Latest / Glovisor Podcast / He Left Philly at 27 and Built a Call Center Business in Costa Rica | Richard Blank [Ep 70]

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He Left Philly at 27 and Built a Call Center Business in Costa Rica | Richard Blank [Ep 70] · Glovisor Podcast

0:00
Speaker 1: Nobody tells you what it really takes to leave everything
0:02
Speaker 1: behind and start over in another country. Welcome to the
0:08
Speaker 1: Glowvisor Podcast, where we explore business growth, communication, and personal
0:11
Speaker 1: development through real conversations with people that make an impact.
0:16
Speaker 1: Our guest took a long shot at 27, leaving Philadelphia
0:20
Speaker 1: to start a company from scratch in Costa Rica. Since 2008,
0:24
Speaker 1: he has grown that company to 150 employees and trained
0:29
Speaker 1: more than 10,000 telemarketers, proving that old school grit and
0:35
Speaker 1: people skills can accomplish anything. And he's a classic pinball collector.
0:42
Speaker 1: Lowvisor welcomes Richard Blank.
0:46
Speaker 2: Hey, Rich. How you doing, Joe? Great to be with
0:48
Speaker 2: you and your audience. Can't wait to share some ideas
0:51
Speaker 2: and my Journey of twists and turns that got me
0:54
Speaker 2: here today. Well, okay, so let's start right away.
0:57
Speaker 1: I want to find out what makes a 27-year-old pick
1:01
Speaker 1: up and leave Philly and go to Costa Rica.
1:06
Speaker 2: Joe, everyone wants their hero's journey. You got to leave
1:10
Speaker 2: a castle to slay a dragon, save a princess, and
1:12
Speaker 2: become a prince. But it just wasn't the thing that
1:15
Speaker 2: was on a dime. I was building on momentum. I
1:19
Speaker 2: was a Spanish major. in college. It's my favorite class
1:23
Speaker 2: in high school. And ever since I was a little boy,
1:26
Speaker 2: the greatest thing I did outside the classroom was learn Spanish.
1:29
Speaker 2: It was dedicated practice. And so getting that reinforcement when
1:33
Speaker 2: I was like eight or nine years old and just
1:35
Speaker 2: building on it, when that opportunity came, the one in
1:39
Speaker 2: a million opportunity, one of the best ages you could
1:41
Speaker 2: be at your life, 27, it was a perfect time
1:45
Speaker 2: to shite some skin, have a coming of age moment
1:48
Speaker 2: and live. And so I took it. And it was
1:51
Speaker 2: only supposed to be for 60 days. I was supposed
1:54
Speaker 2: to just teach English in my friend's center, have a
1:56
Speaker 2: little bit of fun, come home. Now I anchored. I
2:00
Speaker 2: planted some roots, fell in love, and learned the business
2:04
Speaker 2: from the inside out. And then in my mid-30s, I
2:07
Speaker 2: had some time and a little bit of capital, and
2:10
Speaker 2: then decided to throw my hat in the ring. I
2:12
Speaker 2: matured in impulse control. And at that stage, it was
2:15
Speaker 2: the perfect time for me to then begin It's where
2:18
Speaker 2: I am now, you know, in my 18th year. It's
2:20
Speaker 2: pretty incredible to run.
2:22
Speaker 1: Once you moved there and you kind of infused yourself
2:26
Speaker 1: into this business and started learning about it, which role
2:30
Speaker 1: were you at that moment that sort of got you
2:34
Speaker 1: into this business that you're in today?
2:36
Speaker 2: I have a great podcast, my man. That's a wonderful question.
2:40
Speaker 2: I had luxury. I was friends with the owner of
2:44
Speaker 2: the call center. It's my buddy. And he allowed me
2:48
Speaker 2: in the course of four years to learn his business
2:51
Speaker 2: from the inside out. So initially I was teaching English
2:56
Speaker 2: and then I just hung out in the retention department,
2:58
Speaker 2: customer support. He had a lead generation department, human resources, accounting,
3:05
Speaker 2: learned the labor laws. But the department that I gravitated
3:09
Speaker 2: towards most was the SEO online promotion. I felt that
3:13
Speaker 2: was kind of cool back in 2000. And secondly, the training.
3:18
Speaker 2: I look at it like this. Most people just run plays,
3:22
Speaker 2: but you always got to put the wild card in
3:24
Speaker 2: the zig and the zag in life. And my training,
3:27
Speaker 2: it had its structure. These are English second language Costa Ricans,
3:31
Speaker 2: but I added them a little bit of flair, the
3:34
Speaker 2: Philly attitude, the Philly style, and some vocabulary that would
3:38
Speaker 2: allow them to bridge and connect with people. Plus, my
3:41
Speaker 2: classes were fun. And so after training, as you say, 10,000 people,
3:46
Speaker 2: you see patterns and you do it purely from fidelity,
3:50
Speaker 2: you're not forced to do it. And that was the
3:53
Speaker 2: best part of me when I started my company. I
3:55
Speaker 2: knew I was able to do that, but that was
3:58
Speaker 2: my graduate school, Joe. I got to learn things, but
4:01
Speaker 2: here's the most valuable thing that I got. It was
4:04
Speaker 2: almost like undercover boss. For those four years, I got
4:08
Speaker 2: to listen to that good, the bad, and the happy,
4:10
Speaker 2: and the sad. I got to hear the gripes and
4:12
Speaker 2: when people were excited. And so I took that knowledge
4:16
Speaker 2: to when I became a CEO. and use that for
4:19
Speaker 2: strategy and for reinforcement and for a good foundation of
4:23
Speaker 2: just caring about people. Most people felt like numbers were inexpendable.
4:28
Speaker 2: These are real people making and receiving phone calls. It's
4:31
Speaker 2: one of the most challenging jobs you could have if
4:34
Speaker 2: you're a professional. So if you extend a little bit
4:38
Speaker 2: of something to them, take a breather like a boxer
4:40
Speaker 2: every now and again, you earn their respect and they
4:44
Speaker 2: stick along with you. But it's extremely lucrative. And you
4:48
Speaker 2: can grow a company very fast if you're capable. My challenge,
4:53
Speaker 2: my friend, is that I compete with some of the
4:55
Speaker 2: larger centers here, such as Amazon, HP, Intel, Oracle, you
4:58
Speaker 2: name it. And so we all fight for that talent.
