Your sales team works in Salesforce. Leads get assigned, worked and converted there, and if an enquiry isn't in Salesforce, as far as the team is concerned it doesn't exist. So when you look at putting an AI receptionist in front of your business, the first question is a fair one: will what it captures end up in Salesforce, and how?
Klugon's Salesforce AI receptionist integration answers that for text conversations. Once connected, the assistant in your website chat and messaging channels can create a lead in Salesforce with the person's name, email, phone and the reason they got in touch. It can also search your Salesforce contacts by email or phone, and attach notes to records.
There are three things you should know straight away. First, it needs a Klugon Scale plan. Second, leads are created when the assistant uses its CRM tool during a conversation, not automatically for every lead. Third, despite the word "receptionist", phone calls don't use the Salesforce connection: the phone assistant saves leads in Klugon only. The rest of this page explains each of those, the exact fields written, how to connect it, and what it doesn't do.
How the Salesforce AI receptionist integration works
With Salesforce connected, Klugon gives the assistant three tools in its text conversations.
Creating a lead
The tool sync_lead_to_crm creates a new Lead record in Salesforce. The assistant passes the customer's name and, if they have given them, an email address, a phone number and a short note or reason for the enquiry.
The assistant is prompted to collect a customer's name, email and phone when appropriate using the CRM tools, provided lead capture is switched on for the assistant. So in a typical enquiry it will create a lead once the person has shared their details. It remains the assistant's judgement in each conversation, though, which is why this is not an automatic sync.
Searching contacts
The tool search_crm_contact searches Salesforce Contacts (not Leads) by email or phone number and returns the first match, with its ID, first name, last name, email and phone. This is useful for recognising an existing customer who already has a Contact record, for example someone whose lead has already been converted.
Because it searches Contacts only, it won't find a person who exists in Salesforce only as a Lead, including one the assistant created a few minutes earlier.
Adding a note
The tool create_crm_note creates a Salesforce Note (the classic Note object) attached to a record ID the assistant has, such as the Contact it found, or the Lead it just created. The note body begins with the activity type in square brackets, for example "[note]" or "[call]", followed by the assistant's text, and the title is "Note" with a timestamp.
What data goes into Salesforce
When the assistant creates a lead, Klugon writes these fields on the new Lead:
| Salesforce Lead field | What Klugon sends |
|---|---|
| First Name | The first word of the name the customer gave |
| Last Name | The rest of the name, or "Unknown" if they gave one word |
| Company | The customer's full name (Salesforce requires a company on a Lead; Klugon doesn't ask for one) |
| The customer's email, if given | |
| Phone | The customer's phone number, if given |
| Description | The note or reason for the enquiry the assistant included |
A few consequences follow from that.
- Every sync creates a new Lead. Klugon does not check whether a Lead or Contact with the same email already exists before creating one. A customer who chats twice, and is synced twice, becomes two Leads. Salesforce's own duplicate rules, if you have them active, may block or flag the second one; that depends on your Salesforce setup, not on Klugon.
- Company is the person's name. Most small-business customers are individuals, so Klugon fills the required Company field with their name. If you sell to businesses, your team will want to correct this when they qualify the lead.
- Klugon doesn't set Lead Source, Status, Owner or any custom field. Salesforce applies its own defaults. Check how your org assigns ownership for leads created through the API, so they don't sit unassigned.
- Single names give "Unknown" as the last name, because Salesforce requires a Last Name.
What doesn't go into Salesforce
Klugon does not create or update Opportunities, Accounts, Cases, Tasks or Events, and it doesn't convert leads. It doesn't copy the chat transcript, beyond what the assistant writes in the Description or in a note. You may see the Salesforce card in Klugon mention updating opportunities: the code for that exists, but the tool is not given to the assistant, so in practice it can't.
What comes back from Salesforce
Only contact search results. Klugon does not import Salesforce records into Klugon's own Customers or Leads lists.
Which conversations use Salesforce
The Salesforce tools run in Klugon's chat engine, which handles:
- the website chat widget;
- WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger and Telegram conversations (see the WhatsApp AI chatbot page).
Phone calls do not use the Salesforce connection. Klugon's AI phone receptionist answers calls, answers questions, books appointments and saves leads into Klugon's own Leads list. It doesn't have the Salesforce tools, so callers do not become Salesforce leads through this integration. If phone enquiries are most of your business, read the Zapier section below before choosing this route.
