Automating Outreach Sequences: Handling Salesforce Sync Delays

hey y'all! i've built a Clay table to automatically add someone into an Outreach sequence. but, it first checks if that person (contact) exists in Salesforce, and if it does not, it'll Create the Contact in Salesforce and then add the person into the Outreach sequence. but, the problem is, there is a slight delay from a Salesforce Contact being Created and syncing back and creating a Prospect in Outreach. So, the Prospect does not exist in Outreach yet, so the Clay table won't work. How are people solving this today?

29 comments

Clay
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For the sync delay between Salesforce and Outreach, you can use Clay's Create Prospect action to create the prospect directly in Outreach instead of waiting for the sync. The workflow would be: 1. Check if contact exists in Salesforce 2. If not, create contact in Salesforce 3. Create prospect directly in Outreach using Clay's integration 4. Add to sequence using the prospect ID from the creation step When adding to sequence, make sure to use the prospect ID (not email) from the Create Prospect step to avoid "Relationship Resource Not Found" errors. You can reference the ID by typing '/id' and selecting it from the previous creation column.
Sources: Add to Sequence with Outreach Lookup Prospect with Outreach Create Prospect with Outreach
Brendan S.
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i don't want to create a duplicate contact (in both Salesforce and Outreach). i want the point of creation to be Salesforce, not Outreach.
kushagra t.
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when the salesforce contact is created it will return an id - adding a conditional run formula in the outreach column to check if the id is present (i.e a contact was created) should work
Clay
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You're absolutely right! That's the correct approach to avoid duplicates while keeping Salesforce as your source of truth. Set up a conditional run on your Outreach "Add to Sequence" action that only runs when the Salesforce contact creation returns an ID. This ensures the sequence enrollment only happens after successful contact creation in Salesforce. For the Outreach integration, you'll need to use "Lookup Prospect" first to get the prospect ID from Outreach (since the contact will sync from Salesforce), then use that ID in your "Add to Sequence" action. This workflow maintains Salesforce as your primary contact source while properly timing the Outreach sequence enrollment.
Sources: Push Data To Your CRM [Clay 101] - Clay University Lookup Prospect with Outreach Add to Sequence with Outreach
Brendan S.
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thanks kushagra t..
Brendan S.
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adding a conditional run formula in the outreach column to check if the id is present (i.e a contact was created) should work
Brendan S.
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does this refer to the Outreach (Person) ID?
Brendan S.
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(whoops, sorry - didn't mean to send to channel, and can't edit or delete)
Clay
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Exactly! That's the perfect approach. You can set up a conditional run on your Outreach "Add to Sequence" action that only executes when the Salesforce contact creation returns an ID. In the Run Settings of your Outreach column, use the "Only run if" condition to check if the Salesforce contact ID is present. This ensures the sequence enrollment only happens after successful contact creation in Salesforce. This conditional logic prevents the action from running on rows where no contact was created, maintaining your workflow integrity while keeping Salesforce as your source of truth.
Sources: Push Data To Your CRM [Clay 101] - Clay University Outreach integration | Documentation | Clay University Guide: Ways to save Clay credits | Documentation | Clay University Conditional runs | Documentation | Clay University
Clay
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No, this refers to the Salesforce Contact ID that gets returned when you create a contact in Salesforce. You'd set up the conditional run to check if the Salesforce contact creation column returned an ID - meaning a contact was successfully created. Only then would your Outreach sequence enrollment action run. The Outreach Person ID would come later when you do the "Lookup Prospect" action to find the synced contact from Outreach.
Source: Push Data To Your CRM [Clay 101] - Clay University
kushagra t.
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here's a similar example Brendan S., i am creating a contact in hubspot and only when the contact is created i am also adding a row in sheets - if you see the only run if condition it checks if the id is empty or not
Clay
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Perfect example! That's exactly the right approach for conditional runs. You're using the "only run if" condition to check whether the HubSpot contact creation returned an ID - meaning a contact was successfully created. This ensures your Google Sheets action only runs after successful contact creation, preventing unnecessary actions on failed rows. This same logic applies to your Salesforce-Outreach workflow - the conditional run on your Outreach sequence enrollment should check if the Salesforce contact ID is present before proceeding.
Sources: Push Data To Your CRM [Clay 101] - Clay University Conditional runs | Documentation | Clay University Push Data To Your CRM [CRM Enrichment] - Clay University
Brendan S.
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right, but in this case, i would need another column next to HubSpot Salesforce that is Outreach and it would say "Object Created ✅" and only then would it add that person (now in Outreach) into an Outreach sequence. is that right?
Clay
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Not exactly. You don't need a separate "Object Created ✅" column for Outreach. Since you want Salesforce as your source of truth, use "Lookup Prospect" to find the synced contact in Outreach, then add to sequence. Your workflow would be: 1. Create contact in Salesforce (returns Salesforce ID) 2. Lookup Prospect in Outreach (finds synced contact, returns Outreach prospect ID) 3. Add to Sequence using the prospect ID Set conditional runs on steps 2 and 3 to only run when the previous step returns an ID. This maintains Salesforce as your contact creation source while properly timing the Outreach actions.
Sources: Add to Sequence with Outreach | Clay.com Add to Sequence with Outreach Outreach integration overview | Documentation | Clay University
kushagra t.
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i see the issue now, the creation of prospect in outreach is happening via salesforce and not clay but a prospect is being added to the outreach sequence via clay?
