No More Importing Products

When using our Product Content Subscription (powered by Etilize), you do not have to download and import product files from the major distributors. It compares prices, gives you product pictures, provides customer-friendly descriptions, and more. It even will show you prices from CDW, Dell, and other consumer-pricing websites so you know what prices your customers will be seeing on those sites.

You can combine the Product Content Subscription with Real-time Pricing & Availability for D&H, Ingram Micro, Tech Data, SYNNEX, Arbitech, ASI, Blue Star, Digitek, EET, Jenne, Supplies Network, Northamber, and Westcon Group (Comstor, Collaboration, and Vodaone) and the Etilize integration will also show you the current pricing and availability for each of these supported distributors as well as consumer (list/retail) pricing from CDW (USA and Canada), Dell (USA, Canada, UK), Newegg (USA and Canada). Staples is also supported and will show consumer (list) pricing for USA, UK and Canadian users . This helps eliminate the need to import or link directly to the individual product databases for the above vendors.

Etilize supports ASI USA and Canada, Ingram Micro USA and Canada, SYNNEX USA and Canada, Tech Data USA and Canada, D&H USA and Canada, and Westcon/Comstor USA and Canada. Ingram Micro, Northamber, Tech Data, and Westcoast are supported in the UK version of Etilize.

Etilize support for Australia includes Ingram Micro and Dicker Data.

The Product Content Subscription features are integrated into four areas of QuoteWerks, each of which displays the product content on the  Product Sourcing Panel when the button is selected:

•Product Lookup Window

•Document Items Tab of Quote Workbook

•Compare and Best Pricing

•Purchasing Window

 

Product Lookup Window

Item Detail

When you select the Etilize product source in the Product Lookup window, you can search for a product by entering a wide variety of search criteria into the “Search For” field, such as a Part Number, Manufacturer name, even a word in the product's Description. When you click on the [Find] button or hit Enter on your keyboard, Etilize will return a list of all the items that match the criteria and display which distributors currently list the product with Etilize. Users can also exclude words in the Etilize search. For example the search phrase of "mouse USB optical not(keyboard), not (wireless)" would search for “USB optical mouse” that does not have the word "keyboard" or “wireless” in the results.

Limit to my distributors
To limit the search to the distributors specified on the Real-Time tab, check the box that says "Limit to my distributors". This option enables the user to only view products that have their distributors as an option on the Product Sourcing Panel. If the distributors do not carry the part, the item will not show up in the search results.
 
In Stock Recently
To limit the search to only items that had stock within the last 24 hours, check this option.  If at least one of your setup distributors had stock within 24 hours, then the item will be displayed in the search.  If it has not, the item will simply not show up.

To clear your search terms, click on the [Reset] button.  

Searching for Items

Enter your search terms in the Search For field. Etilize will then display the results in the search results window to the right.  Only the first 50 items will be displayed (the indicator for how many items were found are on the bottom left-hand of the product lookup window).  In the search results window you can select an item by clicking on it.  If however, you need to drill-down to find the correct item, the filters window will display different options available.  Users can also utilize the My Favorites and Public Favorites folders to store a list of items to add to documents without having to perform a search.  

 

Etilize Distributors Column
In the search results, there is a column available called "Etilize Distributors". It is not shown by default on the search screen, but can be added to the Etilize search window by clicking on the customize columns button ().  This added column will display an indicator for each distributor in which Etilize has found a matching part number ([TD]=TechData, [SY]=SYNNEX, [IM]=Ingram Micro, [DH]=D&H, [NA]=Northamber, [WC]=Westcoast, [WCG]=Westcon Group,  [J]=Jenne, and [ASI]=ASI).  

Etilize List High and List Low
In the search results there are two other columns available called "List High" and "List Low".  When added to the Etilize Grid, the List columns allow you to sort based on list price for the items in the search window.  This is also helpful in deciding how to price a particular item based on the high and low of the list price for the item.
 

 

Etilize Search Filters
In the filters window you can start to narrow your results by selecting a category, manufacturer, and/or product feature attribute. Simply click on the hyperlinked option to add it to your filter.  Each time you make a selection, the Etilize window will refresh with your new selection changes to only leave the results that match your filter selections.  

   

Check boxes will appear next to your filters to show you which options you have selected.  As you add a new filter, the list of available options changes to help narrow your search even further.  Continue making selections until you found your item.  If you need to step back a selection or two, simply uncheck the box and that filter will be removed from your selected filters list.  
 

Product Sourcing Panel
 

Retrieve Real-time Pricing and Availability
Once you have located the item to add to your quote or proposal, select it by clicking on the item and the item's image will display (if available) and you will then have the option to automatically or manually pull Real-time Pricing & Availability from D&H, Ingram Micro, SYNNEX and Tech Data by checking either the Auto retrieve real-time option or by clicking the button.

