First Contact: Stories of the Call Center Podcast

Listen to the last podcast episode:

Latest Episode | March 7, 2024

#42: Feeling the Future: Emotion AI & Conversation in Call Centers, with Josh Feast

About the Podcast

First Contact Podcast it’s about a journey: in business, relationships and everyday life.

Because no one wakes up one morning and says: ‘I want to work in a call center!’, we wanted to share the compelling stories of tech leaders and entrepreneurs and how they found their way into the call center industry.

The multifarious topics, varying from technology to leadership, from recruitment to customer and agent experience are building our mission of bringing real conversations with the brightest thought leaders, and business owners.

Host Christian Montes poses questions about their life, their path, their struggles and successes, and most importantly – his conversational style is designed to help his guests open up and share their inspiring experiences and inspire thousands of loyal listeners.

Season #5

Season #4

Season #3

Season #2

Season #1

Juanita
Coley

#30

Season 3 | Episode 10

Leading the Change for Women in Tech, with Juanita Coley

Here we are, at the end of another fascinating season grounded in knowledge and inspiration. This is episode 10 of First Contact Podcast, where we’re diving deep into workforce management in contact centers with one of the most prolific women speakers of this type of enterprise solution, the Contact Center Whisperer and expert – Juanita Coley. Juanita is the CEO and founder of Solid Rock Consulting, a WFM consulting firm. When she’s not busy winning the 2022 “Most Influential Technology Advisors”, she’s constantly on a mission to normalize women in tech and leadership roles and make a positive, purposeful impact. Join us for a talk on the power of workforce management, the gap in technology, jargon in IT and much more!

Hemanth
Gorur

#29

Season 3 | Episode 9

Building solutions to solve problems within the business ecosystem, with Hemanth Gorur

Episode 9 was a great conversation around Hemanth Gorur’s story and the journey through CGI’s evolution, seeing that their core values have stayed the same: addressing the ‘so what’ factor and only building solutions to solve problems. They discussed the ecosystem and holistic approach into realizing that the industry, the customer, or even a pandemic has forced change both into how you can do and scale things faster – from a compliance standpoint, all the way to the customer journey.

Kevin
Daly

#28

Season 3 | Episode 8

Performance-driven contact centers and data modeling, with Kevin Daly

The founder of Value Ad and the creator of Bestpair, Kevin Daly is joining us for a discussion on data-driven results and the mix of client, product and agent. Kevin has combined his experience in sales management and insurance to create a data service that is benefiting the performance of companies all around. Join us and learn more about the goals and proper use of data modeling, how to leverage data to fight agent attrition in contact centers and much more!

Jeremy
Chen

#27

Season 3 | Episode 7

Reasons Why Telemarketing and Cold Calling are Still Worth It, with Jeremy Chen

Welcome to a new episode, where we’ll dive deep into the world of B2B sales with sales expert Jeremy Chen, who helps B2B technology companies perfect their sales teams’ go-to-market strategy. In this episode, he is dropping some real knowledge on the intricates part of sales management, the structure of a perfect cold call and the mindset behind it, why telemarketing is still alive and the future of outbound calling.

Bob
Furniss

#26

Season 3 | Episode 6

Embracing Mistakes and Putting People First, a CX Approach with Bob Furniss

Join us for a new episode with the renowned customer service & experience expert, Bob Furniss. The discussion revolved around Bob’s journey and the service mentality, AI, human experience and interaction and a new way for engagement and leadership in the remote world. These are just a few of the insights you will find in this episode. It was a pleasure having Bob as a guest!

Colin
Taylor

#25

Season 3 | Episode 5

Employee Satisfaction and a 360 view on Contact Centers, with Colin Taylor

Not everyone can bring order into chaos, but Colin Taylor is the Chief Chaos Officer and CEO of The Taylor Reach Group, leading it to success in call center and management consulting for almost 20 years. Find out more about customer journey, employee satisfaction, self-service and much more in this upbeat and honest discussion.

Jon
Arnold

#24

Season 3 | Episode 4

Digital Transformation and Future of Work for Contact Centers, with Jon Arnold

Our latest guest is a speaker, tech analyst and content creator in the world of digital transformation in the workplace. He was cited several times among the top analysts covering the contact center industry. Jon Arnold joins a new episode on the future of work, digital transformation, trends, events and much more!

Michael
Tamer

#23

Season 3 | Episode 3

Holistic Call Center Training using Rewards and Recognition, with Michael Tamer

You might know him as the Contact Center Coach, a training expert, CEO at Proponisi and an author as well. We are delighted to finally have Michael Tamer on our show and pick his mind on training and coaching! This podcast episode touches on frontline leadership, unique coaching methods and training processes and much more!

Richard
Blank

#22

Season 3 | Episode 2

Call Center Culture and The Secret Sauce of a Successful Phone Call, with Richard Blank

Richard Blank is the CEO of Costa Rica’s Call Center, one of the largest bilingual BPOs in Central America. Host Christian Montes sat down with him to talk about Richard’s twist and turns journey, what makes a successful phone call, insights into building a call center from the ground up and the pillars of a strong culture and leadership.

Harry
Strausser III

#21

Season 3 | Episode 1

Changing Perceptions in the Collection Industry and the Rise of Self-Service, with Harry Strausser III

Whoa, it’s already Season 3! We’re very excited to start this year and co-create this episode with an industry expert, a great educator and speaker in the ARM industry, and a well-respected voice of the collection industry with an experience of nearly half-century. Welcome, Harry Strausser III!

Some of the featured guests we had on the show

Shep Hyken

Juanita Coley

Harry Strausser III

Steve Bederman

Jason Cutter

Colin Shaw

Brad Cleveland

Michael Tamer

Gary Pudles

Bob Furniss

Michael Ferree

Jon Arnold

About our Podcast Host

With over 15 years of leveraging technology and creative tactics to drive outcomes, Christian has worked with some of the largest Enterprise Contact Centers, BPOs, and Global CCaaS providers in the world. Host of the First Contact – Stories of the Call Center Podcast, where he interviews leaders from the contact center industry searching for new insights, tips, and stories. Also, host of the NobelBiz | Webinar Series, which brings top leaders in the industry together to discuss important topics and share best practices.

‘It’s really not about being only a call center. This business is driving outcomes for other companies and how they interact with people.’