The Romantic Side of Call Center Work

so tell us, what does it mean and what does it feel like to work at a call center? You sold your soul. Man, some people would rather do public speaking than this, and they feel that more than death. I'm only kidding. It's not for the faint of heart. You need to build up endurance for it. In my mind, I saw the romantic side of it. It's really beautiful rhetoric and semantics and a phonetic delivery. As good looking as you and I are, Jacob, the majority of our clients can see us over the phone. So you're losing that sort of suit wearing smile. But what I've seen and I've cracked a few codes is that when you speak to somebody, I believe that the phonetic tell signs are even stronger than if someone, if your micro expression reading them in person, they could just have twitches, just be nervous and sure, congruence is there. But the purest of pure is you're focused on the way somebody speaks. Ed Up Xcelerated Excellence podcast. Educating ESL Call Center agents with teacher Richard Blank A podcast for the advancement of educational effectiveness and equity for traditional and non-traditional educational experiences and contexts, higher education and beyond. The podcast seeks to engage educators, scholars, entrepreneurs, advocates, and policy makers at all levels. Our Guest is ⁠Richard Blank⁠. He is a native of Philadelphia, PA and CEO of ⁠Costa Rica’s Call Center.⁠ Richard shares the ingredients for supporting and preparing call center representatives for high-impact engagement with clients. He addresses the role of AI in call center productivity and the role of empathy as an effective tool in human interaction. He shares how developing community and engagement lead to retention of employees. Richard gives back to the community by offering scholarships for students. Diverse Recruitment Approach with Storytelling and Public Speaking It's all shapes and sizes, my friend. You could have the soft-spoken female to be at the right place at the right time or the assertive Philadelphia kid like me, which might be a different taste. But I tell you what, I mean, there's certain checkpoints prior to someone being sitting in a class. They'll, of course, be making some recordings for me, for us to consider. Looking at their resume, who cares? Turn it over and write me a couple of paragraphs of a coming of age moment. So you can tell Jacob and I when you beat up a bully. That's what I want to hear from you. So at least I can hear a really good story. But then when we're in class, you stand up. So you're practicing public speaking in front of a dozen people. You hold the script in your left. You use your right hand for illustrators. I will assist you in your balance and your pausing and your breathing. Embracing Human Element in Customer Interactions over AI So what has been the approach of your organization to either integrate or counter the recent developments in AI within your field? I'll be completely honest with you. Sometimes these kiosks make your burger more consistent than the kid behind the counter. And so if people are able to and I'm going to say it again, gathering if they're capable of gathering for me information. So human error, fatigue, misstepping gets completely taken out. That reduces that sort of time on a phone call and frustration. But as I'm going to say it again, if somebody has a bad experience with a company, they are definitely going to want to speak with somebody to maybe receive some credit or to make a suggestion or just to get it out. And I've also learned as well that if people are using profanity, as long as it's not at me, you get a warning, second time's call's dead. But if it goes in this direction, I get it. Come on. It's not 1950s Cleavers. I mean, sometimes people curse. It's real life. I've cursed before. Haven't you? You got a flat tire and it's raining? Come on. You're supposed to curse. But my point being is that you almost bond that way because then they apologize. And I say, hey, Jacob, do you want to get any more out? And you're like, no, Richard, let's continue. And then instead of giving rebuttals, there's no rebuttals. You're converting a call at that stage. Hi, AI. They can't tell you they know how you feel if you broke an arm or your puppy ran away or changing that tire in the rain. That's almost like an insult. Socio-Cultural Impacts of Remote Work I think that might have increased things by about five percent in regards to production. Okay, so we're at 85%. Why aren't we in the 90s? You lost a complete 15% in regards to the on-site training, the camaraderie, the IT support, you know, the arcade game room. How about just getting out, shaving, putting on clothes and looking smooth? You know, you got to keep your game going. How about this? I've had a lot of people through the 17 years that have met here, gotten married, and have had children. I've had some call center babies that have been here the whole nine months, and I say hi to them every day, talk to the tummy. What's my point? That's not going to happen anymore. Those two people through Destiny might never meet now. We've hired a bunch of people post-COVID, but those A and Bs are never going to make C anymore. https://youtu.be/RgLRnWNgBVQ https://youtube.com/shorts/-RY2sq1yuk8?feature=share https://youtube.com/shorts/4ioKxk3kNyY?feature=share https://youtube.com/shorts/FrXNBYV1aBc?feature=share https://youtube.com/shorts/yc1Zyi8SpdY?feature=share https://youtube.com/shorts/9aNRZGHE3hM?feature=share https://youtube.com/shorts/GnEvLnF1KB4 Jacob Easley II, Ed Up Xcelerated Excellence podcast, Richard Blank,Costa Rica's Call Center, Outsourcing, Telemarketing Call Centre, BPO, Nearshore Contact Center, Sales, Entrepreneur, B2B, Business, Podcast, Gamification,Leadership, Marketing, CX, Guest, Money, B2C education, BPO trainer,call centre, contact centre, contact center