In this enchanting episode of Spark and Ignite Your Marketing, host Beverly Cornell sits down with Richard Blank, CEO of Costa Rica’s Call Center. Richard’s story is one of bold moves and building a business that thrives on empathy, gamification, and yes—pinball machines. Richard shares his secrets to igniting employee engagement and delivering exceptional customer experiences. Tune in to discover how culture, connection, and a little magic can transform your business.
Three Key Topics Covered:
- Gamification in the Workplace: Richard introduces gamification into his call center with creative elements like pinball machines and friendly competitions, creating an atmosphere of fun and motivation. This approach not only recharges employees but also fosters engagement, camaraderie, and exceptional performance.
- The Art of Connection: emphasizes the power of personal touches, like remembering special moments or complimenting a team member, to create meaningful connections. He shows how empathy and genuine interactions leave lasting impressions that go beyond business metrics.
- Leadership Lessons in Attrition: Richard approaches employee turnover with grace, treating every departure with dignity and respect. By building a workplace culture rooted in relationships and honor, he fosters loyalty and a sense of belonging that inspires his team to thrive.
Follow Richard:
Richard Blank | LinkedIn
Richard Blank | Instagram
Richard Blank | Facebook
Transcript:
Beverly:
Did you know that call centers in Costa Rica are gaining attention worldwide? And thanks to their unique blend of bilingual talent and a people focused approach, our guest today has been a pioneer in this space. Hello everyone. And welcome to Spark and Ignite Your Marketing. I’m your host, Beverly Cornell. And today I am joined by Richard Blank, the CEO of Costa Rica’s call center. Richard took a bold leap from Philadelphia to Costa Rica. Over 20 years ago, and he’s built a thriving business, unlike any other in his industry. His company culture is rooted in empathy, gamification, and yes, even pinball machines. From training over 10, 000 bilingual telemarketers to paying it forward with scholarships for language students. Richard’s journey is an inspiring story of vision and impact, and he has a really bold personality. Richard, welcome to the show.
Richard:
Beverly, quite an introduction. Thank you so much. I’m really happy to be here today as a guest on your amazing show.
Beverly:
I am so excited to have you here. You have such a unique journey and that’s what makes this whole podcast so fun is everybody has on their own path. So talk a little bit about how you went from Philly to Costa Rica.
Richard:
I was building on momentum. I was a Spanish major in college, so I had that base foundation. When I was 27 years old. I was hanging out in the pool, chilling with my cousin, Joe. And he says, Hey, Ricardo, why don’t you go to Costa Rica for a couple of months? One of our buddies from college owns a call center. You’re in between jobs and stop sending your resume out. Be a fax machine. And I went down for a couple of months, but it opened my eyes immediately. I saw this bilingual environment of individuals that were focused, converting calls. They were upselling, doing retention, customer support, saving these accounts. And so I gravitated towards it and decided to stay, worked at my friend’s center, learned the business from the inside out, not at C-level. And then in my mid thirties, I threw my hat in the ring. I had impulse control, maturity, and a little bit of cash. Started small. Grew from there. And here we are today. What I did in my industry was I was able to rent a turnkey station at a blended center, like an internet cafe. So I could scale accordingly. After a couple of years, when I had a certain clientele base that was stable and some cash, I rented space and started building out rows because of call centers that were going out of business so I can get their computers and stations for a fraction of the cost, even build out a server room accordingly. After six years, Of cash, stability and growth. Then I purchased a building, gutted it, third floored it, art, decked it. And here we are today
Beverly:
and pinball it too, right?
Richard:
Pinball it too, of course. Listen, Ricky Schroder had the best arcade in the eighties. I wanted to beat Silver Spoon and so today with their home consoles. Handheld units, Xboxes you name it. They really don’t like my pinball machines or it’s just, so these places would go out of business. I’d grab a couple dollars, a few friends in a truck, drive four hours to Perez Zeledón. And Don Jorge’s open it up this bodega and there’s three beauty sitting there. And so these beautiful vintage machines would come here. People would play it. But how about this? Happy medium, just like recess, Beverly. That’s when everyone becomes best friends and plays together. And so they let off steam, recharge batteries. They can fall in love by the Pac Man machine, or they can hang out with me and have a good time with their boss and not be intimidated. And so I tried to make a happy home so I can spark and ignite something else in them. When you see somebody laugh, that’s a different side of somebody. And it makes them want to stay at a place longer. Because they’re making friends.
