, the bad, the happy and the sad.
[00:02:52] For me, to start my own company, X number of years later, I really was really looking to see what I could do to enhance the experience for the agent and for the client. By having that sort of experience in retention, support customer service, sales, even search engine optimization with affiliate management and training and onboarding.
[00:03:12] It enabled me in those four years I worked with my friend to learn the business, but I will be forthright with you, Joey, it took me into my mid-thirties. To have my impulse control, to be mature enough and financially ready to throw my hat in the ring and to start my own call center.
[00:03:30] I wish I did it into my teens and I wasn't ready in my twenties, but in my thirties, I believe with the experience and the maturity and the sort of center in balance, I was ready to take the next stage of my life.
[00:03:42] Joey Myers: Very cool. So, this is the first call center that you've owned?
[00:03:45] Richard Blank: That is correct. I'm seriously, still batting a thousand and it's amazing because in my 14 years of owning a company in the industry, I'd love to give you a financial tip or trick or a CEO [00:04:00] cracked code, but I can really sum it up, Joey, in just one word, empathy.
[00:04:06] My friend did a great job at his call center but realistically, a lot of agents in this industry do feel like a number. They feel like a robot, they feel nameless and expendable. If you can give somebody their dignity, they'll come back to work the next day.
[00:04:22] If nobody shows up, you don't have a company. So, for me, I started from scratch. I wanted to make sure I could break bread with them. I will know your name.
[00:04:31] Pre COVID when the call center was packed, I would walk the rows. I would stop and listen to a call and give a thumbs up to someone. I would listen to a call and give my own soft skills coaching besides the sort of things that they were graded upon.
[00:04:45] It's hands-on, not that I'm forced to do it. I've got plenty of supervisors, but I love doing it. I still see the art in speech, and it can be done with lead generation and sales. It just doesn't have to be carpet bombing, Joey. It just doesn't have to be sending out these informal emails to people.
[00:05:03] We can custom make phone calls. We can make certain interactions unique so we can get that sort of rate of return that you and your clients are looking for.
[00:05:14] Joey Myers: I love that. When people think of call centers, they think of India, or they think of Vietnam or anything like that. So, what makes you special or what makes you guys unique?
[00:05:23] You mentioned empathy, so I'm sure that's a big part of you guys as a secret mix, but what makes you unique versus India or Vietnam or anything like that?
What makes Costa Rica’s Call Center special or unique?
[00:05:31] Richard Blank: First I'm glad that people are watching this on the big screen. Glengarry Glen Ross, the Wolf of wall street, boiler room.
[00:05:37] Sure. They're call centers like that. I dress like that, and I could actually sell like that, but I'm not going to sell you a pen today and you're referring to offshore call centers in India, Philippines, and the east. There are caliber agents. Everywhere. My hats off to anybody that does this for a living and is very good at it. [00:06:00]
[00:06:00] What are the differences? First and foremost, in those sorts of areas of the world, they're extremely price competitive. It's almost half the price. So, a lot of my clients are expecting me to do double the amount of work, I can in some sort of instances. Sometimes I just can't make twice the number of calls per hour.
[00:06:17] But they have an accent, but to me, an accent bears the mark of higher education. India's a real powerhouse for IT, Philippines, they're amazing in regard to empathy. But once again, unless you've lived in the United States, in Costa Rica here, nearshore. You could be on a flight out of LAX and be here within a couple hours.
[00:06:38] We're on mountain time zone. I got a half a million ex-pats that live here. We're a democratic society in Central America. We have a 95% literacy rate with no standing army. We have scalability because companies such as Amazon, HP, Intel, and Oracle or here. So, if you want to compare apples. Sure. You could get twice the number of agents offshore, than near shore, but I would be looking for specific skill sets.
[00:07:04] Maybe you need someone to speak in Spanish. Maybe that you'd be looking for a smaller mom and pop sort of call center like myself, that's very hands-on that could work with you in this way, compared to a very large blended mixed center where you're just in with thousands of other agents, we all share the same equipment, with our predictive dialers and our CPU's and our noise canceling headset.
[00:07:26] So it can almost do a comparison with technology, but as I mentioned before, if nobody shows up, your technology is worthless. My company culture, Joey, it really revolves around gamification. We spoke prior to this call today, how much you love my jukeboxes and pinball machines and I'm going to find you one I promise you.
