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Tech Your Business Podcast by Peter Banigo. An Outsourcing Operations Overseas with Richard Blank.

Tech Your Business
A weekly podcast simplifying & amplifying tech trends and innovations for Business owners overwhelmed by Technology.

In this episode of the Tech Your Business podcast, Peter Banigo chats with Richard Blank, CEO of the Costa Rica Call Center, about outsourcing operations like sales, customer service and back office support. Show #27. Outsourcing Operations Overseas.

Get tips on outsourcing operations overseas from call center expert Richard Blank of the Costa Rica Call Center!

In this episode, Richard shares 16+ years of lessons learned on managing remote teams effectively, competing with industry giants like Amazon, and the pros and cons of outsourcing vs handling operations in-house.

Gain insights into building company culture, empathy and flexibility when leveraging global talent to drive efficiency and results for your business!

Richard shares lessons learned from 16+ years running a call center abroad, including the importance of company culture, empathy, flexibility and frugality.


They discuss strategies for competing with industry giants, tips for effective remote team management, and the pros and cons of outsourcing vs handling operations in-house.


An insightful conversation on leveraging talent globally to improve efficiency and boost results!



https://youtu.be/KyMPTWv_arc
Transcript
00:00Interesting. So you took all the way from Philadelphia down to Costa Rica to start your business. And I think I have a similar story too, because I grew up in Nigeria, schooled there, then went to school in the year, had my master's in the UK, started my business in the UK after my master's and met a couple of challenges.
00:22So for entrepreneurs looking to start a business overseas, what are some key challenges that they would anticipate? Because I know you've seen a lot in the last 16 years.
00:37There's two types of challenges. It's either got to be mental or physical. The mental challenge is not paying attention to the people that have never done it before that say it's too difficult, you're not going to learn how to do it, you'll fail.
00:49Those are the negative Nancy's and the Debbie Downer's. You've really got to almost sometimes be selfish, tap into your vision quest, your spiritual journey. And as long as your intentions are honorable, and you're being responsible, I always believe somebody does have a current in this life.
01:08But for me, I needed to learn the legalities. And I don't have the time or the patience or the mental aptitude to go to these sort of schools. So I had to hire human resources directors, accountants, attorneys, and certain chief technical officers, right, and security downstairs for the front, right, with the contractors, my computer and hardware providers.
01:37But I will share a secret with you. It's quite disappointing, but it should be expected. Look at me. I look like I should be, you should charge me 20 more percent, right? I'm not saying you, Peter. But of course, I walk into these stores, and they look at me like, Oh, man, come on, you can definitely get a buck 20. So what I had to do is I had to have somebody that was local, that knew the local. So first he's local. So now it's not 20%. Now we're at 100%.
02:05No, he's.
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