Beverly:
I hear the word gamification and I feel like it’s used a lot right now. It’s so popular. How are you using gamification?
Richard:
I was using my game room as an example in between breaks and for training. But let’s say you’re making telemarketing calls. How do you make it a game? What we do in my industry is we have a quality control department that listens to your phone calls. There’s also something called KPIs, which are key performance indicators, certain things you should be following to make sure a call is qualified and you have structure and you’re getting through this call. That’s what I’m paying you to do. I want you to bite the apple when juggling or do something with fire. I expect the above and beyond the 10 percent wiggle room where the magic does. Beverly, the soft skills that you have mastered the bedside manner, the things that people remember you for, not what you say to me, it’s how you make them feel. Yeah. So my good friend, when people were saying AI is going to take over your industry. Okay. Let it gather for me. It’s okay. Let them gather the information, but that remaining 10%, my friend, that’s the empathy. That’s the side where we extend our compassion and really connect. So say what you want. I think that those will be specialists. Those will be people to retain a client that will move things forward quicker because it’s very frustrating when it’s latent. And so the sort of games that I try to do is look at metric games. It’s not juicy or exciting, but if you can reduce talk time on a call, because you have showed that you understand what they’re talking about, taking copious notes, doing tie down questions, name dropping you, Beverly, because it sounds good. That’s one sort of game and you can get prizes from it. But my main game, if you really want to know the Richard game, if I can do the positive escalation. If I can speak to your assistant prior to being transferred to Beverly and I let Judy know how amazing she is. And then when I get transferred to you, letting you know that it’s a Richard circle because when I have to call you back again, Beverly, you don’t want to follow up. I get to speak to your assistant again. And out of a thousand people, how many compliment Judy? Very few verbally. No one in writing. That’s what I do. Make sure to say Judy. I say, hi, she’s amazing. And so you get company culture. They tell you about anniversaries, when to call back Beverly because of her schedule. When’s her kid’s birthday? Where does she travel? The fact that she’s an army wife, traveling around, having fun. And so it’s little things where you could say, and I even mentioned military alphabet, which I think you’d say, Hey, I have someone that is serving. I’d say, thank you for their service. You wonder why you can anchor at an end of a call. You wonder why, instead of you saying, I don’t have time, the call last five minutes. And the moment you can put the script down and talk about pinball or the military or traveling or Guatemala, Belize and all the wonderful places that Beverly has contacts. Those are wonderful things that can separate me from other people that are trying to beat me on price and contractual terms.
Beverly:
I think that’s the humanness and all of this, right? That’s the connection that we want to have. Most business owners that I talk to, they’re doing something that they love. It’s a passion, right? What they’re doing and how they’re impacting people, whatever that looks like for them, that’s their purpose. And this human side of it I think you’re right about the AI. And AI has a lot of knowledge, but do they know when to use this and the nuance and all of the things. And I think that’s the humanness of who we are. And I love that you are so focused. And this idea of connection and taking a minute to really listen and to take, and to see their name. People love to hear their name. That is such a psychological basic thing with the advent of this and texting and all the things we’ve forgotten some of that connection that the things that really make us humans together in all of this. So what frustrates you about the call center industry and why, what do you want to do way better or change?
