This post comes from Dakota's Intapp DealCloud integration, which brings Dakota Marketplace data directly into your DealCloud instance. Dakota Marketplace is the global private markets intelligence platform used by thousands of investment professionals to research LPs, GPs, and private companies. Built by fundraisers for fundraisers, Dakota Marketplace delivers complete, accurate, and daily-updated intelligence across every allocator channel, from family offices and RIAs to sovereign wealth funds and public pensions. Learn More | Book a Demo
Getting the Dakota DealCloud integration set up is just the beginning.
The firms that see the biggest impact are the ones that build it into the way their team works every day, not just as a data source but as an active part of their sales workflow.
If you are already connected and wondering how to get more out of it, this post is for you. Our CRM adoption resource hub has broader guidance on building a CRM your team actually relies on.
In this article, we are covering 10 actionable ways to get more value out of your Dakota DealCloud integration, from prospecting smarter to preparing for every call to making sure your data stays clean.
Top 10 Ways to Get the Most Out of Your DealCloud Integration
1. Always Link Before You Create
The single most important habit to build when working with our DealCloud integration is to try linking before creating any new record. If an account already exists in your DealCloud, linking connects it to our data without creating a duplicate. Defaulting to creating when you are unsure is how duplicate records accumulate over time, and duplicate records erode your team's trust in the CRM faster than almost anything else.
If the fuzzy match does not surface the right record, use the fallback search options: phone number, CRD number, or website for accounts, and email address, full name, or last name for contacts. Always exhaust linking options before creating something new.
2. Use the Filters as a Prospecting Tool
The Data Integrations tab is not just a setup tool. It is one of the most powerful prospecting tools your team has access to. Filter by account type, AUM, metro area, country, and investment preferences to build targeted lists of allocators that fit your strategy exactly. If your team is expanding into a new geography or asset class, this is the fastest way to identify and add the right accounts to your DealCloud.
You can pull up to 200 records at a time, making it practical to build out entire new segments of your coverage without any manual data entry.
3. Use the Add to CRM Button for One-Off Prospects
When your team is browsing Dakota Marketplace mid-day and comes across an account they want to add to DealCloud, they do not need to navigate back to the Data Integrations tab. Every account page in Marketplace has an Add to CRM button in the top right corner that lets them link or create that specific record directly from the account page.
Building this into your team's daily browsing habit means your DealCloud grows organically as your team does their research, without any extra steps or context switching.
4. Take Advantage of Linking & Syncing
If your firm connected the integration without going through our Linking & Syncing service first, it is worth having a conversation with your CSM about whether it makes sense to run the process now. Linking & Syncing is our done-for-you service that matches your existing DealCloud records to their Dakota counterparts on the back end, eliminating duplicates and getting your entire dataset connected correctly.
The longer you wait, the more manual linking accumulates and the harder it becomes to clean up. Starting with a fully matched dataset is almost always worth the two-to-30-day timeline it takes to complete.
5. Use the Dakota Tab to Prepare for Every Call
Every linked account in your DealCloud has a dedicated Dakota tab where all of our data lives. Before any call or meeting, your team should be opening that tab to review the account's investment preferences, recent activity, and the description written by our investment sales team.
That description is particularly valuable. Our investment sales team writes it specifically to give your team context on how to approach the account, what they are focused on, and what is happening in their market. It is the kind of intelligence that used to require hours of research and now takes 30 seconds to access.
See how investment firms are using Dakota’s DealCloud integration to build smarter prospect lists, prepare for every call, and never miss a key data change. Book a demo.
6. Use the Logs Tab to Monitor Integration Activity
The Logs tab on the left side of the Data Integrations page tracks every action that happens within the integration: updates, creations, links, and any failed actions, at both the account and contact level. Most firms set this up and then forget it exists, which means they miss one of the most useful transparency tools in the integration.
Checking the Logs tab regularly, especially in the early stages of your integration, gives your team full visibility into what we are updating and builds confidence that the data flowing into your DealCloud is accurate and current.
7. Pull Investor Data in Bulk When Expanding Coverage
When your team is ready to add a new segment of allocators to your DealCloud, pulling in bulk from the Data Integrations tab is the most efficient approach. Filter for the segment you want, select all of the relevant accounts, and create or link them in a single action.
This is particularly useful when your firm is entering a new market, expanding into a new asset class, or onboarding a new salesperson who needs their territory populated in DealCloud quickly.
8. Use Investment Preference Filters to Find the Right Allocators
One of the most underused features of our DealCloud integration is the investment preference filters inside the Data Integrations tab. You can filter specifically for firms that invest in private credit, venture capital, global equities, real estate, or dozens of other strategies.
This means your team is not just pulling in a broad list of allocators and hoping for the best. They are building targeted lists of firms that are actually relevant to what you are raising, which makes every outreach more intentional and every meeting more productive.
9. Use Contact Career History for Smarter Outreach
Every contact record in our DealCloud integration includes career history showing every firm that contact has previously worked at. This information is more useful than most firms realize. A contact who previously worked at a firm your team has a strong relationship with is a warm introduction waiting to happen.
Before your team reaches out to any new contact, checking the career history takes 10 seconds and can completely change the approach to that outreach. It is the kind of context that turns a cold call into a relevant conversation.
10. Lean on Helen Bascom and Your CSM
Our entire customer success team is trained on the DealCloud integration, and Helen Bascom is our dedicated CSM for all CRM integration customers. If your team is not using the integration to its full potential, the fastest way to change that is to schedule time with Helen.
Whether it is setting up Linking & Syncing, building custom reports, troubleshooting a linking issue, or figuring out how to use the integration for a specific use case your team has, Helen has seen it before and knows how to help. You have access to her at all times as an integration customer. Take advantage of it.
Get More From the Integration You Already Have
Most firms activate the Dakota DealCloud integration and use maybe half of what it offers. The features are there. The data is there. What is missing is the habit of going deeper. Start with one or two of these and build from there. The cumulative impact on your team's efficiency and data quality adds up faster than you might expect. Our full CRM integration suite covers everything your firm needs to get the most out of Dakota's data.
Book a demo of the Dakota DealCloud integration today.
