LEAD GENERATION STRATEGIES PODCAST GUEST RICHARD BLANK COSTA RICA'S CALL CENTER

Richard Blank

Lead Generation Strategies Podcast. Grow a telemarketing team with B2B expert Richard Blank.   By applying our unique and highly effective media strategy, we can take any local or online business and drastically increase their exposure for a variety of products and services in a matter of months resulting in significant customer growth. What we can do for your business is so effective, initial results can be seen in days.  We can only work with a limited number of businesses and criteria is strict to maintain our media relations. If you are a business interested in improving your reputation, getting more recognition and exposure, and are in a position to handle more customers then get in touch to apply.  This is an interview with Richard Blank, CEO of Costa Rica’s Call Center, which is an outbound lead services provider BPO (Business Process Outsourcing) company.  Discover example benefits of a lead generation outbound call center, job opportunities for those living or looking to move to Costa Rica, and an insight into some of the processes.   https://youtu.be/lmbLaiPUegc?si=938pHehyc1GbKhHk https://youtu.be/V3J7UKPr5hs https://youtu.be/e70MaUYJc6o https://youtu.be/pwyQ-q4wfYw https://youtu.be/cem6daAf5nw https://youtu.be/MQGiaw6OLIM https://youtu.be/eM_IBfR4ris https://youtu.be/mURgK4rGpXA https://youtu.be/TCb0Os3yD_g https://youtu.be/ta80vHM0eMA    Richard Blank hired bassist Garry Gary Beers of INXS.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ieGjN5H4xPQ  Richard Blank produced a Rap Breakdancing video commercial https://youtu.be/GQvGZYcX71s?si=3I6N3p-LVxwTvnh2

Transcript

00:00Hello and welcome to the Lead Generation Strategies podcast. Here with me today

00:11is Mr. Richard Blank and his website. It's kind of interesting call. We'll be talking about a

00:18call center. So this is CostaRicasCallCenter.com and that is Ricas with an S at the end. So not

00:25Costa Rica call center. Costa Rica is with an S because that's possessive, I think, on that side

00:31of it. So Richard, first I want to welcome you to the show. It's great to be here, Joey. I can't

00:36wait to talk to you and your audience on Lead Generation Strategies. I got a ton of stuff to

00:41share with you today. Very cool. So Richard, tell us what Costa Rica's call center does at a high

00:48level. It's a very simple inbound and outbound bilingual dedicated call center. All the agents

00:56here are college educated. They have experience before prior coming into this account. And as I

01:01say, half of them are inbound support for customer service. We do back office support and non-voice

01:06support with chat and emails. And then I also have a lead generation, appointment setting,

01:11and a sales department. And so we pretty much hire and work with everything. Very cool. And we'll

01:17probably get into the lead generation side of things first. I just kind of want to build some

01:20context for everybody. So what's the biggest problem that you solve for your clients that you

01:25guys get? Well, a lot of the times it has to do in regards to the metrics. They may have certain

01:32expectations in regards to their calling list, the talk time, conversion ratios. And so with me,

01:38a lot of the times I'm able to plug into a list in a predictive dialer. I also have a quality

01:43assurance in a QC department, quality control. So we're able to coach and grade the calls as well.

01:49So a lot of the times we're using our infrastructure, our experience, and the sort of,

01:54once again, the mediums that we have on the different verticals that we have to compare apples

01:58to be able to give our clients back a lot better intel and much more effective strategies for their

02:06time and for their money. Very cool. And Richard, have you done, have you worked for call centers or

02:11own call centers? What got you into this business? Well, it almost started back in high school when

02:17I was in Northeast Philadelphia. My favorite class was in Spanish. So I decided from Abington High

02:22School to go to the University of Arizona and be a Spanish communication major. Like yourself,

02:27Joey, I worked with public speaking, rhetoric, and nonverbal communication. So at 27 years old,

02:32I had the opportunity to move to Costa Rica for just two months to work at a friend's call center.