[00:07:47] I've created a happy medium, so people can meet other agents from other departments that can let off steam. They can recharge their batteries or even spend time with El Jefe with the boss and do it in an environment where there is no [00:08:00] pressure to rest where they can have some fun.
[00:08:02] If anything, and nothing, if you want to compare me to Olympic call center events, I think I won a few golds. First and foremost, I know everybody's name. I break bread with them, and I play games with them.
[00:08:13] I think those are three very good core foundation things that I do here to ensure very long-term employment and reduced attrition. So just off the bat, my good friend, that's maybe some of the initial comparisons that I can make between my near shore to offshore calls.
[00:08:30] Joey Myers: Love that. I love that. Obviously, you guys have a competitive advantage in the company talking about a lot of different cool things that you guys are doing. Sounds like the early days of Google, remember the early days where it was, do no harm and they have the big giant playrooms, ping pong and all that kind of thing.
[00:08:46] Almost it's like that kind of atmosphere for you guys. So, I love that. Now let's move on to who you guys serve. What kind of clients typically industries, you don't have to mention client names, but industries that are frequent to you guys as call center?
Who’s your ideal client?
[00:09:00] Richard Blank: Once again, there's certain things that are hot for a moment and then burn out.
[00:09:03] But we work with certain verticals here. Like the inbound support campaign. With the movies and music company. It's almost like the old Columbia house. So, our demographic is 55 plus female that receives these big books every year and calls us up and orders their movies. We also work with law firms in regard to intake coordinators and support.
[00:09:23] I work with transportation companies. So, we can follow up with dispatching and follow-up on the packages. Also with the travel industry, the real estate industry, the education industry, and sometimes the tech industry. We'll set up appointments for people in the IT sector.
[00:09:42] As I mentioned before this is a very strict Catholic country, Joey, and as much as I want to grow to 5,000 seats, I'm very selective of the campaigns that come in. So, I refuse more than I take. These young men and women must go home and tell their parents, what they do for a living. It's very important for me [00:10:00] that, hey, not only do I prepare them properly and put them on a level playing field, but we never compromise their ethics, values, and morals.
[00:10:08] Now making phone calls and receiving them. Sometimes they're not easy, that's part of the game. That's what you signed up for. But there are certain skills that we have here that can be very diplomatic and strategic. We'll discuss this later in the podcast. There are some amazing things that we do here that I think you will find interesting.
[00:10:28] Regardless of getting through the gatekeepers, and once again, these positive, verbal, and written escalations to assist you in closing contracts. I'm just really giving more of an advanced and quality sort of agent that would be representing you and your company in the best light.
[00:10:46] Joey Myers: Very cool.
[00:10:47] Let's move on to the marketing side of things. Or I think this could be two tiers. This could be for your business Richard, or this could be for the businesses that come in that you help. We can go in, down both of those rabbit holes if you want.
[00:10:59] How do your clients typically connect with you and then how do you market to them? Lead-generation wise. Let's start on how you're getting clients and then we can talk about what you're doing for your clients on the lead gen side.
How do your clients typically connect with you and then how do you market to them?
[00:11:09] Richard Blank: Wonderful. A lot of the clients are introduced to me through referrals and those are my favorite because people that have worked with me and believe in me will recommend me.
[00:11:18] It's not even a sale. It's more of a conversation, but I'm very heavy with search engine optimization. If you go into Central America telemarketing call centers near shore. Especially Costa Rica, forget about it, I dominate in regard to those pages and I'm not the largest center, I'm very good on the internet.
[00:11:35] I do a lot of sharing. I read a lot of articles. We're doing a lot of podcasts now on videos. Prior to even needing me, my potential clients have the opportunity to read about me, listen to me and learn million dollars’ worth of free advice prior to even calling me. So, it saves me a lot of time on my phone calls, but we're almost starting off on third [00:12:00] base.
[00:12:00] What it is more deductive reasoning, where they will tell me 10 things and I will write it down and I'll be the second one to speak. I will answer each one in a forthright way to see if I am or not able to fulfill their needs and make a suggestion and then I will always add one or two more additional points that they didn't ask about before to not just establish my credibility, but to let them know the extensive and the depth of what I have here in regards to my experience that would be worth that one or two extra dollars an hour.
[00:12:33] As I mentioned before, I like people that have systems in place where I can plug and play. If they've been doing it for years, then I do have metrics that I can compare to, and the amount of calls they make in an average talk time and wrap up time.
