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  • 5 hours ago
The BUILD & BALANCE Show with Richard Blank. A call center sales training expert in Costa Rica.

BUILD & BALANCE Show dedicated to serving salespeople with 0 - 5 years of experience; and anyone who wants to improve their public speaking skills. Michael Neuendorff has been in sales and marketing for more than 20 years and knows what it's like to start out in sales. It's not easy! This is why Michael Neuendorff post videos that help you to get the basics down and also understand various success secrets that can catapult you to the front of the group faster than it would take on your own.

In this video, Michael Neuendorff talks with Richard Blank a successful call center owner and sales trainer, located in beautiful Costa Rica! In this video, Richard shares many tips on cold calling and how to become successful with cold calling. If you have more questions, be sure to leave a comment on this video! Check time stamps below for interview questions.

Richard Blank, CEO of Costa Rica's Call Center (CCC), appeared on The BUILD & BALANCE Show with host Michael Neuendorff to discuss outbound B2B sales strategies, call center operations, and workplace culture.

• Best Practices in Outbound Sales: Blank breaks down effective techniques for cold calling, handling rebuttals, leaving compelling voicemails, and prioritizing conversion quality over rigid talk-time metrics.
• Why Costa Rica for Nearshoring: He explains the strategic advantages of operating a call center in San José, highlighting the country's democratic stability, lack of a standing army, 95% literacy rate, strong infrastructure, bilingual talent pool, and alignment with U.S. time zones.
• Gamification & Company Culture: Blank discusses how he combats agent burnout and builds retention by integrating play into the workplace, notably through his collection of restored American pinball machines and antique jukeboxes at the office.
• Entrepreneurial Journey: He shares his background moving from the U.S. to Costa Rica at age 27, training over 10,000 bilingual telemarketers, and leading CCC since 2008.

Interview Questions
00:00 intro
01:56 Why did you open a call center in Costa Rica?
05:36 Why are cold calls better than cold emails?
08:18 What is a good percentage of answered cold calls?
10:54 Tips for cold calling?
23:10 How do you develop new salespeople?
27:26 When should a business consider using a call center?



https://youtu.be/BDAGoHBahBo?si=IvrJ4MNZswK7AG3u
Transcript
00:03I'd like to welcome Richard Blank to the show today.
00:07I've been really looking forward to this conversation.
00:09I know you're going to enjoy it too.
00:10So before we get into the questions,
00:12I'd like to introduce Richard formally.
00:14Richard's journey as an expat is filled with many twists and turns.
00:18When he was 27 years old, he relocated to Costa Rica
00:21to train over 5,000 employees for one of the larger call centers in San Jose.
00:27With a mix of motivational public speaking style
00:30backed by tactful and appropriate rhetoric,
00:33Richard shared his knowledge and trained over 10,000 telemarketers
00:36in the past 20 years.
00:37He has the largest collection of restored American pinball machines
00:41and antique Roccola jukeboxes in Central America,
00:45making gamification a strong part of CCC culture.
00:49Richard has been the chief executive officer
00:51for Costa Rica's call center since 2008.
00:54Richard holds a bachelor's degree in communications and Spanish
00:58from the University of Arizona
00:59and a certificate of language proficiency
01:02from the University of Sevilla, Spain.
01:04Of note, Richard was the keynote speaker
01:07for Abington High School's 68th National Honor Society Induction Ceremony.
01:13Giving back to Abington High School is very important to Richard.
01:16And as such, he endows a scholarship each year
01:19for students that plan on majoring in a world language
01:22at the university level.
01:24Richard, it's really great to have you here with us today.

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