Conversations Ignite podcast guest Richard Blank Costa Ricas Call Center

Richard Blank

Conversations Ignite Podcast presents Building Dreams in Costa Rica: pure Passion with Richard Blank  Welcome to "Conversations Ignite," where your host Robbie Ross brings you thought-provoking and entertaining interviews and stories. Dive into engaging discussions that explore diverse personalities and personal experiences, designed to ignite your curiosity and inspire your own journey.  Welcome to Conversations Ignite, where every episode sparks new perspectives. Join host Robbie Ross as he delves into the diverse world of personalities, from everyday inspirations to extraordinary journeys. Through candid interviews and personal anecdotes, Robbie explores what ignites passion, creativity and strength in individuals across different walks of life. Whether you're seeking insights or simply curious about people's experiences, let these conversations ignite your curiosity and understanding. New episodes are available each week. Tune in and let the sparks fly!  You can catch "Conversations Ignite" on all your favorite podcast platforms. Whether you're commuting, relaxing at home, or on the go, tune in to our engaging discussions and inspiring stories. Listen to us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, and more. Don't miss out on the conversations that ignite curiosity and inspire change.  In this inspiring episode, we sit down with Richard Blank, the CEO of Costa Rica’s Call Center, who shares his remarkable journey from Philadelphia to Costa Rica at the age of 27. Richard talks about how his bilingual skills opened doors across Latin America and how he built his company from the ground up, overcoming numerous challenges along the way.  We dive into his leadership philosophy, which focuses on empathy, motivation, and the power of human connection in the call center industry. Richard also discusses his unique approach to training over 10,000 bilingual telemarketers and the tools that have helped him succeed, like phonetic micro-expression reading and the famous Buffer-Boomerang Technique.  In addition to his professional expertise, Richard shares his personal passions, including his massive collection of restored American pinball machines and antique jukeboxes, and how gamification plays a key role in his company’s culture. He reflects on the importance of authenticity, following your dreams, and embracing the journey with integrity.  This episode is filled with insights on leadership, the future of AI in telemarketing, and how living authentically can bring true happiness. Tune in for a conversation that goes beyond business and explores what it means to live a fulfilling and impactful life.  https://youtu.be/MiiQN09fVbU https://youtu.be/O1c7pLF6gVs?si=yiLPtirltkpRG2ai https://youtu.be/RVaF2wcKJ8c https://youtu.be/-Q070aHSu6I https://youtu.be/nhBjqu261HI

Transcript

00:00:00you're listening to conversations ignite hey everyone and welcome back today i'm joined by

00:00:14richard how are you doing today robbie i'm doing great so happy to be a guest on your amazing

00:00:19podcast i'm so glad to have you here would you like to tell everyone a little bit about about

00:00:24yourself so many things to say but i guess they're the most interested in the ceo costa rica's call

00:00:32center it was a journey i had started when i was 27 when i moved to costa rica learned the business

00:00:38and 18 years ago threw my hat and ring and started a company and here we are today awesome um so

00:00:47uh can you tell us a little bit about your decision on actually moving to costa rica 27 years ago and

00:00:55starting a business down there of course a lot of us dream of being an expat but we might be held back

00:01:03by certain pressures from family or expectations even your career for me i was a spanish major at

00:01:11the university of arizona so i had the momentum and i also was bilingual so i pretty much opened

00:01:19any sort of latin america for me and so when i was 27 a very good friend of mine had a call center here

00:01:27and he asked for me to come down for just a couple months to teach english i was in between jobs in fact

00:01:32i'm going to date myself i was sending out resumes via fax machine that's how old it was hoping that

00:01:39you'd call me so i could sell water filters in phoenix but that's not the point the point is i

00:01:45was in between and you have a one in a million opportunity robbie that does cross your path now

00:01:51you might need to be selfish you might have to really consider this bold and big decision

00:01:59but for me i didn't have children or a mortgage and i was kind of at you know 27 years old and that's

00:02:06a lucky year for some people and maybe it was time to shed some skin and so my argument

00:02:12to my parents because a lot of the times your family will miss you and they don't want you to

00:02:17move 3 000 miles away i said listen look what great grandpa did he came to the united states at

00:02:25the turn of the 20th he couldn't even speak english and we made our money during the depression i mean

00:02:30that's a one in a million shot it's in our blood we're nomads and if someone has that sort of spark

00:02:36and drive you should encourage it especially all the dedicated practice and investment that i made to

00:02:43get myself to that point and so there are certain people that want you to live their lives but the ones

00:02:48that really love you the most will allow you to live your life and support you and so once that family

00:02:56guilt was out of the way i was able to once again make a clean break for it and to start my life

00:03:03awesome so did you um have any challenges during that transitional period

00:03:09no you always do really it's just becoming accustomed to local norms long lines potholes you wonder why

00:03:21things are not as efficient as you might see it in the united states but sometimes they have their own

00:03:27way like you know in costa rica when i first got here they were your mailing address was landmarks and

00:03:34meters and the color of your gate in your house it's true but cab drivers and the mail and your friends

00:03:42you figured it out and so are these the sort of whimsical games that keep you on your toes

00:03:48you know sophomoric level sure you know it's not the most difficult x marks to spot it's like when

00:03:55you and i used to have to read the old maps and drive cross-country you still got to figure it out

00:04:01i used to go you know it's kind of funny when i first got here i had a compass in my car one of

00:04:06those round ones so at least if i was lost i know if i was going east and um hey why not

00:04:14live and laugh a little you asked if there were challenges really what the challenge was decompressing

00:04:20and getting myself untangled from the life that i knew for the first 27 years which was a beautiful

00:04:27life in the united states but it's different and so i just wanted to see if i can iron out some wrinkles

00:04:34and see if i could look at things differently and it was a nice mature age for me to have that sort of

00:04:42open-mindedness and so i i guess just patience and breathing and observing and not being the loud

00:04:48obnoxious foreigner knowing i'm a guest here so it's a very nice stage in life if someone has the

00:04:56time and willing to put into it that's very interesting and awesome um what an experience

00:05:02um what inspired you to focus on the call center industry how the movies portray it i'm only kidding

00:05:12the movies make us look out to be criminals and that's not true there are so many people that are

00:05:17out there that don't sling stock or real estate no glengarry glenn rosser amazing people at small to

00:05:24medium-sized companies that can retain a client do upsells get referrals even prospect for them and

00:05:30it's nice it's the old-fashioned way before ai and this omni-channel non-voice where people just

00:05:38send out texts and emails and chats what got me into this by chance i never knew of a call center the

00:05:48only experience i have is pure frustration when something wasn't working out and when i came here

00:05:55robbie and i walked into my friend's center and i saw these incredibly talented highly educated

00:06:05individuals that were conversing on the phone and were moving calls forward and were very structured

00:06:12and had their training i gravitated towards it but i also got those kind of tingles where you knew

00:06:21when a teacher put a test down not that you just studied for but you're like man i'm gonna get 100

00:06:26all this and i saw this environment i go once i learn the abcs i know i can easily do something like

00:06:35this and so after my 60 days i spoke to my friend and i said may i stay and he goes ricardo i was gonna

00:06:43nice ricardo i changed my name he goes hey ricardo like roberto hey roberto i was gonna ask you that

00:06:50question and it was you know boys aren't supposed to cry but the moment that my friend said i want

00:06:59you to stay and i wanted to stay and i fell in love with a local costa rican tika who's now my wife

00:07:07we built a business garden with her for 25 years i said wait a second now am i gonna have a real dream

00:07:12life is this thing really gonna happen and so you get overwhelmed because

00:07:20you realize that you weren't expecting it but you were hunting for it all along

00:07:25and so i embraced it i very much so did and so um i learned the business rob from the inside out i was

00:07:35not c-level yeah i was friends with the owner and you get to hear the war stories but i didn't do the

00:07:39contracts or the payroll i wasn't very familiar with the local labor laws and things like that

00:07:45and so when it came time to me to start this company i needed to hire specific specialists

00:07:52to be my branches and roots and i couldn't start off by renting space and buying equipment

00:08:02that was an overextension and so fortunately for me in my industry there are things called blended

00:08:08call centers where it's almost like a glamorized internet cafe and so i would rent a space turnkey

00:08:16for the month with your computer and mouse and keyboard internet coffee and a little bit of support

