All right.
Hi everyone.
And welcome back to For the Curious and Confused, a podcast for people who want to understand
different perspectives of the world through the people who inhabit it.
I'm your host, Dom McTaggart, and today I'm joined by Richard Blank, an entrepreneur based
in San Juan, Costa Rica.
When Richard was 27, he moved from Philadelphia to Costa Rica to start a telemarketing company.
Since 2008, he's been the CEO of Costa Rica's call center and has trained over 10,000 bilingual
telemarketers.
Richard specializes in advanced telemarketing strategy, conflict management, interpersonal
skills and customer support.
Giving back is important to Richard, and each year he endows a scholarship for students
majoring in a world language at the university level.
He also owns the largest collection of restored American pinball machines in Central America,
which is a pretty cool flex in my opinion.
So Richard, thank you so much for sharing your time today, and I'm excited to learn
about your life in Costa Rica.
Well, Don, I'm so happy to be a guest on your podcast today.
Confused and confused.
Well, I majored in both of those, and so I think I'm here to be able to share some life
advice.
Awesome.
I hope we can both be a little more curious and a little less confused by any of this.
So to start us off, could you give us a two minute introduction into who Richard Blank
is and what motivates him?
Of course.
Of course, Don.
I'm a long shot.
I'm the CEO of Costa Rica's call center, but this story began back in Northeast Philadelphia
back in 91 when I graduated the Proud Abington.
I really wasn't sure what to do.
Most of my friends are going to law school or being doctors or getting a PhD in chemistry.
I had no idea, but I gravitated towards languages.
And so I decided to be a Spanish major at the University of Arizona where all the world's
a stage.
I could practice outside the classroom.
And then post-grad, when I was 27 in August of 2000, I was given a one in a million opportunity
to move to Central America.
And I took it.
I worked at my friend's call center for four years, learned the business from the inside
out.
When you're with the people, you hear the good and the bad and the happy and the sad.
And then 18 years ago, I decided to throw my hat in the ring, started a call center.
One seat for one week was my first account.
I was renting space in a blended center, which is like a glorified internet cafe so I could
scale accordingly.
It wasn't pretty, but I could grow.
And then I rented space and built rows and put out the server room.
And then a couple of years ago, I purchased a building, put on a third floor, and it can
hold 300 people.
And so it's slow and steady.
It's more of a tortoise than the hare.
But I avoided any sort of real bad rabbit holes and setbacks by being very, I guess,
cautious in the beginning and taking my time.
And so in a wrapped up sort of way, that's where we are today.
That's a great introduction.
So to dig in a little bit to actually the moving to Costa Rica part, because that's
not a very common story.
You mentioned the once in a lifetime opportunity type of vibe.
What was that opportunity like and about and how did you make that decision to be able
to do that?
Some things are thrown on you in a spontaneous way, but I was building up to this almost
like when the barn door gets open, that horse is gone.
Between me and you and your amazing audience, sometimes you need to make selfish decisions
in your life.
So I had to get past some serious parents' guilt and some naysayers of good friends that
love me.
They just didn't understand me.
And having enough faith and grit and getting out there and taking that path.
Now, there's a certain stage where if you keep losing, you stay down, you throw in the
towel.
But if you see momentum, if you go above and beyond with dedicated practice, if you read
the articles and you meet people that have the same interest, I see that as being something
positive.
We all can't be cookie cutter.
And as much as I admire your degree, I could never do chemistry.
It was difficult for me when I took it back in the day, not that I don't respect it.
But once again, it's the passion.
And I had the passion for second languages.
And I know that if I held on to that, where that could be taking me.
And so you have intuition.
We called Koskia Smariposa, you get the tingles or the butterflies.
And if you do not believe in that sort of intuition, then don't play with the stars.
Don't believe in your fate.
And just kind of be in a box without walls and live a life for other people.
And so these were big decisions for a young man.
But I kind of had this vision in the future that things were going to be okay.
How did you choose Costa Rica of all of those spots you could have gone to?
It was chosen for me.
I had good friends that were here prior and one very good friend had a business.
He had a customer support team for his business.
And so it was really like an underhand pitch with a wiffle ball.
I was walking in friends with the owner.
I got the desk by the window.
There was really no metrics.
He's like, Richie, just relax for a couple of months.
You're 27.
You're in between jobs.
Stop sending your resume out via fax machine to try to get a job in Tempe.
You know, relax.
I don't want you to do that.
And so I shed some skin on.
And I saw an environment, a technical environment where people had a CRM and were using different
programs and noise canceling headsets and Cisco phones and logging in.
And I thought that was pretty interesting.
That's a tough part.
You got to be kidding.
I can learn that in a day.
But I saw English second language individuals conversing on the phone.
They're intense concentration.
They're advanced vocabulary.
They were converting.
And I said, wow, I think that I would like to join this group of linguistic artists,
kind of like a circus, kind of like the old circus, which I would have loved to have been
there back in the day, you know, traveling around in those little gypsy carts and setting
up and being a barker and getting them in the tent or telling fortunes.
What do you think your circus, not gimmick, but show would have been if you were to be
part of the circus?
I hate to say it.
I would have been a fortune teller because I could have looked at you and told a thousand
stories.
And then through deductive reasoning and they do have, it's called mentalism.
You can through a certain way, choose good percentages of choose your own story and adventure.
Almost like in Pee Wee's big adventure, when the fortune teller looked at the wall and
saw Pee Wee with the bike, of course it's the bike.
You know, I mean, come on, put three and three together.
But no, I would have been a fortune teller.
I would have gotten people in the tent or I would have gotten people over to play the
ring game or something.
It's kind of fun to send out that electromagnetic energy to people.
And it does respond.
People do it through smiles and handshakes and hugs and chin ups and thumbs up like Burt
Reynolds.
I mean, you know, that's cool.
And I don't know, I kind of like the things that are done without technology that are
natural because I think it sets longer.
I think it's more of the long game.
So is telemarketing kind of like the, it's not the fortune telling of the 21st century,
but what similarities are there between telemarketing and fortune telling?
Well, it's just a communication.
It's a medium.
Naturally, you're using image streaming.
So your vocabulary should be very colorful and descriptive.
Here's the beauty of, and you'll understand this in regards to chemistry, my man, you
have a controlled environment.
You have a focus group and you look for patterns and consistencies.
And so in my environment, you're removing three of your five senses, your taste, touch
and smell.
It's true.
And don't think that we've been making telemarketing calls for thousands of years.
We've been communicating.
We haven't been making phone calls.
In fact, it's maybe a hundred years old.
Stonograph was what 1865.
And so your hearing must get expanded only when you're in the now.
If you're thinking of lunch or your rebuttal or something else, you're going to catch,
you're going to miss the dog barking or the positive or negative reinforcement, the side,
the typing, the inquisitiveness.
But my favorite part is the visual.
Most people say you can't see over the phone.
Well, you perfectly know that books are 10 times better than the movie because of your
imagination.
And so sure, through metaphysics, you can describe anything.
It's better that way.
And so I try to imagine what it's like for people.
And also it's like a cheat sheet.
If you think about it, if someone doesn't see you, unless you're on a zoom call and
you're making a telemarketing call, you can plaster your wall with rhetoric.