[00:12:46] If they have email templates, if they leave voicemails, these are things I can listen to and as I say before, I make suggestions and unless I get a green light, I don't implement it. But there have been times where I've seen certain tones that I think were not appropriate. Or a certain vocabulary where I had to explain to them why that the source is important.
[00:13:08] As I think I might be able to choose a word to avoid a rabbit hole. I'll give you the easiest example, like it's not a deal breaker, but instead of using the word help, which might offend or could get the tone off a little bit, I prefer using words like guide, assist, and lend a hand.
[00:13:23] Those are certain soft skills. In addition to that, instead of saying, excuse me, could you repeat that? A lot of the times, for my clarification or for our edification, did you say 1, 2, 3, 4, ABC. So, these are things once again, to reduce talk time to move conversations forward, I will be sharing with you times to use rebuttals in certain areas like that, too.
[00:13:45] It's more just about active listening and focusing on their interests first. So those are the sort of things that I could see as being much more effective.
[00:13:55] Joey Myers: You mentioned some ways to, I don't want to say, like you said, [00:14:00] the language matters, right? Get around gatekeepers. You mentioned empathy, right?
[00:14:04] What are some of the tactics or strategies that you're using because a lot of times these big companies you want to go in and chase a lead there. They have a gatekeeper and that then would say in the way, but there's somebody there that's gatekeeping for the decision-making people.
What are some of the tactics and strategies you use to get around gatekeepers?
[00:14:17] So what is it that you guys do? You don't have to get super specific to give away any of your proprietary workings.
[00:14:23] Richard Blank: I'm giving you my special sauce. That's why you have me here today and what I'm going to be sharing with you, my good friend is something that once you see it, you don't unsee it.
[00:14:33] After three weeks it becomes habit and it is my pleasure to share this with you, I just want you to know, I don't have a book to sell. There's no seminar. It's Joey's friend Richard that's here today in sunny, Costa Rica, sharing ideas to add wind in your sails.
[00:14:48] Once again, to increase your audience's ability to have these relationships. All right, follow me through this. I believe that the attention span is 30 seconds to two minutes, and every conversation has an introduction, a body, and a conclusion. If you don't wait the intro, forget your body and conclusion.
[00:15:05] When you're calling into business, yes, of course. There's somebody there that's filtering the call. My suggestion immediately is to do a company name spike. You still have your anonymity, so somebody, if I call your company for an example, and Joey, let me ask you a question. Do you have an assistant that works with you that may answer the call at your company at lead generation strategies?
[00:15:25] Joey Myers: Not right now. So, it's me.
[00:15:27] Richard Blank: Okay. So, we'll use the name Kathy, for an example. I'll call your company, right? And Kat goes lead generation strategies, Kathy speaking, I go, how's lead generation strategies doing today? I'll never ask Kathy how she's doing. I'm asking how your company is doing today.
[00:15:42] First and foremost is the first three seconds of when I speak, I'm saying the name of your company. I'm saying what you did better than you did. I also have my anonymity and then immediately Kathy's like, how I said it better than she did, probably wants to hire me and she'll usually ask me the first question.
[00:15:57] Oh, that's great. What is your name? [00:16:00] And that's when we have a buffer boomerang test. It's when somebody asks you a question, sometimes they might have a negative tone. What is your name? I would say, Hey Kathy, that's an excellent question. My name is Richard Blank. I buffer her negative tone. I throw the name drop in there Kathy.
[00:16:20] I say that's an excellent question, but you can't say that every time you got to switch up the XO question with, I'm glad you brought that up, and then now repeat the question, just show active listening, and then send it back as a positive answer. This could be done six to 10 times on a phone call, a book buffer boomerang technique.
[00:16:35] So I answered Kathy's question. She likes Richard Blank, right? And then she goes, okay, I'll transfer you over to Joey, before you go, Kathy, I just want to let you know that you did a great job and when I speak to Joey, I'm going to let them know. That's a positive escalation, in call centers, you get paid for that.
[00:16:48] The call gets transferred to you and once again, I'm using my anonymity. Hello, this is Joey, lead generation strategies. Hey, Joey, I just got to let you know that Kathy is the best employee you ever have. I thank you. Once again, I'm giving the gift. I have momentum, have my anonymity. And then you say at a level two instead of a 10 in defensive.