5:02
Speaker 2: So if you can have something a little bit different,
5:04
Speaker 2: a spring in your step, you can naturally filter the
5:07
Speaker 2: labor pool and the dirty dozen and that kid with
5:10
Speaker 2: all that potential and the one person that needs a mentor,
5:14
Speaker 2: they'll come to you and they'll They'll be some of
5:16
Speaker 2: the best co-workers you could ever have.
5:19
Speaker 1: Now, will you be able to share maybe an example
5:22
Speaker 1: of what type of telemarketing your company conducts today?
5:27
Speaker 2: Sure. I know what you're thinking. The Wolf of Wall Street, ABC,
5:32
Speaker 2: Glengarry Glen Ross, the Prime Gig. We don't do those.
5:36
Speaker 2: And that's Hollywood glamorizing it. What do we do? A
5:40
Speaker 2: lot of our campaigns are inbound customer support. One of
5:43
Speaker 2: my clients does movies and music. We do outbound touching
5:48
Speaker 2: base in regards to a travel company. And so these
5:51
Speaker 2: are things that, A, we can fulfill the client's needs.
5:56
Speaker 2: It's something that I can find the right profile for it.
6:00
Speaker 2: But most phone calls, if you think about it, what
6:03
Speaker 2: a great old school way to touch base with somebody,
6:06
Speaker 2: kind of like what you and I are doing face-to-face.
6:08
Speaker 2: I know we're not sitting next to each other, but
6:11
Speaker 2: this isn't through non-voice. We're not chatting or emailing. They're
6:15
Speaker 2: sending a text. And so these artists of speech that
6:21
Speaker 2: can reach out to clients to get a referral, retain them,
6:27
Speaker 2: get an upsell, and worst case scenario, an exit interview
6:31
Speaker 2: to find out what we need to do to improve,
6:35
Speaker 2: that's priceless. And a lot more companies are automated or
6:39
Speaker 2: they're using AI, and I get it. AI is excellent
6:42
Speaker 2: for gathering. Let them do the heavy lifting. But it's
6:46
Speaker 2: guys like you and I, Joe, that need to be
6:48
Speaker 2: on the phone with our clients, holding their hands and
6:51
Speaker 2: walking up all into the end zone. I believe that
6:54
Speaker 2: that's the highest class service you can provide somebody. And
6:57
Speaker 2: there's still value in my industry. It's just changing. And
7:01
Speaker 2: so when you're asking me this simple question, I got you, pal.
7:04
Speaker 2: Everyone's received phone calls before, and sometimes you've had to
7:06
Speaker 2: make them. What would you do in that situation? Frederick,
7:11
Speaker 2: we look at your tone. We look at your pacing.
7:14
Speaker 2: We look at your pausing. We look at tie-down and
7:18
Speaker 2: confirmation clarifying questions. There's strategy as a transitional sentence to
7:23
Speaker 2: move to the next checkpoint. And if you take a
7:27
Speaker 2: 10-minute conversation as 30, you know, 30-second, 20, 30-second checkpoints,
7:36
Speaker 2: you can easily control a conversation so you get the
7:39
Speaker 2: conversion or you get the understanding and some sort of
7:43
Speaker 2: at least a fair play. And when you've mastered these skills,
7:49
Speaker 2: which you have, you're a wonderful speaker. It's amazing how
7:54
Speaker 2: you can build relationships and listen to people and make
7:58
Speaker 2: such an impression, Joe, that 10 years from now, they
8:01
Speaker 2: still remember you. That's one of the greatest compliments you
8:04
Speaker 2: could ever do. And so that's what I'm trying to
8:07
Speaker 2: do is just pay it forward, my friend, and assist
8:10
Speaker 2: this next generation. Those are the sort of calls we
8:12
Speaker 2: make and receive, if that makes any sort of sense.
8:15
Speaker 2: That's great.
8:16
Speaker 1: Now, with all of these elements that you just mentioned,
8:19
Speaker 1: I felt like I got a little lost and I
8:21
Speaker 1: felt that I was talking to the CIA psychological department.
8:26
Speaker 1: I feel that there's a lot more psychology to what
8:29
Speaker 1: you're doing than just making a phone call.
8:31
Speaker 2: No, no, no, no, no. I would say, Joe, I'm
8:36
Speaker 2: using a name drop. ABC. Does that make sense? I
8:41
Speaker 2: just want to make sure that it's crystal clear and
8:43
Speaker 2: you get it. But then you go, Richard, what is ABC? Okay, Joe,
8:47
Speaker 2: I'm glad you brought that up. ABC is one, two, three.
8:51
Speaker 2: May we move forward? Or do you have any more questions?
8:53
Speaker 2: These are just very simple ways to ensure that there's
8:56
Speaker 2: a rhythm there, there's an understanding, and there's a checkpoint.
9:00
Speaker 2: A lot of the times I suggest to repeat what
9:02
Speaker 2: you're saying so you don't have to repeat it again.
9:04
Speaker 2: And you get it that I get it, and let's
9:06
Speaker 2: just answer it five different ways if I have to
9:09
Speaker 2: until you get it. And then you maybe move forward
9:13
Speaker 2: or I'm glad you brought that up. But you know what?
9:15
Speaker 2: I knew we were going to talk about this. These
9:17
Speaker 2: are transitions to keep the rhythm going. And as I mentioned,
9:22
Speaker 2: tie down questions. Could you see using this with your company?
9:27
Speaker 2: Can you see the savings? Can you see the difference?
9:31
Speaker 2: You're comparing apples to people and you're doing it a
9:35
Speaker 2: lot of the times non-visually. So my suggestion for individuals
9:39
Speaker 2: is to remove your taste, touch, and smell, to take
9:42
Speaker 2: your hearing and expand it by two, and using the
9:47
Speaker 2: strategy of image streaming to make your vocabulary more colorful, descriptive.
9:55
Speaker 2: Don't just say, how can I help you? No. Joe,
9:58
Speaker 2: my man, how may I lend a hand? All right,
10:00
Speaker 2: just double score. It's a visual of lending a hand.