It's right in front of you.
It doesn't have to be memorized.
It's really a beautiful leverage for you until it's part of your system.
And so there is many ways that just through communicating with 100 to 200 people a day,
that's not normal.
Very rare that you speak to that amount of people.
And so if you can master social grace and introductions, regardless of the outcome,
Don, these are the sort of soft skills that will only enrich your life outside of the
office.
Everywhere.
It'll save a marriage, get you best friends, increase your networking.
And so I see it as an art of speech.
And as much as AI is coming in now and they're beautiful with gathering and they'll get better
with the voice and the response, even though there is an uncanny valley where they get
too close to us and we freak out a little bit.
It's not the point.
I think the last 10% and we spoke to this part of the podcast, it's the empathy.
Computers can never tell you what it's like to break an arm or lose a puppy.
They really don't have your heart broken.
And if they try to give you a hug, it's going to be cold like a metal bench at a bus stop.
And it's not real.
And so as much as you think AI is going to take over anything, there will always be that
selected department or when you see that artist downtown that plays the sax in the square
or draws you in charcoal, they're going to be considered rock stars 10 years from now,
the most beautiful people that still want to do human efforts.
And so I'm still holding on to that sort of spark that I think separates us and unites
us at the same time.
Separates us and unites us.
Yeah.
So let's tell the marketing, you know?
Yeah.
So it sounds like you are good at picking up on patterns of behavior of people.
So when you're talking to a hundred people a day, I'm sure you are observing a lot of
nonverbal cues.
What kind of patterns do you observe in people?
Either when they're, I don't want to box it in and say when they're receptive or not receptive,
but what patterns do you observe in people in general?
It's beautiful that you mentioned that when you're saying nonverbal, that's difficult
for me because it has to be verbal unless it's the silence part.
But there is congruence where audio matches the visual and some people have tell signs
and it's almost easy to watch somebody when they're playing poker or they're fidgeting
or clicking things and biting nails.
But let's talk about, and once again, phonetics I think is the purest form.
And so yes, there are certain tell signs that people have.
Phonetics is broken down into four points, your tone, rate, pitch, and duration.
Your tone in my opinion should be the consistent variable.
And if I had to choose the two chemical elements to connect into my perfect variable equation,
it would be confidence and empathy.
Those are the two combinations I think are the best.
Now there is a technique called mirror imaging that salespeople use to match how body language
and how people speak, but you shouldn't match a negative tone.
Only do it if it's positive.
Now here is where I see the tell signs, my intelligent friend.
Remember in eighth grade, the simple X, Y chart and pre-algebra.
Let's consider the X, the horizontal as your rate of speed and your Y, your vertical is
your speaking level or is what they say is your pitch.
Is that like volume?
Sorry to interrupt you.
That is correct.
Pitch and tone.
No, no, you're 100.
And that's why when they say pitch in the textbooks, it might confuse people.
So I'd say speaking level, volume.
Thank you.
Yes.
So you have speed and you have volume.
Why is that to me very important?
Because it can be done in any language.
I'm taking the semantic out 100%.
So any sort of F-U word or I love you word or removed could be, you know, those words
can be expressed differently as well.
And so I am paying attention every 30 seconds, 30 because five seconds is too short.
A minute's too long.
But the 30 seconds is a perfect time for giving a take and pauses in between to see if there
is a speeding up, slowing down faster or slower for arguments.
They put me in quadrant one.
I'd be an eight in regards to speed eight in regards to sound.
Now, why do we do this?
Because you can do your job.
And subconsciously, if you're paying attention to this, make your X, Y chart.
Just keep checking off while you're making calls after three weeks becomes habit.
When you see a spike or a dip just in regards to phonetics, that's when you should be asking
a clarification question.
Just like in chemistry, you do have checkpoints.
You just don't wait till the end.
You wait towards certain stages to see if things are going the way it should.
You just don't start pouring everything in like soup.
And so you think that a phone call last 10 minutes done, it's really 20, 30 second checkpoints
that gets combined into a conversation because there is an introduction, a body and a conclusion,
just like in an experiment.
Same thing with conversations.
It could be done in 10 minutes or it can be done every 30 seconds, 20 times that combines
into one full conversation.
And so that's just the phonetic part.
But then here's the best thing.
Your tone rate and pitch could be manipulated.
It could, but the one thing that cannot is you're answering speed because you do need
silence or sound.
I mean, that's the part of the thing in the experiment.
And so that's why the police usually bring out the evidence by the fourth question.
And it's almost impossible for someone to control answering speed.
And so that to me, I see is just more of a linear and to see where he goes from zero
to 10 every 30 seconds, how quickly do they respond.
And so you need to do this.
Why?
Because if you've been making phone calls for two decades, like I have, you have to
do something else while making calls.
You've done it so many times.
You're like a juggler that can now bite an apple or juggle fire.
You've done it enough.
And so I was capable through mastering the simple rules of telemarketing to crack some
codes because I was bored, starting to go insane when the lists were bad.
I wasn't making a fool of myself, but I was just saying, can I make it a little bit wider
than net and give me better percentages?
And so I've noticed people's sounds when they sigh, where they breathe in, I've paid attention
in the background to dogs.
And my man, if I hear a dog in the background, I will stop everything.
And I will say, Don, I love dogs.
It's a me too.
Like I'll act her and you go, I love dogs too.
Yeah, I know you have one.
And then I'll say, what's your dog's name?
What breed is it?
And how old is your puppy?
And that's what really reduces any sort of, I don't know, sudden the water and it makes
things clear.
And for a second, you're like, Hey, Richie's a nice guy.
He likes dogs.
So instead of your defense being a 10, it drops now down to a six.
But prior to that, I'll teach you some other tell signs, especially in the intro, the call,
because we don't have time to go through everything.
If you can't land an intro, you can't even make a phone call.
And so a lot of the times when people will call your company and for the curious and
confused, what they're going to do is try to angle their way in there to speak with
you if you have a secretary or if they get you on the phone, they'll just start pitching.
What we like to do is we like to do company name spikes.
I would love to say for the curious and confused, how are you today?
I'll say that prior to even my own introduction or asking for you because you're so black
and blue from all the telemarketing calls that you received.
And let me ask a question, Don, do you work with an assistant at your company?
Nope.
This is just a side project I'm doing for fun.
That's my brother's.
Well, listen, if I spoke to Judy prior to being transferred to you, I would let her
know how great she's doing.
And then when I get transferred to you, you're like, Hey, this is Don.
Hey, Don, I just got to let you know Judy's great.
You have no idea who I am, but I'm complimenting your right hand.
And so you would say, yeah, she's amazing.
It's my mom or you know, she's been with us for 20 years or I could not run this company
without her.
Now I'm going to ask you a question business wise, young man, how many people have complimented
Judy at the last hundred calls?
Maybe a few.
Some people have courtesies.
But when I send you the meeting minutes and the follow up email, I'll mention her and
say, Hey, say hi to Judy for me.
Remember she's great.
Out of a thousand people in the next 10 years of your career, young man, how many of your
prospects are going to write you and in writing talk about your colleagues?
And so you have to make a decision on the contracts that you want to do with people.
I might be a dollar or two more than India, you know, Philippines, but I like how Richard
treated Judy prior to any sort of contract.
