The common cents show guest Richard Blank Costa Ricas Call Center

Richard Blank

Micah Logan presents The Common Cents Show. How to start a business in Costa Rica with Richard Blank  The Common Cents Show is a podcast dedicated to providing business and financial knowledge in an entertaining and insightful way. From expert interviews with business leaders to dissecting the latest in business trends and news, we are dedicated to helping you make valuable business judgements from sound business knowledge. The Common Cents Show is all about Entrepreneurship and Business. Join us for weekly content and strategy.  Micah Logan is a Small Business Growth Expert, Business Turnaround Specialist, Business Coach, Forbes Contributor, Award-Winning Entrepreneur, and Business Systems Architect.  Richard’s journey in the call center space is filled with twists and turns. When he was 27 years old, he relocated to Costa Rica to train employees for one of the larger call centers in San Jose.   Mr. Richard Blank holds a bachelors degree in Communication and Spanish from the University of Arizona and a certificate of language proficiency from the University of Sevilla, Spain. A Keynote speaker for Philadelphia's Abington High School 68th National Honors Society induction ceremony. In addition, inducted into the 2023 Hall of Fame for Business. Giving back to Abington Senior High School is very important to Mr. Blank. As such, he endows a scholarship each year for students that plan on majoring in a world language at the university level.   https://youtu.be/1z0-Sbk-dVY https://youtu.be/1xp9CbU_qsM https://youtu.be/J9W-UU1J0e4 https://youtu.be/U-JmZp7z0Zk https://youtu.be/YgzxE6sxxbg  Richard Blank hired bassist Garry Gary Beers of INXS.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ieGjN5H4xPQ  Micah Logan, the common cents show, 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,call centre, contact centre, contact center,trend, trending

Transcript

00:00I

00:30Welcome to the common sense show. I'm Micah and of course, you know who I am because you've heard of the conversations as well

00:43But I like to introduce myself. Anyways, just in case you're a guest here for the first time

00:47I am excited because I have what's gonna be I think a fun conversation today with Richard blank

00:54He has a very interesting

00:57Unique

00:59Experience when it comes to his work history, and I'm excited to share it with you today and kind of get some

01:06Get some just information about international business what it means how to how to start it like what are some of the things involved?

01:13Why a person would choose to go into international business why specifically the country?

01:18There's a lot that goes into choosing to do business internationally

01:22but before we do that just some housekeeping I

01:25Want you to just to let you know that we have what I'm calling the common sense show

01:32After party, so what I'm going to start doing not today with Richard

01:36But in our next conversation is we're gonna begin our conversations

01:41here on YouTube or X or rumble wherever you're watching this and

01:46Then we're going to end the conversation over at the common sense show after party for members only

01:53And we will be switching over to that model starting with our next episode

01:58So if you're watching this you're gonna get a great full show. We're talking about

02:04How to grow an international business and all the things associated with that

02:08But the next episode we're gonna be switching to our common sense show after party where we continue the conversation with our guests

02:15Privately for our members and so you only get half the conversation, but that's okay

02:23What what what you know, you knew I was gonna do this at some point, but here we are

02:27But without further ado, let me welcome Richard Blank to the show

02:34Richard welcome to the common sense show

02:37Mike is so happy to be here. I'm a huge fan. Can't believe I made the cut

02:41But since I'm here, I'm more than willing to share a lot of tips and tricks on how to start a business in Costa Rica

02:47You did make the cut. I mean your story I thought was great

02:50I mean when I looked at your bio you talked about how you relocated to Costa Rica when you were 27

02:57You trained thousands of employees over there. You are responsible for the implementation of massive call centers

03:05like you have done a lot of

03:09Amazing things when it comes to doing business internationally and I want to know what it all is about

03:14I want to learn more about what it's like to start a business internationally

03:19What goes in the process of even thinking that that's a good idea for you and

03:24You know why it is that people should choose that as a path if if that indeed is their path

03:29So I'm gonna kick it over to you and maybe you can get us started with

03:32What went into your decision to even move to Costa Rica? Let's start there

03:36It was a one-in-a-million

03:38opportunity when I was 27 years old back in August of

03:412000 a friend of mine who owned a center here said Richie come down and come and teach English for a couple months

03:48You know relax for a little bit take a break. And when I came to Costa Rica, I didn't want to leave

03:55so after those 60 days

03:57Went to my friend and asked if I could stay and he said you beat me to the punch

04:01I was just about to offer it to you as well

04:03And just like as you would expect there were hugs and high fives and smiles. I worked with my friend for four years

04:10I learned the business but this is the different thing and this assisted me in my decision to start my business. I

04:16Didn't do C level. So now I didn't understand the contracts the labor laws and things like that and the benefits

04:23Learn it from the inside out. Really? I was one of the very best and strongest of soldiers. I

04:29learned retention and customer support and onboarding and training a little bit of human resources and I even learned search engine

04:38Optimization. So if you really want to think about it a lot of the times it's not like what you're getting paid

04:44But if you can get some experience

04:47Did four years of it and I learned enough to be able to start my company and but the secret

04:53It wasn't the margins or the connections that you have

04:56It's really extending empathy and giving call center agents dignity

05:01because the largest grape and what causes most attrition is people just don't feel valued and

05:07disrespected and you're from Massachusetts

05:10I'm a Philly boy and we know about old school and

05:13If you can step up and respect someone and call the balls and the strikes and set your own example

05:19Then maybe you'll get that fidelity. Maybe the people will stand with you and try their hardest and

05:27I've seen that in my 16 years of owning my own company. Yes. I've had attrition most of its natural

05:34But the players that have stayed with me the longest it's interesting in the beginning. You might say they were average

05:40They weren't that shiny object or the boaster or the chest pounder. They were that

05:46consistent

05:48Consistent individual that never missed work showed up on time did their numbers and we're just cool all around

05:55Maybe by fault or luck or whatever, but they rose to the top and they did it through

06:02merit and

06:04Fortunately for me because I'm a guest in this country

06:07I've been able to surround myself with individuals that actually do have my back and I I

06:13Think I earned it the old-school way

06:18So you what drove you to get involved in the

06:26Telecom business the call center business. What is it about what you do that? Do you have a passion for it?