02:37You and I will definitely take that one in a million opportunity. And I did. And when I was here,

02:44I was amongst hundreds of bilingual mid-20 Costa Rican Ticos that were on the phone, that were

02:51conversing in English, converting calls and getting wonderful positive escalations and great marks.

02:57And so for me, I got to see it from the inside and out. I wasn't sea level. I wasn't looking at

03:01contracts and the finances, but I was with the people. And so I could see the good, the bad,

03:07the happy, and the sad. And for me, in order to start my own company, you know, X amount of years

03:13later, I was really looking to see what I could do to enhance the experience for the agent and for the

03:19client. And so by having that sort of experience and retention, support, customer service, sales,

03:25even search engine optimization with affiliate management and training and onboarding,

03:30it enabled me in those four years, I worked with my friend to learn the business, but I will be

03:36forthright with you, Joey. It took me into my mid thirties to have my impulse control, to be mature

03:43enough and financially ready to throw my hat in a ring and to start my own call center. So I wish I did

03:50into my teens and I wasn't ready in my twenties, but in my thirties, I believe with the experience and

03:55the maturity and the sort of center and balance, I was ready to take the next stage of my life.

04:01Very cool. And so this, is this the first call center that you've, that you've owned or have you

04:05owned it? That is correct. I I'm seriously still batting a thousand and, you know, it's amazing

04:11because in my 14 years of owning a company and 22 in the industry, I'd love to give you a financial

04:19tip or trick or a CEO cracked code, but I can really sum it up Joey in just one word empathy

04:27because I, they were treated like my, my friend did a great job at his call center, but, but

04:33realistically, a lot of agents in this industry do feel like a number. They feel like a robot. They,

04:40they feel nameless and expendable. And as long as you can give somebody their dignity,

04:44they'll come back to work the next day. Cause if nobody shows up, you don't have a company.

04:49And so for me, I started from scratch. I wanted to make sure I could break bread with them.

04:54I will know your name. And pre COVID when the call center was packed, I would walk the rows. I would

05:01stop and listen to a call and give a thumbs up to someone. And I would listen to a call and give my

05:06own soft skills coaching besides the sort of things that they were graded upon. And so it's hands-on,

05:14not that I'm forced to do it. I got plenty of supervisors, but I love doing it. I still see the

05:20art in speech and it can be done with lead generation and sales. It, it just doesn't have

05:26to be carpet bombing Joey. And it just doesn't have to be sending out these informal emails to people.

05:31We, we can custom make phone calls. We can make certain interactions unique. So we can get that sort

05:40of rate of return that you and your clients are looking for. I love that. And so, you know,

05:44a lot of when people think of call centers, they think of India or they think of Vietnam or anything

05:49like that. So what's, what makes you guys special or what makes you guys unique? You know, you

05:53mentioned empathy. So I'm sure that's a big part of you guys is a secret mix, but what makes you

05:58unique versus India or Vietnam or anything like that? Well, first I'm glad people are watching this on,

06:05on the big screen, Glenn Gary, Glenn Ross, the wolf of wall street, boiler room. Sure. There are call

06:11centers like that. I dress like that and I could actually sell like that, but I'm not going to sell

06:15you a pen today. You're referring to offshore call centers in the India, Philippines and the East.

06:25There are caliber agents everywhere. And my hat's off to anybody that does this for a living and is very

06:32good at it. What are the differences? Well, first and foremost, in those sort of areas of the world,

06:38they're extremely price competitive. So it's almost half my price. So a lot of my clients are expecting

06:45me to do double the amount of work I can in some sort of instances. And sometimes I just can't make

06:50twice the amount of calls per hour, but they have an accent. But to me, an accent bears the mark of

06:56higher education. India is a real powerhouse for it Philippines. They're amazing in regards to

07:03empathy. They're very, it's a very kind. But once again, unless you've lived in the United States

07:08and Costa Rica here near shore, you could be on a flight out of LAX and be here within a couple hours.

