Talking to Chatbots: A Millennial Preference?

I’ve attended my fair share of CRM industry events, and as the spring conference season comes to a close, there’s been a whirlwind of activity. One of the standout events this month was Bullhorn’s Engage, the user conference for the top CRM platform in the staffing and recruiting industry, serving over 7,000 companies.

AI and CRM

At the conference, I had the honor of chatting with Art Papas, the founder and CEO of Bullhorn. He shared his perspective on all the buzz around AI, and he believes that it’s still just talk for now. However, he did mention that AI and voice assistants like Amazon’s Alexa will have a significant role to play in CRM in the near future.

I’ve got a special treat for you today – an edited transcript of our chat. If you want the full experience, check out the cool video and audio clips below!

USamerica.US: Guess who’s back in Boston for Bullhorn Engage? It’s me, and I’m here with the awesome Art Papas, CEO and founder of Bullhorn. Thanks for hanging out with me, Art.

Art Papas: Hey Brent, thanks for making it to Boston!

USamerica.US: You know what? Boston is starting to feel like my second home. I’ve been here a few times already, and now I’m here for Bullhorn Engage. This is my first time, and I’ve gotta say, I’m really impressed. But for those who might not be familiar with Bullhorn, can you give me a little background? Tell me about yourself and what Bullhorn is all about.

USamerica.US: What’s important in staffing when it comes to CRM?

Art Papas: When it comes to staffing and CRM, things get interesting. Unlike businesses that sell tangible products, staffing firms and recruitment firms focus on building relationships. They connect with customers and then search for the right talent to match their needs. It may sound simple, but it’s actually a two-sided sales process that involves a lot of coordination and communication. There are many documents that exchange hands, like resumes and job descriptions, as they try to find the perfect fit.

Managing complex projects for our customers is a major challenge. It involves handling deep search and matching requirements, which means comparing a document to our database to find suitable candidates for a job, or vice versa, finding customers who would be a good fit for a candidate.

But that’s not all. There’s also a lot of intricate workflow that occurs after a sale is made. This includes tasks such as tracking time and attendance, managing documents, onboarding new employees, and handling contracts.

You may be wondering, where does AI come into play when it comes to staffing and engagement? How does AI impact the work we do for our customers?

I believe that natural language processing has come to a point where computers can generally understand what people are trying to say. Especially when you have a good idea of what they’re likely to say, you can fake it ’till you make it and handle exceptions.

Art Papas: In terms of recruiting, one of its strengths is that, according to a statistic, 65 percent of millennials would prefer to converse with a chat bot.

USamerica.US: That’s really impressive.

Art Papas: It truly is impressive, considering how many people apply for jobs during the recruitment process and never receive a response. It’s an easy win to have a chat bot available, especially if that’s what people prefer. The chat bot can handle tasks that humans don’t enjoy doing.

USamerica.US: Delivering bad news, explaining why…

Art Papas: Yeah, you know what? People don’t like dealing with that stuff. But guess what? There’s a big chance to make the customer experience better in this field with technology. And you know what? I get really pumped up about it. And you know what else? My customers yesterday were super excited about it too.

I’m Art Papas: If you want to build a strong brand, it’s important to invest in something, and technology might just be the answer. I want to make sure that everyone who interacts with my brand has an amazing experience, whether or not they make a purchase today.

Now, let’s discuss something else: the voice. I’ve been thinking about how it’s becoming more important and I’m starting to pay attention to it too.

So, let me tell you about this cool thing happening with Facebook and small businesses. They’re actually working on something pretty amazing!

Here’s the deal: Someday, we might be able to understand what our brains are up to. Like, we’ll know which neurons are firing and what that actually means. But, right now, there’s something else that’s becoming super important – using our voices!

Imagine this: You’re driving and you want to quickly tell your computer to do a bunch of things. You might say something like, Hey, I just met with a customer. Can you add a note to the system, set a reminder for me, move the opportunity to the next stage, tell my colleague about it, and take care of all those other tasks.

It’s like having a personal assistant in your home, and even at work! It’s pretty funny though, because back in the early 2000s, when we hired salespeople, they would sometimes ask, Do I have someone to do my CRM notes? And we’d be like, No way! You’ve got to enter that data yourself. But maybe we should have hired someone for that job after all…

Hey there, welcome back! We’ve got something special just for you.

I’m Art Papas, and guess what? Alexa is here to help you out. She’s like your personal assistant!

Get all the juicy details in this exclusive interview with thought leaders. I’ve made some edits to the transcript for easy reading. If you prefer audio or video, just click on the player above or subscribe to our channels on iTunes or Stitcher.

Get all the juicy details in this exclusive interview with thought leaders. I’ve made some edits to the transcript for easy reading. If you prefer audio or video, just click on the player above or subscribe to our channels on iTunes or Stitcher.