10:03
Speaker 2: And so when people are in the now and they're
10:06
Speaker 2: tapping into these advanced speaking skills, which is just clarity
10:11
Speaker 2: and delivery and vocabulary, use a thesaurus. Find additional descriptive
10:17
Speaker 2: similes to certain words that don't sound juicy or could
10:22
Speaker 2: produce an ego defense. What a beautiful thing to do.
10:27
Speaker 2: You complimented how I dress to hear, well, this is
10:29
Speaker 2: how I speak. When you are speaking with somebody, you
10:32
Speaker 2: don't need profanity to make your point or slang if
10:35
Speaker 2: you want to. But if you use choice vocabulary that's
10:39
Speaker 2: appropriate for the moment, not offensive, but could compliment somebody
10:43
Speaker 2: or diffuse some sort of situation, then you are an
10:46
Speaker 2: incredible speaker. And don't be ashamed of that dance. And
10:49
Speaker 2: most people will be envious of it because they weren't
10:52
Speaker 2: prepared at that moment like you were. And it doesn't
10:57
Speaker 2: need to be rehearsed. Some of the greatest speakers speak
10:59
Speaker 2: from the heart. They have sincerity. So what comes out is,
11:03
Speaker 2: right at the moment, it's telling you that I love you.
11:06
Speaker 2: And you know that I mean it. And so, my friend,
11:09
Speaker 2: if I can make these breakthroughs to people that work
11:13
Speaker 2: with me or your amazing audience at your company, then
11:18
Speaker 2: I've done my job. That's why I'm here. And it's
11:22
Speaker 2: not any sort of rocket science. It's a little bit
11:24
Speaker 2: of mentalism and just some lucidity and just being in
11:27
Speaker 2: the now and seeing patterns. That's all you got to do, brother.
11:32
Speaker 2: And if you do that, there'll definitely be some more
11:34
Speaker 2: fun times in your life.
11:37
Speaker 1: Who is the ideal client that you work with currently?
11:40
Speaker 1: And then once those clients come in, are you the
11:43
Speaker 1: person who writes these scripts?
11:45
Speaker 2: I love clients that have no surprises. I'm willing to
11:49
Speaker 2: take something if it's above my weight class. Everyone's got
11:52
Speaker 2: to wrestle shoot one day, but you got to at
11:56
Speaker 2: least put me on a level playing field and give
11:58
Speaker 2: me certain resources. If I need to write a script,
12:00
Speaker 2: then we can do it like Lennon and McCartney. I'll
12:03
Speaker 2: just go back and forth. I will use things that
12:05
Speaker 2: have worked in other verticals. I made certain suggestions so
12:10
Speaker 2: we won't seem too aggressive. Or, Joe, I won't compromise
12:14
Speaker 2: the ethics, values, and morals of the agents working here.
12:17
Speaker 2: I'm not the fall guy. This isn't the Maltese Falcon.
12:20
Speaker 2: And so there are certain things that I got to
12:23
Speaker 2: make sure there's a really good, healthy balance with all
12:26
Speaker 2: the parties involved. But then I also have some clients
12:29
Speaker 2: that have unrealistic expectations. Either it's a pilot campaign and
12:33
Speaker 2: they think that they're going to make a million dollars
12:35
Speaker 2: in the first day. And I've also had clients tell
12:38
Speaker 2: me that there's a person named Jasmine at the corporate
12:41
Speaker 2: office that can do 15 in an hour. But it
12:43
Speaker 2: doesn't make sense when you look at the metrics. The
12:45
Speaker 2: average talk time is five minutes. So I'm always there
12:52
Speaker 2: entertaining ideas and propositions. And we're very selective of what
12:57
Speaker 2: we take. It's not that I don't want to do
12:58
Speaker 2: business with you. I've got to make sure these kids
13:00
Speaker 2: can do it. And ethically, I feel okay offering it
13:05
Speaker 2: to the Costa Ricans here to work on your projects.
13:11
Speaker 2: But I enjoy the script writing. I always believe in
13:15
Speaker 2: a simple composition, the introduction and a body and a conclusion.
13:19
Speaker 2: I gotcha. The ending could be great. The bulk in
13:22
Speaker 2: the middle could be perfect, juicy. But guess what? If
13:27
Speaker 2: you don't land the intro, none of that stuff even matters.
13:30
Speaker 2: So instead of carrying so much weight mentally that most
13:33
Speaker 2: of these agents do on new projects, worrying about the middle,
13:36
Speaker 2: worrying about the end, the confirmation of the email, the appointment,
13:40
Speaker 2: don't do that. Just focus on the first 30 seconds
13:43
Speaker 2: of the call. Because if you can land the introduction
13:47
Speaker 2: by maybe doing a company name spike, getting all excited
13:50
Speaker 2: about the name of your company in your podcast, or
13:54
Speaker 2: using a positive escalation, complimenting Judy before she transfers me
13:59
Speaker 2: to you, Joe. I'll do it verbally, and I'll also
14:01
Speaker 2: do it in writing. So when I call you back
14:04
Speaker 2: next week, guess who gets a hero's welcome? I do, Judy.
14:08
Speaker 2: You make nice, you make friends, nicht? And you reduce
14:11
Speaker 2: their defense because they're black and blue from so many
14:14
Speaker 2: terrible phone calls, people that are disrespectful. And I have
14:18
Speaker 2: no idea that this most loyal employee of yours is
14:20
Speaker 2: the one answering the phone. And so once I put
14:23
Speaker 2: that into perspective, I put all my juice into that
14:27
Speaker 2: first 30 seconds. Because once we do that, then I
14:31
Speaker 2: don't have to worry about the rest of the call
14:33
Speaker 2: because you're not going to hang up on me or
14:34
Speaker 2: interrupt me or be rude. And so I just... It's
14:38
Speaker 2: very nice for someone to walk across a dance floor
14:41
Speaker 2: and ask someone to dance. That's where all these legends
14:43
Speaker 2: are made from and movies are done. And so if
14:45
Speaker 2: I can teach somebody to have enough guts to handle
14:49
Speaker 2: that pressure to walk across the floor and do this,
14:53
Speaker 2: then you have the greatest life. In my generation, we
14:58
Speaker 2: used to have to call people's homes and ask their
15:00
Speaker 2: parents' permission to speak to you. And so imagine that
15:03
Speaker 2: sort of butterflies when you're in fifth grade asking someone
15:06
Speaker 2: to the roller party. But does that build character and confidence?
