How do you build a contact center where people want to stay? In this episode of First Contact: Stories of the Call Center, we sit down with Sam Falletta, CEO of Incept, who shares how he built a people-first company culture that reduces turnover and drives performance. From rewriting rigid attendance policies to embedding mental health support into…

Customer Experience (CX) isn't just about service—it's a revenue engine. In this episode, Christian Montes sits down with Camila Ferreira, Founder & CEO of Rise UP, to explore how businesses can transform CX from a cost center into a powerful growth driver. With over 20 years of global experience, Camila shares her journey from finance to CX leader…

AI is transforming sales and compliance in contact centers—are you keeping up? In this episode of First Contact: Stories of the Call Center, Nima Hakimi, CEO & Co-Founder of Convoso, breaks down how AI-driven compliance, real-time agent coaching, and smarter tech adoption are reshaping the industry. Discover why most contact centers fail at impleme…

What if the biggest lessons you’ve learned about business and leadership were based on myths? In this episode of First Contact: Stories of the Call Center, Christian Montes hosts Steve Bederman, President of NobelBiz, as they dive into the truths behind common leadership misconceptions. Steve unpacks the “family culture” myth in businesses, breaks …

In this episode of First Contact: Stories of the Call Center, we sit down with Colleen Beers, a dynamic leader with over 20 years of experience in transforming the contact center and CX industry. From her journey from a call center agent to a top executive, Colleen shares invaluable insights on leadership, employee empowerment, and the future of cu…

In this episode of First Contact: Stories of the Call Center, host Christian Montes sits down with marketing trailblazer Sara Malo to discuss her inspiring journey and her role in transforming the lead generation industry. As VP of Partnerships at Lead Generation World, President of LinkUnite, and a leader at Contact.io, Sara shares her experiences…

In this episode of First Contact: Stories of the Call Center, Christian Montes sits down with customer experience (CX) expert Annette Franz to explore the vital connection between employee experience (EX) and delivering exceptional CX. Annette shares her insights on building a customer-centric culture, effective journey mapping, and the role of dat…

🎧 In today’s episode, Nate Brown shares his expert insights on leveraging customer-centric models and community to boost brand loyalty. Learn how integrating digital communities can transform customer interactions and feedback into a strategic advantage for your business. Nate discusses the crucial role of transparency and co-creation in deepening …

Join us for an enlightening episode of First Contact: Stories of the Call Center, featuring Milan Batinich, a dynamic speaker, coach, and entrepreneur dedicated to helping individuals discover joy, energy, passion, peace, and purpose—what he calls 'JEPPP'—in their careers. Milan brings a wealth of experience from operational and sales roles across …

In this episode of "First Contact: Stories of the Call Center," Christian Montes interviews Thomas Paley, Director of Corporate Telecommunications and Contact Center Services at Hilton Grand Vacations. Thomas discusses his leadership philosophy, highlighting the importance of emotional intelligence, team empowerment, and soft skills. He also explor…

In this podcast episode, we sit down with John Coulter, Vice President of Call Center Outsourcing Services at Five Star Call Centers. With over a decade of experience in the industry, John has been a trailblazer in transforming call centers into key drivers of business growth and customer loyalty. He shares his journey from starting on the phones t…

Join us for an enlightening discussion with Jay Baer, a pioneer in customer experience and digital marketing, now turned tequila influencer. This episode explores pivotal themes shaping the future of customer service and business strategy. Jay offers a wealth of knowledge and practical advice on accelerating business responsiveness, leveraging empa…

Tune in as we sit down with Josh Feast, the innovative mind behind Cogito, to discuss the transformative impact of technology on human emotions and connections within the fast-paced world of call centers. Josh shares invaluable insights into the development and application of AI and real-time guidance systems, the essence of effective leadership in…

This is episode 1, Season 5 of First Contact Podcast: Stories of the Call Center! We're thrilled to bring you an incredible journey into the heart of customer service, with our special guest, Francis, a visionary leader with over 30 years of groundbreaking experience in the contact center industry. Transforming Contact Centers through Servant Leade…

Our last episode of Season 4 brings a refreshing perspective to the forefront of business transformation. Join us as we converse with Dr. Natalie Petouhoff, the visionary business consultant who has spearheaded transformative initiatives for giants like Salesforce, Hulu, General Motors, and Procter & Gamble. Together, we explore the core essence of…

🎙️ Exciting News! Our latest podcast episode is now LIVE! Join us as we sit down with industry pioneer, Chris Robinson from Awaken, who has been at the forefront of customer communications for over 20 years. Dive deep into the evolution of self-service, the intricacies of onboarding in today's digital landscape, and the strategies to tackle churn e…

