The best telemarketing training classes start with recess. Real Estate Jam Session Podcast guest Richard Blank Costa Rica's Call Center

Joe Killinger: you gotta create the connection past the pitch, you know, from there. Yeah. Well, um, so tell us a little bit about what you do. You've got a call center down in Costa Rica, so I'm a little jealous about, I gotta come down there and scuba dive. I swear to God it's on my bucket list. I made it to Belize.

Joe Killinger: That was great. But Costa Rica's gotta be next. But tell us about your call.

Richard Blank: Well, I've been in business for 14 years in the industry for 22. I have bilingual agents here. They're college educated and they're dedicated, so they only work on specific campaigns, and so I have a gamification culture here. Okay, So I believe in restoring old pinball machines, jute boxes.

Richard Blank: I have an air hockey table, so I've created a neutral environment for agents from other departments to meet one another. They can let off steam and recharge batteries and, and it's an environment where I, as the el jefe can spend time with my people. Sure. And, and so this sort of gamification environment has enabled me to reduce any sort of attrition.

Richard Blank: and to have some sort of bridge with the agents here. And so let's say it's a first day of training. Training class doesn't start till seven 30 cuz seven to seven to 30 we start with recess. So everybody can have a great time together. Yeah. And when they enter the first training class, they're loops.

Richard Blank: They have friends. Yep. They're just absorbing now Joe. They start contributing so, So I believe with your training sessions with the agents, there's nothing better than Interac. Role playing and suggestions and pausing it and showing different techniques. It's a dojo. They all, Does everybody work in the same office or are they virtual agents,

Joe Killinger: Joe?

Joe Killinger: Well, uh, about half and half the newer agents are in the office. The guys have been with us for 10 plus years, or at home. Most of you

Richard Blank: know the synergy in your office, you know, the new agents, they feed off of that energy with one another. Oh. And if somebody gets one, the high fives are

Joe Killinger: plenty. Yeah. One of 'em gets a good call and you know, they got a listing employment or something.

Joe Killinger: It's just the energy it just through the roof. Rock on.

Richard Blank: Yeah. I missed that. With Covid that got taken away from me. The essence of my call center was to walk the rose and to break the bread and the high five. Yeah. And so I missed that, but um, I'm glad to hear you have that sort of culture there. I'm sure it's amazing.

Richard Blank: What, do you guys ring a bell? What do you do

Joe Killinger: when someone gets to leave? We don't ring a bell, but it's, it's, it's just fun. And you know what, it motivates the other agents, you know? So I find that if we really support that and, you know, make that a focus, the other agents are like, So what did you do? What did you.

Joe Killinger: How did it happen? And then they kind of grow from that as a team. Can you

Richard Blank: pull the call? What? Pull the call. Pull the call for the agents. Oh yeah. Listen to it. Go right into the training room right after you cut it and then cut it up and everyone gets a slice. Let 'em see. Cause it's still fresh off the griddle, what that call was like.

Richard Blank: It's,

Joe Killinger: I just love the inter, I love this business. First of all, I love the real estate business. I've done auctions and real estate auctions here in the US when it was a startup that worked, went very well and residential. And now I've been focused on commercial the last. 20 some years. So, uh, I love the business and the people, and I love watching new people, you know, build a business and bring it in.

Joe Killinger: And I think, you know, e everybody's afraid that the economy's gonna slow down here. And, you know, being in Southern California we're a little bit spoiled and that we don't, and we are usually the last one in, if we go int