Learn more about leadership, strong corporate culture, outsourcing, and becoming successful in the call center space. Richard Blank is the Chief Executive Officer for Costa Rica’s Call Center since 2008. At the beginning of the new millennium, Mr. Blank relocated to Costa Rica to train over 500 employees for one of the larger call centers in Central America. By utilizing his motivational public speaking style backed by tactful and appropriate rhetoric, Richard has successfully prepared and managed some of the finest telemarketers in the country for the past twenty one years. In addition, he has earned the reputation of running a school for telemarketing and is often sought after for private training sessions and consultation. Mr. Richard Blank holds a bachelors degree in Communication and Spanish from the University of Arizona and a certificate of language proficiency from the University of Sevilla, Spain. A Keynote speaker for Abington High School 68th induction ceremony. Costa Rica’s Call Center (CCC) is a state of the art BPO telemarketing outsource company located in the capital city of San Jose, Costa Rica. Our main focus has been, and will always be to personally train each and every Central America call center agent so that we may offer the highest quality of outbound and inbound telemarketing solutions and bilingual customer service to small and medium sized international companies, entrepreneurs as well as fortune 500 companies.

2. It is the only Latin American country included in the list of the world's 22 older democracies. The country is
ranked third in the world, and first among the Americas, in terms of the 2010 Environmental Performance
Index.
Christianity is the predominant religion, and Roman Catholicism is the official state religion according to the
1949 Constitution, which at the same time guarantees freedom of religion.
Population: As of 2022, Costa Rica has an estimated population of 5,094,000.[70] Whites and mestizos make
up 94% of the population, whites being 80% and mestizos 14%,[71] while 3% are Black, or Afro-Caribbean, 1%
Native American, 1% Chinese, and 1% other
Language: The primary language spoken in Costa Rica is Spanish. Some native languages are still spoken in
indigenous reservations. The most numerically important are the Bribri, Maléku, Cabécar and Ngäbere
languages, some of which have several thousand speakers in Costa Rica – others a few hundred. About 10.7%
of Costa Rica's adult population (18 or older) also speaks English, 0.7% French, and 0.3% speaks Portuguese
or German as a second language.
Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica is a country in Central America. It is
located on the Central American isthmus, lying between latitudes 8° and 12°N, and
longitudes 82° and 86°W. It borders the Caribbean Sea (to the east) and the Pacific Ocean
(to the west), with a total of 1,290 kilometers (800 mi) of coastline, 212 km (132 mi) on
the Caribbean coast and 1,016 km (631 mi) on the Pacific.
General Information

3. ▪ Costa Rica is in lower Central America, between Nicaragua and Panama (10
degrees north of the equator)
▪ 43% of population are between the ages of 15 and 40 years old
▪ Over a quarter of the population lives in San Jose (the capital city)
▪ A large, highly skilled labor pool of 2.05 million people with an unemployment
rate of 7.3% (estimated to July 2022)
▪ Home to IBM, Boston Scientific, Microsoft, Procter & Gamble, Hewlett Packard
and Intel outsourcing call centers
▪ Education
• 95 technical schools and 60 universities
• The National Training Institute (INA) offers free technical training
▪ Government commitment to the environment—25% of its land is protected
territory
▪ Costa Rica is one of the most biodiverse countries on the planet
• 6% of the world's biodiversity
• Volcanoes, cloud forests, rainforests, dry forests, beaches
• 10,000 species of plants, 800 species of butterflies, 500 species of
mammals, and 850 species of birds
• 28 national parks, preserves, conservation areas, and refuges
Facts

4. ▪ Close proximity to North America
▪ Politically stable
▪ Established infrastructure
▪ 97.86% literacy rate—Over 9,300 educational institutions; public education
is free and mandatory
▪ Tax laws favorable to international companies looking to invest
▪ Implementation of a free trade agreement with the U.S. and related laws
that are opening up the economy to more competition.
▪ Every day, there are approximately 30 different passenger flights from
Costa Rica to the US and Canada
▪ Telecommunications
• Redundant fiber optic submarine cables
• Satellite and terrestrial microwave network in place to meet the
demand of and lines, mobile and Internet services
• New multinational suppliers are entering the market, providing
private networks, Internet and mobile phone services
▪ 99.78% of electricity is generated from renewable sources
(hydroelectric, Electricity, geothermal and wind)
Key Factors

5. Address Barrio Aranjuez, San José
300 mts away from Calderon Guardia Hospital (third largest hospital in the country)
888-271-6750
Location
Advantages
▪ Restored a 1958 register and protected historic location, located in barrio Aranjuez, Costa Rica
main university and medical area in down town San Jose.
▪ Company Incorporated in May, 2006
▪ Three-story 3,400 sq. ft. building. Roof top penthouse office.
▪ 244 fully functional call center workstations
▪ Operate 24 hours/7days a week/365 days a year
▪ Training room can expand from 12 to 40 trainees
▪ 50’s cafe lunch area.
▪ Walking distance from the iconic Atlantic train station, the old customs center of Costa Rica,
Calderon Guardia Hospital, Legislative Assembly, Supreme Court of Justice, National Congress,
National Library, Supreme Court of Elections, National Park, Museums and the most important
gastronomic neighborhood from the city.
▪ Private parking available.