00:08:23but it's almost like spirit airline you know what i mean it's going to get you from a to b but

00:08:28i don't even think the seats go back but um i could scale accordingly i could pay

00:08:34pay the taxes and the salary and make a margin was it pretty but i tell you what man sometimes the

00:08:42greatest memories you have is the initial grind when you played a bar and only two people showed up

00:08:48as a musician you still played it and you played your heart out and so every account that came in

00:08:53every agent that got me to grow to my 150 where i am today

00:08:57it was exhilarating it was weird it was you're on a high you're jumping clouds and so you have to be

00:09:08not crazy nor reckless but you have to from time to time really dip your toe in and to see if you're

00:09:19brave enough to slay a dragon because most people have the desire but most never leave the castle

00:09:24and are we the crazy ones i don't know maybe bold grit and john wainish but in the end it's those

00:09:36that are seaworthy i mean you practice for this your entire freaking life go out there at least once

00:09:42and see if you can beat johnny in the karate kid my goodness i mean live your life it's like you know

00:09:48when you ever see the bully pick on the kid but the kid had the lion's heart to fight back and even

00:09:54got one good shot in even though he got beat up the whole school respected him you respect someone

00:09:59that's got heart that's willing to die with their boots on and to go for it and so i never saw that

00:10:05sort of momentum in me before i was a below average student i did all right but i never worked this hard

00:10:12in my entire life and if you ever have that sort of dream and you could see it in the distance and you

00:10:20know that persistence will get you there it's very thrilling to to have that sort of experience

00:10:30as a business owner and i guess it's contagious because people can see that you're in a great

00:10:33mood every day and uh you know there's just some of my thoughts i know i go around about way with

00:10:38the call center but man it's metrics and it's the server room and you know your telemarketing and rhetoric

00:10:44and fu's on the phone we can talk about that too but um i i wanted to at least call the balls and

00:10:51the strikes with the people and be the good coach that you had come on robbie you know how it is the

00:10:55old school way yeah um so with all the inspiration you had it sounds like you kind of built um your

00:11:02business from the ground up how did um some of the early experiences that you had kind of shape and

00:11:09approach your leadership and culture that you use today oh the greatest cops were the bad kids

00:11:17back in the day and the best teachers were the bad students and the best warriors were the ones that

00:11:24actually fought and have their scars and so i just don't write checks and i'm not an administrator i can

00:11:30jump on these phone calls and retain this client and teach them a thing or two this is my wheelhouse

00:11:36i'm not to brag but man if you spend a quarter of a century doing something you better be good at it

00:11:41not only was i good enough instead of just focusing on myself i wanted to expand and bring others up

00:11:46and so wow those four years that i spent at my friend's center where you heard the good the bad

00:11:52and the happy and the sad it easily allowed you to relate to the people that were on the phone and so

00:11:59i have learned a few things that you never mess with people's money or their kids that's number one

00:12:05number two give people the benefit of the doubt because this can be a texting job that there are

00:12:11things that happen outside of the office that you don't even know might affect their performance

00:12:17and i and i judge people accordingly and i know if someone needs a time out it doesn't have to be

00:12:22during designated break times you might need robbie to put some water on your face and go play some

00:12:28pinball for five minutes or something it's it's the teacher that wanted you to learn and they allowed

00:12:36you to write your paper as many times as you wanted without being disrespectful not turning it in late

00:12:42i had certain teachers where i turned it in they go is this the best you can do i go you know it's not

00:12:46they go come on focus on this and this and this and i love those teachers it's not about the grade

00:12:54get something out of this and so if i can see someone building their self-confidence and self-reliance

00:13:00because i've seen other bosses break them down and put fear in them it doesn't work and i know how i

00:13:07like to be treated but i also want to make sure that people are giving me their best how about this and this

00:13:15allows me to not have a heavy heart i get disappointed more than i do angry at people

00:13:23because i know what you can do i've seen what you can do and so um that's all and and i'll tell you

00:13:31something else that i like to do when people are coming in for their interviews they're filling out

00:13:36their their resumes and their sheets it's got all the bells and whistles right and they were so well

00:13:43rehearsed for their interviews i hate that stuff i go hey robbie do me a favor why don't you tell me a

00:13:49coming of age moment and you'll look at me come on man the time you beat up a bully or saved a kitten

00:13:56or did both in one day like an 80s movie come on man and so why am i doing this because if you're

00:14:01going to land the account with rob he's going to ask you a question it's a zig in his head are you

00:14:06capable of putting your script aside and actually answering this man and so i like to see how they write

00:14:12in english in their depth right and and what sort of essence they have and also it's so i can give

00:14:20them a nickname hmm on a rainy wednesday i'm like come on killer i know what you can do and so um it's

00:14:29just a great way to anchor and bond with someone in the beginning and see if they're willing to make

00:14:33themselves vulnerable just a little bit to just let me see what's inside because if we're going to

00:14:39get through tough times together i need to see character i don't want to be surprised when i

00:14:44really need you awesome so it sounds like um you really try to learn about your people you really

00:14:52try to care about your people along with making sure that the work gets done so it really sounds like

00:14:58you've got that great culture right now in your company which is amazing because i know that a lot

00:15:04of places out there it's just hey get these results oh yeah and guess what you can do you can quit

00:15:13you bend them to break them you don't do that you let them sweat you know you let them learn but

00:15:18we do have the luxury of infrastructure i do have a qa team that will listen to your calls

00:15:24i'll ensure that your list is good from the disposition report i'll make sure you have all

00:15:29the rhetoric and rebuttals ready to go in the crm system it's really just up to you i'm

00:15:35i'm almost teeing it up for you you just need to present it accordingly nice um now you've trained

00:15:44i believe over 10 000 bilingual telemarketers mm-hmm i forced them all to sit in a class no i'm like

00:15:54yes i did over 25 years i've trained over 10 000 people wow so what's your secret to effectively

00:16:02training and motivating those those people you gotta be entertaining but you can't be a joker

00:16:10i mean you could be a very sophisticated professor and people definitely listen to every word you have

00:16:17and write it down but i've had teachers that just don't care i'm very passionate about my subject

00:16:25matter i defend telemarketing in certain aspects i know people compromise their ethics doing it but

00:16:31there's other people that see the art of speech and they want to study semantics and master their phonetics

00:16:39and learn transitional sentences and tie down sentences and these are beautiful skills that

00:16:46people can have you might think that they're clever but some people need to know how to ballroom dance

00:16:52or cut their hair you know or taper their beard what do you want me to say it's what we do for a living

00:16:58we're supposed to be good at it but it's like fire it's a power you could use it for warm and heat and

00:17:07health or you can burn somebody with it so so be careful of that sharp tongue and most people are

00:17:14very lazy in their speech or don't be a grammar police and maybe they're i'll give you an example okay

00:17:22a lot of people think that it's being polite by saying how may i help you you know and that's okay

00:17:30but you know the word help might evoke an ego defense and it's not the best word it's like bad

00:17:37halloween candy just don't want it so i'd rather switch it out depending on the stage of the conversation

00:17:43if it's a beginning cop if it's a beginning relationship it's a system if we're if we're in

00:17:48the middle it's it's a guiding but if you and i are first and goal we're about to score a touchdown

00:17:54it's landing a hand so i replace certain words i go to the thesaurus look at similes especially for

00:18:01english second language students it keeps a sharp form you know we're just increasing their vocabulary

00:18:07another example instead of saying excuse me robbie because your dog is barking or i can't hear you or

00:18:15something we fall on swords it's a play like in chess you sacrifice pawns so i'll say for my

00:18:22clarification was it abc or one two three maybe by the third time i'm asking for clarification you

00:18:29realize to put the dog outside but then i'm not done yet i'm going to say yo robbie i love dogs

00:18:35what's the name of your dog his name is champ what breed is he he's a german shepherd really how old is

00:18:41your puppy haha he's 12 nice champ german shepherd puppy at 12. hmm these are the sort of anchoring

00:18:50techniques people need to be very attentive they need to be in the moment to catch that dog bark

00:18:56and put the script aside and so one other suggestion that i would make which separates us from other

00:19:03telemarketers is the positive escalation if i speak with judy before she transfers me to you i'm

00:19:09gonna let her know how amazing she is and when i get transferred to you rob before i even introduce

00:19:15myself i'm gonna let you know amazing judy is think about your defense there is no defense your defense

