What are some examples of outstanding customer service? How does Salesforce serve its customers’ needs?
According to Marc Benioff, customer service is one of the most important values at Salesforce. Two of its major forms of service are the software that helps customers manage their business and Salesforce’s annual stakeholder conference.
Continue reading to learn more about these exceptional customer service examples.
Customer Service at Salesforce
Salesforce is a leading example of exceptional customer service. One of Benioff’s primary motivations for starting Salesforce was to serve customers’ needs. He explains that as a child, he watched his father work tirelessly to manage the clothing business he owned—so as an adult, he endeavored to make business management easier, less time-consuming, and less expensive by providing software that could do much of the legwork. He was also inspired to prioritize service by an Indian guru who told him that his business should focus on helping others.
(Shortform note: By providing meaningful services to customers of his business, Benioff exhibits what Robert K. Greenleaf calls “servant leadership,” a leadership philosophy that prioritizes empowering others and meeting their needs ahead of petty goals like power or profit. In Servant Leadership, Greenleaf explains that business leaders are particularly well-suited for servant leadership because they’re uniquely accountable to market demands: To lead a profitable business, they must offer products that consumers find genuinely valuable. Another responsibility of servant leaders in business contexts is to provide fulfilling jobs for employees; we’ll explain how Benioff handles this responsibility later in the guide.)
Benioff says that Salesforce provides two major forms of service to its customers: First, it gives customers access to software that helps them more effectively manage their business and pull through tough times. For example, Benioff describes how Salesforce client Home Depot suffered after the 2007-2008 financial crisis because consumers no longer had the disposable income for home renovations and were turning to cheaper, more convenient alternatives like Amazon. To overcome these challenges, Salesforce designed software for making online sales as well as communications software for employees, which enabled them to share expert knowledge and therefore enhanced the unique value Home Depot offered to its customers.
| Salesforce Helps Customers Adapt to the “Platform Revolution” In Platform Revolution, Parker, Van Alstyne, and Choudary explain why software is becoming an increasingly strategic tool for pipeline businesses like Home Depot. Pipeline businesses, which rely on a value chain to pump products from a series of producers to the consumer, are being outpaced by platform businesses like Amazon, which are digitally based businesses that facilitate direct connections between individual producers and consumers. Parker, Van Alstyne, and Choudary say that platforms are more cost-effective than pipelines because they cut out middlemen and outsource operations (for example, by hiring independent contractors to supply and store inventory). The 2007-2008 financial crisis exacerbated this difference by squeezing the profitability of pipeline businesses while enabling many platforms to grow. Consequently, pipelines sought alternative strategies to remain competitive, and software that enabled them to adopt a hybridized pipeline-platform business model—like the online sales technology Salesforce equipped Home Depot with—became critical for pipeline businesses to thrive in the digital age. |
The second way Salesforce provides service is via Dreamforce, its annual stakeholder conference. Dreamforce features entertainment, health-enhancement experiences like guided mindfulness practices, skill-building seminars and workshops, and educational discussions and speeches on the intersection of technology and social issues by notable people like Michelle Obama. Altogether, these activities contribute to attendees’ well-being and personal development, empowering them to cultivate a holistic approach to professional growth while fostering connections, insights, and inspiration that extend far beyond the realm of technology.
(Shortform note: Experts note that in addition to serving customers, Dreamforce benefits San Francisco, where it’s always been held. To illustrate, in 2023, Dreamforce may have contributed almost $90 million to the local economy by drawing in thousands of visitors who patronized nearby businesses. Part of the allure for visitors was a discussion between Benioff and Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, a company that’s quickly revolutionizing the AI industry. Benioff has used Dreamforce’s economic impact to pressure San Francisco to make headway on the city’s growing homelessness crisis, a move some have criticized since Benioff has contributed relatively little money to that cause himself.
