What is the best way to deal with row lock issues caused when trying to update Salesforce?

Summary:

Many of the failures we receive from our Actions are due to row lock issues in Salesforce specifically on the contact, lead and campaign member objects. We are looking for a solution to address this so that we do not have data discrepancies between our systems.

Content (please ensure you mask any confidential information):

Error Example:

Error Count: 200, Error Message: UNABLE_TO_LOCK_ROW:unable to obtain exclusive access to this record or 200 records: 0, ... (190 more):--

Version (include the version you are using, if applicable):

Code Snippet (add any code snippets that support your topic, if applicable):