Why Marketo Shows an Opportunity When Salesforce Does Not
One common point of confusion for Marketo and Salesforce users teams arises when a record in Marketo shows an associated Opportunity, but the corresponding Contact in Salesforce appears to have none.
This discrepancy is not a bug—it’s the result of how Marketo handles Opportunity data.
The Underlying Reason
Marketo does not associate Opportunities to people using direct ownership or contact-object relationships. Instead, it uses Opportunity Contact Roles (OCRs).
If a Contact in Salesforce is listed as a Contact Role on an Opportunity—regardless of whether they are the primary Contact or just one of several—Marketo will sync that Opportunity down and associate it with the person record.
In other words:
In Salesforce: The Opportunity may not appear directly linked to the Contact in a way that is immediately visible, especially if they are not the primary Contact.
In Marketo: As long as the Contact has any Contact Role on the Opportunity, Marketo will consider it an associated Opportunity.
Resolution Steps
If it is necessary to remove the Opportunity from the person record in Marketo, the following steps are required:
Delete the Opportunity in Salesforce, or remove the Contact from the Opportunity Contact Roles.
Adjust visibility permissions so the Marketo Sync User cannot see non-primary Opportunity Contact Roles.
Recreate the Opportunity, this time associating it only with the correct or primary Contact, based on your business logic.
Ideally, users should develop a clear and consistent approach to managing Opportunity Contact Roles. Key areas to address include:
Criteria for adding Contacts to Opportunities
Which roles are visible to the Marketo Sync User
How to manage shared Opportunities involving multiple Contacts
Conclusion
Understanding how Marketo interprets Opportunity relationships via Contact Roles is essential for maintaining data consistency between systems. By aligning sync visibility settings and Opportunity role management, users can avoid confusion and ensure more accuracy b/w both platforms.