If you care about deal flow, you know the pain: someone updates a deal, and you’re the last to know. Maybe you miss a follow-up, or someone changes a number and nobody catches it until it’s too late. Real-time notifications solve this, but getting them set up in a tool like Ralph can be less obvious than it should be. This guide is for anyone who wants to know what’s happening with their deals, when it’s actually happening—without drowning in noise or wasting hours on integration headaches.
Let’s walk through exactly how to set up real-time notifications for deal updates in Ralph. I’ll call out what works, what’s fiddly, and what you can safely ignore.
Step 1: Figure Out What “Real-Time” Even Means For You
Let’s be honest: “real-time” is one of those tech phrases that gets thrown around too much. Do you really need a Slack ping the instant anything changes? Or do you just want a heads-up when a deal gets marked as won or lost?
Before you start, ask yourself: - Who actually needs to get notified? (Just you? The whole team? Only certain roles?) - What types of updates matter? (Stage changes, value changes, comments, ownership, etc.) - Where do you want these notifications to show up? (Email, Slack, Microsoft Teams, SMS, push notification, etc.)
Write this down. It’ll keep you from setting up a system that you end up muting two days later.
Step 2: Get Familiar With Ralph’s Notification Options
Ralph isn’t Salesforce, but that’s not a bad thing. It’s simpler, but you still have choices for notifications. Here’s the honest rundown:
Built-In Notifications
- Email: Out of the box, Ralph sends email notifications for some changes (like deal assignments or comments), but it’s not granular.
- Web Notifications: If you’re logged in, you’ll see updates in your notification bell. Great if you live in Ralph, pointless if you don’t.
Integrations
- Slack/Teams: Ralph supports sending notifications to Slack or Teams channels, but you’ll need to connect them.
- Webhooks: Want to get fancy or plug into another system? Ralph can fire off a webhook on deal updates.
What to Ignore
- In-app popups and banners: Unless you’re glued to Ralph all day, these aren’t real notifications.
- RSS feeds: Don’t bother unless you’re stuck in 2008.
Step 3: Connect Your Notification Channels
Let’s set up the channels where you actually want to get these alerts.
A. Email (If You Must)
- Head to your Profile Settings in Ralph.
- Check your notification preferences. Make sure “Deal Updates” (or whatever they call it) is enabled.
- Pro tip: Set up a filter in your email client so these don’t get lost—or worse, spam your inbox.
B. Slack
- Go to Settings > Integrations in Ralph.
- Find the Slack integration.
- Click Connect Slack. You’ll need to be an admin in your Slack workspace (or get someone who is).
- Authorize Ralph to access your Slack.
- Choose which channel(s) should get notifications.
- Save.
Watch out:
- If you dump all deal updates into #general, people will hate you. Make a dedicated channel, or use Slack’s notification keywords so only the right folks get pinged.
- Slack notifications can be delayed if Slack is having a bad day, but this is rare.
C. Microsoft Teams
- The process is nearly identical to Slack, just pick the Teams integration and connect it.
- Microsoft’s permissions dialogs are clunky, so expect a little extra clicking.
D. Webhooks (For the Tinkerers)
- Go to Settings > Integrations > Webhooks.
- Click Add Webhook.
- Enter your endpoint URL (where you want Ralph to POST data).
- Select what events you want (e.g., Deal Updated).
- Save.
You’ll need to handle receiving and parsing the webhook yourself—this is for people comfortable with code or using automation tools like Zapier, Make, or n8n.
If you don’t know what a webhook is, skip this.
Step 4: Set Up Notification Rules and Filters
Here’s where you keep things from getting out of hand.
- Head to Notification Settings or the equivalent in Ralph.
- Adjust which deal events trigger notifications. Typical options:
- Stage changed (e.g., “Negotiation” to “Closed Won”)
- Value changed
- New comment added
- Owner assigned
- Some integrations (like Slack) let you pick which types of deals (by pipeline, value, owner, etc.) send notifications.
Be ruthless here: - If you don’t care about small edits or typos, don’t get notified. - Only turn on what you’ll actually act on.
Pro tip:
Test your rules by making a change to a test deal. If you get spammed with messages, dial your settings back.
Step 5: Test It—Then Break It
Don’t assume it works just because you clicked “Save.”
- Make a dummy deal.
- Change its stage, value, and assignee.
- Add a comment.
- Make sure notifications show up where you expect, and only for the actions you want.
If you’re not getting anything: - Double-check integration permissions. - Make sure you’re subscribed to the right notifications. - Look in your spam/junk folder (for email). - For webhooks, check your endpoint logs.
If you’re getting too much: - Tighten your filters. - Consider batching: Some tools let you get a summary every hour instead of every change.
Step 6: Train Your Team (or Yourself) to Use Notifications Wisely
Notifications are only useful if people pay attention to them.
- Tell your team what to expect and where.
- Set ground rules: Don’t use deal update notifications as a chat substitute.
- If something’s broken (like a notification flood), fix it fast. If you ignore it, people will just mute everything.
What Actually Works (And What Doesn’t)
Works well: - Slack/Teams notifications for big deal milestones (stage changes, won/lost). - Direct email notifications for personal assignments.
Doesn’t work well: - Notifying everyone about every little change—leads to notification blindness. - Relying on in-app notifications if your team lives in Slack or email.
Ignore: - Anything that can’t be filtered. If you can’t control the noise, don’t turn it on.
Pro Tips and Gotchas
- Batching is your friend: If Ralph allows, get a digest instead of instant notifications for low-priority changes.
- Integrate with what you actually use: Don’t set up Teams notifications if nobody checks Teams.
- Review notification settings quarterly: Your workflow will change; so should your notifications.
- Don’t chase “real-time” for its own sake: Sometimes, five-minute delays are fine. Don’t over-engineer.
Keep It Simple—And Iterate
You don’t need a PhD in workflow automation to get real-time deal updates from Ralph. Set up only what you need, tune it, and don’t be afraid to dial things back if your phone is buzzing too much. Start small, see what works, and tweak as you go. The goal isn’t to be notified about everything—it’s to know what matters, when it matters, so you can act fast (or, sometimes, just breathe easy).