And if he treats us like that, imagine what's going to happen when we're clients.
And so I went to old school because my good friend, there will be people that can out
did you have more resources than you and that's fine.
But if you get one tenth of 1% of any sort of market, you can still be a millionaire.
And you'll always with the thousands of podcasts out there, you and I are here today.
And so water seeks its own level.
And so if you have faith in that sort of business and business ethics, you'll find the right
people to grow your business.
When they got to, I very much grew that particularly the part of if I don't, if I've never heard
of you, I don't know you, I'm gonna call for you for the first time.
And you say something nice about my assistant.
I'm immediately on board with you.
And also the part about the, the dog being in the background.
So it sounds like you're identifying trying to as quickly as possible, identify points
of commonality to make whatever the dialogue is more about two humans interacting rather
than two humans.
And then also some sort of business opportunity proposition, what have you as well.
So am I hearing that right?
Is that kind of the goal is to forget about the business part first and then do that after
the connection has been made?
Yes and no, but let's do a quick exercise.
Does it sound like fun?
Like in school, put your pens down everybody.
We're going to do overwork.
Let me see how quickly, let me see how quickly you can zig and zag because you're very professional
on a podcast and I know where your mind's going, but let me see if you can think of
some things.
What's your favorite color?
Blue.
Yeah.
Blue is a great color.
What's your favorite ice cream flavor?
Moose tracks.
Never heard of that before.
Okay, great.
And what's your favorite television show?
Peaky blinders.
Perfect.
Here's the skins.
I've got a lot of people, I'll ask them questions like that in training class and they can't
give me an answer of their favorite color.
And so Mike, yes.
And so if you're capable in the moment in the jump to tell me your tastes, stand behind
them or if I have, what was the name?
Pinky what?
What was the name of the show you like?
Peaky blinders.
Okay.
And I've been like blah and if I'm on the phone with you, blah, blah, blah, just like
Peaky blinders, you're like, Hey, I love that show.
Yeah.
I mean, sometimes you can throw this, you can throw 10 grand on a snake eyes roll from
time to time.
If you're up with the house and they love you, you know, play with the house's money.
If you and I are jiving and we're having a great conversation, I'm willing to extend.
And I tell you what, by doing some due diligence, by looking at your podcast and knowing that
you're getting a PhD in chemistry and how you like that the world is so all over the
place.
You see where things are connecting.
That's great.
Even if I learned the one thing about you, at least it shows that I tried.
Right.
And I like the image that you do with the two heads coming together and then the one
thing in the middle.
And you know, I like that.
You design that, didn't you?
At least you're a part of that.
Right?
Yeah.
I just went to AI and I did like how to make some cool things.
And I liked that one.
So yeah.
Okay.
So we're supposed to be selling you long distance or some sort of insurance, but for a moment,
I'm talking how great your website is in chemistry and how smart you are and stuff.
And then all of a sudden you said, you know, I'll give Richie three minutes.
I'll give it to him.
Let me see where he goes with this.
So what happens is it's the barriers come down a little bit.
You're giving me a fair play and both people can respect that because something's on the
table.
There's no more stuttering anymore or trying to get your points in.
They said, Richard, you got it.
And so you need to get that pass to pitch.
And just by showing some sort of common courtesy and some levels of real interest, it's almost
like the fourth wall, as they say in Hollywood, when they just turn it around and start showing
the audience and they're waving and stuff.
I think that's fascinating because they're part of the show too.
And I think that if you and I can take the podcast portion and as you say, prior to getting
online, it might go left and right.
You need to take those.
That's what's going to make your podcast the most special is the point of the pyramid.
And the only way to get there is when you and I are here together.
I can't do these sorts of things alone.
When you say the left and right and take those, are you meaning like when the car is in diverges
to some weird topic, is that the left and right you're talking about?
Of course it's how do you explain?
There's no way you can set up anything in this world.
Even if you have your day planned out, you still didn't make the road and you still can't
handle traffic.
All I'm saying is you're there.
The only thing you control is what your body is doing and where you are at the moment.
And so I'm almost at this point, it's like woo way.
Really I'm going with the current.
You're not supposed to swim against it.
You'll drown.
That's why they made sails back in the day, cross oceans and tubing is fun in a river,
right?
When you're sitting in the current just chilling with your buddies.
And so I'm trying to accept now in life, if there is traffic, I have something for my
wrist.
I'll grab that in the car.
But I've learned to take deeper breaths and I give benefits of the doubt.
And don't kid yourself, me today, you tomorrow.
I've seen traffic and when I've driven by the traffic, I've seen someone with a flat
tire or a car that's not working.
I drive a beautiful 92 cabriolet and you can ask a bunch of my friends here, that thing
is broke down at least a half a dozen times.
So I know what it's like to be that guy and get the sour faces because I'm holding people
back traffic.
I'm like, you know, my heart's breaking because my forget about you.
It's my car.
You know what?
I've learned to extend that sort of empathy towards people because I believe that most
of the time it's not their fault.
We're just catching them on one of their worst days of their lives.
So the in being a salesman, fortune teller or telemarketer, all that, I'm getting such
a strong sense from you of you can read people so well and read situations so well.
And my question is, how do you balance the agenda of knowing that you're talking to people
and using these interpersonal skills to try to make a sale?
And that's one form that you can use those skills, talents, whatever you want to call
it.
But on the other side, we are just two people and we're interacting.
So how do you balance using your capacity to understand people and read people and talk
in a way that draws people in without going too far down like the, I got to make a sale
right now kind of field.
Does that make sense?
Of course it does.
It depends on the person.
I never wanted to do anything that was against my good faith and good intentions.
You can earn a dollar a million ways.
You don't have to break laws or do something.
You can't tell your parents what you're doing.
Have I needed to be in fifth gear?
Yes, there have been certain times I needed to be assertive.
If you're aggressive, you'll redline and you'll burn out your engine.
If you're passive, you'll stall out.
But there are certain times you need to give it the gas or you need to cut the fat.
Or as I'm mentioning, there's ways to chisel a question to get that answer.
And a lot of the times it's open ended.
You might be able to, instead of saying, do you like ice cream?
You know, what kind of ice cream do you like?
You can tell it to me.
And you might even say two scoops and the sort of cone that you like and the place where
you like to buy it.
And so there are ways you can stack like waiters, plates and certain questions because people
get tired with certain time.
And you don't want to go back and forth question, answer, question, answer.
That gets tiring as well.
You do need to pause before names and numbers.
That's emphasis.
So at least they'll remember it.
And I also believe in trigger words.
Certain things need to be spiked.
Choose your audience.
A million dollars.
Bill Gates could care less about that word, but he cares about his kitten.
You know, he'd much rather hear that word.
And so it's a fun game.
Either way, you can't lose.
As I mentioned, if your intentions are honorable and you can cash in, because if you did the
Judy thing, you did your due diligence.
You've been very polite, full knowing boundaries.
There's no reason why, as I mentioned before, you can keep buying 30 seconds to a minute's
worth of time.
And even if it's two ships in a night done and you don't get a converted call, let's
just say you wanted fish and all we sell are steaks.
I've had this, people thanking me, enjoying the time.
