So you’ve got Salesforce humming along as your system of record, but all that competitive intel in Crayon is just sitting there—not helping your reps when they actually need it. If you’re here, you’re probably tired of swivel-chairing between tools, losing context, or watching good intel go stale because nobody sees it in time.
This guide’s for admins, ops folks, or anyone who’s been handed the “make these two play nice” assignment. I’ll walk you through integrating Crayon with Salesforce in a way that actually helps your teams, not just ticks a box for some exec. We’ll talk about what works, what doesn’t, and how to avoid the usual “integration” time sinks.
1. Get Clear on What You Actually Need to Share
Before you start clicking buttons or setting up automations, take 10 minutes to define what you want out of this integration. The most common mistake: just syncing everything “because you can.”
Here’s what’s usually worth sharing:
- Battlecards and win/loss insights: Get these in front of sellers when they’re looking at deals.
- Competitor profiles: Useful if your reps need context, but don’t dump the whole encyclopedia.
- Alerts on competitive moves: Only if they’re actionable. No one cares if it’s just noise.
What you can skip:
- Historic data dumps (“export all” rarely helps anyone).
- Features lists or one-pagers—these get out of date fast.
- Anything your reps already ignore in Crayon.
Pro tip: Ask a couple of sales reps what they wish they saw in Salesforce—don’t just guess.
2. Check Your Crayon Plan and Salesforce Setup
Not every Crayon plan has deep Salesforce integration. Before you waste an afternoon, double-check:
- Does your Crayon subscription include Salesforce integration? If not, talk to your CSM or account manager.
- Do you have Salesforce admin permissions? You’ll need them for most integration steps.
- What version of Salesforce are you running? Classic vs. Lightning can matter for UI embedding.
- Is your Salesforce org already full of custom objects or fields? You don’t want to break something.
Don’t just hand this off to IT. If you’re the Crayon admin, stay involved—otherwise, you’ll get a generic setup that won’t actually help users.
3. Decide on the Integration Method
There are a few main ways people connect Crayon and Salesforce. Each has tradeoffs:
a. Crayon’s Native Salesforce Integration
If you’re on a plan that supports it, this is usually the simplest and most reliable route. You get:
- Embedding of battlecards directly into Salesforce records (usually Accounts, Opportunities, or Leads).
- Single sign-on (SSO) for easy access.
- Some auto-sync features for win/loss data.
What’s good: It’s built for sales teams. Less maintenance. You don’t have to mess with APIs.
What’s not: Customization is limited. If you want to surface something niche, you may hit a wall.
b. Custom API Work
If you need something really custom (say, syncing competitive alerts to a custom Salesforce object), you could build something with the Crayon API and Salesforce’s REST API.
What’s good: You control exactly what’s shared and where it appears.
What’s not: You’ll need a developer or someone comfortable with APIs. Maintenance is all on you. If either API changes, you need to fix it.
c. Third-Party Middleware (Zapier, Workato, etc.)
If both tools support your middleware of choice, you might be able to cobble together a simple sync (like pushing Crayon signals into Salesforce tasks or Chatter).
What’s good: No code, quick setup.
What’s not: Prone to breaking, limited support for richer data, and you’re adding another point of failure.
Bottom line: If Crayon’s native Salesforce integration does what you need, use it. Only go custom if you have a real, clear reason.
4. Map Out Where Info Should Appear in Salesforce
Dumping competitive intel into Salesforce is easy. Making it useful is the hard part.
Typical spots to embed or sync Crayon data:
- Opportunity records: Show relevant battlecards or competitor insights when a deal mentions or is tagged with a competitor.
- Account records: For strategic accounts with known competitive threats.
- Custom tabs or components: For power users who want more detail.
Don’t: Push Crayon alerts into everyone’s email or Chatter unless they’re genuinely urgent. People tune out noise.
Do: Use Salesforce page layouts or Lightning components to surface intel only when it’s contextually relevant (e.g., only show “Competitor X Battlecard” if that competitor is in the deal).
Pro tip: Start small—add intel to one object (like Opportunity) and get feedback before rolling out everywhere.
5. Set Up the Integration
Here’s the high-level workflow for the native integration (details might differ based on your setup):
- Connect Crayon and Salesforce:
- In Crayon, find the Salesforce integration settings.
- Authenticate using your Salesforce admin account.
- Follow prompts to approve permissions (read/write, object access, etc.).
- Choose What to Sync or Embed:
- Pick which battlecards, profiles, or alerts should show up in Salesforce.
- Map them to the right Salesforce objects (Accounts, Opps, etc.).
- Configure When Data Appears:
- Use rules or filters—e.g., only show certain battlecards if a competitor is named in the Opportunity.
- Test with a Few Users:
- Pick a sales manager and a couple of reps.
- Walk through a real deal scenario and see if the right info shows up.
- Fix anything that’s confusing, missing, or overkill.
- Roll Out to More Users:
- Train sales and customer success teams on where to find the intel.
- Set expectations: this is for active deals, not a dumping ground.
If you’re going custom:
- Write scripts to pull relevant data from Crayon’s API on a schedule.
- Push to custom Salesforce objects or fields.
- Build error logging. You’ll thank yourself later.
6. Keep Data Fresh (and Don’t Overcomplicate)
The biggest risk with any integration: stuff gets out of date, or nobody trusts it.
What works:
- Automate updates: Make sure Crayon pushes new intel into Salesforce automatically.
- Review mappings quarterly: Competitors change. So should your rules for what gets surfaced.
- Prune unused content: If battlecards aren’t getting clicked, archive or update them.
What doesn’t:
- Manual exports or copy-pasting—guaranteed to fall behind.
- “More is better” thinking. You’ll just create another ignored widget in Salesforce.
Ignore:
- Requests to dump every Crayon insight into Salesforce. Focus on what’s actually used in deals.
7. Train and Get Feedback (Really)
You’d think everyone would love having competitive intel at their fingertips. In reality, you need to show people how to use it.
- Short walkthroughs beat long docs: Five-minute video or screenshots showing where the data lives.
- Ask for feedback after a month: Are reps actually using the integration? What’s missing?
- Iterate: Tweak what’s visible, when it appears, and prune the rest.
8. Troubleshooting and Maintenance
Even good integrations break or get ignored. Watch for:
- Data not syncing? Re-authenticate the connection, check API limits, or see if permissions changed.
- Old intel showing up? Check if Crayon is still pushing updates, or if your mapping rules are too broad.
- Nobody using it? Ask why. It’s usually because the info isn’t relevant or is hard to find.
Set a calendar reminder to review the integration every quarter. Sounds boring, but it’ll save you from firefighting later.
Wrap-Up: Keep It Simple, Stay Flexible
It’s easy to over-engineer this stuff. The best integrations are the ones people actually use—not the flashiest dashboards or the most “comprehensive” syncs. Start with what your team really needs, get feedback, and tweak as you go. You can always add more later, but it’s a pain to clean up a bloated mess.
Remember: Seamless data sharing isn’t about syncing everything. It’s about getting the right insights in front of the right people at the right time. If you keep that in mind, you’ll avoid most of the headaches—and actually help your team win more deals.