If your team is sick of leads slipping through the cracks between marketing and sales, syncing your lead tools with Salesforce is a no-brainer. This guide is for anyone who wants to connect Leadpipe to Salesforce — whether you’re a sales ops pro, a revops lead, or just the unlucky soul who drew the short straw. We’ll go step-by-step, call out the headaches, and help you avoid the stuff that doesn’t matter.
No sales pitch, no theory. Just real advice for getting your leads where they need to go, without losing your mind.
Why bother syncing Leadpipe and Salesforce?
Let’s not overthink it: manual data entry sucks, and double-handling leads is a recipe for mistakes. By syncing Leadpipe and Salesforce, you:
- Save time (no more copy-paste marathons)
- Keep sales and marketing on the same page
- Cut down on “who owns this lead?” drama
- Actually use your lead data for something useful
But syncing isn’t magic. You’ll need to set it up right the first time, or you’ll just trade one set of headaches for another.
What you need before you start
Don’t jump in blind. Here’s what you’ll want on hand:
- Admin access to both Salesforce and Leadpipe
- A clear idea of which data should sync (leads only? contacts too? custom fields?)
- A test lead (never sync live data until you’ve tested!)
- A backup of your Salesforce leads (just in case)
Pro tip: If your Salesforce instance is heavily customized, grab someone who knows your org’s quirks. Integrations love to break on custom fields or validation rules.
Step 1: Decide on your sync strategy
Before you click anything, decide how you want the sync to work:
- One-way or two-way? Do you want Leadpipe pushing leads into Salesforce only, or do you want updates flowing both ways?
- Which records? Every Leadpipe lead, or just ones that hit a certain score/status?
- Field mapping: Which Leadpipe fields go into which Salesforce fields? Don’t assume the names match — they rarely do.
Why this matters: A bad mapping now means hours of cleanup later. Talk to the people who’ll use the data, not just the IT folks.
Step 2: Connect Leadpipe to Salesforce
Here’s where the rubber meets the road. Exact screens will vary, but the basics are usually like this:
- Log into Leadpipe.
- Find the “Integrations” or “Connections” section.
- Select Salesforce from the list of available integrations.
- Click “Connect” or “Authorize,” and log into your Salesforce account when prompted.
- Grant Leadpipe the requested permissions. (You’ll need admin rights.)
Heads-up: Leadpipe usually asks for broad permissions — read and write access. If that makes you nervous, check if you can restrict to just leads or a sandbox environment.
Step 3: Map your fields
Now comes the part everyone forgets until it bites them: field mapping.
- In Leadpipe, you’ll see a screen to match your fields (like “First Name,” “Company,” “Lead Source”) to Salesforce’s fields.
- Watch out for custom fields or picklists — these almost always cause trouble.
- If you have fields in Leadpipe that don’t exist in Salesforce, you’ll need to create them first in Salesforce (with the right data types).
Don’t skip: Required fields in Salesforce. If Leadpipe tries to sync a lead without a required value (like “Lead Status”), Salesforce will reject it — often without a helpful error.
Pro tip: Start simple. Map only the fields you really need to start. You can always add more later.
Step 4: Set your sync rules
Most integrations let you tweak how and when data syncs. Double-check:
- Trigger: Should all new leads sync, or only after approval/scoring?
- Duplicates: What happens if a lead already exists in Salesforce? Merge, overwrite, skip?
- Update frequency: Real-time, hourly, daily? Real-time is nice, but can hammer your API limits if you’re moving a lot of data.
- Error handling: Where do sync errors go? Email? A report? Don’t let them disappear into the void.
Honest take: Default sync settings are rarely perfect. Take the time to review and tweak.
Step 5: Test with sample data
Don’t trust a new integration until you’ve tested it. Here’s what to do:
- Create a test lead in Leadpipe with realistic data.
- Trigger the sync.
- Check Salesforce: Did the new lead appear? Are all mapped fields populated and accurate?
- Update the test lead in Leadpipe. Did the changes sync to Salesforce?
- If you set up two-way sync, try editing in Salesforce and see if it updates in Leadpipe.
If something looks off: Check your field mapping and validation rules first. 90% of sync issues come from mismatched fields or missing required data.
Step 6: Roll out — but go slow
You’ve tested, fixed hiccups, and you’re ready to pull the trigger. Here’s how to avoid a disaster:
- Start with a small batch (10–20 leads), not your entire database.
- Watch for errors or duplicates.
- Check with your sales team — do they see the new leads? Any weirdness?
- Only after a week or so of smooth sailing should you scale up.
Pro tip: Keep a log of who changed what in the integration settings. This is gold when you’re troubleshooting later.
Troubleshooting: What to do when things break
Even with the best setup, integrations break. Here’s what usually goes wrong:
- Field mismatches: Someone renamed or deleted a field in Salesforce.
- Permission errors: Your Salesforce token expired, or permissions changed.
- API limits: You’re syncing too much data too fast. Salesforce will throttle you.
- Validation rules: Custom rules in Salesforce block incoming data (e.g., required fields, data formats).
What to ignore: Most “integration health” dashboards only show if the connection is alive — not if your data is actually syncing correctly. Always check with real records.
If you’re stuck: - Pull integration logs if available. - Test with a super-simple lead (no custom fields). - Temporarily relax Salesforce validation rules for testing. - Reach out to Leadpipe or Salesforce support with specific error messages.
What works, what doesn’t, and what’s not worth your time
- Works: Out-of-the-box sync for standard fields, pushing new leads, simple updates.
- Doesn’t work well: Complex field logic, heavy custom objects, anything relying on triggers or flows in Salesforce (without a developer involved).
- Not worth your time: Syncing every possible field “just in case.” Start with the basics — name, email, company, status — and expand only as needed.
And don’t expect a sync to fix bad process. Garbage in, garbage out.
Keep it simple — then iterate
You don’t need a perfect, all-singing, all-dancing integration on day one. Get the basics working: leads flow in, data is accurate, sales can get to work. Tweak as you go. Document what you change. And when in doubt, ask the people who actually use the leads.
Integrations are supposed to make your life easier — not add another thing to babysit. Keep it simple, stay skeptical of fancy features, and focus on what actually helps your team close more deals.