06:32Is this something that?

06:34Excuse me that you

06:36That you just kind of fell into and then you just realize that you enjoy doing

06:41How do you connect with it?

06:43It's an excellent question if I had to choose to do something for a living I'd restore sell pinball machines

06:50But I can't do that

06:52There this you have to pay a price

06:55To not only work at a call center, but if you can survive it and gravitate and own one and have your scars

07:01You've really devoted a lot to it

07:05Individuals sometimes enjoy pain

07:07They like the ink of the tattoo or boxing or certain martial arts or even in the gym when you get the burn when you're doing

07:13There's extra

07:14extra reps to get bigger

07:17my thing

07:19was

07:21Investing in someone and seeing the potential that's wasted

07:25It's because of the discipline structure things that are happening outside the office. It's very labor-intensive

07:31So that's the sweet and the sour on the flip side. I chose an industry that's exceptionally lucrative and

07:40There is certain infrastructures here in a labor pool. That pretty much is plug-and-play

07:45all I need to do is just gather separate and connect and

07:50That's pretty much how I was able to do my business. Let's let's be realistic here

07:54I can't wear all hats in the kitchen

07:57And so when I left my friend's Center and decided to start my own

08:02The smartest thing for me to do and this is my industry

08:06Specific was to rent a turnkey station at a blended Center almost like a seat on an airplane

08:12Why because legally they have the internet connection they have the water the coffee the building

08:19You know, I'm just paying premium and I could scale accordingly

08:23So I didn't have to worry about certain things and that gave me peace of mind

08:27It wasn't comfortable, but neither is college but freshman year in the dorms. This is the best time of your life

08:31So you're kidding me?

08:33I'm in my honeymoon stage of my business surrounded by the average 24 year old and the thing was taken off

08:38I could have been anywhere

08:41fortunately for me, I found a place that was stable enough where I could grow accordingly and

08:46Then after a couple years I rented space and you can buy equipment for a fraction of the cost because companies do go out of

08:53Business so I had a leverage there, too. I could scale

08:57Once again accordingly, and so I was there for six years, too

09:01I really had some stable clients and some capital and then a couple years ago

09:06We bought a building through on a third floor

09:08equipped it out for 300 seats and here we're sitting today and so I

09:13Wish I had a six-month story took me 16 years to get here, but I tell you what

09:18I was exceptionally conservative with my money

09:21I turned down more accounts than I accepted because we don't want gray area

09:26Illegal and I'm not going to be your fall guy like the Maltese Falcon and I'm a guest here. My god

09:32Come on, this is a strict Catholic country

09:34I want to make sure that the agents that work here are proud of the accounts

09:39They can go home and tell their parents what they do for a living

09:42Why do I think like that because I was in their shoes

09:45my parents asked me questions as well around the dinner table and I wanted to be proud of what I was doing, but

09:51It's different my friend

09:54Massachusetts and Philly, you know about that sports coach

09:57Or that special teacher that really believed in you and let you rewrite that paper

10:01So you could get a B

10:02There's always that person along the way that literally balanced your bike when you needed it the most

10:09And if anything and nothing they're gonna go through the Richard Carwash and I'm gonna set them straight and I'm gonna give them structure discipline

10:17strategy diplomacy

10:19advanced vocabulary

10:21I'm not gonna role play with you. It's not the Glenn Gary Glenn Ross role, you know Wolf of Wall Street

10:26I'm gonna give you soft skills my brother. I'm gonna teach you to be a

10:31Gentleman and a lady on the phone. So you have more conversion ratios and the talk time does these there's a certain metrics you can gauge

10:37You can't spin them. So if you see people increasing their talk times and their conversions, obviously

10:43They're doing the rhetoric and they're conversing and then you realize that outside the office. They can now solve their problems

10:49That's what you and I do. We're the polishing school

10:52we detail them and

10:53If they really get it and they really see the fact that I respect them and know their name and play pinball with them

11:01They're gonna want to go the distance with me. They're gonna go 15 rounds like Wepner verse Ali and

11:06When that time comes they should have already been promoted to supervisor if not higher levels and

11:11So it's really an organic growth that was able to give me the roots and the branches to sustain this thing

11:19and

11:20So I needed to hire the attorneys and the accountants the real local players that knew this stuff

11:25So I I couldn't go to Cisco school. I'm not going to law school

11:29No way

11:31I'm gonna hire myself the a team

11:34Men and women I can go out to dinner with and talk to I can be straight with and they can come and see at

11:39The call center and how we're working. It's a real relationship and

11:43I like that. Um, I

11:45Guess my final thought on on my own composure and this is a scary thing

11:51But it's also liberating by making yourself vulnerable makes yourself powerful

11:55And in order for me to expand this army, I needed to bring people in see only way

12:02It's not stock wizard time where you're just by yourself in a corner know this, you know, it's person heavy

12:09What are the best leaders

12:11The ones that break bread play know your name and invest in you

12:15And so you understand that better than most because we grew up in a very very similar way

12:21And you and you do it by getting your stripes and your scars and you earn it

12:26So the people around you respect you and that's how the leaders are born

12:30They're done it, you know through the people that

12:34Decide who who's gonna lead the charge?

12:37Where are some of the frustrations of having to?

12:40that that you didn't know would come up when it came to

12:45Obviously, there's an ignorance gap when you're starting a business in another country

12:49But what were some of the things that you didn't know that were going to be a problem that ended up being a problem?

12:54Or a challenge, you know something, you know a tripping stone that you turn into a stepstool

13:00That you had to go over

13:03Obviously language is a barrier, but in your case you already spoke the language

13:08Which makes a lot of sense to have your background and then go to a country for a language that you already speak

13:14But yeah, what was there something like just being an American that?