00:19:21from a 10 goes to a one i'll take that nine and use it horizontally for momentum mass has to go

00:19:29somewhere give it to me i'll take it i'll take your nine points and then you wonder why conversations last

00:19:36five minutes it's because you're showing very good faith prior to any sort of contracts when was the

00:19:43last time judy got complimented verbally hey robbie when was the last time she got complimented in

00:19:49writing because you know when i do the meeting minutes and send the email i'm going to say say

00:19:53hi to judy she was great so then i call robbie's company back for conversations ignite judy answers the

00:20:01phone hey judy is this richard blank i go it is oh you're the greatest robbie said what you said and

00:20:08you wrote about me i've been here for 12 years no one's ever done something like that

00:20:16and you wonder why you grow a business those are long-term relationship things that you do

00:20:21wow i love it i love how you've talked a lot about um motivating um even having a fun work environment

00:20:32i i heard you say something earlier uh maybe if somebody's you know having a bad day needs a break

00:20:40maybe playing some pinball how do you um integrate fun um and maybe gamification into the culture of your

00:20:51uh call center it's an excellent question very smart question icing the kicker can't do that

00:21:01it's like people that run in place those marathon runners at stoplights i like people like that you

00:21:06got to stay warm still in between sets and so i don't want them to go have a cigarette sit in the

00:21:13corner by themselves scrolling their phone or not interacting i i believe that you don't need to speak

00:21:20you don't need to do anything but if you can somehow work your mind with hand-eye coordination

00:21:26with the lights with the sound it's a breather but you're not getting cold and i tell you what my

00:21:32friend when you laugh with someone you see a different side of them what jobs where people

00:21:40laugh unless you're laughing at somebody my thing is like a neutral environment laughing when's the last

00:21:45time you got to compete against with your boss what on the golf course who has time to do that or

00:21:51the skills when do you really get a chance to play with somebody so i have an air hockey table i got

00:21:59a bunch of fighting machines pac-man pinball let's see what your choice is you choose and

00:22:06what have i seen i've seen people let off steam recharge batteries compete against me in a certain

00:22:15way of vigor like whenever you see the master teaching the student it's nice to see the student

00:22:23know his wax on wax off and you can actually do 30 seconds worth of sparring you're not just training

00:22:31and when somebody is with me they're talking a little bit of smack talk about the pinball

00:22:37they're telling me you know this last call beat him up a little bit but then i remind them about

00:22:41what happened before with mrs jones give them some philly guilt robbie say come on robbie you know

00:22:49you're better than this oh and you're out of character today and you're like you know you're right

00:22:53boss and then at the end at the end they do haptics not really supposed to touch people

00:22:59right at work but i'll get the thanks boss or if i'm playing pinball in the morning they'll walk

00:23:05back hey buenos dias jefe do you know how much of respect that is from somebody to do that sort of

00:23:12electromagnetic transfer of energy so you tell me and you wonder why people with you for eight years

00:23:21because you didn't twist the knife or kick them when they were down

00:23:23you did something to allow them to do some self-reflection to see what they can do to get

00:23:31out of this and save face it's kind of weird like that or i could just churn them and burn them and

00:23:38hire another five guys named billy i don't want to do that i i i see this as a sanctity because i remember

00:23:47people paid it forward to me back in the day educators and certain supervisors they could

00:23:52have broken me in a moment but they didn't they rebalanced my bike and gave me the focus and i like

00:24:00that and so as i say before there might be companies like amazon which are here hb intel and oracle and

00:24:07they could run circles around you look at their pockets and the money in their influence but when you

00:24:14go raw old school and you connect with somebody on a personal basis you can grow an army maybe not

00:24:23tens of thousands but you can still get dozens of people that will continue to walk with you over a

00:24:28decade and so that's the sort of advice that i could give to ceos and entrepreneurs that are trying

00:24:33to start any vertical or any sort of business not just necessarily a call center which and this thing

00:24:39is a burnout people don't last more than two years in this but i survived and i thrived and i'm here

00:24:48today to teach people that these are the sort of soft skills that you can use outside of your office to

00:24:54give yourself a great life that's awesome and really retention is the key to any business um i've learned

00:25:04that just through the multiple things that i've done and retention can be hard but it's a lot easier

00:25:13when you are able to have fun and enjoy your job along with with getting the results of your job so

00:25:23that's amazing that you have that kind of setup uh there's not too many companies that i know that would

00:25:31ever allow you to do that so that's amazing hold on for a second now let's all calm down there we have

00:25:39one of the largest attrition rates in any sort of industry it's up to 300 probably let's talk about the

00:25:47bad side let's talk about attrition there's two types i accept natural attrition i can live with myself

00:25:57on this part of the game if somebody leaves me because it's closer to their home your girlfriend

00:26:03works there right it's a better schedule because of school or let's just be forthright you might be

00:26:10able to make more money that's okay i just don't like the forced attrition where i have to fire somebody

00:26:20because you're not coming to work not making your calls coming in stone or something like that or

00:26:25treating it like a joke it's not good i mean you're not following through and it's a disappointment

00:26:32and so i've had to make certain decisions but i tell you what the majority of the decisions that

00:26:39i made followed the labor laws i've looked the other way on certain minor infractions that don't mean

00:26:44anything but you know if it's something that where they're blatantly breaking rules if you don't do

00:26:51something you're going to lose the respect of the other people as well and you and even though i have

00:26:55preventative measures and i tried six times to get this person to do the right thing there's only so

00:27:01much you can do come on robbie we can't hit the ball and drag johnny you're 26 years old man what's

00:27:07wrong with this kid you know he's got to get his act together and i'm not going to sacrifice myself

00:27:14cut my nose to spite my face and lose a client it's not right it's not theirs to give or take

00:27:20it's my account and so these are the sort of things we're highly selective i tell you what

00:27:27i would rather have somebody wet behind the ears green that's never worked in a call center before

00:27:34like me when i first got here that doesn't have bad habits not a cancer not a jumper and i can mold

00:27:41them robbie like a squire to a knight they speak english they have cognitive skills smart kid they just

00:27:48didn't have a bad supervisor or work in a terrible environment or make this industry tainted and so

00:27:54if i can keep it pure and work with this younger generation who i see is extremely effective

00:28:02imagine the skills they have they'll be able to do face-to-face communication compared to most

00:28:06people that can't do that these days yeah i love how your personality uh kind of shapes how you run and

00:28:18really run the company so i mean i really want to write um now well so while doing some research um

00:28:30i came across some different i guess techniques that you use in a call center

00:28:37so what is phonetic micro expression reading guess what i brought today i brought an actual uh prop

00:28:49with me i think you get points in school for that are you ready

00:28:54okay can you see that yep excellent simple xy chart okay phonetics is broken down in the tone rate pitch

00:29:08and duration your tone should be the consistent variable and i like to be empathetic and confident

00:29:16now there's a technique that people use robbie it's called the mirror imaging technique

00:29:21now i would like to do the mirror imaging for the horizontal which is the rate of speech

00:29:28and the pitch the speaking level the vertical that's what you match i match you why because there

00:29:37might be a spike or a dip in regards to movements that people have that's why i have these four quadrants

00:29:43here most people speak in quadrant one if you want to use me for an example robbie put me as an eight

00:29:49in regards to speed and in eight in regards to level so let's just say every 30 seconds i should

00:29:55be hitting that or at least around there but if there's a spike or a dip you still don't know me

00:30:00it's expression reading it's a first time read what can we do i can't even see you and so i've broken

00:30:07down that these are the times to interject and ask a certain clarification question if things make sense

00:30:13sounds good may we move forward simple 101 checkpoints but in the course of 25 years and tens of thousands

00:30:20of phone calls i've cracked the code i've seen certain things and then the biggest tell sign that people

00:30:26have is duration it's the answering speed it's the spacing in between words which is kind of ironic

00:30:31but makes the most amount of sense in regards to phonetics you need silence in order to have sound

00:30:36sound and so stuff studying the sound the real tell sign is silence in between the sounds and so

00:30:45you could manipulate a tone you want to be angry at me all right be angry okay you want to be nice

00:30:51fine do you want to speak faster than me slower louder softer come on robbie you can manipulate that

00:30:56for an hour but the one thing you cannot do your subconscious you can't you cannot master that answering

00:31:04speed you can't answer me every three seconds what happens when the police officer brings out that

