It makes a lot of sense that call centers would have a high stress level. Positive Talk Radio guest Richard Blank Costa Rica's Call Center

And it's interesting that call centers would have, well, actually it makes a lot of sense that call centers would have a high stress level and a lot of turnover because of that high stress level. And I, I can only imagine what it's like to get on the phone all day, eight hours a day and get hung up on like a bunch and stuff.

Does that. Well, it really depends on the vertical that you're calling, but I see it as this it's like the gym. When somebody first comes into a call center, you really need the endurance to make 40 hours worth of phone calls a week. It, it could be draining, but when you're used to it, it just seems like a normal day.

When you're on a predictive dialer, you have a much higher contact ratio than you would if you were manually dialing, which could be exhausting. But mind you, this English is their second language. They're getting a return on investment of their education. And for me speaking Spanish, it was always stimulating for the jobs I had in the United States prior to Costa Rica.

And for them. Once again, they find it enjoyable. And so what I like to do is I put things in perspective. If they're getting yelled at and hung up upon, we need some coaching on that. That really shouldn't be happening that much. And there's other sort of soft skills that we can do to become more diplomatic and strategic to reduce any sort of friction and to move conversations along.

But they have to realize that by learning a second language is 10 times harder than what they're about to do and all that dedicated practice they did prior to even working with. Shows. So fear is really a morbid anticipation of something that hasn't happened yet. So if I can properly onboard them, prepare them and give them that support.

A lot of what you had mentioned earlier, pretty much gets eliminated. And once again, there are certain soft skills that we can do on the phone to eliminate any sort of cursing and frustration. Now, naturally clients could have questions. They need clarification. And by doing active listening, by using a name by talking about pronouns, to keep their attention by reviewing information with people, to show that you are active listening and they don't have to repeat it, there's a very good chance.

You can get a first call resolution for less time. And so once again, this is a skill that people can build up and if they just practice it outside of the office, like you and I do with dedicated practice, because you, you make it look. And I make it look easy, but your audience doesn't really see the amount of hours and preparation that we do off camera.

And so, as long as people are willing to train and prepare themselves, then it should be very easy, any sort of job that they go into, how difficult.


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, Transi