13:19Had that you had issues with

13:21Either either good issues or bad issues because of where you come from

13:26We'll talk about the legal and the personal let's go with the legal there are so many holidays here in Costa Rica

13:34so many

13:37Where is everybody so and legally they're allowed to take it and if they come to work, it's a double pay holiday

13:44So my advice to anybody working abroad is make sure you save money to pay for the benefits in the taxes

13:49So you're not scrambling or leaving someone out the drive that that can kill your company in your reputation

13:54So I had to prepare for that

13:56There's always the savings to do that and to let the clients know ahead of time

14:01So there's no surprises that these eight to twelve days might affect business in the United States, right?

14:10Personally sure speaking Spanish opens doors for me and shows respect. But guess what it also does. It's the James Bond

14:18Sometimes I say, you know speak. Oh, Espanola. I like this guy's an idiot

14:23And so I'll sit back and it's only for selected company

14:27But I'll see if people are sizing me up or saying things about me

14:30I don't need to disclose that to everybody if they have bad intentions

14:34for the most part I speak Spanish, but I have used that for my own protection from time to time and

14:40I guess when they see me and I'm a business owner and I wear a suit

14:47You would believe that they would charge for let's be realistic. So what do I do?

14:52I got my main man out there. I got ace

14:56He goes to the place. So instead of $100 now, it's $45 and transportation

15:03Thank you

15:04Yeah, this is great. And so

15:07You need to have the right people that know the right people. Does it sound like mafioso or connection wise?

15:14No, you just got to know people and you got to make sure that the people that you would trust are not

15:22Doing things that may be unethical as well

15:24Where am I going with this?

15:27Listen, if you're doing something for me, I don't mind paying for lunch

15:31You're getting a salary and if you really hook it up, there's boosts

15:34But if there are things that I don't know about where the price goes from $1 to $2

15:40Because you're making a cut. I

15:43Don't think that's right and I think that's unethical and have things like that happened in the past it has

15:51And I take things on a case-by-case basis and try to give people benefits of the doubt

15:57but if you think our relationship isn't worth

16:01444 bucks. Come on Micah

16:04seriously

16:05Damn, that's the kind of thing you get more disappointed than you do angry

16:10Do I need to check up on people?

16:14Sometimes

16:15I'm not saying that they're unethical, but I do like the price shop around and really know the market

16:22So God forbid I do know the markets a dollar to a dollar twenty-five and you're coming to me at two dollars. I'm

16:28Seriously, you know, I was born at night just not last night

16:34Is there always is there always a

16:39Like I feel like there would be always something hanging over your head, of course when you're in a foreign land

16:45That you're one

16:47step away from people

16:50Trying to screw you in some way and and not to be nihilistic about it. But like just because of

16:57there being that

16:59That gap of you know, you be a foreign-born and

17:03And I'm assuming maybe that lessons with time

17:06perhaps you have a you know, when you establish if you establish roots there you have family and you know,

17:12You come into the to the culture more so then they embrace you more so but like

17:17Is it was it always in the back of your mind that there might be someone that comes out of left field?

17:25How about this my stimulation was on such

17:30Drive that everything was enhanced

17:34So obviously this is not the same old neighborhood in Boys Town. I mean, I'm in a new place

17:39So everything to anything was not only new to me what was analyzed almost like when the Terminator was putting down that thing

17:46So obviously my good friend

17:49If people are coming up to me and asking me for the time or to help them or to do certain things

17:56No

17:57You know really and there's certain times and places for stuff

18:02But do I see myself as a mark and a target?

18:04Yeah, if you're counting hundred-dollar bills at 3 in the morning in the wrong neighborhood, you're in big trouble or

18:11There are people that do come to Costa Rica for certain activities

18:15Which may lead to issues and problems?

18:19sometimes

18:20They'll be in the rain forest and get off the path

18:24They could hurt themselves fall down waterfall snakes spiders, you know frogs could get them

18:30There's also certain nightlife activities

18:33That could be risky and

18:36as I say, it depends on how you want to spend your time and

18:41I decided to

18:43Respect the laws here the people here or not be loud and and really infringe

18:49but also when you say take advantage of I

18:53Get disappointed

18:56More than I do angry

18:58And that's a shame because people have the opportunity Michael to have a beautiful relationship with me as a neighbor as a friend or just

19:05along the way and

19:07They just want to get me for an extra two bucks

19:10Right take you to I'll see you later. You'll never see me again

19:15I'll pay three dollars for that water

19:19So it's okay and

19:22You don't want to ruin your happy spirit either and

19:26These are certain prices that you pay

19:29But once again, if you choose your battles wisely, and these really shouldn't be the ones you fall on swords. It's um

19:37You'll realize that it just doesn't hurt you just at the end of the day. You might just need to wash off that

19:43and start a new but

19:46All in all my friend. I think I've been well received

19:51Sure, there's some disgruntled employees, but that's that's a different story altogether. But

19:55Think about it like this my plant grew here. I

20:00Didn't go home with my tail between my legs. I'm happily married. I'm on your podcast. You're my main man. So

20:06You tell me there could have been a thousand decisions in the Richard choose your own adventure

20:11I chose this one and I started became aligned and I can't be more humble and thankful for this

20:17What was the what was the process like of training thousands and thousands and thousands what you did?

20:23Of

20:25telemarketers

20:27What is that? Like that's a massive undertaking

20:30It's quite simple. Imagine a comedian that does the same act like Chris Rock go around the world and talk in front of

20:38100,000 people

20:39You know, you just need five minutes. You could be famous

20:42For me what happened was I was dissecting what I saw throughout the four years of working at my friend Center and prior jobs

20:48That I had it's almost like memorizing movie quotes

20:51I knew enough to jump enough clouds to go through a call. I borrowed enough advanced vocabulary

20:58used things from Remington Steele or the face man from the ATM or

21:02Even old stuff from Basil Rathbone when he was Sherlock Holmes

21:05are you kidding because there's some of the masters of speech and I would literally pause it look up certain words and start rehearsing it and

21:13these were certain beautiful transitional sentences and

21:17It encouraged me to look into the source so I could find words that were power-up

21:22So when you ask me about these classes, it's easy for me when people are paying attention

21:26It's easy when you're throwing underhand whiffleball pitches, Micah

21:31Come on, and you're using the big red back, you know, not the yellow back

21:34I call the Fred Flintstone back you're cranking them in the neighbor's yard

21:38And so if I can do these checkpoints with these people sure I can do a two-hour soft skills class with a break in there

21:45It's all

21:46Engagement soft skills common sense. It's really just giving them

21:50Lucidity so they're in the now and instead of thinking of a 10-minute conversation Micah. They're thinking of 20 30-second conversations

21:59So they can do this like Rocky did and Chuck did they go distance?