00:31:09evidence either you're answering too fast or it's taking for an hour and you're crying and so um that's

00:31:15the real tell sign that's what comes out and i want to give homage to one of the greatest communicators

00:31:22of all time the late helen keller you had this individual that lost her sight in her hearing but she was able to

00:31:30create not only languages with ann sullivan but was renowned as one of the most inspirational people

00:31:36back in her day and she would touch people's lips to read or do it on her hands or be able to speak

00:31:42it was incredible what she did and so what i'm trying to say is that we're in a very controlled

00:31:47environment here control and if you want to do a focus study on it fine you are eliminating literally

00:31:56three of our senses you're taking away the taste touch and smell don't tell me you can smell the

00:32:01client taste no you can't do that you can hear them which should be expanded that's why i was talking

00:32:07about the dog in the background and a certain sort of breathing hesitations and pausings and

00:32:11fluctuations of phonetics can be done in any language but really the main thing there to me is um you know

00:32:20with this micro expression reading is pretty much uh the image streaming because what's interesting

00:32:28as they say but you can't see the client i understand that but imagination

00:32:34and rhetoric and and colorful and flowery language is much better the book is 10 times better than the

00:32:41movie and through metaphysics we are capable of producing images and so i believe that yes you still

00:32:49have two senses your hearing gets expanded and your sight gets blown up like i've never seen before

00:32:57it's incredible what's you could show someone a picture of a clock yeah but open it up and give

00:33:02descriptions now come on it's sometimes better and so i'm asking people to even if they're on the

00:33:08phone is to close their eyes so there's less distraction and they can really paint a picture

00:33:15so it's not a print it's really a difference and so this phonetic micro expression reading is something

00:33:23that you can incorporate in your phone calls in your business and it's not going to take away from

00:33:28any sort of crm work your rhythm your handling time wrap-up time and in three weeks it becomes habit

00:33:36and so it's just being a little more astute it's like being an architect student you walk around the

00:33:41city most people don't understand weight distribution or certain sort of styles but this guy does i mean

00:33:47he sees it differently the world than you do and so if you just do a little bit of that sort of study

00:33:53it's incredible because all the world's a stage it's a luxury trade everywhere you go there is speech

00:33:59and so you're not you know intruding or prying but man if you're sitting next to somebody and he's

00:34:05talking to somebody you can't help but hear it you might as well besides droning it out you might as well

00:34:10try to see if you're able or if you're studying something on tv a speech or conflicts or interpersonal

00:34:16communication just studying that and so for me it it what did it do for me i was able to ask

00:34:23clarification questions things that make sense sounds good maybe move forward and so just by doing that

00:34:29and studying every 30 seconds to two minutes a spike or a dip i was able to incorporate the phonetic

00:34:35micro expression reading wow that's really interesting and especially i never really thought but in your

00:34:46line of work you really do lose some of those perceptions uh some of those perceptions because

00:34:53you can't see or you can't smell so that's very interesting do you pay attention to people's breath

00:35:03they're doing or or mm-hmm ah okay keyboard clicking object adapting i don't know there's certain tell signs

00:35:15people will give you in the dark yeah interesting so another one another skill that i've heard about is

00:35:27uh the buffer boom uh boomerang technique that's it my man the buffer boomerang technique do you see

00:35:39that robbie i do i love when you bring props who's prepared who's prepared like hitting that bullseye on a

00:35:48dartboard i'm prepared anyway the buffer boomerang technique someone always asks you a question

00:35:57you have to answer it but the worst thing is to sound like you're in a principal's office and getting

00:36:03yelled at like you're in trouble so what we try to do on the phone is to readjust tones so for an

00:36:13example i call your company and i'll go conversations ignite podcast how are you today what i like to do a

00:36:20a lot of the times is the company name spike it's my first impression i have anonymity and it also

00:36:26snaps whoever the gatekeeper is out of their zone of being a telemarketer i could be a mystery shopper

00:36:32or your best friend obviously usually they'll say oh yeah this is conversations ignite who is this you

00:36:39know and i would say judy that's a great question my name is richard blank you do the name drop let them

00:36:47know it's a great question repeat the question and send it back positive that's usually on a positive

00:36:52reinforcement sometimes when you're calling a company like who is this i'm so glad that you asked

00:36:58that question my name is richard blank and i'm not going to give the name of my company yet i want to

00:37:02double dip it to see if i can get a positive or a negative reinforcement did they tone adjust they slow

00:37:08down speed up it's i don't know you dude i'm speaking to you for a third time let me see how you sound

00:37:15so at least i can see if there's a pattern so if you got a little bit nicer because i said

00:37:19conversations ignite and i don't sound like a telemarketer and you're like yeah who's this

00:37:25i'm so glad that you asked my name is richard blank then they're gonna go who is richard blank

00:37:31gotcha not why are you calling is this a sales call take me off your list don't call again or my famous

00:37:37f you no they go who is richard blank i'm like oh man i'm so glad that you asked

00:37:43richard blank is the ceo of costa rica's golf center you take it and you bring it out it's like

00:37:48a half moon robbie excellent question abc is one two three richard what's one two three robbie i'm

00:37:56glad you brought that up one two three is abc abc is one two three look his tones are changing won't

00:38:03be sounding nicer that's correct robbie abc is one two three does that make sense it does great may we

00:38:09move forward yes of course they're going to ask you who you are of course going to ask why you're

00:38:14calling instead of saying why are you calling i want an appointment with robbie what's your name

00:38:19richard blind you sound like a salesman i do no oh man show some finesse get judy's name thank her

00:38:28for her time let her know she's great let her know it's a great question repeat the question so she

00:38:32doesn't have to repeat it again and keep readjusting that tone from negatives and to positives

00:38:38and so it's just an excellent close fighting technique where you're blocking punches and getting

00:38:45one in there not the whole call can be annoying but after you get through the initial gatekeeper

00:38:52filtering 99 other phone calls or just trying to get robbie on the phone stuff no the first thing i'm

00:38:58going to say is not is robbie there or hi may i speak to robbie i was in conversations in night

00:39:05podcast you know why because i'm going to say better than the person that picked up the phone for

00:39:09you could be you could be somebody else but i'm going to teach you a lesson it's the name of your

00:39:13company better than you did and you worked your tail off to do conversations at night podcast been

00:39:17working hard the last six months so when i say the name with trumpets and the red carpet and all the

00:39:25flare that at least is going to allow you to give me 30 seconds to properly introduce myself at least i

00:39:33bought 30 seconds with robbie doesn't mean his credit cards at the ready come on man i snapped

00:39:38you out of it i'll let you know i'm proud of your podcast then you're going to ask who i am i'm going

00:39:42to say my name i'm going to say the name of my company then you go you know what what do you got

00:39:46going on richie what's happening and then i'll explain my services but um you don't need to angle

00:39:54you don't need to press and i think the best thing you can do in the beginning on this buffer

00:39:58boomerang is to try to anchor get somebody's name thank them for the question great question

00:40:04smart question repeat that question active listening and send it back beautifully and do

00:40:09not be surprised if three seconds turns into 15 seconds turns into 30 seconds then you get to

00:40:15transfer it's the positive escalation the person picks up you do the name job of the person that

00:40:20assisted you because you're in the right department now their defense goes you just got another 30

00:40:26seconds again to do two buffer boomerangs a second time he's going to ask who you are why are you

00:40:31calling but before that you already complimented judy so you don't have to worry about adjusting

00:40:36tones and the guy loves you already and so it's great of course you're going to ask who i am that's

00:40:41why judy transferred me i'll bite an apple when i juggle robbie and so why do i also do this you

00:40:49really want to know the psychology behind making these calls let's get straight let's get real and it's

00:40:54not just for telemarketers for any industry okay that plays their odds i believe in jumping clouds

00:41:02and romantic deaths por lo menos at least did at least i do two name drops in the name of a company

00:41:09in a positive escalation before through default they were disqualified or it just wasn't the right

00:41:14number the person doesn't live there anymore in order to do these long marches it shouldn't be a

00:41:19death march or even a forced march you should know what you're doing on a daily basis when you're

00:41:25hunting and you should do it with a certain way where you can keep such a positive mindset

00:41:32where you don't get hard on yourself because you didn't get a certain appointment but if i spoke to

00:41:37judy spoke to robbie and just after six minutes we realized he doesn't like ice cream