And then I'll get a phone call a couple months from now and it's Billy and Billy goes, hey
man, do you know Don?
I go, of course I do.
And he goes, he said you're the greatest and that you're selling steaks.
And most of my business is from referrals of people that I never pressed.
That we realized through an educated point of view, they made a decision that it just
wasn't a good fit.
And that's how we were able to float that feather.
You shouldn't burn bridges and stuff.
Don't take it so personal.
You're a telemarketer.
Most people hate telemarketers, look at Hollywood did.
But strangers or friends you haven't met yet, you can give them a refreshing view, shatter
misconceptions, teach them that it is a means to an end in regards to retentions, upsells,
referrals.
It's still an art form.
And today, when most people are doing chat emails and texting, and I understand that,
the classic phone call, I believe packs more of a punch.
I think it's not a coincidence that my generation is so afraid of making phone calls.
And the idea of talking to somebody on the phone is just scary for a lot of people, I
think, because so much of the communication has turned into the digital just back and
forth thing of one and zeros.
Let me ask you a question.
If there's less people digging, isn't there more gold for you?
That's a good point.
You should always volunteer for those sort of missions.
Public speaking, telemarketing, A, builds character and self-confidence, and B, if you're
good at it, you'll do very well.
A second ago, you mentioned shattering misconceptions.
I'm curious, are there any misconceptions that people have about you sometimes or telemarketing
in general?
Either one of those two?
Of course.
Yes.
And I want to go back to a point that you were making in regards to people and people
and trying to make a sale.
Think of it as fire.
You have something for warmth, but you can also burn.
Like Eminem, so talented in rapping, he could rap you to death in front of everybody and
make you want to quit school.
So it's such a beautiful thing.
Even with your chemistry, you know what to put together that could destroy someone's
clothes.
Don't mix what is a chlorine and ammonia.
So I know about these things.
But no, it's very interesting today in regards to this field that when people learn to make
these calls in your generation, it's an excellent way, as I say, to have these sort of long-term
connections with people.
And so, yeah, it's an art form.
Look what Hollywood did with Glenn Gary, Glenn Ross, with Gene the Machine.
And it's a beautiful speech with Alex Baldwin talking about ABC.
I'm not familiar with those, unfortunately.
If I were you, just for curiosity, give yourself about an hour.
We should look at Alec Baldwin's Blake speech from Glenn Gary, Glenn Ross.
He talks about coffees for closers.
It's a very famous quote between salesmen.
And it also puts you in a position of people that were hot one time and not doing well.
And what that does mentally to Gene the Machine who was on top.
And then you have Ricky Roman, who's not even at the meeting on a rainy day because he's
off closing a deal.
Very interesting.
And if you really break it down and then you have Borla Room, which is a great story.
I think it was Oakman, Sherman Oakmont or something in Long Island.
And these players that were up there making these stock sales and such talent, Vin Diesel
closing, Cold Call closing, sending things to mansions.
But what I enjoyed about that movie, taking out the ethics of it, it showed different
sections of Seth that was learning the ropes and the script to then understanding it, receiving
calls at his house, a telemarketing call and paying it forward, which I love doing with
telemarketers that call me being a top dog in his department and how his demeanor changed.
And then you have a wonderful movie, The Wolf of Wall Street.
My favorite scene is the first gig he has when he's working at the shopping center where
his back is to everybody and closes John in a minute, 46.
He does six name drops.
He does the loud whisper.
He does the pause.
And I mean, we used to watch that thing without sound, without sound, because we knew the
speech by heart anyway, but we were watching the body language and then we were critiquing
the people behind them saying, why aren't they making calls?
What's wrong with these people?
You should be talking during break.
They were looking at amazement of somebody that was just in their groove and in their
rhythm.
And another really good movie is The Prime Gig with Ed Harris was in that one and Penny,
I forgot his name, the tall actor, I forgot his name, but good pitching.
They really show what the only bad side that they show is that people sold their soul.
They really should be showing certain phone calls of companies that retain a client or
that someone knows somebody by their first name and goes above and beyond to keep somebody.
That's all.
I mean, you really are looking at incredible individuals with advanced rhetoric and over
the phone and it's fine and the suits.
Yeah, I've been in those places.
I've seen them.
I've competed and I've held my own.
I like my Philly style and I like things from the 80s.
I'll mention Fast Times of Richmond High and Pac-Man and fun stuff.
It loosens things up a little bit.
That's a great segue to the next question.
So you Pac-Man and having the largest collection of pinball machines in Central America.
And you also mentioned gamification being important.
And now that I'm actually speaking with you, that matches really well.
So I'm curious if you could talk a little bit about the pinball machines in general,
like what attracts you to them?
And then also gamification mixed in with all of this as well.
How does all of that fit together with you?
All right.
I was born in 1972.
So I grew up in the 70s and 80s where arcades were great.
You could find machines everywhere around town from pizza parlors to bus stops.
And so there was always a game to try and to play.
And what beautiful works with their cabinets and marquees.
It's a joystick, one or two buttons, easy plays.
It's go.
And the pinball machine.
Or sometimes 50 cents, it wouldn't last a minute.
And sometimes the machine didn't like you and throw all the balls down the middle.
I could play Asteroids for 45 minutes.
And so to me, it was out of reach.
It was a luxury.
They were just so gorgeous, so high maintenance and just there.
Very rarely that I played them.
So fast forward to my career, not only did I have the space, but I had the income.
And I'm also choosing the right time where arcades were going out of business.
Not saying there's anything wrong with your generation, but you guys play virtual.
And most of these machines are in bodegas or they're just throwing them out.
And so I would go on to the Mercado Libre and I would see Don Pedro that lives three
hours away selling all his machines.
And I didn't want most of them.
They were like fighting machines and kidding machines.
But in the corner, I'd see like a NBA fast break or a Daddy East lacks action hero.
I was like, so I call him up.
It's like, yeah, it's not working.
Of course it's not working.
It's pinball.
And so I go in there and I take a quick look and I realize it's a fuse or it's a wire
or it's just something that needs to be done.
And so I'd give them two to $300 for a machine, grab it, bring it back.
And there are places in the United States, Don, where you can order all the plaque, the
placas and all the CPUs.
And so these things are 40 years old.
They're corroded.
They're old.
You got to blow on them.
No, buy brand new ones.
And if you replace everything on the machine behind the marquee, she's about 95% working.
The rest you need to do is fix a cable and change a light.
And so for a total investment of let's say another 700 bucks, thousand total, I'm sitting
on machines that are worth like five grand.
Are you looking to resell them?
Of course not.
But I'm just letting you know that one man's trash is another man's treasure.
And if you know the value of something, grab them.
And I had the space for it.
And currently I have 13 pinball machines, six jukeboxes and air hockey table.
I got an Alpine racer to ski machine.
And you're probably saying why?
Let me ask you a question.
Weren't your best friends made during recess when you could play?
Oh, yeah, that's fair.
Yeah.
Wasn't it great to let off steam in between social studies and math class?
Agreed.
Yeah, but you're a chemist.
You probably like math.
You probably like, damn, recess?
No, I'm not kidding.
And so you could let off steam.
You laughed.
You hit the home run.
You played tag.
And now that we're adults, it's terrible.
