3 Ways Businesses Can Get Closer to Their Customers

Dreamforce is the ultimate event to make connections, meet your customers in person and learn. And with the big show about two weeks away, it’s time to start planning all the ways you can get closer to your customers and the resources and technology that can help you do it.

In my opinion, the best way for you to get closer to your customer is to make sure the customer is constantly at the center of everything you do, especially as your organization grows and changes. Wrap your information systems and processes around customer journeys, and make sure everyone is on board with customer success-centric goals. Here are 3 surefire ways that businesses can get closer to their customers:

• Align inter-company communications with customer goals. To make your customers wildly successful, and to subsequently get closer to them, keep them in mind with everything you do. This includes inter-company communications. When you combine your systems of record and communication with your systems of engagement, there is one customer record, and everyone within your company is on the same page. Our FinancialForce Financial Management is one way you can achieve this. You can invoice your customer straight from your CRM - so that your finance, sales and customer success teams are all on the same page, and your customer isn’t getting bombarded from all different angles. When all your customer information and history is in one, centralized place, your teams are happier, more efficient and able to get closer to your customers.

• Listen to your customers and build relationships. No one wants to call customer service and be transferred four different times, and no one wants to have to repeat themselves every time they talk to you on the phone. To remedy this, your internal systems must be built around the customer. When your business apps are built on Salesforce, you are ensuring that your customer is at the center of what you do. When your customer feels like you are listening and providing answers every time you call customer service, your business if building better, longer lasting relationships.

• Create memories with your customers. Every once in a while, it’s great to meet your customers face to face and create lasting memories. At FinancialForce, we have our annual customer conference, Community Live. At NewVoiceMedia, it’s the Connect conference. And now, we can’t wait for Dreamforce 2016. What better way to get closer to your customers than sharing knowledge about the #1 customer success platform at the largest IT trade show in the world? Get ready to get closer to your customers and make memories at Dreamforce 2016!