00:41:43you know he just doesn't need it he's locked lactose intolerant you know there's no sale but

00:41:51then you get to see the reinforcement he goes you know richie thank you so much for calling it was

00:41:55really nice speaking with you and then don't be surprised if two months from now i get a phone call

00:41:59from billy and he goes hey billy do i know you nope but you know robbie and you know judy and they

00:42:05said you were the nicest person on the phone you didn't press anything obviously they don't need ice

00:42:10cream but i do but they said if you need ice cream you better call rich black he's got the best in

00:42:15town and so i've gotten so many it's like planting seeds i've gotten so many beautiful referral phone

00:42:23calls of somebody that had nothing to do with telemarketing but thought i was great and was

00:42:29just kicking tires and testing waters and just to say i know a guy in costa rica you should give him a call

00:42:35and um it's very humbling you know when people do that and they speak well about you behind your back

00:42:43and so every phone call should be that impression that you're leaving and separating yourself from

00:42:49all these other telemarketers that kind of muddy the waters and those are kind of my thoughts on that

00:42:55wow that's an interesting technique uh i like it um are there any other uh strategies that you believe

00:43:05are essential for i guess today's competitive uh competitive competitive environment

00:43:16you just already showed it look how prepared you were for today's interview such a professional

00:43:21robbie boy you know all about my background and so the more prepared you are the easier it seems to be

00:43:30it's almost like a boxer do your training and when you walk into the ring expect to win

00:43:36and so my suggestion is to do some due diligence prior to an email a voicemail or even a phone call

00:43:45check a website linkedin profile who knows and don't just look for the bells and the whistles look

00:43:51for the real goodies outside interests and a lot of individuals not saying that we're inquisitive but

00:44:00they're putting these pictures out there in the public look in the background of their offices you

00:44:04might see a football on a you know there or in my case a jukebox and a candy machine

00:44:12rock on it's a 61 recaller regis and so if somebody says hey man i saw a podcast and you

00:44:18ought to recall it back in your background i'm like hey man he actually did see it and so um

00:44:24what does this do it at least you're not calling someone sir and doing a boilerplate voicemail email

00:44:33robo call it's custom made i keep mentioning paintings it's it's it's a one of a kind

00:44:40you see the brush strokes and it was made with love and so when i do these calls and you get

00:44:48a chance to congratulate a company on their anniversary or their beautiful loading dock next

00:44:54to a lake or the fact that they're not wearing ties and jackets in their photographs you can see

00:44:59that they're like you know polo shirts and they seem very cool and look at their game room you know it's

00:45:05it's nice um i've always felt that the better phone calls were the ones that actually showed

00:45:12interest it's like a cocktail party remember i asked you about your dog i wanted to know its name

00:45:18its breed and how old it was i just didn't say oh he's got a dog and so when when you ask second

00:45:24or third questions about somebody that's those are the real friendships as well the ones that remember

00:45:29birthdays are special things about you and you're like man you still remember that you're like of

00:45:34course i do and you're like that's a real friend a real friend that remembers and so um if you're

00:45:41just going to compare me through pricing and contractual terms and the east will blow me out

00:45:47they're half my price you know and some people are willing to work certain ways if you want to do it on

00:45:52merit as long as the metrics work out and you put me on a level playing field i can get there

00:45:59you know i can offset certain costs with skills and finally if if i need to give somebody peace of mind

00:46:09knowing that and i and i do love this about my company it's mom and pop my wife and i robbie you

00:46:17call my company you speak to the ceo and it's okay people want to know that somebody has skin in the game as

00:46:27well and that they do care and some of my favorite clients are the icebergs the one to three seeders

00:46:37that in the beginning but you know they're just testing you come on you know this and when you

00:46:42treat them well with three all of a sudden you get 30 seats so i'm no fool petty wise found foolish no way

00:46:48i treat everyone the same everyone and the larger ones are more of a pain in the ass it's the smaller

00:46:54ones that you can grow together that was that's the real foundation right there because you are

00:47:00you are in those stages robbie when you only had one seat one employee working part-time you can only

00:47:07dream to have a dozen people i got 150 now i gotta pinch myself this shouldn't have happened and so brick

00:47:15by brick one by one remember when you used to keep your quarters so you can go down to the arcade

00:47:22filling that piggy bank man i love filling quarters all day long and so um it's nice for me i i um

00:47:33there's only so many dinners you can eat and yeah i have my phone i buy video games and stuff i don't

00:47:39go out buy rolexes i'd rather have five pinball machines so i have my own taste but uh there's a

00:47:45certain point in your career where you've had enough of certain things and all you want to do is pay it

00:47:52forward and see other people succeed it gives you such happiness when you have acorns for the winter

00:48:00and a nice nest it really calms a heart and it's fulfilling because you realize how hard and how long

00:48:10and the time it took to get there and so um interesting okay so you own uh a whole bunch of

00:48:23pinball machines and uh antique jukeboxes how did you get into that well grew up in the 1970s and 80s

00:48:33a pure generation exer and during that time some of the greatest places to hang out with your buddies was

00:48:39at the arcade now i could master asteroids phoenix paperboy and all those games but

00:48:47when it came to pinball it just seemed like such an advanced skill your quarters went fast and it

00:48:53just didn't last it was just too too high end for me and so it's interesting today all the arcades

00:49:01are out of business they might have a few dave and buster places here for tickets but you can't walk

00:49:07into a place and find pinball and pac-man and so through the years in costa rica i'd be checking

00:49:13the facebook marketplace and since i had a call center and i had the space and the room and so

00:49:20i would see places going out of business and you would see certain bouncy castles and other machines

00:49:27but in the background from time to time i would see a pinball machine with boxes on it

00:49:32i'd call and ask drive out there with a couple buddies of mine and bring them back now i know

00:49:38what you're thinking were they turn key ready no most of them didn't even turn on but i know the price

00:49:44and i know the value so for just a couple hundred dollars i would pick up a machine that would be

00:49:49about four to five thousand dollars bring them back and take the marquee off and you would see all these

00:49:55placas these these cards that are behind there these memory cards and for electricity and for

00:50:01the lights and for the sound depending how corroded they were burnt out or whatever they did with them

00:50:06macgyver style just take them all out and between two hundred to a thousand dollars i can replace them

00:50:12all and when you do that all of a sudden the majority of your machine works you just need to replace

00:50:17a wire or two or maybe a a light bulb but uh i tell you what my favorite decade is the 1970s i love the

00:50:28old electromechanical machines with the wheel it's more contacts less computer and so i traded in 1994

00:50:37bally's world cup machine for two classic machines a 1970 bally's camelot and a 71 bally's expressway

00:50:46they're gorgeous and the 1970s it's the last decade where they used to paint the play field paint the

00:50:54wood it's not a laminate or a sticker and the sound would be like either a xylophone or certain bells

00:51:01got the old wheel and the marquee would have beautiful artwork and you look at the outside which would have

00:51:08certain styles to it and so for me i i love those machines and the agents they they never played these

00:51:14machines before virtual pinball but i couldn't agree with elton john and the who even more you

00:51:21feel this machine i mean you can sense it and the lights and the sound and just like stephen king's

00:51:28movie christine i believe that these machines these jukeboxes and these pinball machines have

00:51:35electromechanical energy they'll transfer energy to you and i can tell when the machine's happy or not

00:51:40kind of like your car if you don't clean it it's not going to work but you know the jukebox is

00:51:45you know what a beautiful pastime i mean i some of the machines i'll mention is a worlitzer 64

00:51:52a 61 seaburg ay 160 the one that i have in my home is a beautiful 1977 seaburg std4 mardi gras if you've

00:52:01ever seen it's the one with the rainbows on it it's a beautiful machine and so it's fine i mean you put

00:52:08one of those things in your living room put an mp3 or a bluetooth in it you got unlimited music and don't

00:52:15be surprised if people don't start getting up and dancing and it's you know it's a lot more lively in your

00:52:20home and come on man i see your man cave you got plenty of room in there for a jukebox and a pinball

00:52:27machine i think that that might just be an idea i'll help you find them though and i was explaining

00:52:35that i know what you're thinking richard it's tens of thousands of dollars yeah if you want the games

00:52:39today but if you take a no-namer from the 70s and early 80s like my expressway compared to the captain

00:52:47america or a kiss machine you can get those for under a grab and there are certain places like