Richard:
We have the largest attrition. It’s a 300 percent depending on which campaign. I’m talking industry in general. So they bounce, they don’t give you a two weeks notice. Amazon can hire them tomorrow. But I tell you what, let me look at it in a realistic way and taking emotion out of it. You could make more money there, so I don’t take it personal, okay? But I’ll never give someone the walk of shame. I’ll never curse you out on the floor and make you cry. I’ll be a straight shooter and call the balls and the strikes. I’ll call you champ when you deserve it. And I tell you what they write on their resumes is incredible. I’m looking at the next incredible leader. That will be with you till the gold watch and when opportunity comes, they leave. Do I blame them? No, but there is some sort of professional ethics you need to have. You may leave. You don’t have to give two weeks notice, anything like that. But you started strong with me looking in my eyes with a handshake. Why can’t you knock on my door or make a meeting so you can look in my eyes One last time and make a handshake. But look what you did in the beginning with that word in the eyes. So I go chivalry. I go old school. I don’t know outside the office. I don’t know the pressures you’re under. I respect that. If you worked with me for a day to 10 years. But the last thing I look at somebody, besides their track record, is can you look at me in my eyes, shoulders back, chest out, and chin up, and say, Richard Blank, it was a very nice time together, and I wish you well, so I can wish you well. I see it that way, my friend, and I rarely get that. I don’t get angry. I get disappointed.
Beverly:
Give a little grace in some of those situations, but it is disappointing. I’ve had many team members. That it’s the same thing. Like, why didn’t you at least call me and talk to me? We’ve been together for how many years and built a relationship. And then you do this. Like I get that life is like this. And I know that you have to take care of your family. One of our core values, we have three Richard is honor and it’s honor each other, honor our clients. Honor ourselves. And honor is beyond just integrity. It’s like you said, looking at each other in the eyes when it’s difficult and when it’s good. So even with a client, sometimes it can get difficult. You gotta look them in the eyes, like you gotta be real. It is a little old fashioned, I guess you could say, but I think that the more people who are honorable and honor would make the world a way better place. I can’t even tell you how many of my clients struggle with staffing and like they’ll come in there for two days and then they just don’t, no call, no show, no nothing. And it’s so frustrating. I feel like, I don’t know, it’s just a very different time. One of the reasons why I do outsource a lot of my work outside of the U. S. is because I don’t get that kind of treatment from people who live abroad. They are more driven. They are more committed to the process. They want to learn. They are even grateful for the opportunity. And that’s how I was when I was a kid. So it’s like, where did that change? I love that you even give scholarships because one of the things that I have learned is some of the people that I work with, they earned a scholarship to this country. And now I have this amazing crew of people who all had the same scholarship, essentially. Working for me and they’re all really deeply committed and love marketing and they, it’s just a very different approach for me that I have found than hiring here from college. It’s just, it’s so different. So tell me why Costa Rica for you and not in the U S? Why would you go to Costa Rica? Is there something about the people that is different?
Richard:
My wife.
Beverly:
Oh, it’s always for the love.
Richard:
Check it out. I’m at my friend’s center for the four years. I literally learned everything about a call center. I wanted to stay because I had the leverage. People found me unique. They gravitated towards me because they asked certain grammatical and vocabulary questions.
Beverly:
Tell me about when had a challenge and you did the right thing.
Richard:
Okay. We’ll go through my timeline real fast. The first is when I got kicked out of private school in seventh grade. It’s the school that my father and brother graduated a very elite private school called Germantown Academy. I was there since kindergarten. I grew up with everybody and I was going through a weird year. I was chasing girls, not focused. And my parents were getting a divorce and what are you going to do? And what happened was, and I’m not going to blame the teachers. And I’m not saying that I needed that sort of support, but people gave up on me. And I was the kid you weren’t supposed to play with. And I was the example of when I was the only one who failed. One of the funniest thing. I failed Spanish that year. And that’s the funniest thing because right now I remember some of the things. I forgot the word for cook, and look at me now. I went to a public school, Abington senior high school. Now these are people that grew up together through elementary. And amongst this little time period, I became a tri letterman. I was in student government. But here’s the skin. I knew I love Spanish and this is where the second language scholarship comes from. When I graduated, my dedicated Spanish teacher Esperanza Galashack wrote me a recommendation letter. And the late principal Norman Schmidt, he did it too, because my grades couldn’t get me into Arizona. And so today, I do a second language scholarship for a graduating senior at Abington High School that wants to study second languages at the university level. And then when I had to convince my parents about university studies, because I wasn’t going to Washington, Lee, like my brother, Columbia business, like my dad, grandpa went to Harvard law. And so how did I convince them on Arizona? This was my convincing. My great grandpa came from Eastern Europe to New York City in the turn of the 20th century. He couldn’t speak English. We made our money during the depression. Look what he did. So it’s in our blood. I just want to go South. And I’m also being responsible because in state tuition in Arizona is a fraction of the cost of the schools that I was getting into on the East coast. Plus, I didn’t want to study that stuff. Let me go be a Spanish major so I can move abroad for a year and live in Spain. And so those were the sort of stages of life where I wasn’t selfish, but I had Cosquillas, mariposas. And a lot of people didn’t understand it. But my intentions were honorable, Miss Beverly, and you know perfectly well. That when you speak Spanish to certain people, you get such a positive reinforcement. It’s a beautiful first impression. I was the only one of my friends that could do it. So Beverly, I knew the rest of my life would be beautiful with this gift. It was happy magic dust that I could bring anywhere with me.