07:16We're on mountain time zone. I got a half a million expats that live here. We're a democratic society in

07:22Central America. We have a 95% literacy rate with no standing army. And we have scalability because

07:28companies such as Amazon, HP, Intel, and Oracle are here. So if you want to compare apples, sure. I mean,

07:35you could get twice the amount of agents offshore than near shore, but I would be looking for specific

07:41skill sets. Maybe you need someone to speak in Spanish. Maybe that you'd be looking for a smaller

07:47mom and pop sort of call center like myself that's very hands-on that could work with you in this way

07:52compared to a very large blended midst center where you're just in with thousands of other agents.

07:58We all share the same equipment, you know, with our predictive dialers and our CPUs and our

08:03noise canceling headsets. So you can almost do a comparison with technology. But as I mentioned

08:09before, if nobody shows up, your technology is worthless. So my company culture, Joey, it really

08:16revolves around gamification. We spoke prior to this call today, how much you love my jukeboxes

08:22and pinball machines. And I'm going to find you one. I promise you that. I've created a happy

08:27medium. So people can meet other agents from other departments that can let off steam. They can recharge

08:33their batteries or, or even spend time with El Jefe with the boss and do it in an environment where

08:39there's no pressure or duress, where they can have some fun. And so if anything or nothing, if you want

08:44to compare me to Olympic call center events, I think I want a few goals. First and foremost, I know

08:50everybody's name. I break bread with them and I play games with them. And I think those are three

08:54very good core foundation things that I do here to ensure very long-term employment and reduced

09:02attrition. And so just off the bat, my good friend, that's maybe some of the initial comparisons that I

09:08can make between my near shore to offshore call center. Love that. Yeah. I love that. And so obviously

09:13you guys have a competitive advantage in the company. You've talked about a lot of different

09:18cool things that you guys are doing. Kind of sounds like the early days of Google. Remember the early

09:23days where it was due no harm and they had, they had the big giant playrooms, ping pong and all that

09:29kind of thing. Almost, almost like that kind of atmosphere for you guys. So I love that. Now let's

09:35move on to who you guys serve. So what, what kind of clients typically industries, you don't have to

09:40mention client names, but industries that are pretty frequenters to you guys' call center.

09:46Well, once again, there's certain things that are hot for a moment and then burn out, but

09:51we work with certain verticals here. Like the inbound support campaign is, is with a movies and music

09:58company. It's almost like the old Columbia house. So our demographic is 55 plus female that receives

10:04these big books every year and calls us up and, and orders their movies. We also work with law firms

10:09in regards to intake coordinators and support. I work with transportation companies so we can follow up with,

10:16you know, dispatching and follow up on the packages. Also with the travel industry,

10:21the real estate industry, the education industry, and sometimes the tech industry.

10:28Well, we'll set appointments for people in the IT sector. And so, as I mentioned before,

10:34well, this is a very strict Catholic country, Joey, and is as much as I want to grow to 5,000 seats.

10:40I'm very selective with the campaigns that come in. So I refuse more than I take.

10:45And these young men and women have to go home and tell their parents what they do for a living.

10:51And it's very important for me that, A, not only do I prepare them properly and put them on a level

10:56playing field, but we never compromise their ethics, values, and morals. Now, making phone calls

11:02and receiving them sometimes are not easy. That's part of the game. That's what you signed up for.

11:07But there are certain skills that we have here that can be very diplomatic and strategic. And others,

11:14and we'll discuss this later on in the podcast, there are some amazing things that we do here

11:19that I think you will find interesting in regards to getting through to gatekeepers and using, once

11:25again, these positive verbal and written escalations to assist you in closing contracts. And so I'm just

11:31really giving more of an advanced and quality sort of agent that would be representing you and your

11:38company in the best light.

11:40Very cool. So let's move on to that. Let's move on to the marketing side of things. Or, you know,

11:46I think this could be two tiers. So this could be for your business, Richard, or this could be for

11:51the businesses that come in that you help, right? And so we can go in, you know, down both of those

11:55rabbit holes if you want. So how do your, how do your clients typically connect with you? And then

12:00how do you market to them lead generation wise? So let's start on, you know, how you're getting

12:05clients. And then we can talk about what you're doing for your clients on the lead gen side.