Setting up the Salesforce AI receptionist integration
This is the most technical of Klugon's CRM connections. Klugon asks for four values, and the hardest one to obtain is a refresh token. Plan for a Salesforce admin, or someone comfortable with OAuth, to do it.
What you need first
- A Salesforce edition with API access. Salesforce's REST API documentation on supported editions says API access is included in Enterprise, Performance, Unlimited and Developer editions, and can be added to Professional Edition. The user who authorises Klugon also needs the API Enabled permission.
- A Klugon Scale plan, on voice or social.
Step 1: create an app in Salesforce for Klugon
The Klugon dashboard's setup guide says: "Setup → App Manager → New Connected App. Enable OAuth with api, refresh_token scopes."
Salesforce has changed its guidance here. Its help article on external client apps and connected apps recommends external client apps, described as the next generation of connected apps, and Salesforce has restricted creating new connected apps in recent releases. In a newer org you will probably create an External Client App instead, following Salesforce's guide to creating an external client app.
Whichever type you create, Klugon needs the same things from it:
- OAuth turned on;
- the scopes for API access (
api) and for refresh tokens (refresh_token, which Salesforce may show as "perform requests at any time" together with offline access); - a callback URL, which is used only while you obtain the refresh token in step 2;
- the consumer key (Client ID) and consumer secret (Client Secret).
New apps can take a few minutes to become usable after you create them.
Step 2: obtain a refresh token
Klugon doesn't run the Salesforce sign-in for you. The setup guide says: "Authorise the app via OAuth flow and capture the refresh token." That means running Salesforce's OAuth web server flow once, signing in as the Salesforce user Klugon should act as, and saving the refresh token Salesforce returns. Developers often do this with an API tool. Check your app's refresh token policy too, so the token doesn't expire unexpectedly.
The user you sign in as matters: everything Klugon creates in Salesforce is created as that user, with that user's permissions.
Step 3: connect Salesforce in Klugon
- In the Klugon dashboard, open Integrations.
- Find Salesforce by searching or with the CRM filter.
- Click Connect. A panel opens with four fields and a collapsible Setup Guide.
- Enter your Instance URL, for example
https://yourcompany.my.salesforce.com. - Paste the Client ID and Client Secret from your app.
- Paste the Refresh Token.
- Save.
From then on, Klugon swaps the refresh token for a short-lived access token whenever it needs one, and retries once with a fresh token if Salesforce rejects an expired one. You don't need to re-enter anything unless the refresh token is revoked.
Klugon does not test these credentials when you save. Test with a conversation: open your website chat, give a test name and email, ask to be contacted, and check Salesforce for a new Lead.
After connecting, the card shows Configure, Update Credentials and Disconnect. Secrets are masked when you reopen the panel.
Step 4: switch on lead capture
In the assistant's settings, make sure lead capture is on, since that is what prompts the assistant to collect details and use its CRM tools. If you have hand-picked the assistant's tool groups, keep the "External CRM" group switched on.
Which plan includes Salesforce
Salesforce has its own feature gate in Klugon's billing, separate from the other CRMs. It needs the Scale tier:
- Voice Scale: $499 a month;
- Social Scale: $449 a month.
It is not available on Starter or Business plans, or on any chat widget plan. On a plan without it, the Salesforce card shows a locked button naming "Salesforce integration" and linking to Billing. Yearly prices and the full comparison are on the pricing page.
If you are on a Business plan and need leads in Salesforce, the Zapier route below is available from Business upwards.
Klugon's trial lasts 7 days. A card is needed, and you are charged at the end unless you cancel.
Limits of the Salesforce connection
- Not automatic. A Lead is created only when the assistant uses its CRM tool in the conversation.
- No duplicate check by Klugon. Each sync creates a new Lead.
- Searches Contacts, creates Leads. The lookup tool doesn't see Leads.
- One CRM at a time. If several CRMs are connected, Klugon uses one, in this order: HubSpot, Zoho CRM, Salesforce, Pipedrive. With HubSpot or Zoho CRM also connected, Salesforce is ignored.
- No phone calls. The phone assistant doesn't use Salesforce.
- No credential check on save. Mistakes show up when the assistant first tries to sync.
- Phone searches need an exact match. Salesforce is searched for the phone number exactly as the customer typed it, so formatting differences can miss a match.
What the Salesforce AI receptionist integration doesn't do
- It does not sync every Klugon lead automatically.
- It does not create or update Opportunities, Accounts, Cases, Tasks or Events.