And you might have a TV or ping pong table in a certain room or they'll put a Wii or
an Xbox in there and that's fine.
But it's nothing like an air hockey game.
I love it.
I know you said that.
I love air hockey.
Yeah, yeah.
But I had to switch out the pucks because the old plastic ones were way too loud and
were almost hitting people in the eyes.
So there's these rubber ones that are still good.
If you use Wildcat 125 on the surface, it still flies.
You just can't hear it as much and it won't kill you.
But it's a good trade off.
But you know what I saw, my man, and you know chemistry.
When somebody laughs, do you think there is some sort of chemical difference within the
body?
I do.
Yes.
Do you think, you know, it's some people might say it's inappropriate to touch your boss
or somebody else.
But if you get the shoulder tap in the morning when I'm playing Pac-Man and they say, good
morning, would you find that inappropriate or OK?
Seems pretty OK to me.
I think it's demaciado OK.
I think the fact that someone is comfortable enough for me to say, what's up, hefe, knowing
that that's my joystick hand, but he's still messing with me.
I think that's a beautiful thing.
I think these are the sort of connections when they say, Richard, you're the only boss
that ever knew my name.
You're the only one that got me to smile.
You're the one that got me to quit smoking cigarettes because I would play the game.
Listen, I married I married Maria.
We used to play Pac-Man every day and then we fell in love.
I had that happen at my center a bunch of times.
And so there's I'll go into the lunchroom.
There'll be a table for and they're all on their phones looking at Japanese anime.
I don't get it.
They're just not talking.
And so I I'm not forcing them, but I at least gave them a happy home and a certain environment
where I think we could produce some more chemistry and energy.
How do you recruit people for for your call center?
Is it are people coming to you or are you going out to try to find certain personalities
or what is the, what does that look like?
That's both.
We love referrals.
We compete against Amazon, HP, Intel and Oracle for the labor pool here, which has a neutral
accent and they're very skilled.
At least we match Amazon's entry level base and benefits so I can compete there.
Certain clients give incentives.
Not thankfully, but realistically I'm not hiring 50 people tomorrow.
A lot of my clients need a half a dozen people so I could be more selective in that process.
I don't need to cattle call, but then how about this?
It's a reverse since the leverage is with the employee because they have so many options.
That's why in our industry, the attrition is very high and people are considered jumpers.
And there is a difference between natural and forced attrition.
Can you remind me what that is?
It's a turnover.
It's when people quit.
Now my industry has got 300%.
Most people burn out within six months of the industry in general.
I've been at 18 years.
How do you like that as an old gladiator?
But you thrive in a certain environment.
Sometimes you like the taste of blood, but I'll lose people because of a scheduling conflict
for university.
You're still in school.
What happens if your girlfriend works at Amazon or it's closer to your home and Don, you have
skills.
It would be an insult to think you're earning entry level for the next 20 years.
If you have an opportunity or it's within your industry chemistry, you must take it.
I encourage people and I give recommendations when we cross paths, but I like to hire somebody
that has no experience in a call center.
I'll teach you CRM in a headset.
That's two hours.
But if you've learned English, Don, that shows dedication, structure, discipline, and high
cognitive skills.
Just like chemistry languages, it's a language.
There's combinations.
At least I see that coming into the board.
But then guess what?
They do not have bad habits.
I can mold them like a squire to a knight.
They can be homegrown, organic.
That's all.
I love that for this next generation.
They just need to be responsible in regards to showing up to work on time and doing their
job.
But that's my challenge because I'm not the only game in town and I'm not the largest
game in town.
But I tell you what, my brother, if you have multiple options and then you saw someone
like myself that would invest in you and teach you phonetic micro-expression reading and
talk about the thesaurus and listen to your phone calls and play air hockey with you and
talk to you about big boss things.
So when you're a big boss one day, you can do the certain things that I did that got
you to work with me.
And I know the thing that got you to join my company compared to others, when you were
filling out the application, I came into the reception like this is interesting.
Now I'm giving you dignity and respect.
You're the man.
Don, you showed up.
And then I'm going to say, hey, Don, do me a favor, turn your paper over and give me
a coming of age moment.
I want to know a time you beat up a bully or saved a kitten because I want to know your
depth.
I want to know if that Richard before giving a contract to you asks you a bully question.
Can you tell me that story?
And you will and you'll give me an amazing story.
So I can give you a nickname and pick you up on a rainy Wednesday and connect with you
on like the other teachers, coaches or friends failed to do.
And if I'm capable of doing that, then we have a foundation.
And there's a very good chance that you will work with me for a very long period of time.
And that to me, when you put money aside are the jewels of what you get of being an owner
of a company.
When you see that sort of fidelity, it's a pretty weird thing.
But when it's there, you can't, what do you say to somebody that's been with you 16 years?
I give them a pinball machine.
That's right.
Got my oldest employee with me giving them a pinball machine.
Of course I am.
That's the greatest present.
Anyway, you kind of get me off on tangents, but you bring the best out of your client
or your guests here.
And that's important that you get people to disclose and to share their thoughts.
Thank you for that tangent and all the other ones.
Yeah.
I think a big reason that I started this podcast was so that people and guests could just brain
spew kind of offense.
So I'm appreciating your brain spewing right now.
And so I think that was circling in my head as you're talking about training these people.
So you're an American who moved to a less affluent country to start a for-profit company
and you said you currently make seven figures.
So I've maybe unjustly calling it a stereotype here, but I think when people hear the phrase
call center, many of them think of like a large warehouse in India where labor can be
exploited because poverty is widespread.
And so just so we're all on the same page and understanding where you're at, does your
call center have any similarities to this dynamic?
And if not, what am I missing in the story?
Well, you definitely have large areas where people are working in their cubicles.
And a lot of times they have triple wides compared to things that are tight.
Do they have natural light?
Does it stink in there?
Is it fresh air?
What are the conditions like?
What are the managers like?
What are the accounts that you're on?
Do you get paid on time?
So as I say before, if it was as bad as people say it is, I would have never lasted 25 years
in the industry.
But there are so many people that give it a bad rap.
Do they exploit cheaper labor?
I am doing this at least.
My US corporation has a presence here, a Costa Rican corporation.
I am capable of hiring 150 people a month.
At least I'm able to do that.
At least I'm also able to pay taxes and have probably more of the competitive salaries
in this country, unless you're a tech supporter or doctor.
What we pay is better than the tourism industry or working in retail.
And so you're up there and the kids that work here can afford cars, apartments, and spending
money.
We pay them what we can.
And today with the dollar dropping and inflation and with our competition offshore, we do lose
accounts too.
And so it goes so many different ways, but it is what you think it is.
You could see it one or two ways.
You could see it as 100 people in a room where people have BO and it's bad lighting and everyone's
screaming and you hate your product and you can't wait to get the hell out of there.
Where you can be in a place that's climate controlled, big bay windows.
Do you have some plugins?
Yeah.
It's the nice sense of what, Hawaiian and Christmas time, cinnamon and apple.
Is that you guys?
Of course it is.
And it's clean.
We have people cleaning the, you can't eat at your desk.
It's like, ah, let you munch on a candy or something, but we don't want crumbs and cockroaches
and smells and sicknesses.
And so everything's clean and you feed off of that energy.
