Workaround for B2B Companies Using Quickbooks Integration

[katherineladue]

We are struggling to come up with a valid workaround for the limitations that the Quickbooks integration with HubSpot presents for our client that is a B2B company. Their clients in Quickbooks are under company names, not contact names, and some of them have the same email address for multiple different clients because they represent different franchise locations. Because HubSpot doesn't sync Companies with Quickbooks, there's no way to ensure the invoices get created on the correct client record in QB.

We originally thought that if the contact name in HubSpot matched the client name in Quickbooks then that would work, but after testing it seems that the integration is in fact looking for email address in QB for contact matching, even though QB allows for multiple clients with the same email address.

Here is what we've tried:

1. If there are multiple QB clients with the same email address but different names, and the HubSpot contact on the deal has no email address but the name matches to a QB customer, it doesn't match on the name and instead creates a duplicate client record in QB with no email address

2. If the HubSpot contact matches by name AND email address to a specific QB client, but that email address is also under multiple other QB clients, the invoice gets created under what seems like a totally random QB client with that email address.

Is there any rhyme or reason for how the matching QB client is chosen in the case of duplicate email addresses? 

Is the integration set up to match only on email address even though that isn't a unique identifier on the QB side? 

I'm really hoping there are other B2B companies out there who are using this integration who didn't just have to resort to setting up a custom API to integrate HubSpot with Quickbooks!

[HGarrison]

Hi, did you ever find a workaround? We're having this EXACT same issue!!!

[NColeman4]

@katherineladue did you figure out a solution for this? We're in the same boat as you. The QBO Integration is a big limitation as we use QBO to do our accounting but also inventory management. We might have to look into other CRM options or completely move away from QBO.

[DianaGomez]

Hi @katherineladue, 

Thank you for reaching out to the Community!

It seems like you're concerned about the issue of company association in relation to invoices synced to HubSpot through the QuickBooks Online data sync integration. I totally understand how important it is to have those connections in place. Just wanted to let you know that our team is on it and is working hard to make sure company sync and company-to-invoice links are part of the integration soon. I don't have an exact date for when this will be ready, but I want you to know that it's a big focus for us. Keep an eye on our Product Updates page for any news on this!

Best,

Diana

[katherineladue]

Thanks Diana, that's great to know that it's being worked on.

Do you have any insight into how the integration (in its current state) is set up to match HS contacts with QB customers, and what the expected behavior is for when there's a duplicate QB customer? It would be helpful to know the full story behind that so that we can figure out a potential workaround in the meantime.

I'm also just curious if anyone else in the community has a workaround for this integration that has worked well for them! 

[DianaGomez]

Hi @katherineladue, 

Let's invite some of our top experts to join the discussion and see if they can offer further insights on your queries.

Hi @trevordjones, @Bryantworks - Do you have any advice for @katherineladue? 

Thanks and happy Friday!

Diana

[trevordjones]

Hi @katherineladue and thanks for the Tag @DianaGomez !

Have you tried using Zapier for this?  It appears that you can "Create Bill (Account Based)" when a Deal Reaches Closed Won.  Unfortunately I don't currently have access to a QuickBooks Online test account, so I can't create screenshots for you.

[katherineladue]

A bill is a different object in QB, we're wanting to create an invoice. I have been working on trying to find a Zapier solution, but it's not ideal for a couple of reasons:

1. It costs money (QB is a premium app in Zapier)

2. I'm struggling to figure out a way to get the associated line items across. We can copy over the customer name to a HS deal property pretty easily and use that in Zapier to find the QB customer, but this would not be a good solution for line items, and there doesn't appear to be a way to pull in line items with a Zap that's triggered off of a Deal property update. 

The line items on our HS deals are very important and specific, and numerous, so this is an essential piece of sync. Any other insight on things to try is welcome!

[trevordjones · Accepted solution]

Hi @katherineladue ,

I'm not super familiar with the quickbooks integration, but it does look like you can do what you are looking for according to the knowledge base.  Have you checked to be sure you have the right integration installed?

[katherineladue]

Sorry, but I didn't accept this as a solution because it's not actually a solution... But I appreciate your input nonetheless. I'll continue to try to work on it with Zapier and hopefully HubSpot can update the integration soon. 

[katherineladue]

The invoice sync is one way from QB to HS. I know HubSpot's product team is working on updating that to be two-way sometime soon but it's not there yet

[trevordjones]

I saw that and then revised the post, but apparently not before you saw it. It looks like there is a workflow action available that will create an invoice.