Vendor Module Auto-Emails and Alerts
Use vendor auto-emails and alerts to request availability and pricing, send purchase orders (POs), and keep both your team and vendors informed automatically.
Prerequisites
- Vendor Module (Settings -> Subscription)
- Vendors and vendor items are set up:
- Have a Vendor Purchase Order template:
- Create under Settings → Contract Templates
- Switch Contract Type to Vendor and set template category to Purchase Order
- Access to the Email Center to activate and edit email templates
- Staff alert permissions to enable notifications (Settings → Alerts)
How Auto-Emails and Alerts Work
- Automatic emails to vendors are managed in the Email Center.
- Staff alerts (notifications to your team) are managed in Settings → Alerts.
- The system checks for automatic emails to send about every 15 minutes.
Step-by-Step: Turn On Staff Alerts (Notifications to You)
- Go to Settings → Alerts.
- Enable these alerts and choose recipients:
- Vendor: Availability Response — Notifies you when a vendor responds with availability and/or cost.
- Vendor: PO Signed — Notifies you when a vendor signs a purchase order.
- Save.
Step-by-Step: Configure Vendor Auto-Emails (Emails to Vendors)
- Open the Email Center.
- Filter Category to Automatic (or search “Vendor - ”) to see vendor templates.
- Click a template to edit, toggle Active, and set timing/options as needed.
- Save. Repeat for each template you plan to use.
Available Vendor Automatic Emails
- Vendor - New Quote (Automatic)
- Sends vendors a request to provide price and availability for items on a lead.
- Timing: Sent roughly 30 minutes after the last modification to the lead with vendor items.
- Vendor - Event Reminder (Automatic)
- Sends a reminder to the vendor before the event.
- Set the number of days/hours before the event.
- Vendor - Event Canceled (Automatic)
- Notifies the vendor when a lead is moved to a status flagged as canceled.
- Vendor - Purchase Order (Automatic/Manual)
- Sends your Vendor Purchase Order to the designated vendor.
- Requires a Vendor contract template with category “Purchase Order.”
- You can also send from the PO section on a lead once the template exists.
- Vendor - PO Signature Reminder (Automatic)
- Reminds the vendor to sign the PO X days after it was sent.
- Configure the delay (days) in the template.
- Vendor - PO Signed Notification (Automatic)
- Sends a confirmation to the vendor immediately after they sign a PO.
- Vendor - Automatic Contract Email (Automatic)
- Automatically emails your vendor contract/PO for vendor-related leads.
- Use when you want POs/contracts to send without manual action after criteria are met.
Sending Manually When Needed
- You can manually send a Vendor Quote email if the auto-email did not fire (e.g., on older quotes).
- You can also send a PO manually from the PO section on the lead after creating a Vendor PO template.
Feature Options & Parameters
- Active: Toggle on to start sending.
- Timing/Offset: Set days before event, days after PO sent, or immediate sends based on the template.
- Filters: Limit automatic emails by applying a lead filter (e.g., specific locations, categories).
- Attachments: In the Email Center, enable automatic PDF attachments (e.g., PO/contract PDFs) when supported.
- Recipients: Vendor emails send to the vendor’s email on file; alerts send to selected staff (Settings → Alerts).
Common Use Cases
- Pricing and availability requests: Add vendor items to a lead. The “Vendor - New Quote” email asks vendors to confirm availability and cost.
- PO confirmation: After a vendor signs the PO, send the “PO Signed Notification” and/or the new “Vendor Contract Confirmation” to close the loop.
Troubleshooting & FAQs
- Vendor did not get the New Quote email
- Confirm the vendor’s email in Settings → Vendors.
- Ensure “Vendor - New Quote” is Active in the Email Center.
- Allow ~30 minutes after the last lead update for the send to occur.
- If needed, send the Vendor Quote email manually from the lead.
- Staff not receiving alerts
- Verify “Vendor: Availability Response” and “Vendor: PO Signed” are enabled and recipients are set.
- Check spam/junk and any email rules. See Alerts Troubleshooting.
- PO email didn’t include the right document
- Confirm a Vendor template exists with category “Purchase Order” in Settings → Contract Templates.
- In the Email Center, enable the correct attachment option if you need the PDF attached.
- When do automatic emails send?
- The system reviews pending automatic emails roughly every 15 minutes.
- Managing multiple vendors for the same item
- If you created multiple vendor items with the same name, requests go to all vendors when the (Multi Vendor) item is selected.