Why do you think your chemists, isn't it the greatest, but I know you guys have your mad
scientists in their laboratories, but I think some of the best environments are when you're
working together in a laboratory and sharing ideas and having those successes together.
And what I respect about chemists and scientists as well, it's not like they like to be wrong,
but they're constantly questioning.
So it's never right.
And they love feedback and questions from their colleagues.
So they never take it personal.
I love that.
It's always probing.
It's always intelligent.
You squeeze as much as you can out of it.
And so I think people put their egos aside.
I think most people do it for the good of humankind.
Now I'm not putting my career as a linguist and call center up with what you do, which
cures cancer and brings us to the moon.
But I do believe if you can spread courtesy and certain soft skills and diplomacy, it
could reduce temperatures and build better relationships with people.
And so I'm not as smart as you, man, but at least I'm doing my part.
At least I made the team, the Don team, put me in at least this position of the team.
You know, I'll make people smile and laugh during the meetings.
That is true.
The smile and laughing, I give you that.
I also like the taking the temperature part down.
I think that's something that particularly in America, but also just in general, taking
the temperature down, I'd be able to have those more slower conversations that are feeding
into the common humanity between people.
So my next question is when you reflect on some of the most challenging moments of your
life, were there any internal narratives that either helped or hindered your ability to
navigate those situations?
I had to put some things to bed.
Without getting too into it, there's some kids that have grown up and have failed out
of school or gotten kicked out of school.
I'm not saying I burned the school down.
I just failed out via grades.
I went to a really nice private school and I failed out in seventh grade.
And it's a school my father and brother went to.
And so I was a disappointment to people and to myself.
And it was, and I'll never forget this moment.
You know, when people have dreams where they show up, a lot of people have high school
dreams where they show up for the final exam and not studied, well, this was a true dream.
I mean, this must've been what, late May?
And I'm sitting at the dining room table on a Sunday and it's like three or four o'clock,
sun's going down, books are piled up.
And here's the thing.
I just didn't understand the concept of time still.
I was 12 years old.
And so I didn't understand that you can't burn through a hundred pages within a day.
I just still wasn't at that stage yet of comprehending time.
I just thought like in the movies and skimming through and all-nighters and stuff like that.
And it was the first time when you're in seventh grade compared to elementary school, it's
real homework and it might add up.
It's not just like easy stuff.
You just sit in class and it was the first time I didn't take notes.
I didn't study and I was overwhelmed.
I was off playing sports and doing other things, not paying attention.
And I knew I was going to fail.
I knew it.
I knew I was going to spin it and it wasn't funny and it wasn't cute.
And I didn't like how I felt about myself at that period of time.
And maybe it's good that I shed some skin then compared to doing something stupid in
my twenties or having a bad marriage or something.
And so I guess I had to grow up quickly and it was probably the best decision of my life
because going from this wonderful elite school, which was a wonderful elementary education,
I went to a public school where there was 10 times the amount of kids and they all were
in my neighborhood.
So I got a thousand friends and it was the right place for me.
I felt where I belong.
And then it clicked in my head as well.
Richard, you sometimes don't have to live in a box.
It's true.
I mean, with what your friends are talking about in the lunchroom where they're going
to go to school, they're going to go to Tulane and GW and Harvard and all this, but so, so
smart and study law and medicine is very intimidated.
I didn't have a plan.
And so there's a certain point of your life and I don't know what stage it has to be where
you almost have to say effort.
You just got to start believing in yourself.
Yes, you have mentors and there's teachers and you got to follow certain things at the
bank and certain rules of society, but other rules of society do not make sense.
I like to, like for an example, there was absolutely no way I was going to pass Shakespeare
exams in college.
Thank God I could go to the obscure VCR video stores and rent the videos of them because
there's no way I was going to read Hamlet and Shakespeare and Macbeth and stuff.
I couldn't get it.
I was bored.
Even the Cliff Notes were difficult for me, but I could watch it and I got it and my exams
were great.
And then I just read through the Cliff Notes again to fill in the gaps.
And so there are certain ways that people learn how to learn.
I sculpt things with clay.
I'm not a painter, but I'm an artist.
And thank God at a very young age, I realized my tastes, but still blended in societal norms
so I wouldn't get in trouble anymore.
But you need to be a dreamer then.
And if you walk alone, then so be it.
And as I mentioned, why is Spanish hurting anybody?
I was the only one of my friends that could do it.
It was fun.
And here's the thing.
This is when I really knew I had it done.
This is when I knew I had the gift.
None of my friends could do it.
My friends thought it was cute and it was a parlor trick and you tap me on the head,
yeah, come speak in front of our friends.
And so when we would go out to a restaurant or I was somewhere and I saw the name Jesus
or Jose or Maria, I immediately would speak Spanish and it wasn't to insult.
It wasn't to make a joke.
It wasn't to make a scene.
The reaction, the smiling, the questions, the answers.
And it was like Al Pacino dancing in front of a woman in front of my parents and friends.
I was talking for like a couple of minutes.
And at the end, the sort of goodbye and they'd always give me, it's like a goody bag.
They'd always give me either a phrase, adjust my grammar, of course, and a couple of new
vocabulary words.
They'd always be taking something with me.
I'd give you Dona Maria.
And my friends would look at me and they're like, dude, how did you do that?
And then I said, if I can do that, imagine if I can add business with that.
I love doing that.
If I could do that 20 times a day, I'll dance 20 times a day.
And so that in my sort of roundabout way is how we got here.
Yeah.
I went to, I was in Spain for a couple of weeks, a while ago, and I would not say I'm
good at Spanish at all, but I had picked up like a little bit enough to sort of try making
some conversation or ordering food or whatever.
And it was always very intimidating to do that, but it was always like a very good response
from whoever I was trying to communicate with though.
And so I think.
What's your favorite word in Spanish?
Do you have a favorite word?
I don't know if you're familiar with webkins, but it was like this little stuffed animal
that was like an online store, like an online game thing.
And I got a dog and I really liked the Pedro, just like the word for dog in Spanish.
It's a Pedro.
I like the, the, the, the, I like Pedro is a funny, it's a cool word.
I like that one.
That is cool.
It's enough to get a smile from Maria.
You want to hear another cool word?
You'll love this one.
Buwo.
That's an owl.
That's that one.
An owl.
Okay.
How do you spell that?
Is that the W in there?
No, it's B U O.
Buwo.
Yep.
Buwo.
Okay.
That's an owl over here.
That's I like that one.
You're like a buwo and they're like, yeah, you know, even if you just start with a word,
it's more than enough.
More than enough.
Yeah.
Very cool.
All right, Richard.
I have a question for you.
What is a question that you wish someone would ask you?
I've been giving you all these ones based on what I have in my mind, but what is something
that would help us understand you that you don't get asked often or at all?
There's also might be two on the spot either, as well.
So don't make it too complicated.
A lot of people don't ask what my favorite movie was.
What is it?
The Maltese Falcon.
I've not heard that one.
When was that released?
You got is in the 40s.
It's with Humphrey Bogard, Peter Loray, Sydney Greenstreet.
If you like murder, mystery and mayhem and old school shady, you'll love it.
It's one of the best movies that's ever been made.
