America's Fastest-Growing Call Center

Portland, Maine–based Listen Up Español, a call center for Spanish-speaking customers, is cashing in on the Latin population boom.

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Tony Ricciardi

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Craig Handley

No. 1 in Business Products and Services

Listen Up Español
6,914.1% Three-Year Growth
Revenue: $14.9 Million
Employees: 1,200
Co-founders: Craig Handley and Anthony Ricciardi
Founded: 2006
Overall RANK: No. 27
Portland, Maine listenupespanol.com

Tony Ricciardi and Craig Handley were well established in the call center business as consultants. Then they saw an opportunity and opened their own facility—a Spanish-language one, despite the fact that neither of them speaks the language. Ricciardi and Handley started Listen Up Español in Hermosillo, Mexico, in 2006. The call center has serviced Spanish-speaking customers for many of the big names in infomercials, including Ronco, Magic Bullet, and ShamWow, and also handles calls for major charitable causes, including the Red Cross's Haiti relief effort and Children's Miracle Network. The company had a big bump in 2009, largely because of an infomercial for a hair straightener called InStyler. After landing that account, Listen Up Español hustled to hire and train 500 call center agents in 30 days.

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