When the real-time pricing loads, your cost and the product's availability will be listed next to the distributors' names. The availability will be the number listed in parentheses next to the cost; if there's an error with your Real-time login for the distributor or the product is not found, discontinued or requires authorization before ordering, QuoteWerks will display that information within the parentheses instead of the availability value. If the product is not available from that distributor at all, QuoteWerks will display "doesn't carry" instead of the availability value.

Etilize will also display the availability as Total Quantity/ on Order Quantity.  For example, if an item has an availability of (2/4), this means that the vendor has 2 of the items in stock currently, and 4 on order.  

Vendor Part Number
Next to the pricing is the vendor part number and the link to the distributor’s website for that part. The vendor part number is a drop-down and will list any other vendor parts (if applicable) that match your search description for that item.  If there are multiple part numbers from the same vendor that match your search, the vendor part number field will be highlighted in yellow as a visual indication to review that part number from that vendor.  The website link includes links to the distributors’ website where that part can be found. This is useful for double-checking that it is the exact part you are looking to quote.

Availability

Once a distributor has been selected, the availability will be listed in two places.  The first is next to the item's cost in parentheses. If an item has an availability of (2), this means this vendor has 2 of these items currently in stock.  However, you will need to look under the availability heading to see which warehouse has it in stock.  If the item shows an availability of (2/4), this means that the vendor has 2 of the items in stock currently, and 4 on order.

Underneath the Availability heading, the stock in each of the vendor's warehouses will be shown.  Negative values indicate a back ordered amount. For D&H and Ingram Micro, the availability value may also be accompanied by an ETA date, which is the estimated time of arrival for a shipment of the product to arrive at the warehouse. Ingram Micro also provides the quantity of product en route to the warehouse. SYNNEX and Tech Data only provide the availability value.

If you selected a Preferred Distributor in the Etilize defaults and you either have "Auto retrieve real-time" checked or click on the button to pull Real-time manually, the preferred Distributor will automatically be selected for you and the Availability will also automatically display.

Promotional Pricing

Promotional pricing is displayed in the Product Sourcing Panel when you're locating an item. The promotional end date is also displayed for any Tech Data item. This is useful for sales reps, so they can try to close the deal before the promotion expires.

Native and Linked Product Sources in Product Sourcing Panel

This feature will display any Native and/or Linked Databases that also have the item from the Etilize search. The item's manufacturer part number must be in the Native or Linked databases for the databases to appear in the panel. This feature needs to be activated in the

Copy Manufacturer Part Number to Clipboard

Double-clicking on the part number underneath the item image will copy the part number to your clipboard. This makes it easy save that item in a favorites folder for others to use, add it to your workspace, or use it in the F2 lookup field.

 

Extended Sources

QuoteWerks also supports the ability to pull pricing from Amazon, CDW, Dell, and Staples from their consumer websites. Clicking on the button will search Amazon, CDW, Dell, and Staples and load the pricing (if available) from those specific sites. If the item is not found on one of those sites, that site will not show up in the list. This feature does not pull in pricing specific to users accounts. It is simply cross-checking from their consumer websites.

 

Accessories

The Etilize integration supports accessory items for the product being searched in the USA, Canada, and the UK. Accessories are secondary items that are associated with the original item that was searched. For example, if a user is looking for a computer, an accessory might be connector cables that need to be added to the quote as well. Clicking on the Accessories tab on the bottom of the Product Sourcing Panel will load the appropriate accessories for the originally selected item. The drop-down box will populate with the available accessories for the selected item.  

When adding items to the quote from the Accessories tab, users can select the item as “Optional”. When an item is selected as optional, it will be added to the quote, but will not be included in the quote total since it is an optional item. To add an accessory item to your document, double-click on the item (this will launch the Add Item Assistant if enabled) or click on the Insert or Add buttons to add it directly to the quote without launching the Add Item Assistant.

Similar Items

The Similar Items tab will display items similar to the one selected on the Etilize sourcing tab by features.  These items can be used as a substitute if the item you found is not available by your vendor or that vendor does not have the item in stock.  The top of the window will display the number of similar items available.  Once you have found an item simply click on it to bring it into the Product Sourcing Panel and then retrieve real-time pricing and availability, check pricing from the Extended Sources, and mark it as optional.  Additionally, these similar items can also be added to the Etilize Product Comparison Window if you want to compare them against the original item you selected to make sure you are providing the best option(s) to your customer.  

Upsell Items

The Upsell Items tab will display items that typically contain more features and usually sold at a higher price.  This tab provides reps with an easy way to offer options on a quote (such as a good, better, best option) to help increase the chance your customers will choose the higher priced items, thus increasing sales.  Just like the Accessories and Similar Items tabs, once you have found an item and clicked on it, it will be displayed in the Product Sourcing Panel to retrieve real-time pricing and availability, check pricing from the Extended sources, and be marked as optional.  These items can also be added to the Etilize Product Comparison Window if you would like to comprare them against the original item you selected to highlight the differences in the options.  