And you're a smart guy.
Listen, you got to go through things without the technology because it's going to really
make you think, you know, how these people were able to pull things off back in the day.
Yeah, I've been, I watched a couple episodes of the Twilight Zone a couple weeks ago and
was just struck by the, how different the pace of the shows are.
You're talking about pitch and tone and pace earlier.
And there's been such a cultural change in how movies are made and how shows are made.
And so yeah, I'm sure I bet there's some cool stuff going on with the Maltese Falcon.
I'll check it out.
Yeah, of course.
But there's nothing wrong with speaking like that.
I think it's eloquent.
You don't need to speak Queen's English or use SAT words nobody understands, but there's
nothing wrong with once again, how you treat your life on the way you present yourself
and your arguments and your delivery.
It's a nice gift if you keep practicing.
And that's all.
If I can make two other suggestions, if I'm going to give you some homework.
Do you remember the show, The A Team back in the eighties?
I've heard of it, but I never watched it.
I'm giving you great stuff to watch.
You should be studying a character named Templeton Peck played by the actor Dirk Benedict.
He was great.
And you'll get Mr. T on that show too.
It's great.
And then there was a show and I know you didn't watch this.
It was called Remington Steel.
This was Pierce Brosnan before he became James Bond.
And so if you're looking, especially you being a chemist, one day you'll be at a seminar
and you're going to have to sell your brand new breakthrough product.
These were my influences.
And finally, if I got to throw the oldest of school, if you like old time radio, listen
to Basil Rathbone.
He was incredible from the thirties and forties.
And so those were my graduate school classes that I took for myself.
That's a good list.
I'll be going through these for a while.
Awesome.
All right.
Okay, Richard, this has been super awesome.
I've got one more question for you before we end up here.
What's a piece of advice that is important to you that you could leave us with?
Of course, Don.
The most important bit of advice in my opinion is just not to be hard on yourself.
Okay.
You have your private moments.
Make sure you make your bed.
You can look at yourself in the mirror.
If you're really cool with it, give yourself five.
But just, you know, when you put your head on your pillow and you're having those final
thoughts, I need for you to have a clear mind, just regardless of the outcome that day, just
know you did things with the best faith you could.
And it's a weird game, life.
And you can make so many decisions.
And I know I could have stayed in the States and worked at a family business and things
would have been different.
But I just wanted to drink life a little bit and try to be responsible.
Maybe if you're capable of evenings, early mornings and weekends to put in time, you
could still put 40 hours in a week.
80 hours is what CEOs do at a minimum.
And so you can still pay your bills and still ramp up something like you said, doing a side
project.
And so don't wait too long, but also don't rush.
And as my grandparents taught me, if you can't do things in cash, just don't do it.
That's my own personal advice.
Why?
Because I never overextended myself.
And then when things like that happen for an entrepreneur, then you make very rushed
and bad decisions and desperate decisions.
And so we don't want to do that either.
And so I hope I was able to share some good advice for you and your amazing audience today.
I've had a good time.
This has been, I think, one of the most presence driven interviews I've done.
I appreciate you earlier for the audience before you mentioned that wanting this to
be kind of a raw conversation.
And so I was kind of filtering that as we were talking the whole time.
And so I think that really contributed to the conversation we had overall.
So really appreciate it.
I got two questions for you.
Did we go through all 18 questions that you have?
We did not go through all of them.
I think though that the direction our conversation went was better.
And come on, give me a quick question that we wouldn't have done.
I'm just curious.
I won't be able to sleep.
Okay.
Fair enough.
Let's see.
What do you like about Costa Rica itself?
I love the weather.
Give me another one.
Weather.
Let's see.
What are the most critical components for a successful call center?
That's why we couldn't skip these things here.
You need a definite CTO.
If you don't have a chief technical officer that's running your server room, nothing else
is going to work.
Plus good supervision, super management, not 1984, but they just really need to make sure
people stay focused.
Give me another.
Quick question for a follow up on the servers.
So our lab does some computational stuff and we have a relatively large supercomputer.
So I'm curious how big are these computers and servers you have in your rooms?
Oh man, you're asking me a serious tech question.
Let me put it this way.
It's more than enough to support 300 people.
And so we have backups, redundancy, you name it.
I got more stuff in there, but it doesn't look like spaghetti.
We actually cleaned it out.
Oh, they're cable management.
Very important.
Yeah.
Okay.
What is the success rate for your calls?
What percentage of calls results in a sale or a-
Brilliant question.
If it's outbound prospecting, a lot of it has to depend on a list.
If it's opted in data, I mean, they're waiting for the phone call, but if it's a list that's
10 years old, you're just, you know, you're panning for gold.
I was mentioning certain soft skills earlier that can prolong talk time, more talk time,
better chances compared to an immediate hangup.
If the information is up to speed that assists you, someone's been dead six years, it puts
a bad taste in their mouth.
Emails need to be updated.
Websites need to be updated.
All we're doing is increasing percentages for contact ratios and pretentious of pitching
them.
Really?
I mean, I've had things that were one and done's where you've had to make a hundred
phone calls to get an appointment.
And a lot of them were no shows.
And so a lot of it also, if I may, is following up on it.
If you're putting it on a calendar, make sure someone does a reminder call, sends the email,
making sure we're still there.
So you need to sometimes marinate it.
If it's inbound, you're talking about retention, you're talking about support.
So you don't want to lose a client.
You want to make sure that you reduce the talk time.
There's something called first call resolution as well.
And you want to see what you need to do to be able to keep this person.
If you do an excellent job, you might get a referral from them.
We have something called a quality assurance department where we have KPIs, key performance
indicators.
There's a minimum of at least 20 simple ones that I'm paying you to do to qualify people,
make sure the call's there.
You and I look for the soft skills, the dog, as we mentioned earlier, certain things about
chemistry and other things that really give you the points.
Or if you start saying my name on the call, start calling me Richard, you get extra points
for that too.
That means we're bonding.
And so, but people need to have realistic expectations.
I don't like surprises with clients.
Once again, we're not looking to waste their money, but there's a very good chance for
them to see disposition reports.
And you'll see how many calls went straight to voicemail or were wrong numbers or even
a fax machine.
And so, let's be realistic in regards to those metrics there.
And so, I hope in a nutshell that answered that question.
That's a lot of logistics to go on.
It's not just call on a phone.
That's right.
It's also by someone that's- I'm trying to sound smart.
I'm sitting with a chemist.
They had no idea prior to the podcast.
I let you know, I'm very intimidated.
I'm trying to impress you, my honor roll student.
So let's keep going.
What else you got?
What do you actually telemarket?
What products are you selling?
Beautiful question.
Here's five we don't do.
We don't do sports books, casinos, stocks, pharmacies, or sweepstakes.
But the clients we have are from the US and Canada.
And it's with transportation and movies and music.
We're very good with law firms and travel companies.
So it's all across the board.
I mean, I've had things that were working with a borescope.
A borescope.
What is that?
Those are the things, those are the sort of snake-like, what's it called?
The cameras that you put in engine turbines or down people's throats.
So some guys like, he's a guy, I got a thousand numbers to call.
Will you call him for me?
I go, I would love to call them for you.
Those were the greatest calls ever.
I think we batted like 95%.
