Wednesday, October 9, 2024

AI, Human Empathy and Costa Rica's Call Center with Richard Blank and Do...

Welcome to another exciting episode of the "Pivoting to Web3 Podcast." I'm your host, Donna Mitchell, and today, we have a very special guest who's a pioneer in the call center industry, Richard Blank. At just 27, Richard moved from Philadelphia to Costa Rica and eventually founded Costa Rica's Call Center in 2008, which has now grown to a 150-seat operation. Richard's focus on empathy in technology makes him a unique voice in the sector. In this episode, Richard will share his journey from studying Spanish at the University of Arizona to establishing a booming call center business in Central America. We'll delve into his thoughts on ethical campaigns, the importance of non-aggressive but assertive scripts, and the benefits of using offshore call centers for cost-effectiveness and scalability. Richard also talks about the integration of AI in call centers, stressing that while AI can increase efficiency, it cannot replace human empathy. Moreover, Richard discusses the challenges of managing call centers, especially in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, and how he balances remote work with in-office setups. He emphasizes the significance of onboarding and training agents, maintaining professionalism, and choosing the right clients to work with. Richard's insights into quality assurance, employee motivation, and client selection are invaluable for anyone interested in the call center industry or considering a pivot to Web3 technologies. 00:00 Entrepreneur moves from Philadelphia to Costa Rica. 05:24 Craft clever, personal connections, avoid scripted approaches. 06:15 Impressed by call center's excellence, views on AI? 12:49 Evaluating call pacing to ensure effective resolutions. 15:57 Technology changes bonding; video chats offer connection. 18:52 Interview process method: STAR method for employee selection. 22:51 Leaders consult experts, verify, implement collaboratively, share credit. 26:13 Outsourcing appointment setting maximizes efficiency and growth. 27:17 Build an army with US-based compliant company. 31:23 Evaluate coaching performance and transparency for improvements. 34:25 Check out Pivoting to Web Three podcast.

Tuesday, October 8, 2024

The UnNoticed Entrepreneur podcast with host Jim James. Silk suits and s...

The UnNoticed Entrepreneur podcast with host Jim James. Silk suits and spats CEO Richard Blank This show is for business owners who want to overcome the frustration of being overlooked. Fellow entrepreneurs share strategies, tools, and case studies that they use to get the recognition they deserve. Interviews are published as podcasts and vodcasts and transcribed. The articles are published across numerous social channels, and the best are curated into books available on Amazon and other online stores. Richard Blank , the guest on today's Unnoticed Entrepreneur podcast, offers his advice on how to create a profitable call center and maximise client engagement. At the age of 27, Richard departed Philadelphia for Costa Rica and established a fantastic call center with 115+ positions. He discusses the challenges that foreign startups experience as well as how companies can gain recognition abroad. He emphasises the value of communication and how learning a new language and culture can help businesses adapt and thrive. Despite their unfavorable reputation in popular culture, he also discusses the advantages of contact centers. https://youtu.be/N2dczplOAeY A call center can be the success center of a business with the right technological advantages and framework. In order to keep clients and settle disputes, Richard emphasises the value of keeping interpersonal communication while sharing his teaching techniques for better communication. On this Unnoticed Entrepreneur episode, learn more about the value of communication and how to maximise engagement for company success with hosts Jim James and Richard Blank. The UnNoticed Entrepreneur podcast is sponsored by Prowly, the all-in-one software for leveraging PR activities. Boost the media relations game for your business - get more coverage while saving time and money on everyday tasks If you could ask 500 entrepreneurs a question about how they got noticed, Would you have one? That's right. You can ask a question and we can give you a summary of the thoughts of all of my guests on that topic, direct quotes, and links to where they gave comment. The Host: Jim A. James Jim James I jumped out of a plane at the age of 17 and haven't looked back, or down, ever since. That stunt taught me the power of publicity to generate profits. I've been an entrepreneur for pretty much my entire working life. For 25 years I started and built companies in Asia. Now I am back in the UK, and am building a business which gives entrepreneurs the information and the tools to get noticed. From the podcast I have published 3 books. These are under the Capstone Imprint, a division of Wiley (NYSE: WILY). I've listed all assets here on Linktree. My full story is on my personal website. The books are on Amazon and in some stores. My guests come on the mic from around the world, and the same is true of our listeners, as we've now been heard in 139 Total countries and over 3384 cities According to Listennotes, the show is in the top 2.5% worldwide and has a listener score 33. The show ranks #3 in the UK in the Entrepreneur category. What is Listen Score? Listen Score (LS) is a metric that shows the estimated popularity of this podcast compared to other rss-based public podcasts in the world on a scale from 0 to 100. The higher, the more popular. Calculated from 1st and 3rd party data. Updated monthly. What is Global Rank? This podcast is one of the top 2.5% most popular shows out of 2,855,347 podcasts globally, ranked by Listen Score (the estimated popularity score). The show is still relatively new but is experiencing steady growth by consistently publishing two shows per week. Why charm and good looks isn't enough to help you standout; With Richard Blank Richard Blank of Costa Rica’s Call Center shares communication techniques and tips on getting noticed At the age of 27, Richard Blank left northeast Philadelphia and went to Costa Rica. He has since gotten an amazing business in the call centre industry called Costa Rica’s Call Center. In the new episode of The UnNoticed Entrepreneur, he talked about his business, communication, how people can optimise their engagement with others, and how entrepreneurs can get noticed not just in their hometown but in a new country. From Philly to Costa Rica When it comes to the special challenges he faced when setting up his business, he, first and foremost, needed to learn the language. It’s a great way to show respect; it keeps an open mind and shows structure, discipline, and cognitive skills. For him, anybody who speaks a second language bears a remark of higher education. Secondly, he’s a guest in Costa Rica and has been one for the last 23 years. It was important for him to understand the traditions and the culture because whatever happened in Philadelphia really didn't have that sort of importance there. By having their essence and learning new things, he was able to incorporate his life there. He married the girl of her dreams. Fifteen years ago, he started his company, and it later grew to 150 seats. Now, he’s living the dream. He believes that entrepreneurs shouldn’t be hard on themselves. Patience is a virtue, and there is something called momentum. He started Spanish when he graduated high school in Abington, Philly, and continued studying it in Arizona. It’s an example of him building on momentum. There was positive reinforcement. He had the fidelity to continue. Putting any sort of pressures, opinions, or career expectations aside, he admitted he was a little selfish. Getting past his parents’ guilt and deciding to live a poet's life, he threw his hat in the ring and decided to go for it. The Call Centre Industry in Costa Rica Hollywood has glamorised call centres and telemarketers with films such as “Wolf of Wall Street,” “Boiler Room,” “Glengarry Glen Ross” and “The Prime Gig.” However, the reality is that they don’t sell stocks. They don’t do casinos, books, pharmacies, or sweepstakes. But there are a lot of amazing people out there who can earn a living making and receiving phone calls. Costa Rica is a very strict Catholic country, and the agents are extremely selective and delicate in the campaigns they decide to give their time and efforts. Currently, they have Amazon, HP, Intel, and Oracle. But it’s not just the infrastructure that’s there. It’s also the labour force. The country has a 95% literacy rate and good neutral English levels. Being close to the United States gave them that advantage. The proxemics and expatriates that they have there make it feel like it's almost like the US, too. As many people speak English, it was very easy for him. But unless people understand making and receiving phone calls, they may have expectations that are way out of whack. Telemarketers can’t just put magic dust on phone calls and bring them 100 clients. There is structure and discipline. At Costa Rica’s Call Center, they do have some technical advantages. They have a backup generator. They have redundancy regarding the Internet. They have immediate information technology (IT) support, a great server room, turnkey stations, and headsets with noise-cancelling capabilities. The best thing that he has is that he has synergy. His building can house 300 people (Though after COVID, he had to let most people go and only have a fraction of people on site. It’s a hybrid setup, or people work from home). But back when the office was packed, he’d walk those roads and listen to these bilingual agents engaged on the phone — converting calls, getting positive escalations, maximising their English with a thesaurus, using certain strategic and diplomatic words like “guide assistant” and “lend a hand,” asking for clarifications, falling