22:03really really really

22:05checkpoints and

22:07We discuss trigger words

22:10We use tie-down

22:12Sentences I

22:13Talk about certain soft skills like buffer boomerang techniques and you analyze phonetic micro expression reading

22:18I this is severely advanced vocabulary and thought process because we're eliminating three of our senses you ask me how it is training

22:26It's freaking fascinating because most classes are making you go over script and are threatening you with coffee breath

22:32Me I'm engaging you with such intense

22:35advanced

22:37lucid communication

22:38Strategies that do not compromise your ethics values or morals. It's just a manipulation of short segments of conversation

22:45So people keep their attention

22:48you readjust

22:50tone and

22:51You anchor like crazy to your arms and legs grab onto that rock and you keep moving

22:57Let's talk about some of that. I want to I want to

23:00like hear a piece of that I want to function as if I was working in your in your center and in

23:07So you're training them to hear

23:10Tone response cadence and a person's voice to respond to that. Is that is that right?

23:16Yeah, you can tell when someone's yelling at you

23:19and you can tell when grandma's fist so

23:23What people need to do is to slow down and severely calm down and there are some actions

23:28Do you want me to juggle some stuff? You sure? I'll give you a couple quick techniques. Let's just say you were outbound prospecting

23:35If someone picks up the phone at your company, I'm so what is your assistant's name that works there

23:42My assistant is Elma Elma

23:45So Elma picks up the phone right ring ring, you know. Hello. This is Elma and I'd be like the common-sense show

23:51How you doing today?

23:53And I'll be like who is this, you know instead of saying oh, it's a telemarketer what's going on. We're not interested

24:00We use the company name spike

24:03That's the first thing we do or say hi, it's Elma Elma

24:07Why not?

24:09It's something that they understand. It's neutral and it gives us at least a little bit of a footing. Please. I got a first down

24:16What happens then I gauge a positive or negative reaction?

24:21All I did was a company named spike or I said the name Elma

24:23I get to gauge from a 1 to a 10 is a positive or negative reaction

24:28Negative who's this? What are you selling? We're good. Thanks. No, thank you. Click mesh

24:35But how about they go?

24:37Who's this and that's when we give Micah?

24:41the famous

24:42Buffer boomerang technique you have this

24:46Yeah, we see it

24:47Buffer a boomerang. I would say Elma. That's an excellent question. My name is Richard blank. I

24:56Buffer by using the name

24:58Elma naturally is such a sweetheart. So it wouldn't have been negative anyway, but let's say it was I'd be like Elma

25:04That's an excellent question. My name is Richard blank and then I don't tell my company yet. I want to gauge a second one

25:10She go

25:11Who is Richard blank? Hey nice Elma. She went from a 10 to an 8 to now to a 6

25:16you can see the reduction of defense now you have 4 which moves forward to your

25:21Momentum and I'd say once again Elma. I'm so glad you brought that up. My company's name is Costa Rica Skull Center

25:28So it's really a stop-and-go like boxers

25:30I get to do a company named spike to at least establish and to calm you down

25:34Get you out of that trance of the thousand telemarketers trying to get through to Micah

25:38You ask who I am because obviously you like me now

25:41I got your attention reduce that twice said my name twice and I'll play the odds

25:47Doesn't mean I'm gonna get it. But now you're at a 4 compared to a 10

25:50You know 40% resistance 60% chance of getting through most of the time. So Elma goes, okay Richard

25:57You'd like to speak with Mike. I'll send you through and I'd say Elma before you transfer

26:00I just want to let you know you're amazing

26:02but she really is and

26:04I'm gonna let Micah know that and so then she transfers me to you because I got the past the fish and you pick up

26:09The phone you're like, hi, this is Mike. I'm go Micah almost the nicest person I've ever spoke to. She's a great co-worker of yours

26:15I don't do your company name spike. I do the positive escalation and then you would say

26:20She's been with me forever. That's my wife or that's my family member and then I'd be like, she's amazing

26:25So you don't think Micah's defense is from a 10 now. He's at a 2

26:29And of course you're gonna say

26:31Who are you?

26:33For boomerang. Yeah, Micah buffer boomerang. I'm so glad you brought that up. It's Richard Blank

26:39We do it the second time again, then you ask my thing and now you're at a positive now

26:42You really like me and so common cool. At least I get to pitch and from an educated point of view you make a decision

26:50I might use military alphabet give you options tie it down and then in writing

26:56I'll let you know that Elmer was great

26:58So when I call your company back in my pipeline and she answers a phone

27:02I'm gonna go to the common-sense show Elma and she go is this Richard Elmer? How are you? Listen?

27:08I got to let you know. I've been here forever. Micah just told me what you said about me. I cannot thank you enough

27:15It's my pleasure. By the way, Micah this this this this and this really and so

27:21They give you all the goodies and then let's say Micah has to make a decision. Let's be realistic

27:27Richard's more expensive than India in the Philippines. It's true

27:31but

27:32He sits down with Elma and Elma which nobody else knew was his greatest confidant

27:38But prior to any sort of contract

27:41Look at the relationship that I have with Miss Elma and you say, you know

27:47Maybe just on merit

27:49This relationship with Richard might offset that cost because of the soft skills the relationship you give us warm fuzzies

27:56I don't know

27:56I I think I like this guy and I think we're gonna give him the business because the two other guys push past you

28:03Elma they didn't remember your name. One guy was rude, but his price was great

28:07You know one guy didn't call back when you asked but this Richard

28:12Nice guy, right?