00:52:52marco specialties and these other areas where you can just order specific parts and just plug and play

00:52:57it and then you have the local electricians that can easily follow these manuals that you can get

00:53:04online these pdfs and you were mentioning earlier about my expertise i'm a novice but i tell you what

00:53:12whenever i have my buddy don francisco come to my house to work on the machines or a good friend of

00:53:17mine martine who's who's an expert in this oh i'm sitting there taking notes i'm watching them solder

00:53:22it and using the stuff to test electricity and and you learn you learn so you can fix the little stuff

00:53:30if it's major i got the guy coming in but if a ball gets stuck if i got to replace something come on

00:53:35i learned how to do that easy and you keep them going because they're high maintenance and they're

00:53:42delicate but they're beautiful and the worst thing ever is someone that thinks they're funny by like

00:53:47hitting the machine you schmuck this machine's 40 years old why are you hitting my machine

00:53:52that's not cool that's disrespectful i'm letting you play it these are antiques that's why they have

00:53:57the tilt and you're not being funny or cute it's not like happy days with the fines i don't want you

00:54:02banging the stuff seriously and you know it's kind of interesting when i've had potential clients

00:54:07come into my office that's an excellent i've had two different types of psychological tests when

00:54:12people come in first is they don't know that my wife is the owner of the company they just think

00:54:17she's the director of human resources i've seen people be like hey get me a diet coke what no that

00:54:25doesn't work and and secondly how they treat the machines because if somebody doesn't see my love for

00:54:31them my admiration the restoration and the treat them like that i definitely do not 100 want you

00:54:38as a client i could care less about the money you're an idiot you're hitting my machine it's not right

00:54:45and so um anyway that's just my feel for but yeah we got to definitely find you a machine there in

00:54:50georgia i'm gonna start looking for you awesome um i also love how not only do you collect them but you

00:54:59also uh restore them so that's pretty neat what would you say your favorite pinball machine that

00:55:06you have is and how many actually do you have you can't say that it's like who's your favorite child

00:55:13besides the red-headed stepchild no i'm only kidding i have 13 pinball machines all right but you can't

00:55:21i can definitely say that some gameplay is different from others like for an example my 1986 williams

00:55:30pinbot it's a very famous machine that is a light display i love the sound i love the game easy

00:55:38multi-ball but then you have the arnold schwarzenegger 94 last action hero that's a data east machine

00:55:45that that multi-ball is crazy you got six balls going at one time that thing's just madness and

00:55:51you got a gun to be able to instead of the pin that's how you start the game but then you have

00:55:57your nba fast break that's a beautiful machine right there and so that's that actually has the

00:56:04best play field out of all what a fun game with so many ramps and and the noise and and the scoring

00:56:11and in fact the way you start that game is a button in the beginning just to launch the ball

00:56:16right next to that is a 1989 mousing around valleys machine what a beautiful machine from

00:56:23the late 80s open play field a couple really good ramps great sound a lot of fun and then right next

00:56:30to that oh my god it's a 1977 hot tip valleys you're talking about a really fast moving game

00:56:41from the late 70s easy targets two main ones i mean you got a couple drop targets

00:56:47you got a couple spinners one ball to hit for points it's a beautiful game it moves so fast

00:56:54and and it's a gorgeous looking marquee next to that is a 1976

00:57:00bally's freedom machine and that's the first pinball i ever bought i bought that from my older brother back

00:57:06in the day when he was selling real estate in arizona he had the freedom team so i got that

00:57:10for people in the office and that is a gorgeous old school machine very special because it's all

00:57:15philadelphia with the you know with the liberty bell next to that's a 1986 williams space shuttle

00:57:22machine it's all spacey and the marquee's fun because it's got like mirror to it the space shuttle

00:57:28that's a fun game to play really good open play field and then the one next to that is the judge

00:57:34dread machine which is really large one it's very interesting machine with a lot of canals to it

00:57:39and then on the other side next to the to the pin bot as i told you i i have a doctor who machine

00:57:45it's a loud machine it's a fun machine that's an interesting machine doctor who it's a good play

00:57:51and then as i mentioned before i got the bally's um oh i'm sorry the um the camelot in the expressway

00:57:59and i also have uh it's interesting i got a data east hook machine which is from peter pan

00:58:06and i'll tell you what i did with this one i'm giving it to the employee that's been with me the

00:58:13longest my boy t money also known as the feral cat well the feral cat's been with me for 17 years

00:58:24oldest employee i got with me welcomed me this whole time during the ups and the downs

00:58:29so besides paying the top salary and giving them the window seat and the best seat and

00:58:33all the acclimates what more can you do to somebody after all that time well he loved

00:58:39that machine and i said you know what pal that's yours i got it amazing and so yeah man you you give

00:58:47him a machine so he can bring it home and be a collector and so um it's very interesting i've

00:58:54given out so many of the machines i had a police trainer light gun machine that was fun i gave that

00:59:01away i had a maximum force where i got a chip on it where it can go into area 51 as well so you had

00:59:07double gun games there and um people are just giving them away arcades don't exist anymore it's taking up

00:59:15space in people's bodegas and let's be realistic if you can pick up a dynamo air hockey table from 1996

00:59:25for 100 and it works buy it all you need to do is get wildcat 125 which is a pinball and air hockey

00:59:34surface take your time and just poke holes in every little hole they got you know and fix out some of

00:59:41the lights get the electrician just to make sure the fan's working great it's an easy game to fix

00:59:45you got an air hockey table champ you got an air hockey table for a hundred dollars seriously come

00:59:53on you have to buy that wow that's pretty cool so you i can tell you've got a you're running a

01:00:01successful business you have some great hobbies um i also understand that you um endow a scholarship

01:00:11for students majoring in world languages thank you for bringing that up i appreciate that my

01:00:18proud alma mater northeast philadelphia abington high school i tell you what if i didn't get that

01:00:24college recommendation letter from my dedicated spanish teacher esperanza galshack and the late

01:00:29principal norman schmidt there's no way i would have gone to the university of arizona and so

01:00:37look what that did with my trajectory in life i would have never met my buddy that owned the center

01:00:42here you have to think about your circle and where it began and the sort of commitment that you gave to

01:00:50yourself at 18 years old and so i look back at it and i understand athletics and academics and other

01:00:58things people can earn scholarships and i know it's a lot of hard work and i appreciate that but there in

01:01:03my mind because i did it there's something about the northeast philly kid that besides my thick philly

01:01:10accent learned how to speak spanish you gotta be kidding me i mean seriously really really and so

01:01:18anybody that does that to me it is my pleasure to pay for their books freshman year

01:01:24i needed to do that scholarship and then i don't know how it happened but i was inducted into the

01:01:332023 class the hall of fame next to you're not going to believe some of the people that graduated this

01:01:39high school steven schwarzman from blackstone amber boas ashton carter um michael buffer let's get ready to

01:01:48rumble bob saget we had eddie george and sean wooden my year just proud ghosts amazing people

01:01:58and then there's me you know the above average student above average come on average student

01:02:05i was just a nice kid and i had a smile and i had a spring in my step and i was immature and i was

01:02:11unfocused and i didn't have discipline what do you want me to do i was 18 at the time

01:02:16and some people believed in me and gave me enough chances and told me what to do to set me straight

01:02:22and get me on my way and um if you're capable and you're able do something like that pay it forward

01:02:32in a certain way it's a it's a beautiful thing to do it it's once again you would have given your left

01:02:38arm to be in the position you are today give it back and so uh but i i appreciate you bringing

01:02:45that up that's um i never would have thought that and in fact the principal at the time angelo barrios

01:02:53who's now the superintendent of bucks county became a very good friend of mine you know sinver guenso

01:02:59without shame i you know for one of our reunions i think it was like nine years ago i showed up to

01:03:05hang out with my buddies i said hey man let me just go by the high school and it's not like the old days

01:03:10where you can just show up you got a call set an appointment go through security i'm gonna get

01:03:15background checks and who am i i'm just a kid from the class of 91. so but they took my meeting i think

01:03:23i brought costa rican coffee so i can get in there and walk the halls for a couple minutes you know to

01:03:28smell it yeah it still smells like high school um but little did i know that when i sat down with

01:03:34this individual was around my age um we hit it off and i was telling funny stories and and i was very

01:03:41appreciative and i don't know what happened but we connected and through the years every time i would