15:15
Speaker 2: Because your intentions are honorable. So that is the sort
15:19
Speaker 2: of psychology mindset that I give people when they're working
15:24
Speaker 2: with me, making calls. It's just a snapshot focus on
15:28
Speaker 2: the introduction, Joe. Because if not, you're going to get
15:31
Speaker 2: lost in what's ahead. It just doesn't work that way.
15:35
Speaker 1: Now, how does it compare starting a business in U.S.
15:40
Speaker 1: and starting a company in Costa Rica?
15:43
Speaker 2: Well, that's very realistic. I couldn't go to school for
15:47
Speaker 2: all these degrees. I put in 10 years for the expertise.
15:52
Speaker 2: And so through certain recommendations and contacts, I was able
15:57
Speaker 2: to build a team with attorneys, accountants, chief technical officers,
16:03
Speaker 2: human resource directors. security, things like that. Individuals that could
16:09
Speaker 2: represent my company and deal with the local Costa Rican government,
16:12
Speaker 2: because I'm not doing that. And I had two corporations,
16:14
Speaker 2: one in the United States, one in Costa Rica. Both
16:16
Speaker 2: paid taxes and both just did their business. Was it complicated?
16:20
Speaker 2: It was a couple more things I had to set up.
16:24
Speaker 2: Was it advantageous? Of course. Our price was much better
16:27
Speaker 2: than the United States, and so I could compete. Our
16:30
Speaker 2: proximity to the United States made it realistic. I'm on
16:33
Speaker 2: mountain time zones. And somebody in Miami could be here
16:36
Speaker 2: in a couple hours. There's tons of direct flights. There's
16:40
Speaker 2: a very large expatriate population here in Costa Rica. So
16:44
Speaker 2: it made it very easy for us to become accustomed
16:47
Speaker 2: to the North American culture from all the tourists and
16:51
Speaker 2: just local interactions that we've had. So for me, the
16:54
Speaker 2: labor pool was at the right place at the right time.
16:56
Speaker 2: You know, we are the most expensive in Central America,
17:00
Speaker 2: but we also have the best infrastructure in a democratic
17:03
Speaker 2: society here. And so I felt safe. And it was,
17:08
Speaker 2: as you say, the temperature was just right. And so
17:11
Speaker 2: for starting it here, as I mentioned, I learned it
17:15
Speaker 2: from the inside out. And when I started at 35,
17:16
Speaker 2: I decided to hire the C-level to assist me. Oh,
17:21
Speaker 2: and also, I didn't overextend. Since I'm in a call center,
17:24
Speaker 2: I started renting turnkey stations at a blended center, like
17:28
Speaker 2: an internet cafe. After having stable clients for a couple
17:32
Speaker 2: years and some capital, I rented space. And in my industry,
17:36
Speaker 2: there's a lot of turnover of call centers. There's nothing
17:39
Speaker 2: wrong with buying a Dell computer that's only been used
17:42
Speaker 2: for a week. So I was avoiding import tax and
17:45
Speaker 2: high costs at certain stores and just picking up row
17:49
Speaker 2: after row computers, chairs, monitors at a fraction of the cost.
17:55
Speaker 2: So being conservative, I was able to scale accordingly. And
18:00
Speaker 2: then after six years of that, and almost busting out
18:03
Speaker 2: of the seams of this one place I was renting.
18:06
Speaker 2: We purchased a building and put on a third floor.
18:08
Speaker 2: And here's the best part, Joe, I always wanted art
18:12
Speaker 2: deco neon lights and marquees. So I made it look
18:17
Speaker 2: like a 1920s theater on the outside. Yeah. Why not?
18:24
Speaker 2: And so I said, if you're ever going to do
18:25
Speaker 2: it once. And so, um, What an interesting journey of
18:29
Speaker 2: the game of life. You start in a tent, you
18:31
Speaker 2: end up in a mansion. And so I'm very happy
18:35
Speaker 2: with my responsibility in regards to the finances. I never
18:39
Speaker 2: took out a mortgage or had an over-aggressive or desperate
18:43
Speaker 2: business partner. I acted my wage. And I think if
18:50
Speaker 2: somebody does that and has savings for rainy days, they
18:54
Speaker 2: can you know, withstand the setbacks, which any company has
18:58
Speaker 2: to go through. And so it wasn't glamorous the whole time.
19:02
Speaker 2: The boxers get back up. So I had to get
19:04
Speaker 2: back up twice in this 18 years, and I did.
19:06
Speaker 1: Makes you who you are today.
19:07
Speaker 2: I have less hair, but yes.
19:11
Speaker 1: Now, can you share a case study that shows the
19:14
Speaker 1: measurable results that your work creates?
19:16
Speaker 2: Oh, absolutely. Let's just say for an example, it's the inbound...
19:21
Speaker 2: customer support movies and music campaign. It's almost like the
19:24
Speaker 2: Columbia House where you could get 10 CDs for a penny.
19:28
Speaker 2: The average demographic is 55 plus female and they get
19:32
Speaker 2: these big books and they call us up with their
19:34
Speaker 2: accounts and just start ordering. We're on our 15th year
19:37
Speaker 2: with this client and he's one of my best friends
19:40
Speaker 2: as well. It's also a client that comes to visit
19:45
Speaker 2: once a year, which in all of my years here,
19:47
Speaker 2: only 20% of clients come to Costa Rica. So imagine
19:51
Speaker 2: that sort of bonding and relationship and respect that individual
19:55
Speaker 2: gets with his career that he's seen for over a decade.
19:59
Speaker 2: Why is this a good campaign? Because the attrition on
20:02
Speaker 2: this project is the lowest. We mostly lose people, Joe,
20:07
Speaker 2: through natural attrition. Let's just say they have to move
20:12
Speaker 2: to the United States or a family emergency or their
20:16
Speaker 2: boyfriend or girlfriend works at Amazon. They have to go.