Spec Sheets

If a spec sheet for the item selected is available, users can click on the “Spec Sheet” tab to view the spec sheet for that item. Users will also have the option to add the spec sheet to the Links Tab so they can include it in the quote for the customer. The spec sheet will be added as a PDF attachment. The spec sheets typically include technical information related to that product that the user may want to know or have when reviewing the quote.

Once you click Select/Add, the item will add to quote with the selected distributor as the Vendor and the distributors part number as the Vendor Part #. The pictures are automatically downloaded and saved into the QuoteWerks\Images folder and linked to the product on the Document Items tab. The Line Attribute for Print Picture is also automatically checked, so when you use a layout containing the "&Picture" field, the image will automatically be displayed. If you selected to use the Marketing Description or Features Description in the Etilize defaults, they will also add to the CustomMemo01 field or fields you specified in the defaults. If the item’s weight is available in Etilize, the weight will be populated into the Unit Weight field in QuoteWerks Document Items tab. The weight provided is the actual weight of the item, not the shipping weight of the item.

 

Etilize Folders
Organize the items you sell from distribution utilizing the folder structure in QuoteWerks.  There are three different folders under the Etilize Search option. They are My Favorites, Public Favorites, and Workspace.

The My Favorites folder enables users to save Etilize items to a favorites list for an easy and quick way to use that item at a later date.  Any items added in the My Favorites folder is specific to the logged-in user only.  To add an item to the My Favorites folder, search for an item and right-click on the item in the search results window.  Click on the Associate 1 selected Etilize item with an Etilize Favorites Folder... menu option.  Highlighting multiple items will let you add multiple items to the My Favorites folder at once.

This will open the "Select Folder to Associated Items With" window. Select the My Favorites item list and click "Ok".  

You will then see a confirmation that the association has completed.

 
To access the My Favorites folder, click on the expand button next to the Etilize Product Source.  It will display the My Favorites folder; click on it to see all the items that have been added to the folder.  Simply highlight an item to open the Product Sourcing Panel to access the Real-time information and Etilize features for the item.  

To remove an item or multiple items, highlight the item(s) and right-click and select "Disassociate Selected item from this Etilize Favorites Folder".

Public Favorites
The Public Favorites folder enables users to save Etilize items to a favorites list for everyone in QuoteWerks who has access to Etilize. This is a great way for teams to share and save items they quote on a regular basis. To add an item to the Public Favorites folder, search for an item and right-click on the item in the search results window.  Click on "Associate XX selected Etilize item with an Etilize Favorites Folder...".  Highlighting multiple items will add multiple items to the Public Favorites folder at once.

This will open the "Select Folder to Associated Items With" window. Select the Public Favorites item list and click "Ok".  

You will then see a confirmation that the association has completed.

 

Workspace
The Workspace folder enables users to save Etilize items to their own user-specific, temporary list. The Workspace is designed as a temporary holding spot for items you want to research before you start selling or before you add to a favorites folder.  For example, maybe an item you sell is being discontinued. You can start researching alternatives and save them in your Workspace. Then, once you have compiled your alternatives list, you can research further on the items until you make your decision. After your decision is made, you can remove these items from your Workspace.    

To access items in your Workspace, simply click on the Workspace folder under Etilize.

Adding Items to the Workspace
You can add items to the Workspace in two ways. First, highlight the item or items you want to add and click on the icon on the top of the Etilize Product Lookup Window. Alternatively, you can right-click after highlighting one or multiple items and then choosing the Add Etilize Product to 'Workspace' menu.
 
Removing Items from the Workspace
You can remove items from the Workspace in two ways. In the Workspace folder, highlight the item or items you want to remove and click on the icon on the top of the Etilize Product Lookup Window. Alternatively, you can right-click after highlighting one or multiple items and then choosing the Remove Etilize Product From 'Workspace' menu.

 

Creating Subfolders

Users can create subfolders for the My Favorites and Public Favorites in Etilize. These folders are a great way to organize the items you add to the favorites folders.  This allows users to categorize items they sell on a regular basis. To create a subfolder, simply choose which favorites folder you want to create the folder for and right-click on it and choose "New".

                   

Give the folder a name and click OK. You can right-click on the folder at any time to rename or delete it. You can also create a subfolder within another folder, by clicking on the folder and choosing "New".

Associating Products with Etilize Folders

There's two ways to associate a Product/Service item with a sub folder. The first is to select the item(s) in either the Etilize Product Lookup window or from a favorites folder and right-click and select Copy from the menu. Then select the folder that you want to associate the product(s) with, right-click and select Associate copied item(s) with this folder from the menu.  You can highlight multiple items to associate multiple items to the same subfolder at once.