Beverly:
We all need more happy magic dust. There’s no question. I love happy magic dust. I actually have a wand over here. I’ve been called a fairy godmother. So be careful. We need more pixie dust. We need more of that in our world. And I really want to work with business owners who want more magic dust in their life. They want to do some of that. So the fact that you even use that phrase is amazing because I use that all the time.
Richard:
It’s the magnetic energy that we transfer. You could see somebody across the room. They look at you, give you the thumbs up, smile or a wink. Don’t you feel good?
Beverly:
It’s the mariposas. It’s the butterflies. I love that so much. Tell me a story about the essence of your work at the call center. Tell me one story of a person maybe it’s a business that you touched or a person who works for you that it just changed their whole perspective or their business in some way
Richard:
we are increasing their self confidence and self reliance. If you want one, I had this guy Pablo yesterday. Who’s got the nicest beard in my calls center. Really fluffy. I’m like, okay, señor barba. And then I’m like, you do have the nicest beard in the coast and it’s yeah. So what did I just do to him? Lucy Goosey. I got him so hyped up before we started role playing by calling him a cool nickname. following up by saying, you got the nicest one this center. You’re warming up. And so if someone’s going to get into motion, I’m starting them off at a 10. So he’s in a groove. And if they’re coachable, they’re manageable. If I got to keep hitting the ball and dragging Johnny, you’re not practicing your violin. You’re not practicing the piano. Don’t fake it. This is my wheelhouse. And you know what? Now it’s almost an insult. You’re not even waxing on. So how are you going to beat Johnny?
Beverly:
Your eighties movies references are amazing.
Richard:
I will never compromise your ethics, values or morals. I’ll ask you to be more assertive. And if you have a certain voice, I might adjust it accordingly. So people don’t ask you on the Q A calls to repeat because you’re going too fast or too slow. And so these are certain things, as I mentioned before, of a very nice balance that they can have. I want them to do things without resistance so they can use wind, gravity, and currents so they’re not carrying the canoe. And it’s much easier to be a rudder of the largest of ship, no matter how luxurious it is. It’s very easy to move them inches as long as you let them lead the dance a little bit. And here’s the final thing, since they are translating, they’re more in the now compared to just their native tongue. So again, it’s that more intensive concentration that can help them to pick these things out. But one particular, sure, the, these kids that never had the right mentor teacher, or I’m constantly reminding them on proper grammar. They appreciate those sort of things. They say, Richard, first, you’re the only boss that ever met me. And second, instead of saying, good job, champ, Beverly’s not the champ. Tell her why she’s the champ. What about that? Mrs. Jones call that she did for 22 minutes and hung in there and finally got her to resolve it so she didn’t lose the account. That’s what you tell Beverly in front of all of her friends, in front of the whole crew. That my friend I’ve been doing for 17 years. I can’t give one in particular. Yeah. Pablo with the beard, señor barba. Yeah. He’s great. And he was the shyest. You want to hear another beautiful story about him? He was part of the original five that we hired and he was the last one to close his first appointment. Everyone was clipping it in the first day. It took him till the end of the second day. I said, once it happens, trust me, you’re going to break that bottleneck. It wasn’t my congratulation. It’s when he got it, a supervisor ran to my door to tell me, but when I went out there, his crew mates, people from the other department, a couple of them stood up and came over and like my man. I did it, there’s no cool table in my lunchroom. Everyone is really nice with each other. It’s almost like a bohemian environment. Me today, you tomorrow.