01:03:47go back to philadelphia i got a i got a hero's welcome at a place that raised me and i believe in uh

01:03:58nurture because i went to private school prior to abington i got kicked out in seventh grade

01:04:04this prestigious school called germantown academy where my father and brother graduated from a

01:04:10beautiful place and i was very happy to have my elementary education there but i i learned

01:04:14something certain private schools no one lives in the neighborhood everyone lives yonder unlike public

01:04:21school where everyone lives within a mile of the school so all the kids that you saw when you were

01:04:28driving by in the car or other places you know these kids now and so i started a little bit

01:04:34later i was the new kid but i was the right kid i was in the right environment and it really you

01:04:40know the school was a little bit of a structure but it was more of the people that i grew up with

01:04:45that had confidence and we were united we all fell in love with each other and supported each other

01:04:49but had that philly grit and um i don't know maybe it's just one of those things where you belong

01:04:57and i did and i didn't know what else to do besides give pinball machines away to my favorite employee

01:05:04and give money back to my high school that um gave me a second chance when the first school

01:05:13kicked me out and didn't give me a chance and so you know i tell you what i like people that like me

01:05:21i mean i'm still friends with the people that i went to school with but the administrators weren't really

01:05:25my biggest fans and i'll tell you what looking back at it now there were two teachers and i'm

01:05:31going to give them plugs mr wakeman and miss delario it's my science and english teacher they were so

01:05:37sweet i completely failed their class i should have gotten five f's i got three f's and two d's

01:05:43they gave me d's when i knew i failed i i know i failed their classes but they were such good people

01:05:50and they really at think about it at 13 years old what you could do to someone's self-confidence

01:05:57could really break a kid and then all of a sudden that kid goes the the easy way into drugs breaking

01:06:03windows staying out late stealing cars boys town i mean come on i went the hard way you know i i wanted

01:06:12to get my act together i knew what it was like to feel low and have people not believe in you and

01:06:18parents not want their kids to play with you so you got to get your act together and it's better

01:06:24off that you do it at a young age and you realize it's not fun to get in trouble and it's better to

01:06:29be a good kid and so maybe i got it out at those stages and look what it turned into now wow that's

01:06:37really amazing um it's just amazing to see how you're giving back to some of the less fortunate

01:06:43people which is really really awesome um not a lot of people do that so big shout out to you for

01:06:50being able to do that thank you my brother i appreciate that and sorry to vent about my

01:06:55elementary stuff but i still have nightmares about that i'm not kidding but you have to see it wasn't

01:06:59easy for everybody you know no one's an angel yeah no and that's that's one of the best parts seeing um

01:07:07seeing people come from you know kind of tough things and uh seeing where they've come to and

01:07:13making making so much success out of it because you get marked you know people put you in a certain

01:07:20category at a certain stage of life so it takes a lot to get out of that and to change things um

01:07:28so i had heard you mention something uh in the beginning of the interview about ai uh what are your

01:07:35thoughts on the pros and cons of ai in uh your industry especially telemarketing right now well

01:07:42it's the buggy whip and the steam engine i'm not going to fight it but i'm also not going to embrace

01:07:47it completely let me give you a real solid argument on ai for me it's definitely going to replace an

01:07:57enormous amount of people because they're going to keep getting better at ivrs and voice responses and so

01:08:04let ai do the gathering and the confirming but when you need that empathy that's the one thing you

01:08:13need the real human interaction because ai can't tell you how you feel when you break your arm

01:08:21or your puppy runs away or your heart gets broken that's an insult you can't do that it's like a very cold

01:08:28metal bench so that's just not real okay and so i i think that for the most part i will accept ai

01:08:41to ensure that people are getting to a certain level where their information is complete there's no

01:08:48latency human error fatigue attitude so i think a lot of that stuff can be replaced almost like an um an

01:08:58ATM you don't need to go into the bank anymore to speak with betting you you're allowing this

01:09:03machine to give you the money you understand how it works it's quick it's easy in and out bing and bang

01:09:07boom um even when you're filling up your own car so i'm saying there's certain stages where you still

01:09:15need to interact but i think the majority of it people can do it themselves because it will go quicker

01:09:20and and they're going to get better at it but there's something called the uncanny valley

01:09:25and there was this japanese robotics scientist in the 70s that says that there's a certain point

01:09:35to where once the machines get too human-like we freak out and it drops down to a valley

01:09:40that's why like if you watch star wars which i know you do i see that storm trooper in the background

01:09:46i think more people related to r2d2 than they did to c3po even though c3po looked more human in regards

01:09:56to his structure and he spoke queen's english okay but it's too close it was freaky while r2d2's noises

01:10:06and the shape of him was just so lovable come on you have to admit i i i don't speak for star wars people

01:10:13but i think if they had to choose on a sinking ship who they grab first would it be r2 or c3po i think

01:10:19more people choose the r2 but i'm more of a classic battle star galactica fan right you know but uh

01:10:27that's just me with starbuck and apollo um but it's the uncanny valley and it's freaking people out a

01:10:36little bit and so i i think that they want to still keep it a certain way so there's a distance

01:10:44it's relatable but um and you know it's weird too when you get these robo calls and they're the problem

01:10:53is and we spoke about this earlier was the answering speed they're asking the right questions the sound

01:10:58sounds good it's kind of doesn't sound like a computer but you know when you catch them is their

01:11:03answering speed come on robbie you know that and they're not doing it on a natural way

01:11:09and so that pisses you off you hang up the phone you get angry

01:11:13a lot of people are going to lose their jobs okay but i'm not saying darwinism but you also have to

01:11:21realize if you are talented and you have skills you are marketable there will be a place for you

01:11:26do i see myself as a relic hell yeah i do i'm bottom old and i'm from the 80s and 70s

01:11:31but at least i i have the experience and specific soft skills that if i had to work amongst ai i would

01:11:42hopefully be considered for an empathetic position or a position where i can retain a client in a

01:11:48certain way who knows who cares the thing is though not to fight it and to see the areas as i mentioned

01:11:59before like the alfaitron like the host that gets you in and then the rest is what you do it's it's like

01:12:07the carnival barker to get you in the tent right and then the rest is the circus and so um but there

01:12:17are a lot of people out there that fear it and they believe like do you remember the movie the lawnmower

01:12:24man it's a really interesting movie with pierce rosnan where the guy just kept getting smarter and

01:12:29i i kind of understand that and there will be a certain point where ai once they have certain

01:12:35conscious thought or a certain emotion or they've mastered something

01:12:38sit back and see what happens on something like that but um that's why maybe some people prefer to

01:12:46be off the grid or in my mind when i walk down stairs it might not be ai in the sense of creating

01:12:56content for you but i still think ai is seductive enough for people just to be on their phones and so

01:13:03you'll go downstairs into the break room and there'll be a table of four people now if you go

01:13:09back to the 70s and 80s it's like the movie the breakfast club but you go in now and four people

01:13:14are looking at four different things and i'm going to say something a lot of them are looking at japanese

01:13:18anime i just don't get that but that's okay japanese anime and there are other things and and i'm

01:13:24looking at them like why aren't you guys talking they're like they're like okay um okay old guy

01:13:30you know whatever and okay grandpa who me so i guess so but it's um put the phone down

01:13:40like if you look at the old movies watch a movie from the 60s and 70s watch when steve mcqueen sitting

01:13:46there chilling he's observing his environment picking up faye dunaway that's how things were

01:13:53happening you were living in the moment your body is here but your mind is elsewhere that's terrible

01:13:59the only time people were elsewhere is when they were reading the newspaper in the hotel lobby

01:14:03okay that's the only guy that's like today's version of the phone the rest of the people are

01:14:08looking around town seeing what's going on what's happening seeing when when it's their time to strike

01:14:15and so i i think people are just really giving away their precious moments of the now and it's really

01:14:23making people numb so they're missing certain social cues in order for them to have better relationships

01:14:31so the people that bring in here i almost have to teach them timing just natural timing that they're

01:14:40not used to in regards to conversation because they they can answer answer at their leisure robbie or

01:14:48pretend like they didn't even see your text and you know it's so interesting today people need to

01:14:53text you first to ask permission to make a phone call on me i'm just calling you robbie man you know

01:14:59it's me calling come on on my what's up it's a pinball machine you know it's me um i like to make phone calls