12:09Wonderful. A lot of the clients are introduced to me through referrals. And those are my favorite

12:15because people that have worked with me and believe in me will recommend me. And that's,

12:18that's not even a sale. It's more of a conversation, right? But I'm very heavy with search

12:23engine optimization. If you go into Central America, telemarketing, call centers, near shore,

12:29especially Costa Rica, forget about it. I mean, I dominate in regards to those pages and I'm not

12:34the largest center, but I'm very good on the internet. I do a lot of sharing. I write a lot

12:39of articles. We're doing a lot of podcasts now and videos. So prior to even meeting me,

12:45my potential clients have the opportunity to read about me, listen to me and learn.

12:51A million dollars worth of free advice prior to even calling me. So it saves me a lot of time on

12:58my phone calls. We're almost starting off on third base. And really what it is, is more deductive

13:05reasoning where they will tell me 10 things and I will write it down and I'll be the second one to

13:10speak. I will answer each one in a fourth right way to see if I am or not able to fulfill their needs

13:16and make a suggestion. And then I will always add one or two more additional points that they didn't

13:22ask about before to not just establish my credibility, but to let them know the extensive

13:28and the depth of what I have here in regards to my experience that would be worth that one or two

13:34extra dollars an hour. But as I mentioned before, I like people that have systems in place where I can

13:41plug and play. If they've been doing it for years, then I do have metrics I can compare to and the

13:46amount of calls they make in the average talk time and wrap up time. If they have email templates,

13:51if they leave voicemails, these are things I can listen to. And as I say before, I make suggestions

13:57and unless I get a green light, I don't implement it. But there have been times where I've seen certain

14:04tones that I think were not appropriate or certain vocabulary where I had to explain to them why the

14:09thesaurus is important. Because I think I might be able to choose a word to avoid a rabbit hole.

14:15And I'll give you the easiest example, like help. It's not a deal breaker. But instead of using the

14:20word help, which might offend or could get the tone off a little bit, I prefer using words like guide,

14:27assist, and lend a hand. Those are certain soft skills. And in addition to that, instead of saying,

14:33excuse me, could you repeat that? A lot of the times, Joey, it's for my clarification or for our

14:38edification. Did you say one, two, three, or ABC? And so these are things, once again, to reduce talk

14:44time, to move conversations forward. I will be sharing with you times to use rebuttals in certain

14:50areas like that too. And so it's more just about active listening, Joey, and focusing on their

14:57interests first. And so those are the sort of things that I could see as being much more effective.

15:03Yeah. You mentioned some ways to, I don't want to say, like you said, languages matters,

15:09right? Get around gatekeepers. You mentioned empathy, right? So what are some of the tactics

15:14or strategies that you're using to, because a lot of times these big companies, you want to go in and

15:20chase a lead there. They have a gatekeeper that's in, I wouldn't say in the way, but there's somebody

15:25there that's gatekeeping for the decision-making people. So what is it that you guys do? I mean,

15:31yeah, I guess you don't have to, you don't have to get super specific to give away any of your

15:35proprietary workings.

15:38I'm giving you my, Joey, I'm giving you my special sauce. That's why you have me here today. And

15:43what I'm going to be sharing with you, my good friend, is something that once you see it, you

15:47don't unsee it. And after three weeks, it becomes habit. And it's my pleasure to share this with you.

15:54As I, I just want you to know, I don't have a book to sell. There's no seminar. It's,

15:59it's Joey's friend, Richard, that's here today in sunny Costa Rica, sharing ideas to

16:03add wind in your sails. And once again, to increase your audience's ability to have these

16:09relationships. All right, my good friend, follow me through this. I believe that the attention span

16:15is 30 seconds to two minutes. And every conversation has an introduction, a body, and a

16:20conclusion. If you don't leave the intro, forget your body and conclusion. It doesn't even exist.

