The hard part of this move is not the export. It is the difference in how the two systems think. Redtail CRM works in contact records; Salesforce works in account and contact, plus whatever custom objects you built records. Get that mapping wrong and every report built on it afterwards is wrong too. This page covers the field map, what does not survive, what it costs, and the reconciliation step that decides whether anyone trusts Salesforce in month two.
The two systems, side by side
| Redtail CRM | Salesforce | |
|---|---|---|
| Primary record | Contact | Account and Contact, plus whatever custom objects you built |
| Grouping | Family or account grouping on the contact | Account hierarchy and relationship objects |
| Activity history | Notes, activities and a separate workflow object | Tasks, Events and EmailMessage |
| Documents | Attached to the contact, or in Redtail Imaging | Files and ContentDocument links, or an external DMS |
| Getting data out | CSV export per module, or a vendor-assisted extract for full history. | Reports and the Bulk API, one extract per object, reassembled on IDs. |
| Who administers it | None. An operations associate can run it. | A named Salesforce administrator. |
| Pricing | $39 to $59 per user per month billed annually. | Platform license plus build; managed admin runs $2,500 to $9,000 a month. |
What breaks
- Redtail CRM works in contact records and Salesforce works in account and contact, plus whatever custom objects you built records. That is a re-modelling exercise, and it is the first decision, not a mapping detail.
- Grouping changes: Family or account grouping on the contact becomes Account hierarchy and relationship objects. Somebody has to define what a group means in the target before load.
- Activity history moves with partial fidelity. Redtail CRM stores it as notes, activities and a separate workflow object; Salesforce expects tasks, events and emailmessage.
- You are acquiring a named-administrator requirement. Managed Salesforce admin support runs $2,500 to $9,000 a month if the role has no internal owner.
- Automations, reports, dashboards and permissions never transfer. Budget them as build work.
- Every connected system has to be repointed and retested: the DMS, billing, e-signature and the shared inbox.
Known hazards on each side
Leaving Redtail CRM:
- Status, Servicing Advisor and Writing Advisor are used inconsistently between firms, so they get remapped rather than copied.
- Recurring activity criteria do not translate cleanly to other systems, and future occurrences generally cannot be recreated.
- Imaging attachments are a separate extract from the contact data.
Arriving in Salesforce:
- Apex, Flows, validation rules and sharing rules never appear in an export, and they carry business logic.
- Record IDs are the glue between object extracts, so extract order and external IDs decide whether reassembly works.
- Every org has custom fields nobody remembers creating, and a few that reports still depend on.
The field map
| Concept | In Redtail CRM | In Salesforce | What to watch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Primary record | Contact | Account and Contact, plus whatever custom objects you built | Different shape. Decide the mapping before any data moves. |
| Grouping | Family or account grouping on the contact | Account hierarchy and relationship objects | The target groups records differently, so grouping is created rather than copied. |
| Activity history | Notes, activities and a separate workflow object | Tasks, Events and EmailMessage | Expect partial fidelity. Types, timestamps and authorship survive; structure often does not. |
| Documents | Attached to the contact, or in Redtail Imaging | Files and ContentDocument links, or an external DMS | Usually a separate extract and load from the record data. |
| Owner and assignment | Assigned user or advisor fields | Assigned user or team fields | Map departed staff explicitly. Records assigned to nobody disappear from every view. |
| Custom fields | Firm-specific fields added over time | Created to match, or consciously dropped | The audit here is the work. Undocumented fields that reports depend on are the usual surprise. |
Cost and timeline
| Phase | Typical range |
|---|---|
| Data audit and cleanup | $3,000 to $25,000 |
| Migration execution | $5,000 to $50,000 |
| Target implementation | Three to six months with outside help |
| Ongoing administration | $2,500 to $9,000 a month if unowned internally |
Note the third and fourth rows. Moving to Salesforce means acquiring an administration requirement, and that cost recurs long after the migration closes. See before you hire a Salesforce developer for how to split that work between a person and an agent.
The five phases
- Audit Redtail CRM. Count records per object, find duplicates and orphans, and decide what does not come with you. Get that decision signed off before mapping.
- Map against real records. Use the table above as the starting point, then walk fifty live records field by field.
- Dry run into a Salesforce sandbox. Load the full set, not a sample. Sample loads hide the failures that only appear at volume.
- Cut over on a quiet window. Freeze writes in Redtail CRM, load, repoint every integration, unfreeze. Keep Redtail CRM read-only for at least a quarter.
- Reconcile. Compare Salesforce to Redtail CRM record by record and field by field, and produce a variance report.
The full version of this plan, with the failure evidence behind it, is in the CRM migration playbook.
The compliance clause
The Advisers Act books-and-records rule (17 CFR 275.204-2) survives the migration. A household that lands without its history is a records gap, not a cosmetic issue. Keep the field map, the variance report and the mapping sign-offs with the records, because the decisions you made in phase two are part of the record too.
Where Caddi fits
Caddi does the mechanical half and then keeps doing it. Show it the task once and it reads Redtail CRM, applies your field map, loads Salesforce, and then compares both sides record by record and hands back a variance report you can act on. Because it runs over APIs across your stack, the same agent covers the parts a migration tool ignores: documents filed to the right account and contact, plus whatever custom objects you built with the right metadata, and the post-cutover hygiene that otherwise becomes someone's Monday.
Caddi automation for these systems: Redtail CRM and Salesforce.
Related migrations
- Clio Grow to Salesforce
- Clio Manage to Salesforce
- Filevine to Salesforce
- Litify to Salesforce
- Redtail CRM to Salesforce Financial Services Cloud
- Redtail CRM to Wealthbox
Migration without the manual pass
Move and reconcile Redtail CRM into Salesforce
Caddi reads Redtail CRM, applies your field map, loads Salesforce, then compares both sides record by record and reports the variances.
Frequently asked questions
How do you migrate from Redtail CRM to Salesforce?
Audit the Redtail CRM data first, then map fields against fifty real records rather than against the schema, dry run the full set into a Salesforce sandbox, cut over on a quiet window with writes frozen, and reconcile record by record afterwards. CSV export per module, or a vendor-assisted extract for full history. Salesforce then needs the records loaded in dependency order, with documents as a separate pass.
What does not transfer from Redtail CRM to Salesforce?
Redtail CRM works in contact records and Salesforce works in account and contact, plus whatever custom objects you built records. That is a re-modelling exercise, and it is the first decision, not a mapping detail. Grouping changes: Family or account grouping on the contact becomes Account hierarchy and relationship objects. Somebody has to define what a group means in the target before load. Activity history moves with partial fidelity. Redtail CRM stores it as notes, activities and a separate workflow object; Salesforce expects tasks, events and emailmessage.
How long does a Redtail CRM to Salesforce migration take?
Six to twelve weeks is realistic for a clean mid-size move, and three to six months where Salesforce is being implemented at the same time. Firms with years of history in Redtail CRM should budget several weeks of cleanup before any data moves.
Who administers Salesforce afterwards?
A named Salesforce administrator. Name that person before you sign, because an unowned org drifts and the reporting advantage you bought disappears.
What are the compliance implications for advisory firms?
The Advisers Act books-and-records rule (17 CFR 275.204-2) survives the migration. A gap in client history is a finding, so keep the field map, the variance report and the sign-offs where an examiner can find them.