20:18
Speaker 2: Or let's just say the schedule is better for their university.
20:24
Speaker 2: And sometimes even if they have skills, they can find
20:27
Speaker 2: positions that pay more money. It's just the name of
20:29
Speaker 2: the game. But as I mentioned, my two female supervisors
20:34
Speaker 2: have been there since day one. We have people on
20:37
Speaker 2: that campaign that are well over 10 years on it.
20:42
Speaker 2: And it's amazing where the market speaks. If someone is happy,
20:46
Speaker 2: like a bird with an open cage, comes and goes
20:49
Speaker 2: as it please, but it loves you, so it's definitely
20:51
Speaker 2: coming back. And so that's the most humbling thing, Joe,
20:59
Speaker 2: that they just don't leave you after the next payroll.
21:02
Speaker 2: They're with you year after year. And there's at a
21:05
Speaker 2: certain point, We're sure on their boss and I cut
21:08
Speaker 2: the checks. But you look at somebody differently, and I'm
21:12
Speaker 2: not going to say the word family, but it's the
21:14
Speaker 2: kind of thing where if I may share, if they
21:17
Speaker 2: ask me for something, they can have anything. They wanted
21:23
Speaker 2: a new desk, a new chair, which they never asked for,
21:26
Speaker 2: but I always offered and did. And let's say for
21:32
Speaker 2: their training classes, They want candy. Man, I'm just not
21:36
Speaker 2: bringing one bag. You know we're going to Sam's Club.
21:38
Speaker 2: I'm going to get you that $ 50 bag of goodies.
21:42
Speaker 2: And whatever they want, they get extra. No, immediately. They
21:47
Speaker 2: don't have to ask twice. And they realize that any
21:49
Speaker 2: sort of time they need a vacation or a special
21:51
Speaker 2: day off or something, guaranteed. And so you know what
21:57
Speaker 2: it does, my man. There's no fear there that some
21:59
Speaker 2: people have of business owners. You've been through so many
22:02
Speaker 2: years together and so many good times. There's a certain
22:05
Speaker 2: point you're not afraid of each other. You wave high
22:08
Speaker 2: and you wish well and you say, what more can
22:09
Speaker 2: I do for you? And they know it. And so
22:13
Speaker 2: I hope your audience can build that sort of rapport
22:17
Speaker 2: and synergy with their crew because there is a certain
22:21
Speaker 2: point when you're at Nirvana, you can't get any higher.
22:24
Speaker 2: You realize that they got your back. Yeah, it sounds
22:27
Speaker 2: like a great relationship.
22:29
Speaker 1: Now, Richard, if I am a small business, and I've
22:33
Speaker 1: never done any outbound calling, but I want to scale,
22:37
Speaker 1: and I think it's time for me to do that.
22:40
Speaker 2: Is that someone that you.
22:42
Speaker 1: Would like to talk to and that you would be
22:44
Speaker 1: able to assist them in the process? And if so,
22:47
Speaker 1: what would be the step-by-step process of setting that up?
22:52
Speaker 2: The most important thing is the ammunition. Where are you
22:55
Speaker 2: getting your list? I don't supply the list for the clients.
22:59
Speaker 2: So I got to make sure it's scrubbed to the DNC,
23:01
Speaker 2: that it's qualified. At least we get certain categories like
23:05
Speaker 2: a name, an email address, phone number, position, website, something.
23:10
Speaker 2: And so just to make it easier for the agent
23:11
Speaker 2: to be able to relate. And we start as small
23:18
Speaker 2: as one seat. Why not? Of course, you have to
23:23
Speaker 2: see the setbacks of something like that. There is no
23:25
Speaker 2: apples comparison. What happens if Billy gets hit by a bus?
23:30
Speaker 2: It's not a blended center. My suggestion for people, if
23:33
Speaker 2: they're going to do the minimum, try three agents for
23:36
Speaker 2: three months. Why? Because you have odd man outs. Because
23:39
Speaker 2: you have one person you don't know, two, it's the apples.
23:42
Speaker 2: But a third, you see the pattern. Same thing with
23:45
Speaker 2: the third month. From an onboarding ramp up, list, revising time.
23:52
Speaker 2: So it's a slight investment in a process. For those
23:56
Speaker 2: that have some sort of a budget, then reduce the
23:59
Speaker 2: sort of stuff so you can have more time to
24:01
Speaker 2: fix it. But if you have a lot, then do
24:03
Speaker 2: three agents to be able to really get out there
24:06
Speaker 2: quick and give you some feedback. But I prefer customer
24:11
Speaker 2: support because there's a larger labor pool and less stress.
24:15
Speaker 2: When it comes to outbound lead generation, your leads better
24:18
Speaker 2: be very good. And it's the kind of thing where
24:23
Speaker 2: That's a smaller group of people. And if I may
24:27
Speaker 2: be forthright with you, it's almost like a mercenary, really.
24:31
Speaker 2: I mean, their skills are so incredible. They know they're marketable.
24:35
Speaker 2: They have tons of options. So they look around. And
24:39
Speaker 2: if they can find a place where the fish is
24:41
Speaker 2: plenty and it's easy to get, they'll stay there. But
24:44
Speaker 2: if it's stretched to make that kind of money compared
24:47
Speaker 2: to another place, they'll just leave. And they'll get hired immediately.
24:51
Speaker 2: And so... I'm always weary of someone like that. I
24:54
Speaker 2: might put one of them in a crew, but I'm
24:56
Speaker 2: afraid he might take some people if he leaves. You
24:58
Speaker 2: got to be careful of people like that. I'd rather
25:00
Speaker 2: have this Joe, the kid that comes, let's say from
25:04
Speaker 2: private school, perfect English. He's 18, 19 years old. Never
25:09
Speaker 2: had a job before, but I can teach you the
25:12
Speaker 2: CRM and the headset, but I can mold you like
25:16
Speaker 2: a squire to an eye. So you don't have bad habits.
