Overview
For many finance teams, “integration” between Salesforce and QuickBooks still means a shared spreadsheet, long email chains, and the occasional late-night scramble to reconcile numbers. It’s slow, error-prone, and costs businesses far more than just frustration.
Breadwinner changes that. By seamlessly connecting QuickBooks online with Salesforce, finance teams can automate invoice creation, payment tracking, and customer record updates. All the above would be done without the need for duplicate data entry. In real-world scenarios, this saves finance teams over 20 hours per week, frees sales teams from chasing down payment info, and speeds up the entire quote-to-cash process.
And this isn’t just theory: customers like PlaySpace Designs and UK Green Building Council (UKGBC) have seen measurable results within days of implementation.
The Challenge
Before Breadwinner, our typical customer, a mid-sized company, was stuck in a manual loop:
- Sales closed a deal in Salesforce: Sales team emailed finance with all the details.
- Finance copied everything into QuickBooks: Manually creating invoices, checking customer details, and ensuring the right tax codes were applied.
- Corrections went back and forth: If a customer name was spelled differently in QuickBooks, or a field was missing, the invoice couldn’t be sent until it was fixed.
- Reports were always outdated: Sales had no real-time visibility into whether an invoice had been sent or paid.
This meant:
- 20–25 hours/week spent on repetitive, non-revenue generating admin.
- Invoice delays of 2–5 days after a deal was closed.
- Errors and mismatches between systems, often spotted only at month-end.
- Cash flow forecasting headaches because payment status was invisible to Sales until Finance updated them.
Real-World Proof
PlaySpace Designs
Before Breadwinner, the team was entering the same data twice, once in Salesforce, once in QuickBooks, taking 6–8 hours every week. After deploying Breadwinner, that dropped to just 30 minutes per week, a 92% reduction in manual data entry.
UK Green Building Council (UKGBC)
UKGBC’s finance team cut 5 minutes per invoice from their process. Across dozens of invoices a month, the time savings added up fast, they estimate regaining 20% of staff time thanks to Breadwinner, freeing both sales and finance to focus on higher-value work.
These examples show that the “20+ hours a week saved” claim is not only realistic but for some customers, it’s conservative.
The Solution
The finance and sales leadership teams agreed they needed a real integration, not another workaround. After evaluating options like custom API builds and generic iPaaS tools, they chose Breadwinner for QuickBooks because it offered:
- Native Salesforce experience: No need to train users on a new platform.
- Two-way sync between Salesforce and QuickBooks, in real time.
- Customisable visibility: Finance could control exactly what Sales could see.
- Rapid deployment: Up and running in days, without developer dependency.
Implementation in a Week
- Day 1–2: Configuration of QuickBooks connection and field mapping.
- Day 3–4: Testing invoice creation from Salesforce opportunities.
- Day 5: Team training and go-live.
From the first week, sales reps could create QuickBooks invoices directly from Salesforce, with all customer and deal details pre-filled, while Finance retained full control over approvals and edits.
How It Works
With Breadwinner, the process became:
- Opportunity Closed in Salesforce: All customer and order details are already captured.
- Instant Invoice Creation: Sales clicks “Create QuickBooks Invoice” inside Salesforce.
- Automatic Data Mapping: Breadwinner maps all fields (customer name, line items, tax codes) exactly to QuickBooks.
- Real-Time Sync: The invoice appears instantly in QuickBooks, ready for Finance to review and send.
- Live Payment Tracking: When a payment is received in QuickBooks, the status updates automatically in Salesforce — so Sales knows instantly.
No exports, no imports, no re-typing.
The Results
Within three months of using Breadwinner, the company saw measurable results:
1. Time Saved
- Finance saved 20+ hours/week by eliminating duplicate data entry.
- Month-end reconciliation time was cut by 50%.
2. Faster Invoicing
- Invoices now go out the same day a deal is closed.
- Payment cycles shortened by an average of 3 days.
3. Fewer Errors
- No more mismatched customer records between Salesforce and QuickBooks.
- 100% data accuracy for invoices and payments.
4. Improved Cash Flow
- Faster invoice delivery meant faster payments, improving cash flow predictability.
Why Not a Custom Build?
The company briefly considered building their own Salesforce + QuickBooks integration. But when they factored in:
- Development time (3–6 months)
- Cost (tens of thousands upfront, plus maintenance)
- Risk (reliance on one or two internal developers)
…Breadwinner was the clear winner. The subscription cost was a fraction of the build estimate, and updates are handled automatically.
Use Cases Beyond Invoicing
Once the core invoicing process was automated, the team discovered more value:
- Credit Control: Sales could see overdue balances and address them on calls.
- Cross-Selling: Reps spotted repeat customers with recent purchases and upsold them faster.
- Audit Readiness: Finance had a single source of truth for all financial data, with instant reporting capability.
Lessons Learned
This customer’s journey highlights a broader truth:
- Double data entry isn’t just an inconvenience, it’s a profit leak.
- Manual processes slow down cash flow, increase errors, and waste skilled employees’ time.
- Automation doesn’t replace finance professionals; it elevates their role so they can focus on higher-value work.
About Breadwinner for QuickBooks
Breadwinner is the leading Salesforce integration for QuickBooks, designed to give businesses:
- Instant data sync: No more waiting for nightly updates.
- Accurate, consistent records: One version of the truth across Sales and Finance.
- Easy deployment: Go live in days, not months.
Trusted by companies in professional services, SaaS, manufacturing, and more, Breadwinner helps teams speed up billing, improve cash flow, and eliminate the admin that holds growth back.
