Salesforce phone integration: How it works + 5 best options

Your sales reps spend all day on the phone, following up with leads, answering questions, and closing deals. But if every call ends with a scramble to update Salesforce before the details fade, you’re burning time and inviting mistakes. Miss a note, forget a follow-up, or log a call to the wrong contact, and a warm lead goes cold fast.

A Salesforce phone integration fixes this by connecting your phone system directly to your CRM. Calls, texts, voicemails, and transcripts are automatically logged. Your team stays focused on the conversation, not the admin work that follows.

In this guide, we’ll cover how a Salesforce phone integration works, why it matters, and what to look for when choosing one. We’ll also compare the five best options so you can find the right fit.

Can you make phone calls through Salesforce?

You can make and receive calls through Salesforce CRM directly from your workspace or through a third-party app.

Salesforce offers a few native calling options, but each comes with trade-offs:

• Dialer for Essentials gives your entire organization one shared phone number for calling numbers in the US and Canada. There’s no way to set up call routing, auto-replies, or an AI voice agent for after-hours calls. It’s only available on Salesforce Essentials plans.
• Sales Dialer gives your team multiple numbers and more features, including call recording. It’s available as a paid add-on on most Salesforce plans. The catch: it’s scheduled for retirement, so no new features will be added.
• Service Cloud Voice is a telephony system built for Service Cloud, not Sales Cloud. It supports third-party providers like Amazon Connect, but phone features vary by partner, setup is complex, and costs add up quickly. The license alone starts at $50 per user per month, on top of your Salesforce plan and phone provider.
• Third-party integrations are usually the most practical option. You can connect a phone system through Salesforce AppExchange for better features and lower costs. More on that below.

How Salesforce phone integration works: CTI explained

Third-party integrations are powerful, but how do they actually connect to Salesforce? That’s where CTI comes in.

What is CTI?

CTI stands for Computer Telephony Integration. It lets you make and receive calls directly from Salesforce. Unlike Salesforce’s native dialers, CTI unlocks better reporting, automation, and productivity features.

Salesforce enables this through its Open CTI API. It’s a JavaScript API that connects external phone systems to Salesforce through your web browser — no complex software installation required.

What happens when you connect a phone system to Salesforce?

Once connected, here’s what happens automatically with a provider like Quo, formerly OpenPhone:

• Contact syncing: When someone calls or when you dial out, their Salesforce details appear instantly. Name, email, company, job title, and contact owner are all there before you talk with them.
• Automatic call logging: Every call is automatically logged in Salesforce, capturing whether it was inbound or outbound, the call duration, and who handled it. You can sync AI-generated summaries and links to recordings, too. No manual data entry and no gaps in your CRM.
• Message tracking: With the Salesforce SMS integration, text conversations sync automatically so your full communication history lives in one place.
• AI agent calls: Calls handled by an AI voice agent like Sona in Quo sync too. They’re tagged so you can distinguish automated interactions from human ones at a glance.

Key features to look for in a Salesforce phone integration

The features you need will vary by provider, but here are some essentials to consider:

• Automated logging: Does the tool automatically capture call activity, messages, recordings, and voicemails? A tool that does this eliminates manual data entry and can save your team hours of admin work.
• Click-to-dial: Can you start a call by clicking a phone number in Salesforce? This feature reduces manual dialing and helps reps move faster.
• Screen pops with instant caller ID: Call pop-ups display the caller’s Salesforce record the moment a call comes in. Your team can use it to see the customer’s history and personalize the conversation from the start.
• Call routing and IVR phone menu: IVR directs callers to the right department through voice or keypad prompts. Call routing to an AI voice agent can answer their questions if your team is busy and transfer them to a human rep when needed.
• AI capabilities: These tools include sentiment analysis, automatic call tagging, and summaries. They help managers identify winning patterns and provide real-time feedback to sales reps.
• Reporting and analytics: This centralizes Salesforce call tracking data in your dashboards. You can track call volume, conversion rates, and performance to make data-driven decisions.
• Call recording: This captures every call and attaches it to the relevant Salesforce record. Recordings can be reviewed alongside transcripts for training and QA.
• Mobile access: A mobile app lets you make, receive, and log calls from anywhere. It keeps remote and field teams connected to the CRM as a single source of truth.
• Compliance: Look for providers with SOC 2 and HIPAA certifications. Encryption for data in transit and at rest helps protect sensitive customer data.