Beverly:
So what marketing have you done to help capture this essence?
Richard:
An enormous amount of SEO, just my own website and my other social sites. on these podcasts and not selling a seminar book. And most people hate telemarketers. I am here just to let you know, Beverly, how much I respect your work and you spark and ignite and shine, and you’re just a great person. And the fact that I’m a guest here, I can tell some fun tales of twists and turns and share advice of growing a business, having vigor, endurance, as you mentioned, grit, and being aligned with some of your past amazing guests is a huge compliment. It’s think about it like this. A lot of prima donnas and professionals will do things only if they get paid or they get the perks. What you and I are doing right now is not only sharing ideas, but it’s just spending beautiful time it’s just, as we mentioned before, magic.
Beverly:
So I have this magic hat where I pull some questions out of.
Richard:
Yeah.
Beverly:
And it’s more of a lightning round. So it’s a little bit of a quicker answer. Tell me if your brand had a voice, what word or emotion would resonate from its core?
Richard:
The emotion is empathy.
Beverly:
Okay.
Richard:
Because it gives and receives, it’s a nice. warm feeling. If you can even think of a color, it’s like a creamish yellow. I think it’s something that would be most diplomatic and strategic that most people would receive well and hopefully return.
Beverly:
So you love movies. So if the Costa Rica Call Center were a movie, who would be the hero and what would be the main conflict and how would it end?
Richard:
No, you definitely have Humphrey Bogart in my position. Him in the Maltese Falcon. My wife would be played by, of course, Lauren Bacall. I wouldn’t want to compromise ethics, values, or morals, but there’s always mystery, murder, and mayhem in a bogey movie. So there’s got to be something that’s a little shady where I’m trying to keep it clean.
Beverly:
Okay.
Richard:
Maybe it could be something in regards to like IT and specialists where things are going wrong in the country. It’s like Casablanca, right before France was invaded. Bogie was just drinking all the champagne. And so maybe it’s just showing my character during Key Largo situations or dark passage, where you’re doing all these things where you’re really watching Bogie’s backbone and how with his calm demeanor and lighten up his smokes. And telling people, what do you want me to do? Stutter? And it’d have to be in black and white.
Beverly:
How would it end? What would happen at the ending?
Richard:
Oh, one of those things where you’re having an orchestra playing in a sunset going down and me hugging my wife. We didn’t get shot, killed, and we had a bag of cash and everything worked out. You know what I want it to be. I don’t want it to be an in and an out or something where you discuss and forget. I want it where you ponder or where people say it changes your life. Don’t tease me, but one of the movies that changed my life was the movie Hard Bodies with Scotty Palmer from the great actor Grant Kramer. He was really teaching people to have confidence to speak to people. He was my hero, but it was really about, it wasn’t brawn and it wasn’t cash. It was standing and Giving you the bigger and better deal.
Beverly:
So tell me, when was the moment that you realized that Costa Rica’s Call Center was successful.
Richard:
That’s a great question, Bev. When I got my first account, February 6th of 2008, I got one seed for one week. I did it. I did it. It’s the first time in Alcatraz the concrete comes off, or you see the sprout, or it’s the, madrugada, when you start seeing the sun coming up.
Beverly:
Oh, okay.
Richard:
So you’ll never get that feeling ever again. It only happens once. And the fact that when I put my website out October 4th, got a bunch of calls, potentials, but then all of a sudden this guy, Rob out of Florida is like, Hey, Richie, let’s test you for one week. Yes. I couldn’t believe it. And look that spark turns to smoke, turns to llamas, turns to incendios. And if I can do it once I can do it again. That was one of the coolest moments for myself is extremely self fulfilling.
Beverly:
Yes. Inciendo, that’s the best way to talk about that. So back to a fun question. In the animal kingdom, what creature best represents you and your business and why?
Richard:
buho.
Beverly:
buho. What’s a buho?
Richard:
That’s an owl. That’s the greatest word! But I want to be a buho! Because I can hunt, and I’m beautiful, and I can fly, and I listen, and I make cool sounds, and people say I’m wise, and I’m fabuhous. Plus Athena likes me. So I hang out with her, I’m wise with wisdom and warfare, but the buho everyone respects the buho
Beverly:
which book podcast or entrepreneur has made the biggest impact on you?