on swords instead of excusing somebody on the phone, always keeping the tone positive, and giving a wonderful experience. He’s seen people who are self-reliant, self-confident, and exceptionally marketable. He gravitated towards that. He loves the “artist” speech. Though most people today prefer chats and emails, he believes that the best way to retain a client, get an upsell and a referral, or do an exit interview (in case someone fumbled the football), is to speak with somebody and try to maintain that interpersonal communication and possibly resolve any sort of conflict management that the agent may have with clients or with himself. Richard believes in the concept of “same message, different delivery.” He studied Basil Rathbone, who was undoubtedly one of the greatest speakers. He carefully looked up certain words and rewound them, especially his performances with Nigel Bruce on the Old Time Radio Show, which really expanded his reach. He also gravitated towards Jeremy Brett, who was also an amazing speaker. A lot of Richard’s colourful speech comes from his attention-grabbing way, where he really captivated audiences. His other influences are Remington Steele and Templeton Peck. Some Communication Techniques In over two decades of doing over tens of thousands of phone calls and analysing those, Richard found a structure that gave him the best return in terms of their performance. And it’s something that can be done over and over again or in sections. When someone prospecting is making a phone call, the first thing to do is use anonymity to their advantage. But this shouldn’t be done for the whole call since it’s shady. They must only get the first three seconds. Citing how Richard would reach out to this podcast as an example, he shared that the best thing to do during that time is to do a company name spike and ask how the company is doing. “Hi, how’s The UnNoticed Entrepreneur podcast doing today?” Then, wait for the person on the other end — in this example, Alecs — to respond: “We’re doing great today. What’s your name?” This is where he recommends doing the Buffer Boomerang technique, where the caller must name drop, buffer their tone, and ease it out: “Hey, Alecs! That’s an excellent question.” Then, to demonstrate active listening and return it to the positive side, the caller must say, “Hi, my name is Richard Blank.” It’s all about capturing the negative tones, repeating the question, and setting it back positive. This happens in all sorts of calls until the tone is readjusted. After that exchange, Richard would say, “I would love to speak to Jim James,” to which Alecs would respond, “Alright, I’ll transfer you.” Richard would say next, “You know what, before we go, Alecs, I just want to let you know that you’re incredible and I’m going to let Jim know.” The next thing he’ll know, he’ll get to pass the pitch from my assistant. Once he speaks to me, he’d tell the thing about Alecs. And when I’d get to the part where I ask, “Who are you,” he’ll repeat the Buffer Boomerang technique. He and I will keep doing that until the tone evens out and until we have a conversation. Now, this is where the phonetic micro expression reading comes in. Using the Mirror Image technique, anyone making the call must think about how fast or loud the other person is speaking. They must do this in 30-second to two-minute intervals. It’s all about purely going on sound (not about the tone or semantics). If there’s a spike or a dip, they must interject a confirmation question, rebuttal question, or something that’s transitional to confirm something. If they keep doing that for five minutes, no one will be in the same quadrant of the graph every time. If someone’s talking loud (for instance, an 8 in the graph) and is talking fast (also about 8), they’d be in Quadrant 1. The goal is to see consistency. When someone is on the phone, three senses are removed: taste, touch, and smell. But, the hearing expands. That person can use their imagination, adjectives, and descriptions. These are ways to capture calls and put colour in their language — because they’re more of a painting than a print. Agents can keep others’ attention by being engaged and showing active listening. Apart from doing the spike-and-dip thing, another important sign is the answering speed. Subconsciously, people can control tone, rate, and pitch. They can curse, scream, or interrupt. However, they can’t answer speed consistently. However, when agents become lucid after three years of practice, it becomes a habit; they can use it to their advantage. They can fire, but must not burn those they're conversing with. They can ask them for clarification questions because they’re being facetious or overextending themselves. Then, there’s also the Me Too technique. If someone hears a dog in the background, that person can inadvertently and passively aggressively let the other person know that they love dogs. For instance, they can ask about the dog’s name, breed, and age. It’s basically about anchoring with