Getting the Dakota Salesforce integration set up is just the beginning.
The firms that see the biggest impact are the ones that go beyond the basics and build the integration into the way their team works every day.
If you are already connected and wondering how to get more out of it, this post is for you.
Visit our CRM resource hub for broader guidance on building a CRM your team actually uses.
10 Ways to Get the Most Out of Your Salesforce Integration
1. Always Link Before You Create
The single most important habit to build when working with our Salesforce integration is to try linking before creating any new record. If an account already exists in your Salesforce, 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, last name, or CRD number for contacts. Always exhaust linking options before creating something new.
2. Use the Metro Areas Tab for Every City Trip
If your team does city scheduling, the Metro Areas tab should be the first place they go before planning any trip. It surfaces every allocator in a given metro, a description of the market written by our investment sales team, a map showing where accounts are located, and the most recent Dakota Live call for that city, all without leaving Salesforce.
Building a habit around opening the Metro Areas tab before every city trip means your team arrives prepared, with a clear picture of who is there, where they are located, and which accounts are already connected.
3. Follow the Accounts and Contacts That Matter Most
Our Salesforce app version 3.0 introduced a follow feature that lets individual users subscribe to specific accounts or contacts and receive email notifications whenever we update those records. If you have a shortlist of high-priority prospects, following them means you will know the moment something changes, whether that is a new contact joining the firm, an AUM update, or a shift in investment strategy.
This is user-based, so each person on your team receives only their own notifications. A large team across multiple geographies does not create a noise problem for anyone. Set it up once and let the updates come to you.
4. Use the Marketplace Search Tab to Build Targeted Prospect Lists
The Marketplace Search tab inside your Salesforce is one of the most underused tools in the integration. Think of it as your window into our full database, filterable by account type, AUM, metro area, country, and investment preferences. You can get as granular as finding firms that invest in a specific asset class within a specific geography, then push those accounts directly into your Salesforce in a single action.
You can pull up to 500 records at a time, which makes it practical to build out entire new segments of your coverage without any manual data entry. The link icon next to each record tells you at a glance which accounts are already connected and which ones still need to be linked or created.
5. Take Advantage of Linking & Syncing for Your Initial Setup
If you 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 Salesforce 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 fresh with a fully matched dataset is almost always worth the two-to-30-day timeline it takes to complete.
If your team is only using half of what the integration offers, there is a lot of value sitting on the table. Let us show you what you are missing.
6. Use the Dakota Marketplace Subtab to Prepare for Every Call
Every linked account in your Salesforce has a dedicated Dakota Marketplace subtab where all of our data lives. Before any call or meeting, your team should be opening that subtab 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 you 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.
7. Use the Marketplace Updates Log to Stay Ahead of Changes
The Marketplace Updates log on every linked record shows you exactly what we have changed, what the old value was, what the new value is, and when we made the modification. Most firms set this up and then forget it exists, which means they miss one of the most valuable transparency tools in the integration.
Building a habit of checking the Marketplace Updates log for your most important accounts gives your team an early warning system for anything that might affect a relationship. A contact changes roles. An AUM figure shifts significantly. An investment preference updates. These are the signals your team needs to act on, and the log surfaces them automatically.
8. Use Contact Career History for Smarter Outreach
Every contact record in our Salesforce integration includes career history showing every firm that contact has previously worked at, as well as their education history. 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 tab 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.
9. Build Custom Dashboards and Reports With Dakota Data
Once our data is in your Salesforce, it is yours to use however you want. You can build custom dashboards, run reports, and download information to Excel. Firms that get the most out of the integration are the ones that go beyond storing our data and start using it to drive decisions.
Some of the most useful reports firms build include coverage maps by metro area, allocator lists filtered by investment preference and AUM, and contact lists segmented by asset class focus. If you are not sure where to start, your CSM and our dedicated integration CSM Helen Bascom are both available to help you think through what would be most useful for your team.
10. Lean on Your CSM
Our entire customer success team is trained on the Salesforce integration. If your team is not using the integration to its full potential, the fastest way to change that is to schedule time with them.
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, we have seen it before and know how to help. You have access to them at all times as an integration customer. Take advantage of it.
Get More From the Integration You Already Have
Most firms activate the Dakota Salesforce 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.
Book a demo of Dakota Marketplace for Salesforce today.