28:15Yeah

28:17Yeah, and and people tell me that and they say you Richard you you won on merit price

28:22Yeah, you got beat but I liked your style and I like what you offered and I liked our beginning

28:29It's a very very strong start

28:31That's how I was able as well to build such beautiful foundations in the beginning of these business relationships prior to any sort of contract

28:38How did you want is are these techniques techniques that you learned?

28:43while working there in Costa Rica or did you learn them prior to

28:48Is it just the natural evolution of?

28:51What it takes to get frustrated and past

28:55not getting results

28:58Or getting a wall or door or window slammed in your face and trying to think about ways to overcome that. How do you

29:05create a

29:07Workaround for people's emotional responses to getting bombarded all day

29:15Amazing question and I am definitely going to give you an incredible answer on that

29:21My foundation really comes from my grandparents of having to be exceptionally polite, but also charming

29:26So

29:27I

29:28learned a lot from old-school ways and

29:32That's what I try to do now. What is my technique?

29:36Follow me here. I believe in romantic

29:40deaths

29:42and even jumping clouds

29:45Hey, Micah, let's just say Alma for an example after the company named spike

29:51To buffer boomerangs and the potential

29:55Positive escalation if I got the past the pitch was done 30 seconds

30:01Maybe a minute depending on pausing and chuckles

30:04Let's just say it's 30 seconds worth of pitch right there and Alma says, you know

30:09Yeah, you don't need to say anything to to Micah Richard Blanco's Rico's call center. Yeah, you're funny, but thank you again for calling

30:16We're just not interesting, but it could be harsher easier, whatever. I

30:21Believe por lo menos as they say in Spanish at least at least I

30:27Got a company named spike to buffer boomerangs and the potential positive escalation

30:33I think I named dropped Alma three times in a really cool way, especially one time when I said Alma

30:38Yeah, she liked that. And so did you make money? No

30:43But it's almost Bruce Lee practicing the thousand punches by himself until he had to walk into that Japanese dojo

30:50I'd rather practice a thousand deaths

30:53So that one that I needed after that was the one that really really really really counted and I was I could do it

30:59almost in my sleep and also I like the taste of blood and

31:03I have a tough chin. I am a big boy so I can handle missing a shot

31:07I can also accept making a shot and I know about percentages. So if I'm going to increase percentages

31:14I might have to make minor adjustments and in the 24 years of being in this industry 16 being an owner

31:21Having final decisions on script. I am very very much adamant about

31:26certain respective

31:28tones and

31:30Trying to at least anchor the 30 I could freaking care less about the 10 minutes 10 minutes do not exist

31:37There are so many people mowed down

31:40From these I call it carpet bombing or you want running from the from the

31:46Trenches at the front or the redcoats walking into musket fire. Why would you sacrifice?

31:53Why would you sacrifice?

31:55It's such trained soldiers. Do you really want to reduce their morale? Do you really want them to feel bad?

32:01I'd rather have them do a thousand thirties

32:04Than just stretching out the 10-minute ones and none of them come back. Oh

32:09Imagine that 10 minutes and then you never get the call again, or they're just being nice to you

32:14I'd rather have real checkpoints if it goes in 20% 60%

32:1990% might need to call Micah back and you move it to the hundred percent. Don't don't do cold call closes sometimes

32:26You build pipelines with Alma and Micah and you respect their boundaries

32:32Yeah, and so it's for the long game

32:36It's every person's a puzzle, but there are still the pieces of the puzzle that can get together, but it's a different design

32:43so shapes

32:45Who cares what the outer is? It's really the inner of the person

32:49You know how many people are black and blue from phone calls?

32:51And do you know that people ridicule this industry and telemarketers look down upon I think even worse than car salesman. No offense

32:58People hate us but then again

33:01How many people do you know work for companies that may not sell stock or real estate but

33:08Make business from calls or retain clients from inbound calls assisting customers support

33:14maybe get referrals or how about that individual that's willing to take a

33:20Lot of time and patience while there's an exit interview of a long-term client telling us why we're losing the business

33:27So you can get that report and bring it back so we can make adjustments

33:30and so it's very delicate and

33:33It just shouldn't be something because your thousand phone call that day is that person's only one phone call to a company and they should

33:40Expect a beautiful live bright show every time

33:43Just don't throw on the slop. Hey

33:47You want me to give you a visual enough of the prints?

33:50It needs to be a painting Micah. It really does and the people need to see the brushstrokes in the color

33:57For less burnout, you know, you can really enhance the call you get there

34:04It works. All right, and I know it's a dying industry with AI and automation and omni-channel non voice support and chat and emails

34:13So maybe we're that violin on the Titanic. I don't know

34:16But while I'm here, I am still gonna believe in the art of speech and if English is their second language

34:22I will give them the stability and the balance of

34:26Really powerful language so they can properly represent themselves and make their arguments and points and listen to people and take copious notes

34:34It's not like school

34:37It's almost like 13th grade

34:39we're just bringing them to charm school over the phone and teach them how to take notes so they can remember things and

34:44do proper business composition letters and leave emails that had some due diligence and

34:51Voicemails where you're doing two or three anchors in there. So you show that you did some research prior

34:58Interesting because billions of dollars of goods were sold

35:03for years

35:05Over the phone almost everything. Yeah, we think of was sold essentially over the phone

35:12For for years and

35:14You know, I've written several times about the inclusion of AI in business operations and

35:21we know that as much as they like to

35:26They meaning the people who engineered the AI

35:31Algorithm that is responsive to human interaction. They try to build in

35:37emotional responses of empathy or sympathy into

35:41their

35:43Into the prompts or into the cues for the AI

35:47the AI response and it just

35:51there is

35:52You know in linguistics, there is this thing

35:56this sense you get with tone and expression and you know humans have developed the

36:03Ability to read both micro expressions, but also to hear micro expressions. I think you mentioned it

36:09Initially when you were speaking about just like the little inflection

36:13there's something that lets you know that your kid didn't have a good day at school or

36:18Walking into the house and knowing that your wife had a bad day at home something happened

36:23So she had a conversation earlier in the day that she can't shake, you know, something like that

36:28This is an argument. AI is a gathering tool. It assists. It'll do everything for you

36:35Do you have you ever owned a pet that might have gotten lost for a day or ran away and then came home?