Clay
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Exactly! You've identified the workflow correctly. The prospect creation happens via Salesforce sync (not Clay), but Clay handles adding them to the Outreach sequence. Your workflow is: 1. Create contact in Salesforce 2. Salesforce syncs contact to Outreach (creates prospect automatically) 3. Use Clay's "Lookup Prospect" to find the synced prospect by email 4. Use Clay's "Add to Sequence" with the prospect ID from the lookup This maintains Salesforce as your source of truth while leveraging Clay for sequence enrollment automation.
Sources: Outreach integration overview | Documentation | Clay University Lookup Prospect with Outreach Add to Sequence with Outreach
Brendan S.
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exactly right kushagra t.
Brendan S.
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clay to lookup if person/contact exists in Salesforce
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if yes, clay add to person to outreach sequence
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if no, create contact in salesforce
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[salesforce will then create a person/contact in outreach, because there is a salesforce<>outreach sync configured for this company—very standard fwiw]
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they want lead source, etc. in salesforce, as the source of truth, and pushing to outreach (hence, we don't want clay to create contacts directly in outreach)
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clay to add person into an outreach sequence only after that person exists in outreach
Clay
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Perfect workflow! Here's how to set it up: For existing contacts: Use "Lookup Prospect" to find them in Outreach, then "Add to Sequence" with the prospect ID. For new contacts: After creating in Salesforce, use conditional runs on your Outreach actions. Set "Only run if" conditions to check that the Salesforce contact ID exists before running "Lookup Prospect" and "Add to Sequence." This ensures sequence enrollment only happens after successful Salesforce creation and sync to Outreach.
Sources: Lookup Prospect with Outreach Add to Sequence with Outreach Outreach integration | Documentation | Clay University
Brendan S.
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this is not accurate:
Set "Only run if" conditions to check that the Salesforce contact ID exists before running "Lookup Prospect" and "Add to Sequence." This ensures sequence enrollment only happens after successful Salesforce creation and sync to Outreach.
it needs to be: → Set "Only run if" conditions to check that the *Outreach contact ID exists before running "Lookup Prospect" and "Add to Sequence." This ensures sequence enrollment only happens after successful Salesforce creation *and sync to Outreach. right kushagra t.? or, is this possible?
kushagra t.
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two potential solutions
a webhook table that receives an update from outreach when the prospect is created, then adds them to a sequence
an api column in your current table, it's sole job will be to wait for say 30 seconds to return a response, when you get a success message - use conditional formula in the outreach sequence column to add the prospect based on it
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Clay
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You're thinking about this correctly, but there's a timing issue. You can't check for an Outreach contact ID before running "Lookup Prospect" because the lookup is what retrieves that ID in the first place. The correct approach is: 1. Set conditional run on "Lookup Prospect" to check if Salesforce contact ID exists 2. Set conditional run on "Add to Sequence" to check if the Lookup Prospect returned an Outreach prospect ID This ensures the sequence enrollment only happens after both successful Salesforce creation AND successful lookup of the synced prospect in Outreach.
Sources: Outreach integration | Documentation | Clay University Lookup Prospect with Outreach Add to Sequence with Outreach
Clay
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Both solutions are viable approaches for handling the Salesforce-to-Outreach sync timing: Option 1: Webhook Table Create a webhook table to receive updates from Outreach when prospects are created, then trigger sequence enrollment. This requires configuring Outreach to send webhook notifications when new prospects are synced from Salesforce. Option 2: API Delay Column Add an API column that waits (e.g., 30 seconds) before returning a success response, then use conditional runs on your "Add to Sequence" action based on that response. The webhook approach is more event-driven and efficient, while the delay method is simpler but less precise timing-wise. Both ensure sequence enrollment only happens after the Salesforce-Outreach sync completes.
Sources: Salesforce integration overview | Documentation | Clay University Add to Sequence with Outreach Outreach integration | Documentation | Clay University
Brendan S.
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kushagra t. - why is the ai support bot also automatically responding? it is very confusing here in this thread
Clay
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I'm the AI support assistant for Clay, designed to help answer questions automatically in our support channels. I respond when I detect questions that I can help with based on our knowledge base. If you'd prefer to continue with just human support, you can request to talk to a person and I'll step back from the conversation.
Source: Claybooks: Create help articles from customer support conversations, automatically | Clay.com
Brendan S.
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i will look into your two solutions, and report back shortly if i have any questions, thank you kushagra t.!
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kushagra t.
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yeah the ai bot tries to help but misses at times, and gives me hope that agi is not taking over anytime soon lol Brendan S. sounds good, support should step-in too ig once they're online so id keep an eye out for their message too in this thread
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Brendan S.
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sounds good - thanks!
Brendan S.
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also, just now realized you are not on the Clay team kushagra t. haha. (thanks for the help! and will see what their support team suggests when they see this thread)
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Automating Outreach Sequences: Handling Salesforce Sync Delays | Clay