block leads/contacts from Marketo

Hi Trish,

I can't vouch for that technique specifically, but I've done something similar, with good success. Basically there are some specific types of contacts in my SFDC database that I don't want syncing to Marketo. So I batch deleted their records in Marketo, and then set up triggers to watch for new records being created on the Salesforce end with the same criteria. So I have a smart campaign that looks for any contacts created with a specific Account Status value, and if a match is found, the record is immediately deleted (on Marketo only)

The reason you need the trigger there is because while initially deleting those contacts will remove them from Marketo, if the record is ever edited again in SFDC, it will prompt Marketo to sync the lead back.

If you don't have some sort of unique identifier to hide these contacts, you can also control what syncs back to Marketo by controlling the visibility of the account you use to sync Marketo and Salesforce. If you hide certain records from that account's view, it will not be able to sync them to Marketo. This is probably the cleanest solution, but takes some prep work ahead of time to determine what your sync account can and cannot see.

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Thanks Charles but how do new contacts and leads get the True turned on when added to SFDC?
wouldn't jeff's suggestion work the same as mine jsut that instead of a field filter it is a member of campaign filter?

also i subscribed to this discussion but never got any emails when you all posted. do i need to set up something to make this happen?

Hi Trish - unfortunately your described method won't work - a smart campaign can stop leads syncing from Marketo to SFDC, but not the other way around. The lead would actually have to come into Marketo through the sync to activate the campaign, so the point of your campaign is lost. YOu could delete it once it got there, but not prevent it coming through the sync.

Is there anything all these records have in common that we could filter off using SFDC sharing rules and simply block Marketo's access to them? As Jeff says, Marketo only syncs data the Marketo sync user can see, so by literally preventing the sync user from seeing them, they will stop syncing. You could then delete the records out of Marketo. Is this a possibility?

Also something some users have done is create a custom field that kind of mimics the custom sync filter suggested above. Basically you have a custom field checkbox called "Sync to Marketo". If true then allow the sync user to see them through sharing rules, if false don't. Whenever you create a lead or contact record in SFDC you'd need to make sure this checkbox was marked as true or false.

thanks Veronica- i just came back to ask if what you reccomend would work! great timing. instead of a sharing rule i was just going to write a smart campaign but i will see if i can figure out how to set sharinng rules

Veronica are you talking about hiding field from the marketo sync profile i sfdc? none of our users are using that profile so not sure what you mean by sync user?

also i see how i can make fields not visible (check box yes or no)  i see lead and contact sharing rules based on critieria but no option to choose to not share with a particular profile.

Charles, can the field i sfdc just be a true false field.? can i not set up the filter to not synch based on that field data myself or does support need to do on back end. i ask because i prefer to have tht control in case we decide to turn it off and let them synch again

Hi - the Marketo sync user is the user whose details have been used to set up the Marketo sync. I don't know without looking at your system whether you have set up a user in Salesforce that is dedicated to the sync, or if you are running the sync off an existing SFDC user - doing the former (a dedicated sync user license) gives you more flexibility when making changes to that users profile to guide the sync.

You won't be able to use sharing rules for a profile, but you can choose to share with a particular public group, and if you build a group that contains ONLY the Marketo sync user, you'll be able to build sharing rules that share to that particular user. Does that make sense?

We are trying to build a relationship between Marketo and Salesforce where the only records that come into Marketo (apart from inbound leads) are Salesforce records associated with synced campaigns. This means traditional sharing rules won't really work for us. If we built a checkbox to identify which records to sync, how would we know when to un-check it?

For example, if a Salesforce Lead is added to a Salesforce Campaign synced with Marketo, it could check the box, giving Marketo visibility, and creating the record in Marketo. When the campaign completes, Marketo can uncheck the box, delete the record from Marketo, and the record stays in Salesforce and stays associated with the Salesforce Campaign. Simple enough.

However, if a lead is added to 5 marketo campaigns, has completed 3 of them, but is still active in two synced campaigns, how can we build logic to tell Marketo to keep that lead if and only if it is a part of a synced campaign?