In this insightful episode, we sit down with the dynamic Neal Topf, co-founder of Callzilla, the powerhouse behind some of the most outstanding outsourced contact center and business process services globally. With its roots firmly planted in sunny Miramar, Florida, Callzilla has been a beacon of excellence, pushing the boundaries of customer care …

Welcome to another exciting episode of our podcast! This week, we are thrilled to have Dr. Hui Wu-Curtis with us. A known disruptor, operations geek, advocate for DEI, and a Silver Globee award recipient for Executive Excellence, Dr. Hui is a force to be reckoned with in the contact center industry. n this episode, we delve into her vast experience…

In the rapidly evolving world of contact centers, the convergence of knowledge management and artificial intelligence stands at the forefront of transformation. This latest episode welcomes Micah Peterson, a seasoned professional with over 15 years in the knowledge management sector. As a Knowledge-Centered Services (KCS) certified expert, Peterson…

Welcome to the newest episode of First Contact: Stories of the Call Center! In this episode, we're joined by none other than Dan Greenwell, the CEO of Customer Dynamics. With over three decades of business experience in executive roles, Dan has a wealth of insights and knowledge to share. His company, Customer Dynamics, is a leading force in creati…

Get ready to dive into the newest episode of our podcast, where we had an engaging and insightful conversation with the brilliant Jim Iyoob, Chief Customer Officer at Etech Global Services. 🎙️ Jim is at the helm of a company that is known for its outstanding customer engagement solutions, including contact center services, customer support, sales, …

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another exhilarating episode of our podcast! Today, we're diving deep into the world of contact centers, brand protection, and the remote revolution with a true industry expert. Get ready to be blown away by the insights and knowledge of Eric Sims, Cofounder & CEO of Leading Edge Connections, America's #1 fully remo…

Are you ready to learn the latest and greatest customer empowerment strategies from a seasoned industry expert? In this episode, we have a special guest who shares their secrets to success in contact center management and remote work optimization. Rob Bayer, president of Anomaly Squared is an executive with more than 25 years of contact center expe…

Attention all podcast listeners! Get ready to step up your customer strategy game because we have a treat for you! Our guest today is none other than Brad Cleveland, the global authority on customer strategy and management. With over 45 states and 60 countries under his belt, Brad has worked with top service leaders such as Apple, American Express,…

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. Juan…

Join us for a new episode with Hemanth Gorur, Vice President of Consulting Services at CGI - a company providing information technology and business process services. Hemanth started his career with CGI as a developer in India in 2001 and has worked in various roles within CGI focusing exclusively on the banking industry. It was great conversation …

In this episode, we're joined by the founder of Value Ad and the creator of Bestpair, Kevin Daly for a practical and earnest discussion on data-driven results and a magical mix of client, product, and agent. With a diverse and complex set of roles in his background, Kevin has combined his experience in sales management and insurance to create a dat…

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,…

Customer service is one of our favorite topics to tackle in this show, but having Bob Furniss over for this special episode was truly something. For almost 40 years in the industry, Bob Furniss is known as the renowned customer service and experience expert, and his mission will always be driving customer success by designing effective service and …

It was a joy to have Colin Taylor, the CX expert, on our show for an awe-inspiring and upbeat discussion on customer journey, employee satisfaction, self-service and much more! Leading The Taylor Reach Group to success in call center and management consulting for almost 20 years, Taylor is the CEO & CCO (Chief Chaos Officer) and one of Canada’s lea…

Jon Arnold is a widely followed analyst and thought leader with a strong presence in the media and a focus on communication technologies, unified communications, AI, contact centers and more! We recently talked to Jon about a mindset shift and newfound expectations in adopting new tools and technologies, megatrends, and his favorite piano songs! Th…

Today we’re joined by a veteran of the contact center industry, a training expert, CEO, author, and podcaster himself - you might know him as the Contact Center Coach - Michael Tamer. Michael started in the entry levels of the call center, gained more than 40 years of experience in the industry and is a visionary who was at the forefront of contact…

Richard Blank, outsourcing industry leader and the CEO of Costa Rica's Call Center, joins our podcast for an exciting new episode. Christian and Richard discuss what makes a successful phone call, strong corporate culture and leadership, owning engagement through retro gaming, to name a few themes. Tune in on a new story, one of many twists and tur…

Well, well, well, if it’s not the first episode from season three of the First Contact: Stories of a Call Center podcast! We have the pleasure of kicking off this new journey with one of the most widely-known individuals in the ARM landscape. Harry Strausser III is a well-respected voice of the collection industry and a certified ACA instructor, ed…

