If you’re trying to bring better company data into Salesforce without turning your CRM into a dumpster fire, you’ve probably looked at Hginsights. This guide is for admins, ops folks, or anyone who’s tired of “another integration” getting in the way of sales actually doing their jobs.
Below, you’ll get the practical steps—and the stuff I wish someone had told me before I started—about connecting Hginsights to Salesforce. No fluff. No “transform your pipeline overnight” nonsense. Just what works, what doesn’t, what to watch out for, and how to keep it all running without headaches.
1. Get Clear on Why You’re Integrating Hginsights
Before you even log in, nail down your goals. Hginsights gives you technographics and company intelligence. That sounds great, but what do you actually want to do with it in Salesforce?
Common use cases:
- Enriching accounts with tech stack data (so reps know who’s running what)
- Prioritizing territory assignments based on firmographics
- Triggering workflows (like marketing campaigns) when target tech is detected
- Surfacing better lead scoring
Don’t do this:
Don’t just “turn it on” and sync every field because someone said, “More data is better.” That’s how you end up with a CRM where nobody trusts the fields or knows what half of them mean.
Pro tip:
Write out your top 3 use cases and share them with your team. If you can’t name them, it’s too early to integrate.
2. Map Out Your Data Flow—Before You Sync Anything
It’s tempting to connect Hginsights and hit “go.” Don’t. Take an hour to sketch out:
- Which Salesforce objects you want to enrich (Accounts? Leads? Contacts? Opportunities?)
- Which Hginsights fields actually matter for your workflows
- Where in Salesforce you want that data to live (custom fields? Related objects?)
- How often you want the data updated (initial load vs. ongoing sync)
What works:
Start small. Only map the fields you know you’ll use. You can always add more later.
What doesn’t:
Syncing every field “just in case.” This clutters your CRM, drives up storage costs, and confuses your users.
Pro tip:
If you can’t explain to a rep why a field exists, don’t map it.
3. Clean Up Your Salesforce Data First
Here’s the boring part that everyone skips: dirty data in Salesforce will make your integration a mess. Hginsights won’t magically fix your duplicates or fill in missing company names.
Do this first:
- Run deduplication on your Accounts and Leads
- Normalize company names (no “Google LLC” vs. “Google, Inc.” nonsense)
- Make sure you have reliable domain fields (Hginsights often matches on website)
Why bother?
If you skip this, you’ll get mismatches, failed enrichments, or—worse—two versions of the same company with different data.
What to ignore:
Don’t obsess over every minor typo, but do focus on cleaning up the fields that Hginsights will use for matching.
4. Set Up a Sandbox and Test Everything
Never, ever run your first integration in production. You want a Salesforce sandbox (or a partial copy at least) to test the sync.
Checklist:
- Connect Hginsights to your sandbox instance
- Map only your must-have fields (see step 2)
- Run a small batch sync (10–50 records)
- Check: Did the right data land where you expected? Any weird formatting? Are any records missing?
- Have a rep or end user spot-check the records—does the data actually help them?
Watch out for:
- Overwriting good Salesforce data with blank Hginsights fields (set your overwrite rules carefully)
- Field type mismatches (e.g., trying to push a string into a picklist)
- Surprising data volumes—sometimes a single field can balloon your storage usage
Pro tip:
Document what you changed. You’ll thank yourself when you go live and something doesn’t look right.
5. Roll Out Field-Level Controls and Permissions
More data doesn’t mean more value—especially if you accidentally expose sensitive info or confuse your team.
Best practices:
- Use field-level security to control who can see/edit Hginsights fields (most reps only need to see, not edit)
- Hide “raw” or technical fields from page layouts unless someone asks for them
- Make sure automation (workflows, process builder, flows) only triggers on the right fields
What people mess up:
Letting admins map 40+ fields to the Account layout. Reps don’t need to see everything. Keep it lean.
6. Set Up Regular Syncs—But Don’t Overdo It
Hginsights can be set to refresh your Salesforce data on a schedule. It’s tempting to “set it and forget it,” but syncing too often can cause more trouble than it’s worth.
Guidelines:
- Start with weekly or biweekly syncs—daily is usually overkill unless your motion is super high-velocity
- Monitor the first month closely: Are you getting sync errors? Are the right fields updating?
- If you see “data thrash” (fields bouncing back and forth), check your overwrite logic
What to skip:
Don’t set up hourly syncs unless you have a very specific reason. It just eats API calls and makes troubleshooting a nightmare.
7. Train Your Users—Show, Don’t Just Tell
Dumping new fields into Salesforce is a surefire way to get ignored. After integration, run a quick training (live or recorded):
- Show reps where the Hginsights data lives and how it’s useful for their day-to-day
- Walk through a few sample accounts and how to use the new data for better outreach or segmentation
- Solicit feedback: Is the data actually helping? Or is it just noise?
Pro tip:
Keep a feedback loop open. If reps ignore a field for a month, you probably don’t need it.
8. Monitor, Audit, and Iterate
The first version of your integration won’t be perfect. That’s normal. Set a reminder to review:
- Which fields are getting used (track field usage in Salesforce setup)
- Any sync errors—fix them before they pile up
- Whether your original use cases are working (are campaigns or reports actually better?)
What works:
Quarterly audits. Schedule a recurring calendar event to review and prune unused fields or tweak mappings.
What’s not worth it:
Overengineering with dozens of reports and dashboards. Focus on what your team actually looks at.
A Few Real-World Gotchas
Here’s what people usually wish they knew going in:
- Matching can be imperfect. Even with great data, you’ll get some misses, especially if your Salesforce data is messy.
- Storage costs add up. Every field you sync takes up space. If you’re close to your Salesforce storage limits, be careful.
- APIs and limits. Salesforce has API call limits, and Hginsights can burn through them fast if you’re not careful with sync frequency.
- “Set it and forget it” never works. If you don’t audit and adjust, you’ll end up with a CRM nobody trusts.
Keep It Simple and Iterate
Integrating Hginsights with Salesforce can make your CRM way more powerful—but only if you keep things under control. Start small, focus on your real use cases, and don’t be afraid to cut the clutter. The best integrations are boring: they just work, and your team barely notices because everything is where it should be.
You’ll get more value by revisiting your setup every few months than by trying to nail everything perfectly on day one. Keep it simple, get feedback, and tweak as you go. That’s how you make sales ops actually work for sales.