the other person. Based on his experience, in most cases, that’s when a client comes back and asks his name again for clarification. And this shows how they really connected in the body of the conversation, not in the introduction and conclusion. What They Do at Costa Rica’s Call Center At Costa Rica’s Call Center, agents must keep in mind that they’re in a conversation and must share multiple points with people as they offer multiple things, such as appointment setting, lead generation, and customer support. However, they must give a little bit of time in between each one to gauge a positive or negative reaction. Visualise it like it’s an equaliser. When they get a positive reaction, they must stop that vertical line and ask open-ended questions. Throughout the call, agents must constantly remind and rake questions. For example, “Remember, we spoke about A, B, and C. Are there any final questions that you may have?” If the other person asks to tell more about C one more time, the agent could respond, “Of course, I can. I’m so glad you brought that.” They also make custom-made meeting minutes and send them to the people they called. Going back to the example of him reaching out to this podcast, the minutes for that will include Alecs’ participation and the momentum from the beginning. When he calls the company back, and Alecs picks up and asks, “Is this Richard Blank?” he would say, “Of course it is.” Then, Alecs could say, “Thank you so much for what you said about me. I’ve been here for years and no one’s ever said this. Oh, by the way, Jim’s birthday’s next week and you better mention his anniversary. His direction extension is 214. Call him on Thursdays before he plays golf.” When that happens, Richard would thank her and show his appreciation. This example shows consistency and authenticity at any stage of that conversation. He also emphasises name drops and personal pronouns (e.g., “your,” “our”) to keep people’s attention. He believes in pausing before names and numbers and using those in transitional sentences and tie-downs. If people can practise all this, they’ll have beautiful conversations with others. If they’d have to apologise for their tone, they can call the following day and apologise for it and ask to restart again. These are the sort of relationships that build the best foundations in business — having no surprises and being forthright with people. Chaos causes character. But if entrepreneurs can respect prospects, their agents, themselves, and their businesses during the tough times, then when it’s the good times, it just aces. On Getting Noticed If entrepreneurs want to wear spat shoes, have neon lights, marquees, an art deco building, or collect pinball machines — like the case of Richard and his call centre business — why not? He knew he needed to be the red umbrella among all the black ones. He needed to stand out in some way, and he can’t just do it with charms and good looks. He needed to show some sort of authenticity and real taste. If he tries to do something that is in mode, it will be passe tomorrow. He knows who he is. And if he can do it with the images that he’s giving out, he will. Entrepreneurs also don’t need to go out there and throw money around. There are extremely conservative ways. In fact, Richard started his business out of his house. He got his first account and rented a turnkey station at an expanded internet cafe. He did that for two years until he rented space to build out 150 seats. It had to be there for six years to build enough capital and be able to build a hot field 300-seat centre. As his old-school grandmother tells him, “If you can’t do it in cash, you don’t buy it.” And so he had to wait patiently to have the capital to ensure job stability and pay those benefits. Richard’s call centre business is on a building first built in 1958 called Super La Quadra. For the time he’s there, he’ll preserve the walls because people live there. And people are happy there. The building has been abandoned for many years, and it has gone through so many things. He considers it a gift that the building is passing that energy along to him and allowing itself to be in his use and be his environment. Richard Blank, the guest on today's Unnoticed Entrepreneur podcast, offers his advice on how to create a profitable call center and maximise client engagement. At the age of 27, Richard departed Philadelphia for Costa Rica and established a fantastic call center with 115+ positions. He discusses the challenges that foreign startups experience as well as how companies can gain recognition abroad. He emphasises the value of communication and how learning a new language and culture can help businesses adapt and thrive. Despite their unfavorable reputation in popular culture, he also discusses the advantages of contact centers. A call center can be the success center of a business with the right technological advantages and framework. In order to keep clients and settle disputes, Richard emphasises the value of keeping interpersonal