With click-to-call, you can enter your phone number into a form on a company’s website and someone from the company calls you on the number you’ve entered someone. This may not sound like a big deal to you … unless of course, you’re shopping for a plumber when you’re supposed to be working! Live chat is a nice alternative to having to get on a traditional phone call with a high-pressure sales rep or to get some preliminary information while catching up on your favorite TV show.
Recently while updating Blue Corona’s LinkedIn company page, I was reminded that live chat can be a great sales tool, but it can also leave prospects with a bad taste in their mouth.
As I updated Blue Corona’s LinkedIn page, I noticed a pitch to upgrade to a Premium Careers Page. I clicked the link to learn more. Within seconds, I was greeted with an invitation to live chat with “Taylor,” a Premium Careers Page specialist.
Here’s our conversation (my comments next to Taylor’s comments in parentheses):
Taylor: Hi Ben, how can I help you?
Ben: Taylor – can you tell me how much it costs to upgrade our company page to include a career page
Ben: premium career page
Taylor: you got it (at this point, I’m expecting a ballpark price, a price range, or maybe some questions about number of open jobs in order to generate a ballpark price)
Taylor: tell me more Ben (instead I get vague fishing questions)
Taylor: as the page is customized for your recruitment specifically, help me understand your thoughts about recruiting at Blue Corona and for the page (sorry Taylor, but at 9 p.m., I don’t have the energy to do this dance)
Ben: You have it listed under Tools when updating a company page
Taylor: correct
Taylor: but tell me more on why (Taylor, seriously – “tell me more on why”)
Ben: Taylor – you guys are pitching it!!
Taylor: just curious as to what you are trying to accomplish so I can be of best assistance (if you want to be of assistance, tell me – ballpark – how much it costs! The why is that I want to get more exposure for our company to passive and active job seekers! I want to differentiate Blue Corona from all the other web marketing firms out there.)
Ben: what do you mean why??
Taylor: I apologize … Are you trying to increase Branding to Passive Candidates? Are you not getting ideal candidates now?
Ben: We’re trying to HIRE a BUNCH of people. Why do we want the careers page? More visibility for our careers/opportunities
Taylor: Are you not getting enough candidates for the roles you have?
Taylor: You would be surprised with the answers we get (I’ll bet I wouldn’t be, but I don’t care what answers you get!)
Taylor: so it just helps to clarify
Ben: Let me ask you this … what’s the point of the Premium Careers Page?
Taylor: what is a bunch? are they listed on the website? (For the love of God, man!)
Taylor: 1) showcase the unique career to attract Passive Talent
Taylor: 2) showcase Growth at the company
Ben: Taylor… this is exhausting. One of the reasons to have livechat is to make it EASIER for people to do business with you.
Taylor: 3) bring to live the opportunities at the company that would make you stand out from competition for the same candidates (I got points 1, 2, and 3 from looking at the website. I was hoping that chatting with a real human could fill in what the website doesn’t show – a price! Can little ole’ Blue Corona afford one of these fancy, schmancy Premium Careers Pages?)
End chat …
I’m a sales guy at heart, but at 9 p.m. after a long day, I just didn’t have the energy to carry on with Taylor. I’ve spent $30,000+ with LinkedIn over the past 2-3 years. Perhaps that’s not enough to get on the VIP list, but it’s gotta be enough to warrant a little TLC from the live chat team.
What are the odds that Taylor had access to this information prior to engaging me with his chat?
Maybe LinkedIn is just sooooooo busy that they have to carefully vet each inquiry they receive—even from existing advertisers? Maybe I’m just a jerk? Maybe that’s what giving up peanut butter for Lent will do to you?
When you implement technology to eliminate friction, be careful that your execution doesn’t bring it right back int—and then some! Now, let’s see how long it takes for someone from LinkedIn to find this blog post.
Timer starts now.
