A little drizzle didn’t stop Dreamforce attendees in San Francisco from lining up bright and early on day two of the conference to catch salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff’s keynote presentation. And they certainly weren’t disappointed. Within the first 45 minutes of the presentation, guests were treated to performances by Huey Lewis and the News and heard from stars such as Petra Nemcova and Sean Penn.
Benioff kicked off the day with a philanthropic focus, highlighting the 1/1/1 model his company has adopted and the recovery efforts led by the Salesforce.com Foundation in Haiti following the devastating earthquake that hit the country.
The focus on helping people didn’t end there. Benioff emphasized the importance of helping people and creating what they need throughout his discussion, an idea that is applicable to both philanthropy and technology. Going back to the Dreamforce 2013 theme of ‘The Internet of Customers’, Benioff warned the crowd that their companies should be ready to be customer companies and embrace their connected customers — or face the idea of another company with a better customer strategy taking their place in the market.
“Customers are racing into the future and in-turn, determining the future of your company,” said Benioff. “As a company, you need to get to the future first, ahead of your customers and be ready to greet them when they arrive. Behind each device, every tweet on Twitter and every Facebook post is a customer. Each and every Internet interaction has a customer, a person behind it.”
As a company specializing in technology that enables companies to deliver superior, multichannel customer service, LiveOps understands the importance of true connections with customers and personalizing their brand experience. Instead of fearing the growing number of connected devices, channels and the imminent ‘Internet of Everything,’ we believe brands should welcome the chance to embrace every customer interaction and touchpoint. After all, customers don’t just want to be connected to the product, they want to be connected to the company. Developing that connection and creating a positive experience will result in happier customers and an increase in brand loyalty.
Benioff put it perfectly when he stated that some companies pivot to their shareholders or investors, but a true customer company pivots to their customers because the customers are the ones who have the answers.
Our team of “Super Agents” make the idea of becoming a customer company a reality by delivering great customer experiences at exceptional productivity rates. Their ability to develop a one-on-one relationship and really create a memorable customer journey is what keeps customers coming back and will help set a company apart from its competitors.
As another day of great sessions comes to a close, we’ll leave you with a question posed to the masses by Benioff: Are you ready to make the change for your customers when it comes to how you conduct customer service?