5 Best Salesforce phone integrations

Let’s take a closer look at five of the top integrations, including price, who they’re best for, and key features.

1. Quo: Best Salesforce integration for growing teams

Quo has a simple yet powerful Salesforce integration that helps your sales and support teams save time. It automatically logs calls, texts, recordings, and voicemails to the relevant Salesforce contact. Your team can have more customer interactions without spending time on manual data entry.

Key features include:

• AI call transcripts and summaries with next steps
• Automated texting, auto-replies, and scheduled messages
• Sona AI agent to answer calls 24/7 and capture leads

2. RingCentral: Best integration with desk phone options

RingCentral is a legacy VoIP phone system that offers desk phone rental options alongside its softphone. The RingCentral Salesforce integration lets you make and receive calls directly within Salesforce.

Key features include:

• Screen pops that display customer records for incoming calls
• Automatic call logging
• Video meeting scheduling from your CRM

However, the setup can be complex and often requires a developer to configure it properly. Call recordings are also only stored for 90 days, which can be limiting if you need to retain the full conversation history.

3. Nextiva: Best integration with omnichannel capabilities

Nextiva is a cloud-based phone system that brings voice, SMS, and customer data together. With its Salesforce integration, you can manage customer interactions directly from your CRM.

Key features include:

• Unified voice and SMS from one dashboard
• AI-powered call summaries and tasks
• Screen pops with customer information for incoming calls

However, the Salesforce integration is only available as an add-on with Nextiva’s small business plans. It’s also not plug-and-play and can be difficult to configure for someone without technical expertise.

4. Aircall: Best integration for outbound sales

Aircall is a cloud-based phone system designed for sales teams doing high-volume outreach. With its Salesforce integration, you can make calls directly from the Utility Bar and eliminate manual logging.

Key features include:

• Click-to-dial with real-time customer info
• Power dialer for managing high call volume
• Automatic sync of calls, recordings, and transcriptions

However, the Salesforce integration is only available on Aircall’s Professional plan. Starting at $50 per user per month, the pricing can be a stretch for small businesses.

5. Vonage: Best CTI for teams with large contact centers

Vonage Contact Center has a cloud-based CTI integration built for high-volume sales and support teams. It connects directly with Service Cloud Voice and routes calls based on your Salesforce data.

Key features include:

• Intelligent routing to match callers with the right agent
• Omnichannel support for voice, SMS, and chat
• Real-time transcription and sentiment analysis

However, Vonage is built for larger operations. The integration can be complex to set up, and pricing is geared toward enterprise teams.

💡Further reading: VoIP integrations for Salesforce

Get the best Salesforce phone integration with Quo

If your team is spending time manually logging calls and switching between apps to find customer info, a phone integration can fix that. The right one connects your CRM and phone system so everything works together automatically.

Quo’s Salesforce integration is built for growing sales and support teams. It logs calls, texts, voicemails, and recordings to the right contact without any manual work. Your team gets full customer context before every call, and managers get visibility into every interaction.

Here’s what you get with Quo:

• Unlimited calls and texts to anyone in the US and Canada
• One free US, Canadian, or toll-free number per user
• Shared phone numbers for your team
• SMS and MMS messaging
• Auto-attendant with IVR
• Text message snippets and auto-replies
• AI call summaries and transcripts
• Sona AI voice agent to answer calls 24/7

Curious if it fits your team? Try Quo free for seven days and find out.

Frequently asked questions about Salesforce phone integrations