Listening is how you find out what the customer needs on the phone.Listening is how you find out what the customer needs on the phone. Positive Talk Radio guest Richard Blank Costa Rica's Call Center
Exactly and, and you're growing it enough that you can have a bunch of games that we're gonna talk about here in just a minute. but, uh, um, I, I wanted to, to ask you, because I believe that at least in, in the United States, actually listening is a lost art. And a lot of, I was a sales manager for a long time.
Mm-hmm and I had sales guys that I would go on calls with and they would be, we would be talking to the owner of the re. And he, and the sales guy would ask a question. The owner would answer the question, but I could see it in the sales guy's eyes that he was thinking of a rebuttal to what he was going to say next, rather than listening to the concerns of the person he was talking to and directly addressing those concerns, he was thinking about, okay, what am I gonna say next to?
And so he didn't even listen to 'em. So he would respond in a way that was completely different than what the. Um, owner of the restaurant was trying to get out of him. And so I would have to take him aside and say, you need to stop. You need to listen because listening is how you find out what the customer needs, how they, how you can best serve them.
Mm-hmm and what it is within your power to do for them once you know what they want. But if you don't listen, you'll never know what they want. That was my philosophy. Is that do, would you, can I, can I come work? Let me share some visuals with you and absolutely you can definitely come work with me. Never for me.
Oh, you know what I mean? You're my main man. You're starting with me starting center division one. um, this is what happens. My good friend. And you, and you saw it yourself. They're too well rehearsed. They're too commercialized. They're a print. They're not a painting. They're not raw. There's no essence to it.
Like what got them into this in the first place. They they're a character they're not in character. And so that's a shame because they have such potential and the moment that they can put their checkbook away and just start speaking with this individual at this restaurant or wherever else, that's how you're going to get the sale.
And I was mentioning before with the me too techniques, speaking about dogs and stuff. That's usually when I can anchor in and speak to somebody from the noises in the background from a child or music or a dog, that's when I know I got, because we can actually have a real conversation that's outside of what you and I were even talking about initially.
And so if they can find that sort of me too, Then a they'll be more active listening, then they can reduce any sort of friction and be a lot more comfortable to speak with them. But no, I do agree that they should be planning their rebuttals ahead, but they're, they're doing more acting. They're not reacting.
So I think once again, that has to do a lot more with dedicated practice. It's not about memorizing your script. It's about when to use it and how to use. And so as much as they're trying to impress you, they're depressing you by seeing that they're too stiff. And that bothers me. I, I think people should sway with the wind a little bit, and sometimes things happen naturally.
And instead of making 100 phone calls a day, why aren't you and I making 89? So we can be on the phone for an extra three to five minutes to look up a website to compliment an anniversary or promotion, or just to talk. Just just to see if I can get the pass to pitch in order to suggest my services. And so they have those skills, but right now people are more non-voice omnichannel.
They're doing things through chat, through email support and the challenges that they would have. My good friend is that when you don't speak to somebody on the phone, you're reducing the chances of a client retention. You're not able to upsell somebody, forget getting a referral, an even worse case scenario where let's say you're losing the client or their competition is getting, if they're willing to give you an exit interview and tell you areas in which you could improve or how your competition was able to earn your business, I sometimes find those calls to be even more valuable than.
Positive Talk Radio has accepted Richard Blank's invitation to join the audience for a solid discussion regarding taking a chance by moving abroad and starting a company from scratch in Costa Rica. Kevin McDonald discusses with Richard advanced telemarketing strategy, conflict management, interpersonal soft skills, customer support, rhetoric, gamification, employee motivation and phonetic micro expression reading.
Positive Talk Radio with Kevin McDonald
"Evolving Ideas One Conversation At A Time"
Positive Talk Radio podcast was originally started in 2003 by Kevin McDonald and friends on KKNW 1150 AM in Seattle with great guests, dynamic stories and interviews, plus new thoughts on a wide range of topics. The concept is to provide positive informative content designed to educate, entertain, empower and inspire all who listen Our content includes positive thoughts and idea's and is truly unique in the podcast industry and now again on KKNW 1150 AM on Monday's at 9 and Wednesdays at 4 pm pacific.
Kevin McDonald - Creator and Host. Born and raised in Seattle, Washington. This jovial fun loving man experienced life in a big way from star athlete, to actor, Voice Actor, Restaurateur, Sales and Sales Management, Transit Operator, Audio Producer, Talk Show Host, Creative Consultant, Motivational Leader and current podcast creator. (My Independence Report) Who’s mission is to Declare Our Freedom From Hate, Division and Fear, featuring positive motivational guest, music interviews and fun episodes. KM Media.pro is the parent site for, Positive Talk Radio. We are a live podcast/ Video cast that focuses on todays life challenges. In addition we are able to produce audio/ video products for other companies and people looking to find a voice in the crowded world of podcast journalism
Richard’s journey in the call center space is filled with twists and turns. When he was 27 years old, he relocated to Costa Rica to train employees for one of the larger call centers in San Jose. With a mix of motivational public speaking style backed by tactful and appropriate rhetoric, Richard shared his knowledge and trained over 10 000 bilingual telemarketers. Richard Blank has the largest collection of restored American Pinball machines and antique Rockola Jukeboxes in Central America making gamification a strong part of CCC culture.Richard Blank is the Chief Executive Officer for Costa Rica’s Call Center since 2008.
Mr. Richard Blank holds a bachelors degree in Communication and Spanish from the University of Arizona and a certificate of language proficiency from the University of Sevilla, Spain. A Keynote speaker for Philadelphia's Abington High School 68th National Honors Society induction ceremony. Giving back to Abington Senior High School is very important to Mr. Blank. As such, he endows a scholarship each year for students that plan on majoring in a world language at the university level.
Costa Rica’s Call Center (CCC) is a state of the art BPO telemarketing outsource company located in the capital city of San Jose, Costa Rica. Our main focus has been, and will always be to personally train each and every Central America call center agent so that we may offer the highest quality of outbound and inbound telemarketing solutions and bilingual customer service to small and medium sized international companies, entrepreneurs as well as fortune 500 companies.
We encourage you to visit one of our call centers on your next personal vacation or business trip to Central America’s paradise, Costa Rica. While you are here, we would recommend taking an extra day of your trip to visit breathtaking virgin beaches, play golf next to the ocean, try your luck at deep sea fishing, explore tropical jungles, climb volcanos or just relax in natural hot springs. Come and see for yourself why call center outsourcing in Costa Rica is a perfect solution for your growing company and a powerhouse in the BPO industry.
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