Connect Zoho CRM with Zapier or Make

TenderSignal does not have a native Zoho CRM connection yet. Today you can send TenderSignal events to Zoho CRM through Zapier or Make, using a webhook. Tenders you track then appear in Zoho CRM on their own, and deadline reminders and changes follow as tasks or notes on that deal.

What you need

• A TenderSignal Pro or Business plan. Webhooks are included from Pro. Every event these recipes use, including Tender tracked (the one that creates a deal), is available from Pro.
• A Zapier or Make account (check your plan includes webhooks) and a Zoho CRM account where you can create deals, tasks and notes.
• A webhook connection in TenderSignal: see Connect Zapier or Connect Make.

Which events to send

The type field names the event, so one Zap or scenario can route all three. Tick the events you want under Send these events.

Map the fields

Every message has type, id and occurred_at. The tender sits under tender: title, buyer, deadline, url, value.min, value.max and value.currency (whole pounds, when the notice states a value) and buyer_contact.name, .email and .phone (when listed). Deadline reminders add data.days_left (7 or 2). Changes add data.change, data.before and data.after. Value and contact fields can be empty.

Zoho asks for a Deal Name, a Stage and a Closing Date on every deal, so map all three.

Build it in Zapier

1. Create a Zap with Webhooks by Zapier as the trigger and Catch Hook as the event. Paste its address into your TenderSignal webhook connection and press Send test event so Zapier can read a sample.
2. Add a Filter step so the Zap only continues when the event type is watch.added. Create a separate Zap, or a Paths branch, for each of the other events.
3. Add a Zoho CRM action that creates the deal, using the table above. Zapier shows nested fields with a prefix, so the tender title appears as a field starting "Tender".
4. Add a Formatter step before the action to turn tender.deadline into a YYYY-MM-DD date for the Closing Date.
5. For the follow-ups, add a second Zap: trigger on watch.deadline or watch.changed, search for the deal by Deal Name, then create a task related to it (deadline reminders) or a note containing data.change, data.before and data.after (changes).

Build it in Make

1. Create a scenario that starts with Webhooks, then Custom webhook. Paste its address into TenderSignal and press Send test event so Make learns the structure.
2. Add a Router after the webhook. On each route, add a filter on the type field, for example equal to watch.added.
3. On the watch.added route, add the Zoho CRM module that creates a deal, mapping fields as above.
4. Format tender.deadline as YYYY-MM-DD with Make's date formatting function before the Closing Date.
5. On the other routes, add a module that searches for the deal by name and creates a task or note related to it, with data.days_left or data.change in the text.

Test it

Press Send test event on your webhook connection. The test message has the type system.test and a line of text, with no tender, so it confirms the connection rather than the deal mapping. To test the mapping, track a tender on your account, then check the deal in Zoho CRM. Send log on the connection shows each delivery and any error.

Good to know

• Menu names in Zapier, Make and Zoho CRM change, so treat the labels above as a guide.