- It does not convert Leads to Contacts.
- It does not import Salesforce data into Klugon.
- It does not log phone calls or call recordings in Salesforce. Klugon doesn't record calls.
- It does not send emails from Salesforce or trigger Salesforce flows directly. (A flow you build in Salesforce may react to new Leads, but that is Salesforce's behaviour.)
- It does not run on the phone assistant.
Getting every lead into Salesforce with Zapier
If the requirement is "every enquiry becomes a Salesforce Lead", Klugon's Zapier connection is the more complete route. Klugon sends a lead.created event to Zapier for every new lead, from every channel, including phone calls. It carries the lead's name, email, phone, intent, source, notes, conversation ID and marketing consent. In Zapier you can map that to a Salesforce Lead, with your own Lead Source and owner rules, and add a duplicate check if Zapier supports it for your setup.
The Zapier route needs a voice or social plan on Business or above, so it is also the way to reach Salesforce from a Business plan. You can use both routes at once, but decide which one creates Leads, or you will get duplicates.
A sample conversation with Salesforce connected
This is a sample conversation for a made-up commercial cleaning company, BrightDesk Cleaning. It illustrates the order of steps and is not a real customer.
The sales team then finds Tom as a new Lead. Because the Company field holds his name, they will want to update it with the actual company when they call.
Practical tips
Tell the assistant what a sales lead looks like
Add a line to the assistant's instructions such as "Anyone asking about a quote or a site visit is a lead: collect name, email and phone and send them to the CRM." That makes the CRM tool more likely to be used at the right moment.
Ask for the company name in the conversation
Because Klugon fills Company with the person's name, ask the assistant to collect the company name and include it in the note. The Description field then carries it, and your team can copy it across.
Turn on Salesforce duplicate rules
Klugon doesn't de-duplicate, so Salesforce's own matching and duplicate rules are worth switching on for Leads. Be aware that a rule set to block duplicates will make Klugon's sync fail for that lead; a rule that only alerts won't.
Keep Klugon's Leads list as the full record
Every lead the assistant captures, from every channel, is in Klugon's Leads list. Salesforce has only the ones the assistant synced in chat and messaging. Use Slack notifications if you want a message each time a lead arrives.
Salesforce compared with Klugon's other CRM connections
| CRM | What a synced lead becomes | Matching before writing | Klugon plan |
|---|---|---|---|
| Salesforce | A new Lead | None | Scale |
| HubSpot | A contact | By email | Business and above |
| Zoho CRM | A new Lead | None | Business and above |
| Pipedrive | A person, plus a deal if they have no open one | Email, then phone | Business and above |
See HubSpot, Zoho CRM and Pipedrive for details, or browse every connection on the integrations page. The AI sales assistant page covers how the assistant handles enquiries in the first place.
Frequently asked questions
Does every Klugon lead go to Salesforce automatically?
No. The assistant creates a Salesforce Lead when it uses its CRM tool during a chat or messaging conversation. For every lead from every channel, use Klugon's Zapier connection, which fires on each new lead.
Do phone calls create Salesforce leads?
Not through this integration. The AI phone receptionist saves leads in Klugon only. Zapier's lead.created event includes phone leads, so you can route those to Salesforce that way.
Why does the Company field contain the customer's name?
Salesforce requires a Company on every Lead, and Klugon doesn't ask customers for one. It uses the person's name so the Lead can be saved. Your team can update it when they qualify the lead.
Will it create duplicate leads?
It can. Klugon creates a new Lead each time it syncs and doesn't check for existing records. Salesforce's duplicate rules can help, depending on how you configure them.
Can it update opportunities?
No. The assistant can create Leads, search Contacts and add notes. It can't create or update Opportunities.
Why does Salesforce need the Scale plan?
Klugon prices Salesforce as a separate feature from the other CRM connections, and it's included only on the Scale tier of the voice and social plans.
Should I create a connected app or an external client app?
Salesforce now recommends external client apps, and newer orgs may not allow new connected apps. Klugon only needs a client ID, client secret, refresh token and your instance URL, so use whichever your org supports.
Which Salesforce editions work?
Your org needs API access. Salesforce includes it in Enterprise, Performance, Unlimited and Developer editions, and offers it as an add-on for Professional Edition.
For sales teams that live in Salesforce and get many enquiries through chat and messaging, the connection gets those enquiries in as Leads while the conversation is happening. Pair it with Zapier if your AI receptionist also answers the phone and you need those callers in Salesforce too.