communication while sharing his teaching techniques for better communication. On this Unnoticed Entrepreneur episode, learn more about the value of communication and how to maximise engagement for company success with hosts Jim James and Richard Blank. Richard Blank, the guest on today's Unnoticed Entrepreneur podcast, offers his advice on how to create a profitable call center and maximise client engagement. At the age of 27, Richard departed Philadelphia for Costa Rica and established a fantastic call center with 115+ positions. He discusses the challenges that foreign startups experience as well as how companies can gain recognition abroad. He emphasises the value of communication and how learning a new language and culture can help businesses adapt and thrive. Despite their unfavorable reputation in popular culture, he also discusses the advantages of contact centers. A call center can be the success center of a business with the right technological advantages and framework. In order to keep clients and settle disputes, Richard emphasises the value of keeping interpersonal communication while sharing his teaching techniques for better communication. On this Unnoticed Entrepreneur episode, learn more about the value of communication and how to maximise engagement for company success with hosts Jim James and Richard Blank. Free Marketing Tips For The UnNoticed Entrepreneur If you're an unnoticed entrepreneur, this show is for you. You will hear honest, hard-working entrepreneurs explain how they build their businesses with low-cost marketing strategies. In less than 25 minutes, my guests and I discuss the best ways to generate sales in the most cost-effective ways possible; these are ideas that you can use in your business today. These are not celebrity CEOs but people like me and you. Conversations are based on my experience of building companies on 3 continents over 25 years. 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/ The UnNoticed Entrepreneur podcast, Jim James, Richard Blank, Costa Rica's Call Center, Outsourcing, Telemarketing Call Centre, BPO, Nearshore Contact Center, Sales, Entrepreneur, B2B, Business, Podcast, Gamification,Leadership, Marketing, CX, Guest, Money, B2C education, BPO trainer, #JimJames #TheUnNoticedEntrepreneurpodcast #RichardBlank #CostaRica #CallCenter #Outsourcing #Telemarketing #BPO #Sales #Entrepreneur #B2B #Business #Podcast #Gamification #CEO #learnpodcasting #podcastepisode #podcastguest #podcasting #podcastinterview #podcastplaylist #podcasts #podcastskills #podcastshow Host Jim James on The UnNoticed Entrepreneur podcast. Silk suits and spats CEO Richard Blank https://youtu.be/N2dczplOAeY

Monday, October 7, 2024

Richard Blank ( CEO of Costa Rica’s Call Center)

The Ultimate Journey of Self-Care. UJSC-Ep-236 Creating Influential Conv...

The Ultimate Journey of Self-Care. UJSC-Ep-236 How to Create Influential-Conversations with Richard Blank Join me every Tuesday and Thursday for two different editions of the Ultimate Journey of Self-Care. Tuesday's show is a deeper dive into what self-care can look like for you with conversations about fitness, mindset, energy eating and fuel for your body, spirituality, travel, leisure and more. On Thursdays' we'll take a closer look at self care for your business, on the Business Edition, in conversations with business leaders and influencers with short bite sized episodes about growing and innovating in your business in a post pandemic world. In this episode we talk about several ways to help create better outcomes in conversations by teaching influence and ‘positive escalation’. And you’ll walk away with several simple tips to help create better outcomes in your own conversations. Richard Blank does this every day in his company where he teaches others how to create a ‘phoentic dance’ in conversations that produce positive outcomes. Alison Katschkowsky created a series of podcasts as your go-to destination for achieving professional success while looking after yourself! From learning tips and tricks to enhance your personal growth, to providing the best experience possible for clients - this one's got it all. Tune in now and start taking steps towards a better you! https://youtu.be/_5_oH_sXfXM LISTEN ? What does self-care look like to you? It's not a spa day, a massage, or a workout. It's not a day off from work, or a bubble bath. It's so much more than the things we do, it's HOW we prioritize ourselves in general. What does Self Care look like to you? It's not a spa day, a massage or a workout. It's not a day off from work, or a bubble bath. It's so much more than the things we do, it's HOW we prioritize ourselves in general. Join me every Tuesday and Thursday for two different editions of the Ultimate Journey of Self Care. Tuesday's show is a deeper dive into what self care can look like for you with conversations about fitness, mindset, energy eating and fuel for your body, spirituality, travel and leisure and more. On Thursdays we'll take a closer look at self