[00:17:08] What is your name? Once again, a buffer boomerang, Joey, so glad you asked. Once again, my name is Richard Blank, and now we begin. So, we're on a phone call, right? Then Joey asks me a second question. Okay, Richard, I like you. What do you do? Joey, I'm so glad that you brought that up. This is what I do. A, B, C, and D no desert pitching.
[00:17:31] You need an oasis, so you can drink and rest. I will give you A, present it like a dessert tray. See if you make a noise or reaction, a positive or a negative reinforcement. Let's just say you like A, so instead of a horizontal, now it puts you into a vertical and start stacking you with open-ended questions.
[00:17:51] You understand that now I get explanations. We go through that, and you're explaining to me what you like about A, I haven't gotten B, C or D yet, [00:18:00] but this is what we need to know. There are certain times on your call, Joey, where you have phonetic micro expression reading. I believe phonetics is broken down into four parts.
[00:18:11] Your tone, rate, pitch, and duration. Your tone is your consistent variable. That should always be positive and empathetic. But what about the mirror imaging technique? I got to Joey, but don't mirror image a negative tone. You are consistent, you match them in their rate and their speaking level. Why don't we do these every 30 seconds to two minutes?
[00:18:31] Because I don't know you. I just want to make sure that when I'm speaking with you sight on scene, because I can't taste, touch or smell, you could only listen, which gets expanded and using your image streaming because you can't see them. So now it's more imagination.
[00:18:45] Every 30 seconds to two minutes, if you're not making a noise, if you're not typing something or writing something, you might do a spike or a dip in regard to how you speak in regard to your phonetics, not the semantics, not what you say, how you say it.
[00:18:59] That's when I will usually interject and say tie donor rebuttal. I would ask if it made sense or sounds good Joey, or once again for my clarification. Now why for my clarification, because a lot of us are working from home now and there could be a dog barking in the background.
[00:19:18] So inadvertently and passive aggressively, what I recommend to you and your audience is to let them know, hey, the me-too technique. I love dogs too, Joey. Great. Do the follow up question. What's the dog's name? And you say it's Fluffy. Great. Put them outside. I love Fluffy. You put Fluffy outside, you come back.
[00:19:37] You'll apologize. No worries and that's usually when I anchor you, what do you mean? I'm not pitching you on what I'm doing. I'm not trying to close you. We're probably going to talk about your dog for a minute or two. That's when you say to me, once again, what is your name? Joey, I'm so glad that you asked again, once again, my name is Richard Blank, and now your name dropping me the rest of the call.
[00:19:58] After I give you the list [00:20:00] and I stack it, and I'm sure you like at least one, which you've mentioned to me.
[00:20:04] Now, we're at the conclusion of the call. And I will say, Joey, since you still have me on the phone, are there any questions you have? You told me you liked A, remember B, C, D? Oh, you like D, now we stack it and say it again.
[00:20:17] I confirm any information you have with the military alphabet because once again, the call should be ending but the next thing you know, you serve, do you know someone that served or is just Memorial Day? We're going to be talking about that and how proud we are.
[00:20:33] I'm still not done when I'm finished the call, I'm going to write to you and explain how amazing Kathy was to assist me in the beginning, besides the other bells and whistles that we spoke about.
[00:20:43] So then when I call you back and Kathy answers the phone, she's going to say, Richard, I just got to let you know, in the last 10 years, no one's ever said something like that about me. That's the Richard circle and once I get transferred to you again, it's just constant positive reinforcements. These are the sort of things that instead of making a hundred phone calls a day, Joey, why don't you make 89?
[00:21:07] Why don't you take a couple extra minutes to do positive escalations to rake the call? I'm sure you like at least one, use these spikes and dips, or if you're just leaving a voicemail, take an extra 30 seconds to look at a LinkedIn profile or their website, so you can custom make that recording or that email.
[00:21:27] These are the sort of metrics that I've seen increase by just custom making. If you're just going to carpet bomb this stuff, you become a print. You're not really a painting. You're a character, Joey. You're just not in character. Remember when you made your first podcast, remember when you started out how raw you were.
[00:21:46] The essence of what it was to Joey to begin all this stuff. That's what I want the people to still have today. You can be polished. You can know your stuff and be well-rehearsed, but we need to talk about your dog or [00:22:00] about your trip to Costa Rica on your honeymoon with your beautiful wife, but when you were playing semi-professional baseball, which is cool.
[00:22:06] These are things Joey, where we get to learn about one another. And share with each other and then at the end, that's when the contracts come in.
