If you’re like other customer-centric companies, you want to get close to customers. If you’re like GE Appliances, you want to be so close, there’s “zero distance” between you.

That’s the thinking behind the household appliance giant’s treatment of customers, whom its employees call “owners.” The company’s “zero distance” philosophy embodies its commitment to grow closer to owners to provide products and services that deliver an outstanding experience. 

Once focused primarily on protecting the brand founded by Thomas Edison, GE Appliances, a Haier company, has swapped transactional experiences for service-oriented ones that build owner trust. 

“We believe when we are close to owners, we better understand their needs and wants, which puts us in a much better position to produce products that make them feel good about the brand, even if they do have a problem with their appliance,” said Jim Gothard, Executive Director, Call Center.

Prior to its digital transformation just before the pandemic, disjointed legacy systems prevented the company from seeing the full picture of its customer relationships and realizing impactful ROI. GE Appliances turned to Salesforce to bring consistency across every touchpoint, from customer support calls to field technician visits to email check-ins.

With a single place for its 1,700 call center agents and 1,000 field service technicians to turn for the most up-to-date customer data, GE Appliances was ready for the wave of orders and customer inquiries that flooded its gates as consumers began spending more time at home. 

If you’re working to close the gap between internal teams and customers, learn how GE Appliances uses Salesforce Customer 360 to delight owners with proactive service that builds lifetime loyalty.