Looking to stop babysitting your inbound leads and get them routed to the right sales reps—without another round of back-and-forth emails? This guide’s for you. If you use Salesforce and want to actually automate lead assignment (not just talk about it at your next team meeting), integrating Chilipiper is one of the more practical ways to do it.
But don’t expect magic. Chilipiper isn’t a “set it and forget it” solution—at least, not if you want it to actually match your business rules and not break every other week. This walkthrough will show you what works, what to ignore, and how to get up and running without losing a whole weekend.
Why bother integrating Chilipiper with Salesforce?
If you’re reading this, you probably already have a pain point: Leads come in, and someone spends too much time assigning them, tracking them, and fixing mistakes when reps cherry-pick. Automation solves this, but Salesforce’s built-in round robin and lead assignment rules are pretty basic and can get messy fast.
Chilipiper helps by:
- Letting you build smarter routing logic (based on territory, product, rep calendars, etc.)
- Instantly booking meetings as leads fill out forms
- Syncing everything into Salesforce so your reporting doesn’t fall apart
But: It only works well if you set it up properly. Sloppy integration = missed leads and angry salespeople.
Step 1: Prep your Salesforce org
Before you touch Chilipiper, make sure Salesforce is in good shape. Garbage in, garbage out.
Checklist:
- Are your lead and contact records clean? Fix duplicates. If your data’s a mess, Chilipiper will just automate the chaos.
- Have you mapped out your assignment logic? Write down who should get which leads (by region, product, company size, etc.). Don’t rely on “we’ll figure it out later.”
- Do your reps have Salesforce user accounts (active and assigned to the right roles)? Chilipiper can only assign to active users.
Pro tip: If you already have custom fields or assignment rules in Salesforce, note them. You’ll probably need to reference these in Chilipiper.
Step 2: Set up Chilipiper and connect to Salesforce
You’ll need admin access to both Salesforce and Chilipiper.
- Log into Chilipiper.
- If you don’t have an account, sign up for a trial. (No, there’s no sneaky workaround here.)
- Go to 'Integrations' in Chilipiper.
- Find Salesforce and click 'Connect.'
- Authenticate with Salesforce.
- Use an admin account.
- You’ll grant permissions for Chilipiper to read/write leads, contacts, events, and user info.
- If you hit a Salesforce login screen you haven’t seen before, don’t panic—this is normal.
- Test the connection.
- Chilipiper should show a green status or “Connected.”
- If not, double-check that your Salesforce admin account has API access and isn’t restricted by IP or permissions.
Heads up: If your Salesforce org uses two-factor authentication or single sign-on, you might have extra steps. Sometimes you need to whitelist Chilipiper’s IP addresses in Salesforce or get your IT team to approve the integration.
Step 3: Sync your Salesforce users and fields
This step makes sure Chilipiper knows who your reps are and what lead data it can use.
- Sync users: In Chilipiper, pull in your Salesforce users. You’ll see a list—pick only the reps who should receive leads.
- Sync fields: Chilipiper will list out all your Salesforce lead/contact fields. Map the ones you actually use for routing (e.g., “Region,” “Product Interest,” “Lead Source”).
- Custom fields: If you use custom fields for routing, make sure they’re visible to the integration user in Salesforce, or Chilipiper won’t see them.
Pro tip: Don’t sync every field “just in case.” It clutters your setup and makes troubleshooting harder.
Step 4: Build your router in Chilipiper
This is the heart of the integration. Plan to spend real time here.
- Create a new router.
- Name it something obvious, like “Inbound Lead Assignment.”
- Set up rules.
- Chilipiper lets you create if/then logic: “If Region = West, assign to West team.”
- You can use AND/OR logic for more complex rules (e.g., “If Region = West AND Product = X, assign to Rep A”).
- Prioritize most specific rules at the top; catch-all rules at the bottom.
- Choose round robin vs. direct assignment.
- Round robin is good for fairness if all reps are equal.
- Direct assignment is better if territories matter.
- Assign fallback rules.
- What happens if no rule matches? Assign to a default owner, or alert someone by email.
What to ignore: Don’t try to overengineer with 100+ rules “for every scenario.” Start with your biggest buckets. You can always add complexity later.
Step 5: Set up your form and calendar booking (if needed)
Chilipiper’s real strength is booking meetings instantly as leads fill out your web form.
- Integrate your web form: Use Chilipiper’s form mapping to connect your website’s lead form to the router you just built.
- Calendar booking: Chilipiper can show rep calendars and let leads book a meeting right after submitting the form.
- This only works if your reps have synced their calendars (Google or Outlook) to Chilipiper.
- Field mapping: Double-check that your form fields match your Salesforce fields. Misaligned fields = lost data.
Reality check: Instant booking is slick, but only if your reps actually keep their calendars up to date. If they don’t, you’ll end up with leads who book meetings… and get ghosted.
Step 6: Test everything (don’t skip this)
Nobody loves user acceptance testing, but it beats explaining lost leads to your boss.
- Run test leads through your web form.
- Use different scenarios (different regions, products, etc.) to make sure routing works.
- Check Salesforce.
- Make sure leads are assigned to the right reps, and calendar events are created.
- Try edge cases.
- What happens if a lead doesn’t match any rules? Does it go to the fallback owner?
- Audit activity.
- Make sure lead status, meeting details, and assignments are syncing in real time.
Pro tip: Use a private browser window or incognito mode so cookies or autofill don’t mess up your tests.
Step 7: Roll out to the team
Once you’re sure it works:
- Tell your reps: Walk them through how leads will be assigned and meetings booked. Set expectations: If they don’t keep their calendars up to date, the system won’t work.
- Monitor for errors: For the first week, watch for missed assignments or broken calendar links. Fix rules or sync issues as they come up.
- Iterate: Don’t try to make it perfect. Start simple, get feedback, and improve.
What works, what doesn’t, and what to watch out for
- What works: Chilipiper’s routing is flexible, and the calendar booking is genuinely useful—if your reps play along.
- What doesn’t: If your Salesforce data is messy, Chilipiper will trip over it. Don’t expect it to “fix” bad records or inconsistent field usage.
- Watch out for: Overcomplicating your routing rules. The more layers you add, the harder it is to troubleshoot. Also, reps forgetting to sync their calendars is a common failure point.
Keep it simple, and keep iterating
You don’t need a 50-rule masterpiece to get value out of Chilipiper and Salesforce. Start with your main routing needs, make sure data’s clean, and don’t forget the human side (reps actually using their calendars). Iterate as you go. If something’s breaking, it’s almost always a data or sync issue—not some mysterious bug.
Set it up, test it, and tweak over time. That’s how you actually get automated lead assignment working without headaches.