 

       
 

The second option is to right-click and select Associate selected Etilize Item(s) with an Etilize Favorites Folder. This will open the Associate Items to Folder window. Here you can select the folder to associate the item(s) into.

Disassociating Products with Etilize Folders

To remove an item from a folder, right-click on the item and select Disassociate X selected items(s) from this Etilize Favorites Folder from the menu.

 

 

Exclude from future Etilize results
Right-clicking on an item in the Etilize search results window will provide a feature called "Exclude from future Etilize results".  When applied to the selected item, the item will no longer appear in search results.  This feature is best utilized on items that have been discontinued, outdated, or you no longer sell.  

Compare
Visit the Etilize Product Comparison Window section of the help file for instructions on using this feature.

Document Items Tab of Quote Workbook

 

 
Show/Hide Product Sourcing Panel

After the items have been added to the quote users are able to update them with the latest Etilize information by clicking on the button on the Document Items tab. This will open the Product Sourcing Panel enabling users to update pricing, add accessories, pull similar items, add upsell items, add spec sheets, update the item detail, view Local and Linked product database pricing, and see any VendorRFQ requests and pricing.

 

When displaying the panel for an item, only a Vendor Part Number and a distributor that Etilize supports is required to retrieve information from Etilize about an item. This is useful if you are importing a quote from a vendor into QuoteWerks and would like to update those products and services with product content information from Etilize.

If you want to change the vendor, simply double-click on the vendor name or click on the vendor and click on the [Update] button. You can also add items to the Etilize Product Comparison Window from the panel.  

The Item Detail tab will let users select which description they would like to use for their quote. There is usually a long description followed by a shorter and succinct description. If there is a third description it is typically more of a technical description. If more than 1 marketing description is available, the user can also choose which one they would like to use on the quote.

After making the selection, simply click “Update” on the bottom right hand corner of the Item Detail window to apply the changes. The selection will now be bolded.

Refresh Item(s) with Etilize Details
The Refresh Items with Etilize Details feature updates the selected line items in the Workbook with Etilize details such as the Description, Picture, Weight and more. This feature can be used in conjunction with items from a non-Etilize data source or when importing a Quote from a vendor to update those items with Etilize information.  This feature will update the selected (highlighted) items on the DocumentItems tab.

 

Compare and Best Pricing

Etilize also provides enhancements to the "Compare prices between Vendors" and "Refresh item w/Best Pricing" features.

Using Real-time alone, you can only pull the Pricing & Availability for items stored in locally linked or imported product databases. With Etilize, you can pull Real-time Pricing & Availability from D&H, Ingram Micro, SYNNEX and Tech Data without needing to import or link to the individual distributor databases. When using the Compare, Best or Latest functions, these product sources will display along with your local databases, but will be tagged as (real-time only).

You can also get Real-time pricing and availability for alternate distributors while still using the detailed descriptions and product images from Etilize. If you have a product database for a different Real-time supported distributor (like Arbitech or Digitek), you can search for the product in Etilize, add it to your quote, then select it and use the "Compare prices between Vendors" or "Refresh item w/Best Pricing" features to select the alternate distributor's database and pull the Real-time pricing and availability. Using this method, the item will add to the quote with the Etilize descriptions and image and will also update with the pricing from the alternate distributor. This same concept applies if you are purchasing from, for example, Tech Data UK, so you can use Etilize and then do a comparison to get the real-time pricing that way.

QuoteWerks Part Locator

The QuoteWerks Part Locator is an automatically activated feature included in the QuoteWerks Product Content Subscription. There is nothing that needs to be turned on for this feature to be activated. The QuoteWerks Part Locator automatically downloads and stores the updated daily product part number lists from the following distributors:

USA:        Arlington, Blue Star, D&H, Ingram Micro, Jenne, Printer Essentials, ScanSource, Supplies Network, Synnex, Tech Data
Canada: D&H, Ingram Micro, Tech Data
UK: Tech Data
Australia: Dicker Data, Ingram Micro
 
The QuoteWerks Part Locator is able to provide all the products available from the distributors that may not be available in Etilize due to authorization issues. This feature will enable users to locate these part numbers and ultimately receive pricing and availability on those items.  

The QuoteWerks Part Locator can also return list pricing. If the list price for a particular item is not available through the distributor’s XML real-time and availability feed, the QuoteWerks Part Locator will automatically retrieve the list price from the price list and add it to the Unit List field in QuoteWerks.

Purchasing Window
Users can also check pricing and availability on items before selecting them for purchasing. Clicking on the icon will load the Product Sourcing Panel so users can update prices and check stock before ordering to make sure they are sourcing it from the best vendor.