25:19
Speaker 2: You're not going to be a cancer. And I've seen
25:21
Speaker 2: some of those people that might take a little bit
25:23
Speaker 2: longer to get accustomed to it because they're not used
25:26
Speaker 2: to working and the sort of structure and consistency. Give
25:32
Speaker 2: them a couple of weeks. Once they get the hang
25:33
Speaker 2: of it, they come from behind, match, and then exceed
25:36
Speaker 2: and stay. And when you start giving them additional responsibilities
25:41
Speaker 2: or have them sit in within certain meetings to understand
25:45
Speaker 2: why decisions are made, that's a real mentorship. I get
25:50
Speaker 2: knock on doors all the time and they go, I
25:52
Speaker 2: remember four years ago when you sat me in this meeting,
25:55
Speaker 2: you explained why something happened. Man, that changed my life
25:57
Speaker 2: when you said that. So that's the sort of feedback
26:00
Speaker 2: I get from the agents realizing that those little side
26:02
Speaker 2: dishes are the ones that they remember most. And no
26:08
Speaker 2: one ever took the time to do that. And so
26:11
Speaker 2: that's how you earn the respect of the people when
26:14
Speaker 2: you're not expecting it and you don't need anything in return.
26:18
Speaker 2: They say that's real and that's wrong. And so that's
26:22
Speaker 2: how I set up accounts for people. Because if I
26:26
Speaker 2: can't get people to be excited to make the calls
26:28
Speaker 2: for you or to believe in what you're doing, we're nowhere.
26:31
Speaker 2: So the beginning is so essential, Joe, that everyone is
26:34
Speaker 2: on the same page.
26:36
Speaker 1: Going back to that, you mentioned that it is ideal.
26:40
Speaker 1: And I can see why, because you can train a
26:43
Speaker 1: young person who just graduated, who's ready and now, because
26:47
Speaker 1: they haven't really been, I guess, jaded, for lack of
26:50
Speaker 1: a better word, you can mold them in that way
26:54
Speaker 1: and make the ideal individual and employee. How long does
26:58
Speaker 1: that take, though, to make that happen?
27:00
Speaker 2: You ever see those basketball players like a Kevin Garnett
27:03
Speaker 2: that goes straight from high school into the pros? I
27:06
Speaker 2: love seeing those things. They are so advanced in their skills.
27:10
Speaker 2: All they need is just a little bit of structure
27:12
Speaker 2: and some guidance from a coach and understanding the plays,
27:16
Speaker 2: but oh, I've seen people with such skills or their
27:22
Speaker 2: personality is so incredible. It's shining. They're beautiful people. They
27:30
Speaker 2: are just the nicest people. So you take that flower
27:34
Speaker 2: child sort of feel and you just, it's a little
27:38
Speaker 2: rough around the edges. You just put it into another mold.
27:40
Speaker 2: And so you take all these different personalities and that
27:46
Speaker 2: you do not want to remove. And you adjust them
27:50
Speaker 2: accordingly so they fit. Like the Justice League, each one
27:54
Speaker 2: has their own superpowers. I'm not going to take that away.
27:57
Speaker 2: But I have to teach you how to move forward
27:59
Speaker 2: in this sort of structure to look left and right
28:01
Speaker 2: and bring the sheep home. But how fun to see,
28:07
Speaker 2: as I mentioned before, in the call, breakthroughs and shedding
28:10
Speaker 2: of skin of people. How long does it take? It
28:13
Speaker 2: all depends on you, brother. I can't hit the ball
28:15
Speaker 2: and drag you all day long, Joe. There's got to
28:18
Speaker 2: be a certain time where you stop saying, I'm getting
28:20
Speaker 2: stressed or I'm not paying attention. The script's in front
28:23
Speaker 2: of you. They can't see you. Read with conviction. Take breaths.
28:27
Speaker 2: Speak to Joe naturally. Just don't say Joe. Go Joe,
28:32
Speaker 2: like I do. And I go, just enjoy yourself. And
28:37
Speaker 2: then you want to hear the best advice. This is
28:40
Speaker 2: where I circle everything into how I make these calls.
28:45
Speaker 2: I believe in a romantic death. I stress the introduction.
28:50
Speaker 2: So let's just say, hypothetically, you do hang up on
28:52
Speaker 2: me in the first 30 seconds. Well, how did I sound?
28:55
Speaker 2: Was I cowering in the corner and begging and trying
28:57
Speaker 2: to scratch you? I'd have my chest out there and go,
29:00
Speaker 2: my man, Joe, Globizers, how are you doing today? You know,
29:03
Speaker 2: let's just say. So if anything of nothing, you jump clouds.
29:08
Speaker 2: You gave it your all. Even if it was 30
29:12
Speaker 2: seconds is a lot of time in life. So if
29:14
Speaker 2: you do it a hundred times a day, so por
29:17
Speaker 2: lo menos, at least, what are you going to get
29:19
Speaker 2: out of it? I didn't say I'm getting an appointment,
29:21
Speaker 2: making money or anything. I mean, I hope to make
29:23
Speaker 2: you money. You're paying me. But if I'm the soldier
29:27
Speaker 2: that's out there and I'm touching base with 200 Joes
29:30
Speaker 2: a day that are in the midst of their day
29:33
Speaker 2: or possibly having a secretary filtering those calls, how do
29:37
Speaker 2: you have that long march mindset? Where's that endurance come
29:40
Speaker 2: from for the later rounds? Well, breath by breath, punch
29:45
Speaker 2: by punch, round by round. And so for me, I
29:50
Speaker 2: realized in the beginning that it was almost like a
29:52
Speaker 2: long bow. My calls weren't 30 seconds. Sometimes it lasted
29:56
Speaker 2: about two minutes, still got hung up. But I rode
29:59
Speaker 2: the wave. So I go, what is Richard doing to
30:03
Speaker 2: extend my average talk time compared to the 50 other
30:07
Speaker 2: people making calls in the same room? I realized that
30:11
Speaker 2: soft skills in bedside manner go a long way. And
30:17
Speaker 2: so Glowvisor, of course, it's the name of your podcast.
30:21
Speaker 2: It should be the first thing said. How are you today?