16:24When you're calling into business to business. Yes, of course, there's somebody there that's

16:29filtering the call. My suggestion immediately is to do a company named Spike. You still have

16:35your anonymity. So somebody, if I call your company, for an example, and Joey, let me ask

16:39you a question. Do you have an assistant that works with you that may answer the call at your

16:43company at lead generation strategies? Not right now. So it's me. Okay. So let's just say it's,

16:49we'll use the name Kathy for an example. So I'll call your company, right? And Kathy goes lead

16:55generation strategies. Kathy speaking. I go, how's lead generation strategies doing today? I'll never

17:00ask Kathy how she's doing. I'm asking how your company is doing today. First and foremost, it's

17:05the first three seconds of when I speak, I'm saying the name of your company. So I'm saying what you did

17:10better than you did. And I also have my anonymity. And then immediately, Kathy's going to like how I said

17:15it better than she did probably wants to hire me. And she'll usually ask me the first question. Oh,

17:20that's great. What is your name? And that's when we have a, called a buffer boomerang technique.

17:30It's when somebody asks you a question, sometimes they might have a negative tone. Like what is your

17:34name? Well, I would say, Hey, Kathy, that's an excellent question. My name is Richard blank.

17:41I buffer her negative tone. I throw the name drop in there, Kathy. I say, that's an excellent

17:47question, but you can't say that every time you got to switch up the excellent question with,

17:51I'm glad you brought that up, you know, right. And then I'll repeat the question to show active

17:56listening and then send it back as a positive answer. And so this could be done six to 10 times

18:01on a phone call, positive escalation or, um, a book buffer boomerang technique. So I answered Kathy's

18:06question. She likes Richard blank. Right. And then she goes, okay, I'll, I'll transfer you over to

18:10Joey before you go, Kathy. I just want to let you know that you did a great job. And when I speak to

18:14Joey, I'm going to let them know that that's a positive escalation. All centers, you actually

18:19get paid for that. So the call gets transferred to you. And once again, I'm using my anonymity.

18:23Hello, this is Joey lead generation strategies. Hey, Joey, I just got to let you know that Kathy is

18:28the best employee you ever have. Oh, thank you. Once again, I'm giving the gift. I have momentum,

18:35have my anonymity. And then you say at a level two, instead of a 10 and defensive,

18:39what is your name? Once again, a buffer boomerang. Joey. So glad you asked. Once again,

18:44my name is Richard blank. And now we begin. So we're on a phone call, right? And then Joey asked

18:50me a second question. Okay, Richard, I like you. What do you do? Joey? I'm so glad that you brought

18:56that up. This is what I do. A B C and D no desert pitching. You need an oasis so you can drink and rest.

19:05I will give you a present it like a dessert tray. See if you make a noise or reaction,

19:11a positive or a negative reinforcement. And let's just say you like a so instead of a horizontal,

19:17now I put you into a vertical and start stacking you with open ended questions. You understand that

19:24now I get explanations. So we go through that, right? And you're explaining to me what you like

19:30about a I haven't gotten B C or D yet. But this is what we need to know. There are certain times on

19:36your call, Joey, where you have a phonetic micro expression reading. I believe phonetics is broken

19:44down into four parts, your tone, rate, pitch and duration. Your tone is your consistent variable

19:50that should always be positive and empathetic. But what about the mirror imaging technique? I got

19:55to Joey, but don't mirror image and negative tone. Here's consistent. You match them in their rate

20:01and their speaking level. Okay. And why do we do this every 30 seconds to two minutes? Because I don't

20:07know you. And I just want to make sure that when I'm speaking with you sight unseen, because I can't

20:12taste, touch or smell. You could only listen, which gets expanded and using your image streaming

20:16because you can't see them. So now it's more imagination. So every 30 seconds to two minutes,

20:22if you're not making a noise, if you're not typing something or writing something, you might do a

20:27spike or a dip in regards to how you speak in regards to your phonetics, not the semantics,

20:32not what you say, how you say it. And so that's when I will usually interject and say,

20:38tie down or a rebuttal. I would ask if it makes sense or sounds good, right, Joey? Or once again,

20:45for my clarification. Now, why for my clarification? Because a lot of us are working from home now.