Whew, what a wild ride it's been for our show this year. This month, we're ending on a high as you've come to expect. We've got Michael Ferree here to chat with Christian about a topic that's been eluding our show for a surprising amount of time considering we're all about contact centers. Of course, we're talking about Lead Generation. Michael is …

A frank discussion between two seasoned salespeople? A hard look at the concept of persuasion and how to use it for sales? A genuine connection about providing people value through the act of selling? Episode 9 of First Contact, Stories of the Call Center is all of those things and more! Join Christian as he delves deep into the core of sales in a …

Workforce management is not typically a topic we cover on our show, but this month we've got Daryl Gonos here with us to make that right. He's the Founder & CEO of Community, a modern workforce management solution specifically tailored to omnichannel call centers, currently in use by some of the biggest names in the space. With over 40 years of exp…

This month on First Contact: Stories of the Call Center - Christian is joined by a topmost expert in the field of call center benchmarking, training and certification - Bruce Belfiore. Bruce prides himself in being a man of many experiences, having dual nationality - US and Italian, having been both COO and CFO of different companies, and having ho…

As the youngest guest we've had on the podcast so far, Marc Bernstein comes into the discussion with Christian with appropriately fresh and exciting ideas. He's the CEO of Balto, a company that's basically synonymous with bleeding edge tech. Launched 3 years ago, they now present themselves to the contact center world as the no. 1 real time guidanc…

This month on First Contact, we're talking to a prodigy of call center migration, with many successful operations under his belt and a wealth of fascinating cross-industry experiences. Frank Wassenbergh is the CCaaS Practice Leader and Managing Partner of Cloudlinx, a CCaaS Advisory group dedicated to securing effective and well-though-out migratio…

How has the contact center world weathered the covid storm from a tech standpoint? For insights on this topic, this month we're joined by Fred Stacey - an expert in contact centers, CCaaS, consultancy, and contact center outsourcing. As the Co-Founder and General Manager of Cloud Call Center Search, a company that specializes in guiding clients to …

This episode we had an absolutely brilliant talk with the most influential person in CX over the past 10 years or more: none other than Colin Shaw. We talked to Colin about his many achievements: from his many books to being named in the top 150 LinkedIn influencers, to his company Beyond Philosophy being named Leading Consultancy by Financial Time…

One type of entrepreneur we've never featured on or show, but which is very common within the contact center space, is the serial entrepreneur. Gary Pudles, CEO of AnswerNet, has spent a lifetime taking businesses from the rocky contact center path towards the streamlined road to success. Gary's been around the block a few times and many regard him…

Welcome to Season 2! As for our first season, we begin with Steve Bederman, CEO of NobelBiz and Executive Producer of the show you're listening to. He joins Christian Montes to talk about the first season, what his expectations were and how they were surpassed. He also has a few surprises for fans of his writing - so be sure to listen closely for h…

A short Holiday message from the team at NobelBiz + some fun bloopers and collage featuring the best moments of the first season of First Contact - Stories of the Call Center! Happy Holidays!By NobelBiz Studios

For our season finale here at First Contact, we welcome customer service and support expert extraordinaire - Shep Hyken. A true magician of the contact center space, Shep's been at it for over 40 years and has accumulated a wealth of knowledge. He's got his own TV Show - Be Amazing or Go Home - and he's a New York Times and Wall Street Journal best…

Last week, Steve had a talk with Christopher Brooks of the Customer Experience Superheroes podcast. The discussion covered a wide array of topics from technology adoption during the pandemic, to how businesses have adapted to service new modes of communication, to how the millennial group views communication, and to how Steve believes the world is …

Nancy Munro is a true pioneer of the contact center world. She has revolutionized the space with simulation training solutions that kickstart agent productivity and help them get that deer-in-the-headlights moment that many of them simply need before they start taking real calls with real people. The virtual, remote call center is here, and Nancy's…

Recently, Steve sat down with Fernando Corona of the Sage Executive Podcast. Here's the result of that: an honest discussion about how Steve approaches management, how NobelBiz grew to where it is today, how we celebrate our successes, and many other topics in between. For more episodes from Fernando, be sure to check out his LinkedIn. For more abo…

With a career as diverse as his, it's a wonder how he ended up in the contact center space. But he did and we're all thankful for it! HDI's Lifetime Achievement Honoree and an overall incredible person we're honored to talk to: Roy Atkinson is our guest this episode. He's had some of the most interesting jobs ever, he's been in a band, he's an all-…