01:15:05i like to say yo robbie what's going on

01:15:09you know i see a lot of misinterpretation when it comes to texting

01:15:13and so i i think most people if they really want to relay the perfect message they need to speak

01:15:20better wow i like that um i like that perspective especially ai can be great it can be a useful tool

01:15:32but we need that human interaction and connection to really really connect with people that's right

01:15:41what's your what would be your definition of success

01:15:49hmm

01:15:52well if you want to look at it financially just making sure you can sleep at night

01:16:00and you don't need to do things unethically or through stress or through panic

01:16:05but anybody can get money and golden jewels will lose its luster

01:16:14and i'm not saying i look at it differently i was very fortunate to be able to enjoy

01:16:20certain advantages because of how hard i worked and

01:16:25no success to me once again is when you when you're putting your head on a pillow

01:16:33mm-hmm or you've decompressed so much on a long walk or a car ride or long shower or something and you

01:16:41have your purest of thoughts that you're proud of yourself now you can look at your own eyes in a

01:16:49mirror maybe if you're in a good mood that day give yourself eyes give yourself core give yourself

01:16:57foundation give yourself the spark something man because if you're feeling low you could be surrounded

01:17:08with toys and silk shirts and watches and filet mignons and you have no appetite you don't want to get out

01:17:14of bed and all that crap sucks sometimes you just want to hug

01:17:18hmm but when you're having the best time of your life and you're surrounded by all your toys and

01:17:26filet mignons and rolexes that doesn't matter either because you're on a natural high you you're in a

01:17:32great mood all you want to do is high five people and um you need these temporary things

01:17:40i guess to make yourself feel good or it's a superficial way to compare yourself to somebody

01:17:48because if he has a and i have a we're big but okay whatever and you know when you have

01:17:58it's like an adult when you have a when you're a child and you have a quarter you can't buy a lot

01:18:03of candy you and i have a hundred dollars in our in our pocket we walk into a store we could buy as much

01:18:08freaking candy as we want some days we do i've done it but we don't do it every day where if we

01:18:15were a child we'd be like i do that every day i buy playboys and eat candy you're like really

01:18:24for one day no i'm kidding but um it's the kind of thing where if you can and you don't

01:18:30then you have your restraint or you realize that you put too much value into something because of

01:18:36somebody else or because you were restricted you can stay up as late as you want when you live by

01:18:42yourself no one's going to tell you what to do that's great for a little while and then all of

01:18:46a sudden you want to start having a sleep schedule and you want to clean your dishes damn it got

01:18:52company coming over so um get it out of your system certain things and once you get that stupid

01:18:59stuff out of your system you realize you you were chasing the wrong dream and it didn't feel right

01:19:08in fact you go out and you you know it's kind of funny my wife tells me all the time that she'll

01:19:14order clothes online and then when she gets it she's like it looks terrible it's not like the way it was

01:19:20online i don't like it now it just doesn't fit right that's why you need to go to a store that's why

01:19:27you need to see these things face to face you just can't put it into the what ifs and what the image

01:19:34is online try the shoe on try the dress online go somewhere and see if you really want to live there

01:19:42seriously spend some time there drive the neighborhood or when it comes to your certain friends

01:19:49there's ways to see you know who makes the calls and who receives the calls who makes the plans

01:19:58who really shows empathy and and so i don't really keep score but i'm a little older than you

01:20:06and so what i've seen in my 52 years is consistency so you don't have to make up for it the dude that

01:20:13needs to bring flowers and chocolate on valentine's days and a lot of trouble he should have been

01:20:20smoothing all year long so just valentine's day is just the bonus you know it's not making up for it

01:20:28does that make any sort of sense and so with your friends you should be there 99 times when you don't

01:20:34need anything in return it's not tit for tat you just robbie's my boy so freaking proud of you man

01:20:40and so then where's that one day you realize i can cash in my chips and you realize that my

01:20:48black and white conversation was saying robbie come on man get your act together you cannot do

01:20:53this anymore and i'm telling you this is a friend that's when you realize it's the real deal i i like

01:21:01it i love how you um really success to you it's not all about the money because a lot of people say success

01:21:08is money but it's really it's really about the experiences and really truly enjoying what you're

01:21:17doing you'll make your money you'll make your money and don't don't make your day about money if you

01:21:26didn't make a hundred bucks that day don't be sad yeah it's really just really about enjoying life and

01:21:32doing what you love how about this i like psychology i like being stolic i like certain

01:21:39things to give me really base if you do a certain day with honorable intentions that's okay

01:21:47no matter what the outcome is regardless of the outcome and say good bad or ugly you know once again

01:21:55i can live with myself it's it's a good way to think and so you're not going to be hard on yourself

01:22:03that day it's um i don't know people that play odds and percentages even gamblers if you can if you can

01:22:11win 55 or 60 of the time you're a sharp you're a wise guy you're a top gambler in the world and look at

01:22:19baseball 300 you're gonna make millions of dollars a year hitting that and like didn't kim jong-un say

01:22:27that i got like you know minus 18 for a golf round or something or 18 hole in once or something um yeah

01:22:35man um it's things like that jordan had that commercial about all the shots that he missed

01:22:42and i think they said in the wolf of wall street don't judge me on all the successes i had but the

01:22:50failures because i've had so few when people do self-wraps and i've mentioned the word vulnerability

01:22:59before when you make yourself vulnerable not where you can be attacked but you show that you are real

01:23:06that you love kittens and you enjoy a good meal and you love your mother and you open doors for people

01:23:11and you know you're just a good guy all around um don't be surprised because a lot of the people

01:23:18in business and i mentioned this earlier about complimenting judy and doing due diligence the

01:23:24biggest of the players they look at certain terms and money and stuff but it's really like hollywood

01:23:30with the actors can i work with this individual right am i going to want to hate him and kill him at the

01:23:35end it's it's to see if you jive and you're on the same wavelength and i'll tell you what

01:23:46my personality is not for everybody a lot of people that have come here to the center

01:23:51might have seen the games as juvenile the fact that i wear three-piece suits they're like three-piece

01:23:56suits come on man get off my back and so it's not for everybody they would rather have me being a

01:24:03dictator threatening people following certain rules to the point of where there's no wiggle room

01:24:11um certain thoughts awesome um obviously you've been very successful uh especially moving overseas

01:24:23is there any advice that you would give to somebody considering uh maybe moving overseas and

01:24:28starting their own business sure keep an open mind if you have the ability to learn that language where

01:24:36you're going it's great choose a certain society that's safe fortunately for me costa rica is a

01:24:41democratic society they have no standing army put their money back into education 95 literacy rate

01:24:48and great infrastructure so and i'm close to the united states uh if you have somebody that you know

01:24:54that lives there i would recommend visiting first and testing the waters and it has to be at a certain

01:25:02stage in life but no time's really the best time but it's not also for everybody just just don't be the

01:25:12rude tourist tourist or the individual that expects certain things it's um you're a guest in another

01:25:23country and so as long as you don't put yourself in any sort of dangerous positions or insult the wrong

01:25:32people you should be okay i fortunately knock on wood i've been here 25 years and

01:25:38haven't really had any sort of experiences that made me want to go running back home

01:25:45wow amazing um richard i can't thank you enough for uh being on the show today i learned so much

01:25:53um really interesting just a whole lot of knowledge so once again i just can't thank you enough for

01:25:59being here today thank you robbie i appreciate being a guest on your podcast um is there anywhere uh

01:26:07more people are interested learning a little bit more about you do you have any websites or social

01:26:11media sure they can go to costaricascallcenter.com and check me out shoot me an email i'm more than

01:26:18happy to review their scripts they're friends with robbie i'd be more than happy to give them free

01:26:24consulting but uh buy a plane ticket hop on a plane come down here to costa rica and see this beautiful

01:26:31central america paradise if you like zip lining got some of the best surfing in the world eco-tourism

01:26:37a lot of people come from medical tourism get your teeth done right and um just enjoy the good life i

01:26:44tell you what the cost of living here is about a third of the states they have the freshest fruit and

01:26:50vegetables at the farmer's market the expression in costa rica is por vida which means pure life

01:26:57which really represents the flair of this culture here awesome well like i said i can't thank you

01:27:05enough for being here and uh thank you very much appreciate it robbie thanks guys uh we'll see you next time

01:27:14thanks for listening to conversations ignite see you next time

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