20:52And there could be a dog barking in the background. So inadvertently and passive aggressively. What I

20:59recommend to you and your audience is to let them know, hey, the me too technique. I love dogs

21:04too, Joey. Great. And I give you the follow-up question. What's the dog's name? And you say,

21:10it's Fluffy. Great. Put them outside. I love Fluffy. So you put Fluffy outside, you come back,

21:16you apologize. No worries. And that's usually when I anchor you. What do you mean? I'm not pitching

21:22you on what I'm doing. I'm not trying to close you. We're probably going to talk about your dog

21:26for a minute or two. And that's when you say to me, once again, what is your name? Joey,

21:30I'm so glad that you asked again. Once again, my name is Richard Blank. And now you're name dropping

21:35me the rest of the call. So after I give you the list and I stack it, and I'm sure you like at least

21:41one, which you mentioned to me, now we're at the conclusion of the call. And I will say, Joey,

21:47since you still have me on the phone, are there any questions you have? You told me you liked A.

21:51Remember B, C, and D. Well, you like D. Now we stack it and say it again. I confirm any information

21:58you have with the military alphabet, because once again, the call should be ending. But the next

22:04thing you know, you served, you know, someone that served or it was just Memorial Day. We're going to

22:09be talking about that and how proud we are, but I'm still not done. When I'm finished the call,

22:16I'm going to write to you and explain how amazing Kathy was to assist me in the beginning, besides

22:20the other bells and whistles that we spoke about. So then when I call you back and Kathy answers the

22:26phone, she's going to say, Richard, I just got to let you know in the last 10 years, no one's ever

22:31said something like that about me. And so that's the Richard circle. And once I get transferred to you

22:39again, it's just constant positive reinforcements. And these are the sort of things that instead of

22:44making a hundred phone calls a day, Joey, why don't you make 89? Why don't you take a couple extra

22:49minutes to do positive escalations, to rake the call? I'm sure you like at least one. Use these

22:55spikes and dips. Or if you're just leaving a voicemail, take an extra 30 seconds to look at a LinkedIn

23:01profile or their website. So you can custom make that recording or that email. And so these are the

23:10sort of metrics that I've seen increase by just custom making it. So if you're just going to carpet

23:16bomb this stuff, you become a print. You're not really a painting. You're a character, Joey. You're

23:22just not in character. Remember when you made your first podcast, remember when you started out,

23:27how raw you were, right? And the essence of what it was to Joey to begin all this stuff.

23:33That's what I want the people to still have today. You can be polished. You can know your stuff and

23:39be well rehearsed. But Joey, we need to talk about your dog or about your trip to Costa Rico on your

23:45honeymoon with your beautiful wife. Or when you were playing semi-professional baseball, which is

23:50pretty cool. I mean, these are things, Joey, where we get to learn about one another and share with

23:56each other. And then at the end, that's when the contracts are signed.

24:00Right, right. I love that. Yeah, that's a great, and there's a lot of science to that. And I could

24:04tell you you're well researched when it comes to that whole science of from the beginning to the end

24:11of that conversation. And I love that. When you hire an agent on, are they, no, I know a lot of it is

24:20putting the right people in the right seat. So do you have a certain kind of filter, personality test,

24:26things like that? Are you filtering them at the beginning from that? Or are you coming in and you

24:31completely retraining them? So do they already have what already you need? And then you're

24:37nurturing that? Or are you taking them completely blank and bringing them in and retraining them?

24:43Well, first, no pun intended on that blank comment. I love that. But that's why you have the best

24:49podcast, Joe. You really do ask the best questions. Let me answer it in two ways for you. I can bring

24:57somebody in that has the experience, but once again, they could have terrible habits. I also agree in

25:04right bus, right seat. They belong at the center, but where could they be the best? And also, where is

25:09their potential? Now, in order for me to scale, I may need to bring in a freshman. It doesn't matter

25:15that they don't have call center experience. You and I could easily teach them how to use the CRM

25:19and a phone system. That takes just one hour and they're very bright. They could do that with their

25:23hands tied behind their back. But I'm really looking for somebody that shows up on time, front row

25:31center, pen at the ready. Instead of just absorbing, they start contributing during class.