30:25
Speaker 2: It's anonymity. You don't know who I am yet, but
30:28
Speaker 2: I know you. And I said the name of your
30:29
Speaker 2: podcast better than you did. And so most of the time,
30:32
Speaker 2: the secretaries or the owners will give me a positive
30:36
Speaker 2: reinforcement instead of saying, how'd you get my name? Take
30:40
Speaker 2: me off your list. I'm not buying anything. Don't call
30:42
Speaker 2: her again. And my favorite, F you, Joe. No, they
30:47
Speaker 2: usually say from a 10 to a 6 in defense,
30:50
Speaker 2: who is this? So I'm gauging this reinforcement. And then
30:55
Speaker 2: I'll say Richard Blank. So I haven't mentioned my company yet.
30:59
Speaker 2: And it's the double dip. And the six turns to
31:01
Speaker 2: a four. And they go, who is Richard Blank? Gotcha.
31:05
Speaker 2: So now I can properly introduce myself and do a
31:07
Speaker 2: fair play. I'm not saying good afternoon. I speak to
31:10
Speaker 2: the owner. Hi, sir. Say the name of Joe's company first.
31:15
Speaker 2: Snap him out of it. He's going to ask who
31:17
Speaker 2: you are. And that's just where you begin. And I
31:20
Speaker 2: realized that it was such a better first step I
31:25
Speaker 2: had better positioning from the jump start, like a runner.
31:28
Speaker 2: I positioned myself better, like a three-point shooter or a
31:33
Speaker 2: hockey goalie. I believe in balance, Joe. And a lot
31:37
Speaker 2: of telemarketers are looking left and right or whatever, and
31:40
Speaker 2: when the phone picks up, they're jagged. But for me,
31:44
Speaker 2: I had a plan. It was a reaction. I could
31:47
Speaker 2: easily say the name of your company as the first thing,
31:50
Speaker 2: just to get it out there and to resent myself
31:52
Speaker 2: and go. And so, It helped me, my brother. And
31:55
Speaker 2: so it made the calls much nicer. The best compliment was,
31:59
Speaker 2: you know, I usually don't take these calls. Six minutes later, well,
32:03
Speaker 2: you just did. That's a great compliment. Does that make
32:08
Speaker 2: any sort of sense? It's not just as easy as
32:10
Speaker 2: give me a script and a list. There's a lot
32:12
Speaker 2: of spirituality and energy that's put into these things. Oh,
32:16
Speaker 2: it sure does. Wow.
32:19
Speaker 1: But I have the most important question. Let's forget about
32:23
Speaker 1: everything we've talked about thus far. Let's talk about the
32:26
Speaker 1: important stuff. How did you start collecting pinball machines?
32:29
Speaker 2: Well, I grew up in the 70s and 80s, and
32:32
Speaker 2: the arcades were the greatest place to be. And pinball machine,
32:36
Speaker 2: I always felt, was out of my league. If you
32:38
Speaker 2: didn't know how to play it, that 25 cents went
32:40
Speaker 2: like this, while Asteroids lasted an hour. Arcades are going
32:44
Speaker 2: out of business. These kids are preferring their PC gaming.
32:50
Speaker 2: with their friends, or just the handhelds, which I completely understand.
32:56
Speaker 2: And even the games that I don't really know, because
32:58
Speaker 2: I'm a retro gamer, like these fighting games today, people
33:01
Speaker 2: just aren't even playing them. And so here I'd look
33:04
Speaker 2: at the marketplace in Craigslist, and I'd see these places
33:07
Speaker 2: going out of business, or some guy in a bodega,
33:09
Speaker 2: have some machines. And me and my buddies, Tommy, Billy,
33:13
Speaker 2: and Joey, grab that truck with a wad full of 20s,
33:16
Speaker 2: drive a couple hours, and buy these machines. And I
33:20
Speaker 2: know what you're thinking. Yeah, but they're 40 years old.
33:22
Speaker 2: Do they work? Sometimes, but a lot of the stuff
33:26
Speaker 2: was corroded or just wasn't working. And so for me,
33:31
Speaker 2: I would just replace some of the CPUs and the
33:33
Speaker 2: boards that were behind the marquee or inexpensive, a hundred
33:38
Speaker 2: bucks up to 300 bucks. But if you replace all
33:41
Speaker 2: of them, machine usually turns on. And the only thing
33:44
Speaker 2: you're changing are a few wires that you might need
33:47
Speaker 2: to solder in a couple light bulbs but the restoration
33:51
Speaker 2: of these gorgeous machines and if joey if you ask
33:54
Speaker 2: me my favorite decades the 1970 electromechanical machines with the
33:59
Speaker 2: wheel and the bells and the contacts i love the
34:02
Speaker 2: marquee art i love the playfield which was still painted
34:06
Speaker 2: so he sometimes he cracks it's not a laminate and
34:10
Speaker 2: the side art of the machine what beautiful beautiful beautiful
34:16
Speaker 2: treasures and so Um, I currently own 13, four of
34:20
Speaker 2: them are from the seventies, but man, when I'm watching
34:23
Speaker 2: old movies and they're showing a bar or like, let's
34:26
Speaker 2: say the warriors when they're down in the subway, I'm
34:28
Speaker 2: looking at these machines, I'm pausing it. I'm in love
34:31
Speaker 2: with that stuff. But, uh, my pure passion, my man,
34:35
Speaker 2: that's makes me happy. And, um, you know, at least
34:39
Speaker 2: I'm giving the agents an experience they've never seen before.
34:42
Speaker 2: At least something to talk about. So you're displaying these
34:45
Speaker 2: at the office? I have two. At the office, we
34:50
Speaker 2: have a game room where we had an air hockey table,
34:53
Speaker 2: a couple fighting machines, a ski machine, alpine racer, and
34:56
Speaker 2: a bunch of football. I got my private collection at home.
35:01
Speaker 2: You know what's cool, Joe? When you see somebody laugh,
35:05
Speaker 2: you see a different side of them. Not that I'm
35:06
Speaker 2: teasing you. You're laughing because you're having fun playing a game. Also,
35:11
Speaker 2: not just being their boss, there's a chance for them
35:13
Speaker 2: to interact with me through a happy medium. Or they
35:16
Speaker 2: can even compete against me and talk to me where
35:19
Speaker 2: they're not in office intimidated. And sometimes people fall in
35:22
Speaker 2: love in the game room because it's a chance for
35:24
Speaker 2: them to play together and hang out. And so for me,
35:27
Speaker 2: I felt like that was the icing of my call
35:31
Speaker 2: center cake. I could always pay you and put you
35:34
Speaker 2: on a project and have you make and receive phone calls.