36:39Yeah, sure. Okay, great. Well, not great, but that's something you and I came back

36:45I'm glad it came home. Okay, I'm making a good point. So how about if the AI goes? Yeah, I understand where you're coming from

36:52You're like, no, you don't you don't own a dog. So yeah, how are they gonna give you a hug when your cat ran away?

36:58And how are they gonna high-five you when your dog comes home and so I'm telling you there are these certain human emotions where

37:07after a certain period of time when they're mastering art and

37:11Speech and business and transportation and everything. It's going to come to a certain point where we're so amazed when a robot does something simple

37:19It's gonna go into the future where we're gonna be amazed when a human can do something better than the robot like when we play

37:24chess against you know, the blue and stuff and so

37:29It's interesting like that. I want a couple more wins for our team. I

37:34Really do and I'm willing to take a home-cooked meal

37:39from mama

37:41Any day, even the other one could be fliming filet mignon

37:45I'd rather still have you know, the ham and eggs with mama why because it just somehow tastes better and

37:51AI will never be able to do that

37:55There will always be that sort of thing where you and I give the yo, what's up when everything's cool, right?

37:59Even it could be across the room. It's still a communication that we do like a man. What's up?

38:04I'll catch up with you in a bit. I mean

38:07If it's 1% I'll still keep that 1%

38:10All you need is one candle to make the inferno that thing will never go out

38:14And if my industry once again people might want to pay

38:19To press zero and to speak with me

38:21compared to leaving a message filling out a form because I

38:25Know you Micah you press zero and so do I I always want to speak with somebody

38:30I'm sick of putting my information in or speaking into it. I

38:34Want to speak with somebody and then what happens when you get them on the phone you explode

38:38And that's not fair for that individual either

38:40They did nothing wrong and then they say they're sorry and you say stop saying you're sorry and you do that weird dance

38:46Well, how about this one six words of death in my opinion when you call someone I know that must be frustrating

38:54There's nothing more frustrating than someone is saying

38:56I know that must be frustrating because it's taken you forever to get to the point where you can actually have a conversation with them

39:02But I find it ironic that they say I know that must be frustrating and you're like

39:07Yeah, can we just skip the full empathy and a lot of times this comes from people who are real

39:13Are real people answering the phone and you're like who trained you on this?

39:17It's just like just you know, if you just address the issue

39:21You know, you have to work the fire in the house

39:25Right, you got to choose that area. And so what I like to do is if you mention ABC, okay, ABC now that's done

39:32One two, three. Oh, okay, Micah one, two, three

39:36So I'm letting you know that I know and you don't need to repeat it anymore because I just repeated ABC one, two, three

39:41So we we try to shave time. I'll let you flip it once if you're doing two times

39:47No, I'll let you do one point two five and then I'll finish it for you to let you know and it's really passive-aggressive

39:53It's inadvertently

39:55Moving things along. It's it's true

39:58And there were at oh, you want to know a really good technique. This is this is insane, but it works

40:04If someone is cursing at you they get the warning. I mean, yeah, but if they're cursing out loud

40:11Let them go, I mean let them really go and then when they're done I've

40:17It's about an 85% success rate unless they're too cowardly and they hang up or have to go, but they will literally

40:24Apologize and then I go, you know, come on you Massachusetts you go. We got something here Micah

40:31Do you feel better now?

40:33All right. Is there anything else you'd like to say something and that's it

40:37But I'm letting you do this and then they said no Richard, but thank you and I do apologize. I apologize for cursing

40:44I didn't mean to shout soon and I go are you ready to move forward?

40:48They go. Yes, I am

40:50So then really what you've done is you've seen a certain side

40:55You didn't react like the as you say the below average new guy

41:00You got the apology

41:01So if you're telling me you're not gonna put them on roller skates grab their hand and roll them into the end zone

41:07Please and really what you've done is you've shifted control back to yourself

41:11Well, they're losing it if they're swearing and cussing at you

41:15You know the whole you wouldn't kiss your mama with that mouth thing comes up

41:19And the reason why is because it's something that it just it's almost like spittle. It just comes out

41:24You know people just get upset and like that's an amazing place for you to make points

41:29Yeah, and then at the end they tell the supervisor how great you were because you had patience

41:34It's all good my very interestingly bipolar experience I must say well, it's me today you tomorrow

41:40I've had flat tires before and I've been frustrated and there's nothing better than someone that assists you and really lends a hand and

41:48And I try my best to pay it forward as many times as possible

41:54As I mentioned I've been a lot of people have assisted me here literally to change tires in the rain, right? And

42:01I

42:03want to do something and

42:05The little things we can do is just by making somebody's day like Alma who is amazing

42:13That's very important and she should be mentioned on your podcasts and things like that

42:18and so maybe that could be one of the small things that differentiate myself from your other guests because

42:24Those are the small details. I look at when I sit in people's offices and and learn about their lives

42:29I just don't like the

42:33most people gravitate towards

42:36What they think is important, but it's really that person's hobby

42:41Or if they really are proud of their favorite color

42:45Right, there's certain things that people you would be surprised that they do on their free time like gardening

42:50Hmm, right, but when you see a certain side of somebody else you you realize you're it's such a misconception

42:57and so I I

42:58Really want to see the best in people and so when they come in my company

43:02I asked them to give me a coming-of-age moment when they fill out my form turn the paper over write me a couple paragraphs in

43:07English. I just want to know when you beat up a bully or saved a kitten. Come on

43:11Can you zig and zag so you can be on Micah's podcast?