25:37I like kids like that. And to me, I'm looking to delegate and to promote. It doesn't matter if

25:43you're with me one day or 10 years, boy or girl, young and old. I see somebody with that sort of

25:48spirit. I like to, as you say, nurture it. And for me, since I'm a guest in this country, not saying

25:55it's better or worse, but I'm able to bring them certain experiences I had in Philadelphia and in

26:00Arizona. And just by being a business owner. Now, mind you this, being a business owner, you have

26:06leverage. You could make or break somebody. You could hire or fire somebody. You and I, as business

26:12owners, we choose the former. It's very important for us in this delicate stage in their life to break

26:18any sort of bad stereotypes of a boss would have. Because fear is a morbid anticipation, Joey, is

26:24something that hasn't happened yet. If they're afraid of me, they're not going to produce. And I have

26:28to put it in perspective immediately with them. Two things. First is I'm the only boss pretty much that

26:33introduce myself to them. They always tell me that. And second, by learning another language

26:39is 10 times harder than what they're about to do on the phone. So I just want them to calm down for a

26:45minute. I'm going to walk them through it. I'll more than prepare them. And hopefully I'll be the

26:51last boss that they ever have. And so by telling them this before they even walk into class, and this

26:56is when we're in the game room at recess before they even start training, I think I can reduce

27:03any sort of fear. I can bring back any sort of apprehension. And eventually somebody can just open

27:10up and dare to make a mistake. And if they're willing to not be vulnerable, but be coachable,

27:18there's no reason you and I can't create all-stars. You understand that. Look what your coaches did to

27:26you when you were in the peewee league. And then in high school, you had some amazing coaches in your

27:32youth that got you to division one baseball. And I find that amazing that they believed in you.

27:39They got you there during the tough days when you didn't want to practice. If you struck out or

27:44missed a ball, it's, it's pick yourself back up sort of time. And so I believe that this coaching

27:49that you and I received from athletics can be brought into business because it's the same sort

27:56of structure and discipline. Joey's the same sort of dedicated practice. My friend, you and I did

28:01when we were not with our teammates, practicing hitting and catching with your buddies in the

28:05neighborhood or just studying tapes or just, or just reviewing it with yourself, you know,

28:10with the ball against the wall, just catching it yourself. I used to do that with hockey. I used to,

28:15you know, take shots on the net when no one was around and I respect somebody that can invest time

28:25in themselves. And if they do something like that, then all I want to do is to give them a little bit

28:30more structure to increase that sort of skillset and momentum. I love that. Yeah. And what's great

28:36with coaches is that you can learn a lot of good things and you take a lot of good things away from

28:40coaches. And then there are also some things that you learn how not to coach. And, and that's from

28:45peewees all the way up through wherever, however high somebody gets in any sport. It doesn't matter

28:50that not baseball, but anything hockey, like you mentioned you take, and like, what was it? Bruce

28:56Lee said, you take what is useful, you adapt what is useless, and then you discard the rest type of

29:01thing. Right. And so that's, I love that. So, you know, it sounds like we're on the kind of the

29:06same wavelength when it comes to whether it's managing people or coaching people or, you know,

29:11whatever kind of word that you want to use. So we're kind of near in, near in time here. I did

29:16want to ask you what kind of maybe top challenge or two challenges that, that you're, you're experiencing

29:23in the business that maybe somebody in, in my network or myself could possibly help with.

29:29Well, since we do compete against Amazon, my largest challenge is natural attrition. I don't

29:38fire people. People will leave me because of a scheduling conflict closer to their home or their

29:43boyfriend or girlfriend works there. So I can't take it personal. I get disappointed more than I do

29:48angry because someone could be with me for years and all of a sudden they peace out and don't give me a

29:53two weeks notice. So if you're going to start strong with me, it'd be great that we just end a

29:58working relationship, but still have a normal mutual friendship. And so that's just one of the

30:04things that come up, but I'm used to it. That's, that's part of the game. And as I say before,

30:08if I treat them with dignity and give them all of my resources, there's no reason why someone should