care for your business, on the Business Edition, as an entrepreneur, with short bite sized episodes about growing and innovating in your business in a post pandemic world. Join me and we'll take a walk on the journey of self care together. Subscribe and Follow us so you don't miss an episode. Education Self-Improvement Health & Fitness I call myself an INNOVATOR and a DISRUPTOR I’ve spent three decades in the health and fitness space. I’ve just about done it all. And I'm making it my mission to show you that what you desire IS possible. I’ve spent three decades in the health and fitness space. I’ve just about done it all. And I'm making it my mission to show you that what you desire IS possible. I call myself an INNOVATOR and a DISRUPTOR Belief plans, morning meditation and workout, writing and journaling the future, stretching and creating more. daily rituals: On retreat in a fabulous locale, creating experiences with family and friends, playing with my dogs, having a glass of wine near the water, or energizing my body through movement YOU CAN FIND ME: Fluff and fancy, airy talk, multiple steps and complication, struggle and getting by. I'm NOT ABOUT: Straight talk, no frills, creative workarounds, owning your uniqueness, and high end amazing experiences. I BELIEVE IN: Alison's Bio And, I'll show you what's possible for you!As an entrepreneur, I'm on a mission to ensure you not only take care of yourself in the MOST EPIC way but that you have the business of your dreams. I’ve been in business for over 25 years, and I lost over 70% of my business in the 2020 pandemic. But I’ve rebuilt. And I'm back and stronger than ever. Come walk your Compass Path with me. let's work togetherWhat's next? My 4-Part Podcast Mini SeriesUnlock the secrets to selling out your retreats with our exclusive 4-part podcast series, "The Retreat ID Method." Discover how to identify ‘ready to go’ buyers in your audience—even with a small list—and start filling your retreats before you even launch them. The Simple 'Hand Raise' Method I Use to Sell My Retreats BEFORE I Launch and Open Them! Free Podcast Series! - Alison KShowing what's possible so you live your best life. The Hybrid business model is the wave of the future- it's here to stay. I help you believe you CAN do it WORK WITH MEinvolves showing you how to get from where YOU are now, all the way up into your future. It's about navigating this crazy thing called life and finding out what is possible for yourself--in business AND in personal development! You deserve everything good anyway so why not make sure it happens through taking charge of YOUR compass path? Having conversations with others that are productive involve more than just speaking, asking questions and providing answers. It’s even more than just listening and asking more questions. It’s about providing a sense of knowing that you hear and understand what the other person is saying, and whether or not you can provide a real solution or assistance. How to Create Influential Conversations with Richard Blank 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/ The Ultimate Journey of Self-Care, Alison Katschkowsky, Richard Blank, Costa Rica's Call Center, Outsourcing, Telemarketing Call Centre, BPO, Nearshore Contact Center, Sales, Entrepreneur, B2B, Business, Podcast, Gamification,Leadership, Marketing, CX, Guest, Money, B2C education, BPO trainer, #TheUltimateJourneyofSelfCare #AlisonKatschkowsky #RichardBlank #CostaRica #CallCenter #Outsourcing #Telemarketing #BPO #Sales #Entrepreneur #B2B #Business #Podcast #Gamification #CEO #learnpodcasting #podcastepisode #podcastguest #podcasting #podcastinterview #podcastplaylist #podcasts #podcastskills #podcastshow UJSC-Ep-236. The Ultimate Journey of Self-Care. How to Create Influential Conversations with Richard Blank https://youtu.be/_5_oH_sXfXM

Friday, October 4, 2024

The Thoughtful Entrepreneur by Josh Elledge. Episode 1312 with Call Center CEO Richard Blank

You’re gonna love this show. SEVEN DAYS A WEEK, we cover a wide range of topics (within 15-20 minutes). We cover topics like scaling challenges, leadership, funding, marketing, and sales. We'll also let our guests share on the subjects they're well-known for. You’re going to hear real stories, from real people. THE THOUGHTFUL ENTREPRENEUR PODCAST On this DAILY founder-stories podcast, your host, Josh Elledge encourages entrepreneurs to share not only their expertise but their stories and their hearts. In this episode of the Thoughtful Entrepreneur, your host Josh Elledge speaks with the CEO, President, and Bilingual Telemarketing Trainer of Costa Rica’s Call Center, Richard Blank. UpMyInfluence quickly and easily creates B2B sales with our guaranteed proven processes – All with ZERO paid ads. We facilitate 2-3 high-level introductions each week for Agencies, Consultants, Coaches, and other B2B Service providers. https://youtu.be/xdsImuJOnvE We leverage authority, generosity, and platform to fill your sales schedule with clients that are otherwise immune to