If you’re trying to wrangle your sales team’s coaching tools and CRM into one smooth process, you’re not alone. Maybe you’ve heard that integrating Secondnature with your CRM will make life easier. Here’s the thing: it can—but only if you do it right and skip the fluff. This guide is for sales ops folks, admins, and anyone tasked with making tools actually work together (and not just look good in a slide deck).
Why bother connecting Secondnature and your CRM?
Secondnature is pretty good at helping sales reps practice pitches and get feedback. Your CRM is where the real deals—and the real data—live. If these two don’t talk to each other, you’re missing out on:
- Less manual work: No more copy-pasting results or hunting for data in two places.
- Better coaching insights: See how practice translates (or doesn’t) to real-world performance.
- Cleaner reporting: Pull together coaching and sales metrics without Excel gymnastics.
But don’t expect magic. Integration won’t fix a broken process or bad data. It just makes it easier to see what’s working.
Step 1: Reality check—what do you actually need?
Before you touch a single setting, get clear on:
- What data matters? Do you want to push coaching scores into the CRM? Pull sales activity into Secondnature?
- Who’s using what? If reps ignore Secondnature or your CRM is a graveyard, integration won’t change that.
- What systems are you using? Most folks are on Salesforce or HubSpot. If you’re not, check if there’s even an integration available.
Pro tip: Write down your must-haves and nice-to-haves. Otherwise, you’ll get lost in the weeds.
Step 2: Check compatibility (don’t assume)
Most of the time, Secondnature offers native integrations with Salesforce. HubSpot support is less common. For other CRMs—think Zoho, Pipedrive, or anything “custom”—you’ll probably need workarounds.
- Salesforce: Official integration exists.
- HubSpot: Possible, but check for up-to-date connectors.
- Other CRMs: You’ll be looking at middleware (Zapier, Make, custom APIs).
Go to Secondnature’s help docs or support to confirm. Vendors love to say “CRM integration” without specifics. Don’t fall for it.
Step 3: Prep your accounts and data
Integration means syncing data, not just clicking “Connect.” Save yourself a headache by:
- Making sure you have admin access to both systems.
- Cleaning up user lists—if your CRM is filled with ex-employees, fix that first.
- Backing up critical data. Stuff can (and does) go sideways.
Got different user emails in each system? Fix that now. Matching data points (like email addresses) are what tie records together.
Step 4: Set up the integration (the actual mechanics)
Let’s get down to it. Here’s how it usually looks with Salesforce; adapt if you’re using something else.
For Salesforce:
- Install the Secondnature AppExchange package (if required).
- Authenticate: Log into both Secondnature and Salesforce. Authorize access when prompted.
- Map fields: Decide what data moves where. Common options:
- Push coaching completion or scores from Secondnature into a custom Salesforce field.
- Pull account or opportunity info from Salesforce into Secondnature for context.
- Test with a single user: Don’t roll out company-wide yet. Try it with one or two records.
- Check user permissions: If reps can’t see the data, the integration won’t help.
For HubSpot or others:
- Use available connectors or middleware (Zapier, Make, Tray.io).
- Set up triggers and actions (e.g., “When a coaching session is completed, update contact in CRM”).
- Map fields, test, repeat.
Pro tip: Document what you did as you go. Future-you (or the next admin) will thank you.
Step 5: Decide what data to sync (and what to ignore)
Just because you can sync everything doesn’t mean you should. More data equals more noise.
What’s usually worth syncing:
- Coaching completion status
- Scores or feedback summaries
- Links to session recordings
What to ignore (unless you have a good reason):
- Every granular metric (e.g., time spent per slide)
- Practice session transcripts (nobody reads these in the CRM)
- Internal-only fields (“Manager’s comments,” etc.)
Keep it simple. The goal is actionable info, not a data dump.
Step 6: Train your team (and set expectations)
Integrations don’t work if people don’t know they exist—or don’t trust the data.
- Show, don’t tell: Demo how the integration can help reps in their actual workflow.
- Set clear expectations: If updates happen once a day (not instantly), say so.
- Give them a way to report issues: Bugs happen. Make it easy for users to flag problems.
If you skip this, expect a bunch of “it’s broken” emails.
Step 7: Monitor, tweak, and maintain
No integration is “set and forget.” Period.
- Check the sync: Spot-check records weekly at first. Is data flowing as expected?
- Watch for duplicates or errors: Pay attention to new users, role changes, or CRM updates that can break things.
- Review usage: Is anyone actually using the data? If not, ask why.
Honestly: A lot of integrations get set up and quietly die because nobody checks back. Don’t let that be you.
Step 8: Don’t over-engineer—start small, expand later
It’s tempting to automate every corner of your workflow. Resist. Get the basics working, collect feedback, and only then add more.
- Start with one team or region.
- Only sync what’s needed for a month or two.
- Expand once you’ve ironed out the kinks.
Trying to do everything at once is how you end up with a broken process and angry users.
What works (and what doesn’t)
Works:
- Syncing summary data—completion, scores, links—directly to deals or contacts.
- Using integration to trigger next steps (like reminders for reps who haven’t practiced).
Doesn’t work:
- Expecting integration to magically boost adoption of either tool.
- Trying to sync everything, everywhere.
- Ignoring data quality or permissions issues.
Final thoughts: keep it simple and iterate
Integrating Secondnature with your CRM doesn’t have to be a slog. Just remember: start with real needs, set it up in bite-sized pieces, and check if it’s actually helping your team. Don’t get sold on flash or buzzwords. If you keep things simple and treat integration as an ongoing process (not a one-time project), you’ll get more value and a lot less stress.