43:14Can you be on the phone with somebody and if he asked you a normal question off script?

43:17Can you answer and I want to see people have death and in essence?

43:23Are they capable are they proud of themselves if they accomplished anything and it doesn't have to be financial

43:29and when people tell me that they run marathons or learn the violin or raising their

43:33Grandparents or are learning a third language or learn to cook. I love that

43:37That's when you and I start making cool nicknames for him, right you pick them up on rainy Wednesdays

43:42so I call them the kitten saver champ and they and then they smile at you and then they find their composure and so

43:50That's why I've been able to win

43:52Bad news bears style. I mean, I don't know anything else and

43:57I don't like bosses that are not on the floor with their people

44:01They should really be walking rows and sitting with people and if they're afraid of you, then you're doing a bad job

44:06That's that's something they're taking from other jobs or what they see on TV because if you're not breaking the law

44:12Why are you afraid of a cop?

44:13And if you're crushing at work, you want the boss to be sitting there

44:16That's the greatest way to make more money

44:17I'm gonna get that acknowledgement to see really the efforts you're putting into this job and

44:23To really answer a lot of your questions working internationally

44:26There are certain traditions and cultures here that I still don't understand or haven't perfected

44:32but there is a universal thing and it is a smile and it's respect and

44:36It's breaking bread with people and it's taking breaths and calming down. I

44:42Like to put water on faces because people get excited. I'll put some water on your face

44:47We drink a ton of coffee here because the coffee is delicious

44:51So and then I'll say to them Micah and let me ask you question

44:56How many bosses had coffee with you in in their office?

45:00Most of them say never

45:03so I go

45:05Do you see the sort of respect that you get here not saying I'm the greatest ever but a lot of people have told me

45:11That one of the reasons that they have stayed is the fact that they do know the owner and they do like the fact

45:16that they feel

45:18Welcomed and as I say if you're looking to build thousands, you got to take what you get, right?

45:24But I'm 150 strong. So my friend I could be exceptionally selective of my honeycomb club

45:29Then if someone likes pinball and can hang out and do their job and be coachable

45:34You're part of my dirty dozen. It's great to have you on the team

45:38Why do you have the largest collection of restored American pinball machines and antique?

45:44Rockella jukeboxes in Central America

45:51It's really reverting back to that earlier statement that I made about believing in yourself and knowing your tastes I

45:58Know what I love more than anything. It's restoring classic pinball machines, especially from the 1970s

46:04Do you do you actually hands-on do the restoration yourself? I

46:08Participate I use electricians and experts to do the final work, but I am a

46:14wonderful apprentice and I'm

46:16Learning enough to be able to maintain my machines if there's a code red. I got to bring the guy in but

46:22It's very easy for me to use my wildcat 125 to clean them up. Yeah sure. They're shiny and beautiful, but

46:29Why I grew up in the 70s and 80s our kids were wickedly cool

46:34Pinball was like the high school cheerleader. That was just so out of reach

46:38It was expensive those games would last a second while I could play asteroids for 25 minutes

46:44and $5 at the last year was Saturday and so

46:48When I got older had this company call centers got tons of space

46:53right treasure hunting and

46:56Fortunately for me and unfortunately for everybody else our kids are going out of business

47:01They have their handheld or their home consoles

47:04So what I would find people giving them away

47:08I'd be willing to drive five hours to pick up a last-action hero machine with Arnold Schwarzenegger. He's selling it for 400 bucks

47:15I'll buy it as is

47:16And you get the guy to look it over another couple hundred hours and replacement parts next thing

47:21You know you're sitting on a machine worth five grand. And so

47:24I'm not looking to sell them. I'm looking to buy them

47:27So right I've grown to 15 my oldest machine is a

47:311970 Bally's Camelot and the newest is the Schwarzenegger 94 data East but

47:37And I have everything in the middle. It's a beautiful

47:40Pastime and it's fun

47:43And I have the space for it and the majority if not all of the Tico's that I've met her

47:48I've never played pinball in their life virtually, but that doesn't count

47:51And so I'm really trying to use this as a happy medium so individuals can meet others from different departments

47:58Spend time with me right let off steam

48:01Feel better after lunch

48:03Work on that hand-eye coordination

48:06It's such a pure pastime to like it's you know, it's trying to

48:11Make that ball move around get as many points as you can like it just it really is

48:16There's so many

48:18memories that anchor to

48:20Whatever the jukebox is playing, of course

48:22But also like playing pinball everyone remembers the first time they play pinball where it was kind of the machines

48:29They were playing what the theme of the machine was

48:32In in it kind of anchors you to that experience. I think it's a smart way to kind of bring in

48:38You know to get the employees just engaged in something

48:43that helps them to and

48:45Enjoy the experience of being at work

48:48So for me, I'm right on the cuff

48:51My 70s machines are the last of that generation to paint the wood

48:56Playfield not use stickers or laminates use the old wheels and the sound is like the xylophone bell

49:03Because in the late 70s to starting the 80s, they started using the LED screens

49:08Right and and different noises

49:11But yeah, I like the old marquees. I love the pinball art that they did very art

49:17deco ish and the outside cabinets

49:21yes, they take up an enormous amount of space and they're extremely delicate and high-maintenance, but

49:27Why not? I mean whoo if you can even buy one and I tell you what, I mean the machines now are you know?

49:34Ten twenty thousand dollars the brand new ones are very specific rock bands and other movies

49:39But if you look for the 70s and 80s no-namers like I you know the stuff that I own is

49:45Certain things that

49:47Really?

49:47It's not after a movie or a comic character and you can get them for a thousand bucks turnkey ready to go

49:52You put that in your living room

49:54You'll be the most popular cat in your neighborhood and everyone's want to hang out

49:57You remember the old movies when people be singing like songs by the by the piano or the organ?

