Contributor ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Can I add contacts from a parent account to a Timeline activity on the child account?

Forum|Forum|7 years ago
November 29, 2018
6 replies
203 views

Sometimes contacts from the parent account (as structured in the SFDC hierarchy) join a meeting or call with the child account, but if that contact doesn't sit at the child account level in SFDC, we can't add them to the Timeline entry. We don't want to add duplicate contacts in SFDC, but do want to be able to accurately record who attended meetings/calls. Is there a workaround?

dan_ahrens

Expert ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Hi Anna,

Timeline only allows you to add contacts that belong to the account or relationship which that timeline activity entry is being created on. While account hierarchy allows for reporting on aggregate numbers (like ARR) for children accounts, those children accounts are very much separate accounts in SFDC and Timeline views them as separate accounts.

Some thoughts:

* Depending on the nature of the relationship, you might consider Gainsight Relationships (Business Modeler) to more accurately reflect the way you interact with your customers who are in parent/child type structures. Your Gainsight CSM can help you evaluate a potential fit

* If you find that there is often participation on child accounts by contacts on the parent account you may decide to add them as contacts on the child account just to reflect interactions with them on that child account

* Another option might be SFDC Related Contacts functionality which allows you to keep the primary contact on the account they belong to, while also 'relating' them to other companies as well. Note - Gainsight does not support SFDC Related Contacts in Timeline at this time.

VP of Customer Success at Forcepoint

B

brendanb

Contributor ⭐️

We are encountering the same issue here, except that we need to add users from a child account to Timeline events on the parent account.

There are some considerable and significant product-Ops API limitations that require us to keep these contacts exclusively with the child account.

Working with our Engagement Manager on solutions now, but they are proving ellusive.

I'm curious if a solution was found here or if others have encountered similar isssues.

Patty Soldani

Contributor ⭐️⭐️

I am following, as we have exactly the same situation. Both ways - parent to child and child to parent. We are not able to set up duplicates as a workaround and really need to have a solution. We recently put our org on Gainsight and it is already proven to be an issue. Any solutions or suggestions would be very welcome.

Christina P

Contributor ⭐️⭐️

Same issue for us, we use Hubspot CRM which has this architecture (where a Person can be associated with both parent and a child) and in Hubspot the author can decide if the activity gets posted to both company IDs. This is the most reflective as to the engagement. Gainsight doesn’t have a match for it, and it’s a real pain point, particularly for our Key account/enterprise team.

CP