[00:22:14] Joey Myers: I love that. That's great, there's a lot of science to that, and I can tell you're well researched when it comes to that whole science of from the beginning to the end of that conversation.
[00:22:24] When you hire an agent, I know a lot of it is putting the right people in the right seat. Do you have a certain kind of filter personality tests, things like that? Are you filtering them at the beginning from that? Or are you coming in and you'd completely retrain them?
[00:22:41] Do they already have what you need? And then you're nurturing that or are you taking them completely blank and bringing them in and retrain.
What do you look for in hiring a call center agent? Do you start from scratch or are you looking for a particular personality?
[00:22:48] Richard Blank: First, no pun intended on that blank moment, but that's why you have the best podcast, Joey, you really do ask the best questions.
[00:22:57] Let me answer it in two ways for you. I can bring somebody in that has the experience. But once again, they could have terrible habits. I also agree in right bus, right seat. They belong at this center, but where could they be the best and where's their potential. Now, for me to scale, I may need to bring in a freshman.
[00:23:17] It doesn't matter that they don't have call center experience. You and I could easily teach them how to use the CRM and a phone system that takes just one hour, they're very bright. They can do that with their hands tied behind their back, but I'm really looking for somebody that shows up on time, front row center, pen at the ready, instead of just absorbing, they start contributing during class.
[00:23:41] I like kids like that. To me, I'm looking to delegate and to promote it doesn't matter if you're with me one day or 10 years, boy, or girl, young and old. I see somebody with that sort of spirit. I like to, as you say, nurture it.
[00:23:54] For me, since I'm a guest in this country, Not saying it's better or worse, but I'm able to bring them [00:24:00] certain experiences I had in Philadelphia and in Arizona. Just by being a business owner.
[00:24:05] Now, mind you this, being a business owner, you have leverage, you could make or break somebody. You could hire or fire somebody. You and I, as business owners, we choose the former. It's very important for us in this delicate stage in their life to break any sort of bad stereotypes of a boss would have because, fear is a morbid anticipation.
[00:24:24] Something that hasn't happened yet. If they're afraid of me, they're not going to produce. I must put it in perspective immediately with them. Two things, first is I'm the only boss, pretty much that introduced myself to them. They always tell me that. And second, by learning another language.
[00:24:39] It's 10 times harder than what they're about to do on the phone. I just want them to calm down for a minute. I'm going to walk them through it. I'll more than prepare them and hopefully I'll be the last boss that they ever have.
[00:24:53] By telling them this, before they even walk into class, and this is when we're in the game room at recess before they even start training, I think I can reduce any sort of fear.
[00:25:03] I can bring back any sort of apprehension and eventually somebody can just open and dare to make a mistake. If they're willing to not be vulnerable, but be coachable, there is no reason you and I can't create all stars. You understand that. Look what your coaches did to you when you were in the Pee Wee league and then in high school.
[00:25:26] You had some amazing coaches in your youth that got you to division one baseball. I find that amazing that they believed in you. They got you there during the tough days when you didn't want to practice. If you struck out or missed a ball, it's pick yourself back up sort of time. I believe that this coaching that you and I received from athletics can be brought into business because it's the same sort of structure and discipline.
[00:25:53] Joey's the same as what a dedicated practice my friend knew and I did when we were not with our teammates, practicing, hitting, and [00:26:00] catching with your buddies in the neighborhood, or just studying tapes or just reviewing it with yourself, with the ball against the wall, just catching it yourself.
[00:26:07] I used to do that with hockey. I used to take shots on the net when no one was around, and I respect somebody that can invest time in themselves. If they do something like that, then all I want to do is to give them a little bit more structure to increase that sort of skill set and momentum.
[00:26:27] Joey Myers: I love that. What's great with coaches is that you can learn a lot of good things. You take a lot of good things away from coaches, and then there are also some things that you learn how not to coach and that's from Pee Wee's all the way up through wherever, however high somebody gets, in any sport, doesn't matter. Hockey, like you mentioned you take, and you like, what was it, Bruce Lee said, you'd take what is useful, you adapt what is useless and then you discard the rest type of thing.
[00:26:51] It sounds like we're on the same wavelength when it comes to whether it's managing people or coaching people or, whatever kind of word that you want to use. We're nearing in time here.
[00:27:00] I did want to ask you, what kind of maybe top challenge or two challenges that you're experiencing in the business that maybe somebody in my network or myself could possibly help.
What top challenge or two challenges are you experiencing in the call center business that maybe somebody in my network or myself could possibly help with?
