How Salesforce Contact synchronization works
When Contact synchronization is turned on, Maxio CPQ keeps the Salesforce Contacts on your deals up to date. Adding a contact to a deal can create a Contact in Salesforce, and editing a contact's name, email, or title can update the matching Salesforce Contact.
This page explains what is synchronized, when it happens, and what to expect in common situations. For recommendations on using this feature safely, see Salesforce Contact synchronization best practices.
Summary
- CPQ sends a contact's name, email, and title to Salesforce, and links the Contact to the Opportunity's Account.
- Addresses, phone numbers, and other Contact fields are not sent.
- Contacts you have already selected from Salesforce are updated. New contacts are matched to Salesforce by email.
- Signers are included because they are deal contacts. Approvers and internal counter-signers are not.
- Removing a contact from a deal never deletes it from Salesforce.
Before synchronization can happen
All of the following must be true:
- Your CPQ organization is connected to Salesforce.
- Synchronize Lead Contact is set to Enable in Settings → Integrations → Salesforce → Settings.
- The deal's status is Draft, Attention, In Review, Approved, or Negotiation.
- The contact has both a name and an email address.
Synchronize Lead Contact is turned off for new organizations. An administrator must enable it before any Contacts are created or updated in Salesforce.
When updates happen
CPQ synchronizes contacts after a deal is saved or its status changes. The update happens in the background, so it usually appears in Salesforce within a few minutes rather than immediately.
Although the setting is named Synchronize Lead Contact, it covers every contact on the deal, not only the lead contact. Because signers are chosen from the deal's contacts, a signer's details are synchronized too.
Approvers and internal counter-signers are not deal contacts. Assigning someone to approve or counter-sign a deal doesn't create or update a Salesforce Contact.
Field behavior
| CPQ contact detail | Salesforce Contact field | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Name | First Name and Last Name | The last word becomes the last name, and everything before it becomes the first name. A one-word name becomes the last name, because Salesforce requires one. |
| Sent every time. Used to find a matching Contact for a new contact. | ||
| Title | Title | Sent every time. |
| Opportunity's Account | Account Name | Set to the Account on the deal's Salesforce Opportunity each time CPQ creates or updates the Contact. |
| Address | Not sent | Update Contact addresses directly in Salesforce. |
| Phone and other fields | Not sent | Update these directly in Salesforce. |
Values longer than Salesforce allows are shortened: 40 characters for first name, 80 for last name and email, and 128 for title.
CPQ sets the Contact's Account to the Opportunity's Account whenever it updates the Contact. If a Contact belongs to a different Account in Salesforce, updating it from a deal moves it to the Opportunity's Account.
New and existing Contacts
Contacts selected from Salesforce
When you select an existing Salesforce Contact on a deal, CPQ remembers which Contact it is. CPQ updates that Contact when you first add it to the deal and whenever its name, email, or title changes in CPQ.
If the Contact has since been deleted or merged in Salesforce, or the Salesforce user connected to CPQ can't see it, CPQ doesn't update it.
Contacts added in CPQ
When you add a contact in CPQ that isn't linked to Salesforce yet, CPQ creates a Contact using the email address. If Salesforce already has a Contact with that email, CPQ updates that Contact instead of creating a new one. Either way, CPQ links the contact on the deal to that Salesforce Contact from then on.
If several Salesforce Contacts share the same email address, CPQ can't guarantee which one it updates. To control which Contact is used, select it from Salesforce when you add it to the deal.
When an update doesn't go through
If Salesforce rejects an update, for example because of a validation rule, a required field, or a duplicate rule, the deal still saves. To avoid blocking the sales process, CPQ doesn't show an error on the deal. When a Contact is created or updated successfully, an entry appears in the deal's Activity panel.
If you expect a change and don't see it in Salesforce, see Troubleshooting.
What removing a contact does
Removing a contact from a CPQ deal doesn't delete the Contact from Salesforce. Synchronization only creates and updates Contacts.
Common scenarios
A signer's email changes in CPQ
If synchronization is on and the deal has an eligible status, saving the deal updates the Email on the linked Salesforce Contact. This changes the Contact everywhere it's used in Salesforce, not just on this quote.
A signer's address changes in CPQ
The Salesforce Contact's address doesn't change. Deal billing and shipping addresses are handled separately from Contact synchronization. Update the Contact's address directly in Salesforce.
Someone is assigned to approve or counter-sign a deal
No Salesforce Contact is created or updated. Only the deal's contacts are synchronized.