50:03Yeah, when I have these pinball machines out

50:05It's just like you would imagine one guy's playing it on both sides as people leaning on the machines watching the game chilling

50:12chilling

50:13The old school way laughing together talking smack competing, you know

50:19Your best friends are made during recess when we can't play tag in the center. There's no kickball or capture the flag

50:26How do I get these kids to compete in a natural way where they can tease each other and laugh?

50:31Have fun and smoke less cigarettes and get off that Facebook and Instagram. Hmm and

50:38do things

50:40Yeah, so I encourage that you

50:43Engagement is the name of the game

50:44But speaking about jukeboxes. This is a beautiful

50:481961 Ricola Regis that's right here. Uh-huh. I collect them too. It's very expensive to fix the motors

50:5545s are good and sure they work

50:57but my suggestion is to have both so you can have your 45s going but also connected to a

51:03Bluetooth mp3 whatever and you can just enjoy

51:07You know a limitless amount of music just make sure the cabinets beautiful right and restored and and people love those too and

51:15Why not? One man's trash is another man's better. That's right. My wife knows. This is a hill. I'm willing to die on

51:24She go in 99.9 just give me that little percentage points and I'm a one right

51:30But thank you for bringing that I mean it it really

51:34Was a goal of mine to own at least one machine

51:37But then when you got one and you had the room you just look left and you look

51:42I've got to fill this space up. You know, it's just sitting there. It's crazy

51:46But as I say, it's one of the most beautiful pastimes when I watch old movies

51:52I get to point things out that I'm familiar with I'm learning it. It's not as complicated

51:58you can get replacement parts or certain specialty stores and

52:03But if anyone's in Costa Rica, they're more than happy to come visit me and play my machine. It's free play

52:09Of course, I don't charge anybody right and like

52:13Yeah, it's good stuff

52:15Richard blank. I appreciate your time today

52:20Yeah, no it was a good time if people want to kind of reach out and kind of learn more about you what you do

52:24And maybe come take a flight just to play pinball with you. Where can they reach you?

52:29You beat me to the punch. I was gonna say come down here and visit me, but I have an exceptionally large Facebook fan page

52:37132,000 local Costa Rican Tico's

52:39It will give your audience a real grasp of the business process outsourcing industry in Central America now

52:47We're north of Panama south of Nicaragua and Costa Rica is the only Democratic Saudi in Central America

52:53There's no standing army here. So they put their money into education with a 95% literacy rate. I'm gonna like this

53:01companies such as Amazon HP Intel and

53:06Oracle are here plus the major players with the call centers teleperformance concentrics and

53:12We're known for the best infrastructure

53:14most neutral English accent medical tourism ecotourism and

53:20The labor pool they're exceptionally skilled and when we're on mountain timezone, there's many direct flights here

53:28It's safe

53:29unless you're goofing around in Boys Town at 3 in the morning, but

53:33It's been a good run. And as I say, I can't thank you enough when this goes live

53:38I'm gonna put it on there you once again increase and add to your huge fan base and

53:45We're live right now. People are watching you and they're responding to you that someone said

53:49Like that I like him outstanding Q&A

53:55So does any of your audience have any final questions I

54:00put the question out there to them if they had any questions, I'm having that in the yet, but

54:04Like that one last bit of advice my friend. I'm gonna end it on a good note, but it's a serious note

54:11Okay, I like it. You can't be too hard on yourself

54:14It's it's true and I always believe that regardless of the outcome if you did certain things with good intentions

54:21You can look in the mirror at the end of the day. And if you put your head on the pillow

54:25It will ease your thoughts. It's carrying that sort of weight is terrible and

54:30I

54:32Like certain priorities that are more valuable than money. I know money is important. I'm an owner of a company

54:40I've done well for myself

54:41But I believe in chivalry. I love when people have honor and

54:46They do the tough things not the easy things and I do understand natural attrition. You're following your career

54:53You're moving to the United States, but I love it when someone starts strong and ends strong

54:58They'll come into my office look in my eyes

55:00Shake my hand say Richard. Oh, did we have a run?

55:05It was wonderful. It must be moving on and

55:09I love that because I know that

55:13We walked well together

55:16during that time and

55:18I find that people are exceptionally honorable that way and

55:24I've seen great things here and I've seen such potential

55:29And as I mentioned before you can't carry that weight do the best that you can with individuals

55:34but you still need to keep a healthy distance and

55:37And

55:38Me and you have been given how many chances Micah?

55:41So I give as many chances as I can as long as you're not breaking the labor law and as long as you're not setting

55:46The client but if I need to put some water on your face for five minutes give you some coffee quick game of pac-man

55:52Come on, buddy. What do you think? Mickey was there for Rocky? Come on, Micah. Come on. Come on

55:57You know that the best friends are the ones that really get you through it

56:00And then if you're there for that individual, they'll be your most loyal

56:05Soldier

56:07Because you saw them at the weakness and you didn't give up on them

56:09And so as I say before if they're not breaking the law or hurting anybody, but they're having a really bad day

56:15Be that individual

56:18for them and be sincere then and

56:21I've seen that that's worked because it's exceptionally sincere. It's authentic. You don't use it for guilt in the future

56:28It's a straight shot that day. They can use it any way they want

56:31But you're really showing who you are as a leader and then they're gonna go you tell a hundred people

56:39What you did

56:41You don't need to do it. You've done enough

56:43So as I'm saying plant those seeds and if you plant the right seeds, they're the ones they're gonna talk and people are gonna come

56:51Micah my main man

56:53It's my last advice for you and your amazing

56:56Appreciate that Richard blank everyone. Thank you for coming on

56:59Let me just give you a round of applause

57:03Like only that we can do here at the conference. I'm sure

57:09Yeah

57:11Appreciate that. All right. So that is Richard blank blank CEO of Costa Rica's call center with those inspiring words

57:18we learned about him is

57:21The way that he linguistically trains his people in this call center and also of course his unique collection of pinball machines and jukeboxes

57:28Not to be left out of that conversation

57:31Next time he's Richard. Micah if you don't go about doing your business, but

57:36Going about doing the business of someone else that was early, but now it's real

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