Richard:
Anybody that would give me the opportunity to share an idea and to be a guest. And there are certain podcasts I’ve been on where I think they’re checking off a list, or as you said, prior to recording, let’s see where it goes. Some people literally have 10 questions, want the answers. If you’re on, let’s say a live recording or something like this, it does bring out. something in you that you would never get before. It’s like a runner’s high that you can only get after your fifth mile. And by giving myself these environments to tap into that final apex of the pyramid thought, that 1 percent Richard that can only come in certain highly stimulated situations. I thank them for it because without that sort of spotting on my chest pressed mentally, I would have never been able to push up that way. And even someone like yourself who’s so sweet and kind, but you also make people feel so comfortable that levels get back, which gets increased. And so you will get the best out of people Beverly. And That’s all. I got very fortunate in my industry.
Beverly:
thank you so much for sharing some of that. That’s really the end of the lightning round and those kind of interesting questions. It just gives me a little more insight into you, Richard. So I want to take us into a time machine of sorts, maybe wave my magic wand a couple more times on the interview. I want to go backwards. I want to go back to that kid in seventh grade. That was doing really poorly and give him a piece of advice that, now, what would you tell that little young man who was struggling so badly?
Richard:
Don’t be so hard on yourself. I remember that Sunday night, dining room table, sun was starting to go down, books were piled and I was getting tired and I go, I think I’m going to fail. I think I was very hard on myself during that time. And the second thing I could have done is prevention versus cure. I was lazy and maybe instead of thinking that final night I could read a hundred pages, why didn’t I just write One page, a hundred times of notes throughout the freaking year. Why don’t you pay attention in class, get 70, 80, 90, a hundred percent of what he’s saying, you might have a better chance compared to trying to rebuild it every time. That was ridiculous that I got mentally exhausted compared to reviewing notes. When I was in 11th grade, there was a teacher, Ms. Beothi, that gave you SAT prep, but she also taught you how to skim. How to do dictation and how to really organize your notes for trigger words and writing on the side, which increased my cognitive abilities, retention, reduced study time, better note taking because of the dictation. And so if you’re willing to allow individuals. to balance your bike. Then you can ride. Stop with the ego. You said it’s okay to ask. Of course, it’s okay to ask. If you’re nervous about it, ask for clarification. So it sounds better. You look great. Can you show me how to do great? In order for me to succeed a What’s your suggestion on B. Asking suggestions? Bev, I honor your opinion. I respect your opinion. What would you say would be in my best interest? I always felt that if someone had a notepad and pen at the ready, that was extremely impressive for me in class wise. They don’t have to memorize. Anyone that takes those to me is the smart kid because they can review it later. You read to remember. And so those are the ones that I see with the long term plan. And so these are the sort of Richard things that I would have told myself back in the day to not be embarrassed to ask Mr Jones a clarification class and do my best to take notes.
Beverly:
Okay, so let’s step back in the time machine. Richard, we’ve gone to the past. We’re going to go to the future. And we’re going to look at your eulogy. What do you think is your most significant legacy or impact
Richard:
that I wrote the greatest Children’s book you could ever imagine. I’ll be like Roald Dahl when he did with James and the Giant Peter, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I want to be known for the guy that writes the best Children’s books revolving mini golf and Rube Goldberg experiments. So regardless of what happens in the future, I’m still going to connect old world with new world. I’m just going to be that guy that does interactive play, imagination, growth, and using technology to build it. And whatever it is, my eulogy will be something like an image that continues to move on, or music that can last forever. So my form of art, which is the one that I know the best is my own superhero with my own special power. Hopefully be the one thing that they remember me for.