35:36
Speaker 2: But the fact that we have a really cool game
35:38
Speaker 2: room and machines that you might never see in your
35:40
Speaker 2: whole life and filtering out for the people I like
35:44
Speaker 2: to play So you're just not sitting in a corner
35:47
Speaker 2: looking at Instagram by yourself or having a cigarette outside.
35:51
Speaker 2: I tried to create an environment where people from different
35:54
Speaker 2: departments got to know each other, and it worked. So yes,
35:58
Speaker 2: it was very important for me to build that arcade
36:01
Speaker 2: at the call center.
36:02
Speaker 1: What would you say is the most important takeaway that
36:05
Speaker 1: you want listeners to remember from today's conversation?
36:08
Speaker 2: First, that I'm a happy guest. I had a great time,
36:11
Speaker 2: and they all should submit an application to spend some
36:14
Speaker 2: time with Joe. besides that man you know it was
36:21
Speaker 2: hard for me to get on this podcast it wasn't
36:23
Speaker 2: easy to make this cut but I did I'm very
36:26
Speaker 2: happy to be here my main I say this on
36:31
Speaker 2: every podcast I just don't want you or your audience
36:34
Speaker 2: to be hard on yourself there's some weight that you
36:38
Speaker 2: just do not need to carry and you should look
36:42
Speaker 2: at yourself in the mirror a certain way I'm not
36:45
Speaker 2: going to sound like your mother, but make your bed.
36:47
Speaker 2: There's some sort of spirituality behind that, and people are
36:50
Speaker 2: proud of that. It's a great way to start the
36:51
Speaker 2: day and show self-respect. If you're capable of working out,
36:56
Speaker 2: I highly recommend that because it reduces stress, makes you
36:59
Speaker 2: feel great. And try to eat well because you're talking
37:03
Speaker 2: about major players that are watching your podcast right now
37:06
Speaker 2: with tons of responsibility and need to go the distance. Well,
37:09
Speaker 2: you're not any good if you get sick. You don't
37:12
Speaker 2: feel good. You need a release. And I'm not proud
37:15
Speaker 2: of people that are always busy and don't have time.
37:18
Speaker 2: You should have that balance, man. But just being hard
37:21
Speaker 2: on yourself. When you put your head on your pillow,
37:25
Speaker 2: you should have clean thoughts. You should be able to rest.
37:29
Speaker 2: And it's much easier said than done. But these were
37:34
Speaker 2: the sort of things that was part of my long-term plan, Joe.
37:41
Speaker 2: that regardless of the chaos that was around me, that
37:45
Speaker 2: I always stuck with. And it seemed to, besides the
37:50
Speaker 2: bruises and the scars, I made it through. But there's
37:56
Speaker 2: a lot of people along the way that I have
37:58
Speaker 2: to thank, from the teachers and principals that wrote me
38:02
Speaker 2: a college recommendation letter, to the hockey coaches that, you know,
38:07
Speaker 2: Told me to toughen up when you're a kid and
38:09
Speaker 2: getting slap shots hit at you. Good family members that
38:15
Speaker 2: believed in you but also challenged you, your ideas, and
38:19
Speaker 2: made you back it up. And just my friends that
38:22
Speaker 2: were just really inspirational. They were on their own journeys,
38:28
Speaker 2: but I could see the vigor. And it's very nice
38:33
Speaker 2: to surround yourself with people that have direction. even if
38:37
Speaker 2: it's completely opposite of what you're doing, the best thing
38:41
Speaker 2: you could say is, go, Joe, go. You're my man.
38:44
Speaker 2: Me today, you tomorrow. And so these are sort of
38:49
Speaker 2: selfless ways that I encourage people to live beautiful lives.
38:54
Speaker 2: And it's very nice for me to have that sort
38:57
Speaker 2: of energy that I cherish. And so I can't thank
39:00
Speaker 2: you enough. I hope that through some of my expanded rhetoric,
39:06
Speaker 2: storytelling that I was able to make a couple points.
39:08
Speaker 2: But it's sincere, man. I wasn't scripted today. You said
39:12
Speaker 2: we weren't scripted. And so everything I say was sincere
39:15
Speaker 2: because I feel very comfortable with you, Joe. You're my friend.
39:18
Speaker 2: And I think you always get the best out of
39:19
Speaker 2: your guests. Oh, thank you.
39:22
Speaker 1: And likewise, you definitely made it to the list of
39:24
Speaker 1: my favorite guests, for sure.
39:28
Speaker 2: Yeah and great advice by the way thanks brother i
39:30
Speaker 2: appreciate that so where.
39:32
Speaker 1: Can people connect with you and continue this conversation.
39:35
Speaker 2: Well it's becoming uh the fall so when it gets
39:38
Speaker 2: too cold wherever some people are they should buy a
39:40
Speaker 2: plane ticket and fly to costa rica that's number one
39:42
Speaker 2: all right but if they want to they want to
39:44
Speaker 2: find me just go to costaricascallcenter.com Today, I'm not selling
39:49
Speaker 2: a book. I don't have a seminar. And most people
39:51
Speaker 2: are afraid of telemarketers. But if you call me up
39:53
Speaker 2: and go, hey, I heard you're friends with Joe. I
39:56
Speaker 2: want to share an idea with you. I'd love to
39:59
Speaker 2: hear it. And if any advice I can give, it'd
40:01
Speaker 2: be wonderful. But that's how you find me, Joe. That's
40:05
Speaker 2: where I'm at. Excellent.
40:07
Speaker 1: Now, Richard, thank you so much for joining us. We
40:09
Speaker 1: really appreciate your time and the value you shared today.
40:14
Speaker 2: The pleasure was all mine.
40:16
Speaker 1: Thanks everyone for listening. If this episode inspired you, make
40:19
Speaker 1: sure you share it with someone.
40:20
Speaker 2: Who needs it.
40:21
Speaker 1: And don't forget to follow the Glowvisor podcast for more
40:23
Speaker 1: conversations that make an impact.
40:25
Speaker 2: Till the next time.