30:13leave in haste or to be pissed off. And I guess the second thing is the language skillset. And it's,

30:20it's very rare, but if there's a certain code red situation, because a lot of the times things happen

30:25outside the call center, Joey, which may affect their performance here. And so I will allow someone

30:30to get off the floor to be able to discuss with us what's going on in their native tongue originally,

30:35so they can just get it out. And then for my own clarification, I do ask them to speak in English,

30:40what they just said as well, even though I am bilingual. So just in case there's that 5% where it can blend

30:45together and to make sure that we're on the same page. And then I will do the same in Spanish and in

30:50English. And then if it's super code red, I bring in a floor manager to speak for me.

30:54And so I just want to make sure when there's heightened emotion, that it just doesn't get

31:00out of hand. So somebody who's having one of the worst days of their life does something,

31:05let's say foolish leaves when they really wasn't necessary or shouldn't have gone there. And so

31:13I've realized that my Philadelphia way to motivate you and you in California and Fresno,

31:18the rah-rah, it could be appropriate, but sometimes it may not be. And so I'm just taking

31:23certain delicate situations in a certain way that I'm very, very careful in regards to my delivery

31:31and my message and how I receive their message. And for the most part, my friend, as long as you

31:36once again, listen attentively and you repeat what they say to make sure we're on the same page,

31:41you can pretty much reduce any sort of friction and resolve most of these issues.

31:46Yeah. Yeah. Good, good points. Good points. So Richard, so just kind of nearing the close here,

31:52you know, a lot of great, wonderful information. I think really any industry can, can take what

31:57the advice that you've given today and can use that. And, and so, you know, your website,

32:02Costa Rica's call center.com again, the S at the end of Rika, right? Rika's call center. Cause it's

32:09possessive. Where can people find you? If people wanted to reach out maybe if you wanted to put your email

32:14out there up to you, social media, where can people find you to get more information?

32:18Well, kind of like what you and your wife did, you guys should grab a plane ticket, fly down here and

32:22come visit. That's number one. But if you want to give me a call, 888-271-6750, or shoot me an email,

32:30CEO at Costa Rica's call center.com. And, and finally, and this is where you're going immediately.

32:36We have a very large Facebook fan page, Costa Rica's call center. It's about 98,000 Ticos currently,

32:41and it'll give you the pulse on what's happening here in Central America during the day and at

32:46night. But these Ticos can't wait to meet you, Joey. So I, I, I'm very much looking forward to

32:53putting our episode on there. It's a great community. And, and we, like I mentioned before,

32:58we got on this call on this interview on the pre, pre call of the interview. My wife and I 10 days

33:04spent there on a honeymoon trip where we were probably brought down the average age of our tour

33:11down to about 70 years old. Right. Um, we were in our mid twenties at the time, but we fell in love

33:16with Costa Rica and the different cities that we visited. And I moved, I don't know how many times

33:21we said, boy, it'd be great to, to move here. I mean, like you said, it's, it's on the same Pacific

33:26standard time. It's, uh, like you said, an hour, what, or, uh, it was an hour, did you say hour,

33:32two hours or so just South? Um, great food, great scenery, great people. I mean, it's all great.

33:39The only thing was, is that we were, we had, didn't have kids yet. As you can see in the

33:43background, we got our two right here. We got Noah and Grayson, um, and our, our hand, our

33:49handlers of handlers. So our grandparents wouldn't have been able to pick up and move and go there

33:54either. So we wouldn't have had, I mean, we could have had Ticos and Tikas to help out, I guess,

33:59but we wouldn't have had our own, um, uh, grandparents to help out. So we're like,

34:03well, let's, let's do that first. And then maybe someday we could, we could head out there,

34:07but Hey, I commend you, uh, very honorable what you're doing with the business and the

34:12people that you're, that you have employed with you guys. Sounds like you guys are doing

34:15a great job. Um, but I wanted to thank you for your time today, Richard, and, uh, we'll be

34:20in touch. Thank you so much. Poor Vita Joey had a great time today. Thank you, sir.

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