And then on the flip side, I was working with a law firm that was working with a class action
lawsuit.
It was for an anti-psychotic drug and they had 4,000 packets that we had to walk people
through and the average talk time was 45 minutes.
So could you imagine those calls?
Or sometimes we had to call them back two or three times to complete it.
And so much respect for those telemarketers that prospect and retain clients.
It really is an amazing skill.
Yeah.
I was, before we got on the call, I was imagining what it would be like to work at a call center
for like a long time.
And I think I would struggle with that.
Like I think the always trying to sell and always be on and always having the pebble
to the metal personality wise in order to convince someone that we're jiving kind of
thing.
So how about this?
Let me teach you how to jump clouds and have a romantic death.
Are you ready?
This is what will keep you from not going insane on devil's Island when you're in a
call center.
Okay.
If you can do a company name spike.
Okay.
We're going to talk about for the curious and confused podcast.
How are you today?
At least I'm going to say it.
At least I said that Judy answers the phone.
I'm going to let Judy know she's great.
But prior to that, Judy is going to say, who is this?
And I'm going to say it's Richard blank.
And then who is Richard blank?
And that's where I use, and you were talking about adjustments of tones, a buffer boomerang
technique.
Judy, that's an excellent question.
My name is Richard blank.
Richard blank.
What's ABC?
Judy, glad you brought that up.
ABC is one, two, three, Richard.
What's one, two, three.
Once again, Judy, so glad you mentioned that one, two, three is ABC.
Oh, it's beautiful adjustments.
And if I can do that in the beginning, where she asks, well, after the company name spike,
instead of saying, how'd you get my name?
Is this a sales call?
Take me off your list.
I usually get a positive reinforcement by saying, who is this?
So I'm using anonymity.
Not for the whole call, Don, that's shady.
But if you do it in the beginning, at least you're playing an even role.
Then they'll say, who is this?
And I'll go, Judy, I'm so glad that you asked.
My name is Richard blank.
And then she said, who is Richard blank?
I didn't say name my company yet.
Then I said, I'm so glad that you asked.
And then my company is Costa Rica's call center.
I'll double dip it.
That's 30 seconds worth of speech.
Company name spike, the double dip of the name and the company name with two buffer
boomerangs, and then the positive escalation regardless of you get transferred or not.
You can do that 150 times a day.
So at least you're speaking in the movie before they hang up on you.
At least you said something.
Nice.
And if you do something like that, I've seen the ego defense reduced from a 10 to about
a four.
But what do we do with that mass, Mr. Chemist?
You still have six.
Well, it goes from the reduction to the momentum.
Isn't that amazing?
You took that lux, that liquid oxygen and you moved it from the defense and you moved
it into your engine for the offense.
It had to move somewhere, sir.
I just moved it in my direction and I do that 10 to 20 times on a phone call.
How do you like them apples?
I was just going to say that that is the first time I've heard the conservation of mass argument
implemented that way and I'm not mad about it.
That's pretty cool.
Okay.
Let's see what else I missed here.
I was going to get your 18 questions.
I knew I was going to do it.
I appreciate the tenacity here.
Yeah, let's see.
Game of Cation talking about that.
Yeah, here's one.
How does being able to speak more than one language change your perspective of the world?
Oh, what a beautiful thing.
You see the commitment from other people plus Spanish is a romantic language.
You have the subjunctive, which is the desire and the doubt.
And then if you have that, you have the base where you can almost understand Italian, Portuguese,
and a little bit of French.
It's still somewhat there.
You're with it.
I still feel like a more part of the world in that sense.
I feel James Bondish if I go to a Latino country and I could speak Spanish.
I also believe that I have a protection because depending on the individual, I'll either let
them know I speak Spanish or I'll be like, no, speako Espanolo and see if they say something
in front of me that may be of concern.
And so I can use that as something to protect me.
But that's pretty tricky of you.
Well, you need to do it from time to time to see if they want to take you to Boys Town
and rob your Rolex.
I mean, go on, seriously.
But what this has done for me, it has given me the most wonderful first impression for
people enabled me to build businesses or when I was selling things in Arizona prior going
down to Southwest Phoenix and going into the car, nice areas and bodegas, just walking
right in there.
And you kept saying earlier, I would hate to work in a center and do this and that.
Imagine if today I needed your company for something I needed to hire or you needed my
company.
This would almost in the sense be like a sales call.
You still ask me about how my company runs.
And these are normal questions.
Some would be asking me, but my man, we're having way too much fun.
Imagine if this was the sales call.
And then at the end, you're like, I can't wait to work with Richard.
I can't wait to work with you too, Don.
This is going to be an amazing really, you know, this is where it's at brother, where
you can still be business, but have the best time on the phone with somebody and talk about
other things so we can really see if we're a good fit.
But yet also, sorry, you need crossword puzzles and languages to keep your head sharp still
in the future is what they say for Alzheimer's and stuff.
But I don't know, my man, I gave myself something where I don't need to download, have electricity,
bring equipment or go somewhere.
Spanish is universal.
So everywhere and anywhere I can use this thing.
So it's been so much fun for me.
Yep.
That's awesome.
Yeah.
My parents spent some time on a sailboat in the Caribbean and they learned a decent amount
of Spanish enough to communicate.
I wouldn't say they're fluent, but it just seems like such a cool skill.
So yeah, I resonate with that.
One last question for you.
This is the last one, the 18 that we didn't get to.
So you briefly mentioned the future part and like the technology part.
We also briefly mentioned AI at the very, very beginning.
So the question is, what do you believe is the most important way the AI will impact
society?
Convenience, like an ATM where you don't have to go to the banking hours wait in line to
get your $50.
Like today with self checkouts and where you can fill your own gas.
What this is going to do for us, I don't know how it's going to do, but it'll be a universal
card or your thumb print.
But it will save you time from repeating information to an insurance company.
Or remember when you're filling out certain things to join certain things, your address
or phone?
I think it's just going to be plug and play AI.
Also I tell you what, and this is where it's frustrating for me in my industry, these integrated
voice responses.
When you're trying to give your information to airlines, they don't get the departure
date or the location or anything correct or the spellings.
And then after nine times they transfer you still haven't mastered that.
They will in a couple of years, but they still haven't gotten there yet.
And also when I'm receiving these robo calls, it's Judy trying to talk about my auto insurance
for Arizona.
I've been out of the country since 2000, but I'll let Judy pitch me the, you know, from
the Jetsons.
And so the only thing there is, is they're answering speed.
It's off.
Just like, as I mentioned earlier in regards to it.
So, you know, it's nobody after they're weird answering you.
That's all.
So I think it's going to make a lot of things convenient, but there's going to be a lot
of gasoline attendants, tellers, and other people that might be losing their jobs because
of the kiosks and conveniences.
Yeah.
That all seems very real and it's going to impact different industries in different ways.
But yeah, very, we'll see how it goes.
Speculation at this point.
All right, Richard, that was all the 18.
That was the last one we had there.
So we can try again, second time.
Great conversation.
I really appreciate your insights.
Yeah, this has been very dynamic.
I really appreciate the zigging and zagging that we went through.
So thank you for your time today.
Really appreciate it.
Appreciate it.
Your time is well done.
Thank you.