Allow For Account Object Updates

[Sherry_Hale]

I am requestion this feature because it's extremely valuable to be able to have certain flags turned on and off depending upon a value change.  Below is the reply that currently, only leads and contacts are able to be edited.

--------------

Thank you for contacting Marketo Customer Support. My name is Michael and I am happy to help you.

By design Marketo only edits lead and contact objects, not account objects. Here is a community article detailing this design:

https://community.marketo.com/MarketoArticle?id=kA050000000KzbQCAS

[Anonymous]

I think the support rep is confused.  The article says that Marketo does not provide Account updates out-of-the-box, but if after careful consideration of the consequences, you want to do it, they will enable it for you.  You should point out the following section in the help article to them.

If you want to enable Marketo to make Account level updates in Salesforce we can definitely enable this for you however you must make considerations and move forward cautiously so that you do not run into any unwanted behavior.

If you want Marketo to update all Account fields except for Account Name, you can accomplish this by making use of the "Block Field Updates" feature. This can help stop any updates from happening in the Marketo database from sources such as Form Fill-Out, List Import...

Once you have given this topic enough thought and planned out which fields you will be blocking from updates and from which sources, you can:

1. Ask your enablement manager for this change if you are in the enablement process
2. Submit a support ticket if you are out of enablement and flying solo

[Anonymous]

Yep, Elliott is correct. We recently had a support rep turn on writing to the account object. They just have to confirm that you're aware of all the risks associated. I'd recommend blocking field updates to 99% of your standard account fields.

[Sherry_Hale]

Yes, we just want to have one custom field updated and that was the reply we were given.  Shall I reopen the ticket or contact someone else?

[Anonymous]

Yeah, sounds like you should reopen the ticket. Perhaps contacting your account rep would help expedite things as well.

[Sherry_Hale]

I reopened the ticket to see what kind of response I would get and it was a favorable one.  I've posted below.  I do have a question for you both though....when blocking for field updates, besides company information like phone, address, name, is there anything else I definitey should block?  Right now I just need one custom field open for editing.  If I do this and set a flow to make edits to that custom field based upon a trigger, it should update it right?  Thanks guys!

_______

Hello Sherry,

You are correct and I was unaware of this feature until recently instructed. I have found where I can enable this for you but there are some steps that you need to take before I do so.

Please block field updates to *all* fields you do not want to be updated (all but the one custom field). Here is a community article for reference:

https://community.marketo.com/MarketoArticle?id=kA050000000KypCCAS

You can also block field updates via SFDC by setting the permissions of the sync user within Marketo to read only instead of read/write for all but the one custom field.

Once block field updates have been completed please let me know and I will enable the Account sync. But please be sure updates to all unnecessary fields are blocked.

Look forward to hearing from you 🙂

Michael
Marketo Customer Support

[Anonymous]

To be safe, I blocked field updates for every field except the custom ones I want to update. The last thing I wanted was to overwrite some account data when someone fills out a form and have sales reps freaking out. My personal recommendation would be to block field updates to all fields to begin with, then change as you have custom fields you'd like to update going forward.

And yes, once this is done, you'll be able to trigger updates to that custom field. We have a custom field we track for "Customer Born-on Date" when an account first books with us, and I have a flow setup to drop a datestamp on that field as soon as the first opportunity closes. Works like a charm.

[Sherry_Hale]

When you blocked the fields, did you also check all of the "Block updates from" options or leave salesforce sync unchecked?  There are so many fields to go through one by one and check all of those boxes. Is there a simpler way or is this it?  I'm happy it's an option, just looking for any time saver options too.  🐵