How does Dreamforce help Salesforce.com market to business buyers in multiple stages of the

business buying decision process?

Why would Dreamforce include a special series of sessions for the CEOs of customer companies? Explain your answer in terms of the organizational influences on the buying decision process.

Is Salesforce.com's involvement with philanthropy and volunteerism a good way to show that the company understands the primary concerns of business customers? Explain your answer.

Founded in 1999, Salesforce.com has become a forceful player in the world of business technology, specializing in software that helps organizations manage customer relationships, handle marketing contacts, coordinate and analyze sales, and manage customer service. Salesforce.com was an early believer in cloud-based software, offering its sophisticated applications via remote access rather than having business customers pay hefty upfront fees to acquire and install the software on individual computers. As a result, businesses don't have to worry about outdated or mismatched versions of the software their employees use to track contacts with prospects and customers, process orders, analyze service inquiries, and manage other functions. They rely on Salesforce.com for the technology to meet the needs oftheircustomers. In fact, on any given day, 150,000 business customers use Salesforce.com's software to generate 1.4 billion email messages, track 2.4 million sales leads, manage 3 million customer orders, and enable 600 million e-commerce pageviews.

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Salesforce.com targets startups, small businesses, medium-sized businesses, and corporate giants, as well as nonprofit organizations. It has also introduced software tailored to the specific needs of particular industries, including financial services and health care. Through a strategic partnership with IBM, Salesforce.com offers its own Salesforce Einstein artificial intelligence along with IBM's Watson artificial intelligence to give businesses more analytic and predictive capabilities for better decision making. Through a strategic partnership with Google, Salesforce.com offers businesses the option of integrating G Suite office software tools and Google Cloud storage for added productivity.

Behind the scenes, Salesforce.com invests heavily in marketing to businesses and nonprofit organizations through in-person sales, workshops, webinars, product trials, and other activities. One of its biggest budget items is an annual four-day conference called Dreamforce, which attracts 170,000 attendees to the company's headquarters city of San Francisco. Dreamforce includes more than 2,500 "how to" training sessions for business and nonprofit customers, plus prominent keynote speakers to motivate and inspire the audience. Attendees can earn certification credits and gain practical knowledge from technical experts and customers that use Salesforce.com's software products. Dreamforce even offers a CEO track, with special sessions geared to the needs and interests of senior business leaders.

Dreamforce also includes an exhibit hall where businesses can browse the latest product innovations and meet with partners who can customize Salesforce.com's software to individual specifications. Throughout the conference, attendees are exposed to volunteer opportunities benefiting good causes such as Room to Read and RED. After hours, Salesforce.com puts on concerts and parties to encourage networking and make Dreamforce a fun event to remember. Although Dreamforce costs an estimated $30 million to plan and implement every year, it generates worldwide publicity and serves as a highly visible symbol of Salesforce.com's commitment to the success of its business customers. Just as important, the company sees Dreamforce as a vital opportunity to answer customers' questions, ask about new customer problems and needs, obtain product feedback, and cement relations with partners.

Today, Salesforce.com rings up $10 billion in annual revenues. It gives out millions of dollars in grants to support educational initiatives in elementary schools, for science and technology programs aimed at teenagers, and for internships and other workforce-readiness training. It also encourages involvement in local communities by giving every employee seven days of paid leave yearly to pursue volunteer pursuits. Looking ahead, the company has announced its intention to reach $20 billion in annual revenues by 2022, $40 billion by 2028, and $60 billion by 2034. To achieve these ambitious milestones of future growth, Salesforce.com must continue to understand and meet the needs of its business customers worldwide, creating software that allows them to servetheircustomers.