[00:27:12] Richard Blank: Since we do compete against Amazon, my largest challenge is natural attrition. I don't fire people.
[00:27:19] People will leave me because of a scheduling conflict closer to their home or their boyfriend or girlfriend works there. I can't take it personal. I get disappointed more than I get angry because someone could be with me for years and suddenly, they peace out and don't give me a two weeks’ notice.
[00:27:35] If you're going to start strong with me, be great that we just end a working relationship, but still have a normal mutual friendship. That's just one of the things that come up, but I'm used to it. That's part of the game. As I say before, if I treat them with dignity and give them all my resources, there's no reason why someone should leave in haste or to be angry.
[00:27:55] I guess the second thing is the language skills. It's very rare, [00:28:00] but if there's a certain code red situation, cause a lot of the times things happen outside the call center, Joey, which may affect their performance here. I will allow someone to get off the floor to be able to discuss with us what's going on in their native tongue originally, so they can just get it out.
[00:28:15] For my own clarification, I do ask them to speak in English, what they just said as well, even though I am bilingual. So just in case there's that 5% where it can blend and to make sure that we're on the same page and then I will do the same in Spanish and in English.
[00:28:29] If it's super code red, I bring in a floor manager to speak for me. So, I just want to make sure when there's heightened emotion, that it just doesn't get out of hand. Somebody who's having one of the worst days of their lives, does something, let's say foolish, leaves when that really wasn't necessary or shouldn't have gone there.
[00:28:49] I've realized that my Philadelphia way to motivate you and you in California and Fresno, it could be appropriate, but sometimes it may not be.
[00:28:57] I'm just taking certain delicate situations in a certain way that I'm very careful in regards to my delivery, my message, and how I received their message and for the most part, my friend, as long as you, once again, listen, attentively, and you repeat what they say to make sure we're on the same page, you can pretty much reduce any sort of friction and resolve most of these issues.
[00:29:20] Joey Myers: Good points. Richard so just nearing the close here, a lot of great, wonderful information. I think really any industry can take the advice that you've given today and can use that.
[00:29:30] Your website, costaricascallcenter.com again, the S at the end of Rica Rica's call center, cause it’s possessive. Where can people find you if people wanted to reach out? Maybe if you wanted to put your email out there up to you, social media, where can people find you to get more info?
Where can people find you if people wanted to reach out?
[00:29:46] Richard Blank: You and your wife, you guys should grab a plane ticket, fly down here, and come visit me, that's number one.
[00:29:51] If you want to give me a call 888 271 6750 or shoot me an email CEO@ Costa Rica’s call center.com. [00:30:00] Finally, and this is where you're going immediately. We have a very large Facebook fan page Costa Rica's call center. There's about 98,000 Ticos currently. It'll give you the pulse on what's happening here in central America during the day and at night.
[00:30:13] These Ticos can't wait to meet you, Joey. I'm very much looking forward to putting our episode on there.
[00:30:19] Joey Myers: It's a great community. Like I mentioned before, we got on this call and this interview on the pre call interview, my wife and I had 10 days spent there on a honeymoon trip where we were probably brought down the average age of our tour down to about 70 years old.
[00:30:35] We were in our mid-twenties at the time, but we fell in love with Costa Rica and the different cities that we visited. I don't know how many times we said, boy, it'd be great to, to move here.
[00:30:44] Like you said it's on the same Pacific standard time. It's like you said, an hour, or was an hour, did you say hour, two hours or so? Great food, great scenery, great people. It's all great. The only thing was is that we didn't have kids yet, as you can see in the background, we got our two right here.
[00:30:59] We've got Noah and Grayson, and our handlers of handlers. So, our grandparents wouldn't have been able to pick up and move and go there either. We could have had Ticos and Ticas to help, but we wouldn't have had our own grandparents to help out. We were like let's do that first and then maybe someday we could head out there.
[00:31:15] I command you, very honorable what you're doing with the business and the people that you have employed with you guys, sounds like you guys are doing a great job.
[00:31:22] I wanted to thank you for your time today, Richard and we'll be in touch.
[00:31:26] Richard Blank: Thank you so much, joey. Had a great time today.
[00:31:30] Joey Myers: Thank you, sir.
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.
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 #education #LEADGENERATIONSTRATEGIESPODCAST
https://youtu.be/lmbLaiPUegc?si=938pHehyc1GbKhHk
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