traditional lead generation marketing tactics. We make introductions for you to high-level customers, decision-makers, investors, busy clients, and influencers. We have a network of more than 100 podcasts that allow us to get you connected. B2B Sales appointment setting Pro bono, Coaching, or Full Service offerings US Military Veteran Owned We believe that every person has a unique message which can positively impact the world. Even YOU! As a daily show, we're actively seeking guests. Costa Rica’s Call Center is a bilingual call center with high caliber college educated employees. Richard explains that ecotourism, cost of living, and culture are major advantages to living in Costa Rica compared to countries such as The United States. Costa Rica’s Call Center was created when Richard worked at a friend’s call center in Costa Rica teaching English. The work was something he gravitated to and decided he wanted to start his own call center business venture. Richard explains they work to fulfill the needs of the client and agent by providing support, training, and adequate hiring. Richard explains that he helps make his employees feel more confident in their language skills and broaden their vocabulary to aid them in their work duties. Costa Rica’s Call Center sets itself apart from other competitors as they are bilingual with an incredible skill set that also upholds the reserved values of Costa Rica. Richard explains a misconception about working with Costa Rica’s Call Center is getting a cheaper price because that is the price commonly used by other call centers in different countries such as India. Another misconception is the being able to partner with the company and not blurring ideals between the two such as using profanities when they do not do so as things work differently between different areas. Key Points from the Episode: What Costa Rica’s Call Center is Advantages of Costa Rica How Costa Rica’s Call Center was created The importance of linguistics How Costa Rica’s Call Center differs from its competitors Misconceptions of using Costa Rica’s Call Center Hi! I'm Josh Elledge, founder of UpMyInfluence. Thanks for wanting to learn a bit more about who we are and about our purpose! I BELIEVE EVERYONE HAS A MESSAGE THAT CAN POSITIVELY IMPACT THE WORLD I help thoughtful business leaders to completely book out their sales calendar with high-level, premium customers and partners, by leveraging their authority and harnessing the power of relationships. If you have authority in your industry, STOP competing with amateurs in the 'red ocean' of spammy lead generation. Lead with generosity instead. I founded my last company SavingsAngel.com - which I scaled to 7-figures in annual sales with zero paid ads. I truly believe like Robert Stephens, founder of GeekSquad who said, "Advertising is the tax you pay for being unremarkable." I chose, instead, to lead in generosity through more than 2,500 media appearances. Armed with remarkable success in PR, I served pro-bono in my local startup community - mostly with military-owned, women-owned, and minority-owned small businesses - helping to co-create the same success I had for many years. This led to unintentionally launching UpMyInfluence in 2014 as a media consulting and PR agency. After a few short years, we discovered that our approach to gaining PR for clients was far more valuable in gaining them sales and growing consistent and predictable revenue. When our first B2B sales client scored six figures in sales in 90 days without paid ads, we realized we had something extremely powerful in our hands. We've since helped hundreds of clients build consistent and predictable B2B sales by leveraging their authority, generosity, and platform. We leverage authority, generosity, and platform to fill your sales schedule with clients that are otherwise immune to traditional lead generation marketing tactics. OUR CORE VALUES & VALUE NARRATIVES No good treasure hunt starts without a map. And no good business should start without one either! At UpMyInfluence, everything we do is guided by 5 core values designed to keep us on course no matter where we roam. We hope our “map” will not just resonate with you–but prompt you to think about what’s guiding your brand and business as well. 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/ Thoughtful Entrepreneur, Josh Elledge, Richard Blank, Costa Rica's Call Center, Outsourcing, Telemarketing Call Centre, BPO, Nearshore Contact Center, Sales, Entrepreneur, B2B, Business, Podcast, Gamification,Leadership, Marketing, CX, Guest, Money, B2C education, BPO trainer, #ThoughtfulEntrepreneur #JoshElledge #RichardBlank #CostaRica #CallCenter #Outsourcing #Telemarketing #BPO #Sales #Entrepreneur #B2B #Business #Podcast #Gamification #CEO #learnpodcasting #podcastepisode #podcastguest #podcasting #podcastinterview #podcastplaylist #podcasts #podcastskills #podcastshow The Thoughtful Entrepreneur Episode 1312 by Josh Elledge. Special guest Call Center CEO Richard Blank https://youtu.be/xdsImuJOnvE