Salesforce Doubles AI Hiring Goal, To Add 2K Sales Roles

Salesforce Inc CRM targets employing 2,000 people in the form of sales reps, marketers, and customer service agents to sell artificial intelligence software to clients, CNBC cited CEO Marc Benioff at a company event in San Francisco on Tuesday.

In November, Benioff shared plans to employ 1,000 salespeople focusing on AI. Benioff told CNBC Salesforce already had 9,000 referrals for the 2,000 positions.

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On Tuesday, Salesforce announced that a second generation of its Agentforce technology, capable of tackling questions in Salesforce's Slack communications app, will be available in February 2025.

Salesforce has embedded experimental AI agents on its homepage to enhance user interaction. It manages 32,000 weekly queries through its chat-based help page, with only 5,000 requiring human escalation, down from 10,000.

Benioff highlighted these advancements as evidence of AI's growing role in improving customer support efficiency.

Benioff contrasted Salesforce's offerings with Microsoft Corp MSFT, noting the limited visibility of its Copilot-branded AI tools. Microsoft countered, stating that its AI solutions are driving measurable improvements, including a 9.4% boost in revenue per seller and an 11.5% reduction in case resolution time.

Salesforce's hiring spree comes nearly two years after the company laid off over 7,000 employees to adjust to economic conditions.

On Tuesday, Salesforce and Adecco Group boosted recruiting with Agentforce and Data Cloud for faster candidate matching. Vivint, a provider of smart home and security solutions, tapped Agentforce to enhance its customer service teams with 24/7 autonomous agent support.

On TechCrunch's Equity podcast, Benioff predicted that Salesforce will surpass a billion agents within the next 12 months. In October, Northland Capital Partners stated that the AgentForce platform now matches Microsoft's capabilities.

Salesforce stock surged over 37% year-to-date.

Salesforce reported a third-quarter revenue of $9.44 billion, up 8%, above the analyst consensus of $9.35 billion. The adjusted EPS of $2.41 missed the analyst consensus of $2.44.

Salesforce expects fourth-quarter revenue of $9.9 billion-$10.1 billion versus $10.04 billion analyst consensus. It anticipates fourth-quarter adjusted EPS of $2.57-$2.62 compared to consensus estimate of $2.61. 

Investors can gain exposure to Salesforce through JPMorgan Equity Premium Income ETF JEPI and SPDR Series Trust SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 Growth ETF SPYG.

Price Action: CRM stock traded higher by 0.71% to $353.47 premarket at the last check on Wednesday.

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