Sales teams are happiest when their tools actually talk to each other. If you’re stuck entering the same info twice—or worse, chasing down missing data—you’re in the right place. This guide walks you through syncing Salesforce with Outreach, so you spend less time juggling records and more time, well, selling.
If you’re an admin, sales ops, or just the “tech person by default,” this guide’s for you. We’ll skip the hype, flag what’s worth your time, and call out the stuff that tends to break.
Why bother integrating Salesforce and Outreach?
Let’s get this out of the way: manual data entry is soul-crushing, and bad syncs cause more problems than they solve. When Salesforce and Outreach are set up right, you’ll get:
- Updates that flow both ways—no more “which system is right?”
- Reps working from the same data, whether they’re emailing in Outreach or logging calls in Salesforce.
- Way fewer “Hey, did you see this lead?” Slack messages.
But: this only works if you set it up carefully. Rushing the integration or skipping steps usually means duplicates, missing contacts, or annoyed reps. Let’s get it right the first time.
Step 1: Get Your Prerequisites in Order
Before you even think about clicking “Connect,” do these checks:
- Salesforce Edition: Outreach only connects with Salesforce Professional, Enterprise, Unlimited, or Performance editions. If you’re on Group or Essentials—sorry, you’re out of luck.
- Outreach Plan: Make sure your Outreach subscription includes Salesforce integration. Most do, but check your contract if you’re not sure.
- Admin Access: You’ll need admin rights in both Salesforce and Outreach. If you’re not an admin, stop here and find the person who is.
- API Access: Your Salesforce profile (and the integration user, if you have one) needs API access. Double-check this; it’s a super common hangup.
Pro tip: Use a dedicated “integration user” in Salesforce. This avoids headaches when someone leaves the company and their permissions change.
Step 2: Clean Up Your Data First
This is the boring part, but bad data will torpedo your sync before it starts.
- Deduplicate contacts and leads—in both systems. If you have John Smith in Salesforce and Jon Smith in Outreach, you’ll have a mess.
- Standardize formats: Make sure email addresses, phone numbers, and names are entered the same way. Outreach matches records by email address by default.
- Pick a “source of truth”: Decide if Salesforce or Outreach “wins” when there’s a conflict. Write it down. This will matter later.
Ignore: Trying to fix everything at once. Focus on the fields you actually need to sync: names, emails, phone, and owner. You can always add more fields later.
Step 3: Connect Outreach to Salesforce
This is where the magic (or mayhem) starts.
- Log in to Outreach. Go to the Admin settings.
- Find the Salesforce Integration section. Usually under “Integrations” or “CRM.”
- Click “Connect to Salesforce.” You’ll get a Salesforce login screen.
- Log in with your Salesforce admin (or integration user) credentials.
- Authorize Outreach to access Salesforce. Outreach will ask for a pile of permissions—this is normal.
If you see a weird error about “insufficient privileges,” double-check your Salesforce user’s API access and permissions. If it’s still not working, try logging into Salesforce directly with that user to make sure the account isn’t locked or has expired.
Heads up: Outreach may ask for read/write access to all objects. If your security team gets twitchy about this, you can create a custom permission set—but don’t lock it down too much or things will break.
Step 4: Configure Sync Settings
Now you decide what actually syncs—and in which direction.
- Objects to sync: Most teams start with Leads, Contacts, and Accounts. You can add Opportunities and custom objects, but save that for later unless you know what you’re doing.
- Field mapping: Outreach will try to auto-map common fields (like “Email” to “Email”). Double-check every mapping. If you have custom fields, you’ll need to map those manually.
- Sync direction:
- Bidirectional (data flows both ways): Good if reps work in both tools.
- Salesforce → Outreach only: Safer if Outreach is just for outbound, and you want Salesforce to stay the master.
- Outreach → Salesforce only: Rare, but possible if Salesforce is mostly for reporting.
- Sync frequency: Near real-time usually works fine. If you’re worried about API limits or have a huge database, you can slow it down.
Don’t over-think it: Start with just Leads and Contacts. You can always enable more later.
Step 5: Test with a Sandbox (Seriously)
Tempting as it is to “just try it,” use a Salesforce sandbox first.
- Connect Outreach to your Salesforce sandbox.
- Create a test lead in Salesforce. See if it shows up in Outreach.
- Do the reverse: create a contact in Outreach and see if it lands in Salesforce.
- Check for duplicates, missing fields, or weird formatting.
If something breaks: Don’t panic. Most issues come from bad field mappings, missing permissions, or required fields in Salesforce that Outreach doesn’t know about.
Pro tip: Make a checklist and write down what you test. Future you (or whoever inherits this) will thank you.
Step 6: Roll Out to Production
Once you’ve ironed out the kinks in your sandbox:
- Disconnect Outreach from the sandbox.
- Connect to your live Salesforce org.
- Double-check all settings and mappings. It’s easy to miss something if your sandbox and production orgs aren’t identical.
- Start with a small sync. Don’t try to sync 500,000 records at once. Pick a subset, or do a sync outside of business hours if you’re dealing with lots of data.
- Monitor activity logs. Both Salesforce and Outreach track sync activity. Watch for errors or “skipped” records.
Step 7: Keep an Eye on It (and Your Users)
Even after the sync runs, stuff can get weird. Here’s what to watch for:
- Duplicates: If users create records in both tools, you’ll get duplicates. Outreach tries to match by email, but nothing’s perfect.
- Ownership issues: Make sure record owners in Salesforce and Outreach match up, or you’ll get confused reps and inaccurate reporting.
- Field changes: If someone adds a new field in Salesforce, it won’t magically sync—update your mappings.
- API limits: Salesforce has daily API call limits. If you’re syncing a ton of data, keep an eye on this or risk locking out all your integrations.
Pro tip: Set up alerts for sync errors. Outreach can send you notifications, and Salesforce has reports for failed API calls.
What’s Worth Your Time (and What Isn’t)
- Worth it: Clean data, good field mappings, and clear sync rules save hours of headaches.
- Overkill: Syncing every field or every custom object “just in case.” Start simple.
- Ignore for now: Deep customizations, fancy automation, or third-party middleware—unless you hit a real limitation.
Summary: Keep It Simple, Stay Flexible
Integrating Salesforce with Outreach isn’t rocket science, but it does take a careful approach. Focus on the basics: clean data, clear mappings, and a slow rollout. If you keep things simple and check your work, you’ll avoid 90% of the horror stories out there. Start with what you need, get it running smoothly, and add complexity only when you have a real reason. That’s how you keep your sanity—and your sales data—in sync.