Beverly:
Last question, what is one piece of advice you would offer a young entrepreneur or somebody who’s struggling to do today after this interview, they could go, they could press stop and they could go do something right now that would have the biggest impact for them personally or for their business
Richard:
First is congratulations. Hats off. It’s not for the faint of heart and go for it. And secondly, drink your life. But you need to be working on more interpersonal soft skills. Enough with the omni channel non voice. I don’t want texting emails. and chat. You need to focus on face to face communication. If it’s looking in a mirror and practicing, recording your speech, studying rhetoric, because a lot of the young entrepreneurs I meet today are absolutely brilliant, but they’re isolated or they’re used to non personal face to face communication. Make sure to give some acknowledgements every now and again. Doesn’t mean you agree with them, but you understan it. So don’t feel like you have to make a statement. Sometimes use luxury of time. If there’s a sense of urgency valley, I understand. Chances are the following day, there’s a readjustment. Sometimes apologies are made and there’s nothing wrong with a reset. Those things have helped me in business. I mentioned acknowledging individuals with a positive escalation. You’re going to be working with these individuals. So why would you snuff the person that opens the door, assist you for the elevator, and greet you at the front desk? I think you should be focusing on custom make voicemails and emails. So it’s not just a dear sir, and just a generic, especially if you’re leaving a voicemail, that’s a beautiful thing. They’re going to listen and that’s it. Write a good composition email. Really do your meeting minutes, because most people do not take notes. People might forget something. You can put things on target dates. Yes. You can delegate. Yes. What does this do? Chances are you’re gonna get there and not forget your batteries on the camping trip. There’s a certain structure and grid that you can do with meeting minutes and having accountability and using this chain.
Beverly:
I love me a good checklist. There’s no questions. So yes, you’re speaking my language now. Yes. I was an avid note taker in school. Okay. But for me, it was actually like a way of remembering if I didn’t take the note, it didn’t go into the file cabinet, but now I actually, there’s a couple of different ways that I approach that. I have horrible handwriting. So there’s these AI things Now that we’ll take notes during your meeting and you can run a transcript through even AI and say, give me an agenda for next meeting. or a to do list of who’s doing what, and then I can put that into my project management system. So it’s less hard for me, but I can still take the note and still make sure nothing gets lost. I love it. Okay. So before we go Richard, this has been really fun. I love your energy. It’s just really been a pleasure, but share with our listeners where people can learn more about you and your business and kind of what you’re up to. And this children’s book that you’re. Going to leave as your legacy. Like, how is that going to work? I have no idea, but you’ll be the first one to find out. I can’t wait.
Richard:
Your audience needs to buy a ticket and come visit me in Costa Rica. Now, real quick for your audience, costa Rica is the only democratic society in Central America. There’s no standing army. They put all of that money back into education. We have the most neutral of English accents in Central America, the best infrastructure known for eco and medical tourism. But I mentioned companies such as Amazon, HP, Intel and Oracle are here. So you and I compete against the big boys. What do we do differently? It’s old school knowing your name, breaking bread, the games and the support. If someone in your audience wants to shoot me an email at [email protected], if they’re friends with Beverly, I’d be more than happy to look at their script and share some ideas and see what they can do to increase their sales. I hope I was able to spark it and ignite something here for you and your audience. And Beverly, I cannot thank you enough.
Beverly:
We appreciate your time. We know you’re busy doing all the magic and spreading magic dust over there in Costa Rica with your team to our listeners I hope you found today’s conversation as inspiring and just. That’s fun. And if you love a good eighties movie reference to this episode, what’s for you remember the insights that we shared today are here to help ignite positive change in you and your industry, please don’t hesitate to reach out to Richard or myself, if you’re looking for more support and guidance. Stay tuned for more inspiring stories and actionable marketing tips in future episodes of Spark and Ignite your Marketing. Until next time, keep sparking and igniting
P.S. Ready to spark your unique opportunities and ignite your marketing? Here are three ways to work with us.
1. 📞 Schedule a Complimentary 15-minute Call and let’s delve into your goals and answer any questions you may have.
2. 📘 Read Beverly’s book Marketing for Entrepreneurs a quick guide filled with actionable steps to help make your brand and business shine even brighter. 🎙️ Listen to Beverly’s Marketing Podcast where she interviews entrepreneurs to get inspired and gain new business and marketing insights.
3. 🎓 Learn more about marketing and Enroll in Our Marketing Courses designed to bring clarity to your business efforts. They’re easy-to-understand and self-paced, perfect for busy entrepreneurs like you.
