Lead to account link - possible?

[Supporto_BOARD]

Hi Nation,

I need your help: I'm working on a project where there is a Salesforce setup that works on leads and contacts in parallel, meaning that when a new person is created in Marketo it is pushed on Salesforce as a lead; then from this lead a contact and an account are created (lead is not converted though), but the real work happens on the lead. We have employed the "Sync to Marketo" filter in order to avoid duplicates in Marketo as potentially there are two Salesforce records for each individual (one lead, one contact).

When the lead is closed and converted on the contact the sync switches from one object to the other, and the data is kept clean in Marketo.

The problem arises when, in Marketo, users might need to query on certain fields that are specific to accounts, because doing so will only bring records that are Salesforce contacts as results, since leads are not linked to accounts in any standard way.

I've tried to approach this from different angles but I can't seem to find a clean solution, given that this is a very particular Salesforce usage against a very standardized product like Marketo.

The only two things I could think of, but that I do not like one bit, are:

• copying the account fields we need to query on Marketo on the lead, and then map them 2 to 1 in Marketo
• create a custom object that is essentially a copy of the account with only the fields we need, and relate it to lead and contact so that the same relationship is brought over in Marketo.

Any other solution I'm not seeing?

Thanks,
Francesco

[Grégoire_Miche2]

Hi Francesco,

I would create the fields on the leads and copy them from the accounts using triggers (one trigger on lead when the lead is attached to the contact and the account, another on accounts to change the lead values when the account is updated). Do not use formulas, since this will not update the lead when accounts are updated and you will end up with wrong values in Marketo.

You other solution has too many drawbacks, as with custom objects, you will not have all the filtering and triggering capabilities, not the token possibilities, that you would have with lead fields.

-Greg

[Supporto_BOARD]

Hi Greg,

thanks, I also thought fields were the way to go but I feared that if we will need too many fields it will end up clogging the object... I don't know yet the amount of fields we will need to copy over to the Lead, let's hope they are within reason.

Is there any significant point I need to pay attention to when creating new fields? I knew to stay away from formulas, but if I want the mapping to happen 2 to 1 what to I need to be careful of? I guess the fields on the two objects need to be of the same type and the API names need to be the same, but is there anything else? Is Marketo smart enough to map them automatically on the same Marketo field or do I have to ask support?

Thanks,
Francesco

[Grégoire_Miche2 · Accepted solution]

Hi Francesco,

Unfortunately, even if the fields are named exactly the same, they do not map automatically. You will have to call support in. Vote here:

Also, prefer fields with workflows and or triggers to formula fields. Another point is that with SFDC process builder, you can update fields descending (from the account to the lead) and you will no longer need a trigger to do it. But pay attention to governor's limits and if you plan to have large updates on accounts, you might want to prefer triggers.

-Greg

[Supporto_BOARD]

Hi Greg,

we ended up doing just as you suggested
We struggled a bit with updating the fields, as we required both to be able to push - Account to Lead - and pull - Lead to Account - the information depending on the situation, but it should be ok now.

Thanks!Francesco