6. ▪ Richard Blank
• CEO of CCC in Costa Rica.
• Acts as Site Director and takes on the role of trainer as required.
• A U.S. citizen and a permanent resident in Costa Rica.
• Successfully trained over 10,000 bilingual telemarketers since 2000.
▪ Grace Borbon
• Co-owner and Director of Human Resources.
• Oversees Human Resources department recruiting process.
• Legal representative of CCC with the costarrican governmental
agencies.
• A Costa Rica native with over 20 years of contact center experience.
Value Proposition

7. ▪ Human Resources
▪ Professional staff with extensive call center experience
▪ Consultation and support with industry experts local
to Costa Rica team members
▪ Security, Criminal and Reference checks
▪ Coaching and leadership development support
▪ Payroll, benefits and taxes
▪ Incentive engagement
▪ Average Agent Tenure = 1.3 years
▪ Recruiting
▪ Daily advertisements in Social Media, promoting on site Job Fairs
▪ Resume collection and screening
▪ 100 resumes – 65 are interviews scheduled
▪ 1st interviews – 10 proceed to 2nd interview and testing
▪ Testing Tools – Written and speaking skills, data entry, computer skills
▪ All agents hired are bilingual English and Spanish
▪ All agents hired have call center or service oriented experience; proficient with computers; and
are well acclimated with Western culture
Value Proposition

8. Value Proposition
▪ Leadership Development
▪ SMART Coaching methodology will be instituted to ensure consistency
▪ Internal Promotions and Cross Skilling talent
▪ Training
▪ Initial New Hire training will be T3 and conducted by experienced
Trainer
▪ The Costa Rica Call Center team provides initial assessments and
ongoing support
▪ “ESP” – Early System Programming
▪ The Psychology of Selling – phone skills
▪ Phonetics
▪ Scripting Practice and suggestions for modification and
improvement
▪ Personal development – self-esteem and confidence
▪ Quality
▪ Transactional requirements, remote and side by side
▪ Coaching, role playing and recording playback
▪ FCR and CSAT focused
▪ ESAT to ensure positive movement and experience for the customer

9. Value Proposition
▪ Operational Excellence
▪ People First – Philosophy that both the customer and the agent come
“first”
▪ Cross Site coordination with Client, Account Management and Operations
▪ “Metrics that Matter” systematic management and Performance
improvement plans developed by Team and Agent via SMART (Specific,
Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timely) coaching and planning
▪ Focus Groups
▪ Scorecard Driven reporting
▪ Quality driven Analytics
▪ Staffing and Scheduling
▪ CCC Team dedicated
▪ The existing CCC staffing intelligence based on business need will be
leveraged and schedules implemented accordingly
▪ Cross site staffing support will continue
▪ The team in Costa Rica are all full time employees
▪ Night shift premium and overtime regulations will apply
▪ All agents are salaried as per Costa Rica Labor law

10. Value Proposition
▪ Retention
▪ Open door policy and access to all levels of leadership daily
▪ Location
▪ Benefits
▪ Employee Satisfaction and Events
▪ Incentives
▪ Client decides reward based on program and business need
▪ All Labor laws and customary policies followed and paid
▪ Non-monetary reward based on employee need and
identification
▪ Attrition
▪ Monthly = 2 agents
▪ Annualized = 8 agents
▪ Top 3 reasons for leaving = Schedules, personal matters and
health problems

11. Highlights
▪ 24 hour local armed security guards
at main entrance.
▪ All admission must be cleared by security, approved
by management and access level established.
▪ Two dozens surveillance cameras
with recorded movements.
▪ High tech alarm system; ability to totally monitor
and configure over the Internet from
anywhere in the world.
▪ Fully secure workstation area.
▪ No cell phones, flash keys,
cameras, bags.

12. •Costa Rica’s Call Center counts
with 2 ISPs to ensure connection
reliability
•Servers are duplicated to
protect the data and any
production functions locally.
•This information is securely
backed up online in case of
emergency.
•The server room and network
equipment is connected to
centralized UPS to make sure
the operations can continue in
case of power failure
• The system at the same time is
connected to a diesel generator
that can support the most
important functions of the call
center and it can be refilled while
functioning.

13. Value Proposition
▪ Experienced contact center agents
▪ High levels of English/Spanish bilingualism.
▪ Minimal Spanish accent
▪ Boutique environment, caters to individual client needs
▪ Personal attention, ownership, and accountability
▪ Solid history of successful banking/financial programs
to complement
clients’ businesses in all geographies
▪ Proven agent retention strategies—Benefits, paid
vacation, and incentives
▪ An HR consultant on retainer to ensure strict
adherence to local and international labor standards
and to support government audits