How to Use Trello as a CRM in 5 Steps

Trello is a popular project management tool. It’s also great for managing your customer relationships. Here are 5 steps to using it as your CRM.

Trello is a free web-based project management tool that has been gaining popularity in the business world. It is an excellent tool for managing customer relationships and projects. This article will help you learn how to use Trello as a CRM in 5 steps.

CRMble Booster

Using the CRMble Power-Up, you may bypass the steps provided here. Trello Power-Ups are third-party applications that extend the capabilities of Trello. The CRMble Power-Up, for example, automatically creates pre-made lists (sales stages) for boards and pre-configured contact information fields for cards (leads).

CRMble may be activated by first pressing the Show Menu button, then selecting Add Power-Up and searching for CRMble in the pop-up window that appears. It’s worth noting, though, that the free Trello version only comes with one Power-Up, and additional Power-Ups need a separate membership. If you believe your sales team will utilize many Power-Ups, consider the Business Class plan, which provides limitless Power-Ups for $10 per user, per month on an annual basis.

Follow these five steps to utilize Trello as a CRM if you want to reduce this fee or have a more personalized contact and lead management system:

1. Identify your company’s sales process.

To modify Trello such that it handles your company’s sales process, you must first figure out what that process entails. Make a list of the key milestones or workgroups. Depending on the business, there may be a few or many stages in the process (or pipeline) to find a potential client and convert them to a paying customer.

The following are some common sales pipeline phases or stages:

• Obtaining a prospective buyer via an internet advertising campaign or a bought lead list is known as lead generation.
• Initial contact with a prospect, first call, or email introduction to set up a meeting: This happens during the initial contact with a prospect, first call, or email introduction to set up a meeting.
• The next step is to follow up with several points of contact in order to set up a meeting or a demo.
• Meeting with a prospect: Call or meet with a prospect to assess their requirements and whether or not your product or service is a good match for them.
• A conference or phone conversation to demonstrate how a product works, often used in software or tech sales.
• Create a business proposal or quote: After the prospect has shown interest, create and submit a document with cost estimates and conditions.
• Follow-up on quotes and proposals: Follow up on your quotations and proposals many times.
• Negotiation: It’s common for a prospective consumer or client to haggle over terms, conditions, and pricing in certain sectors.
• Closed-won: A lead or prospect has agreed to join up for a service or buy a product at this point.
• Cross-sell current customers: It’s customary in many sectors to offer existing customers new goods or services on a regular basis.
• Closed-lost: After considering all alternatives, the customer decides that the product or service is not right for them right now.
• Follow up on lost business: If you haven’t heard from a former potential customer in a long time, or if your offering has changed significantly, you should contact them again.

2. Use Trello to create a sales pipeline board.

The next stage is to use Trello to visualize your sales process. Begin by creating a Trello board to act as your sales funnel.

To create a new board, go to the dashboard and click the top right “+” icon. You’ll be prompted to name the board, and we suggest calling it something like “Commercial Property & Casualty Insurance Sales Pipeline” or “Project Management Software Sales Pipeline,” depending on the product or service you’re selling. Keep in mind that if your company offers a variety of services or goods with different procedures, you may need to build several boards.

Make a fresh board (Source: Trello)

After you’ve done building a board, you’ll want to add lists. For each of the phases in your sales funnel described in step one, you’ll need to make a list. Make sure they’re in chronological sequence. To create a list, go to the board’s “Add a list” option and give it a name that corresponds to the stage of the sales funnel you want to include.

Including a list (Source: Trello)

You’re ready to add cards to your sales funnel after you’ve established your steps. Trello cards may also be configured to contain areas for storing data about your contacts, leads, prospects, and prospective customers. We suggest that when naming a card, you keep it consistent and concentrate on the organization’s name and essential contact information.

You may add cards wherever in the sales funnel since all leads don’t start at the same level. Consider the case of an incoming client who contacted your salesperson first. If your sales staff contacts them via introduction calls or emails, they will start farther down the funnel.

Begin by clicking the “Add a card” button beneath the list (or pipeline stage) where the card should be placed. After that, fill in the blanks.

Here are a few ideas on how to arrange the information on a card:

• Name of the company on the card
• Description: Contact information (phone, email address), lead source (where the lead originated), and other pertinent information such as due dates, attachments, labels, and checklists.
• Notes from earlier discussions or messages you’d want to pass on to the team members involved

Editing a Trello Card as an example (Source: Trello)

3. Assign Permissions to Team Members

Add team members and use internal tools to further customize your Trello board. It’s simple to invite team members to a board by going to the board and choosing “Invite” from the menu. After that, either choose an existing team member or input their email address. Add team members as administrators, observers, or ordinary members to set access limits. You may also choose who has the ability to remark on certain cards and who has the ability to invite new members.

Invite someone from your team to your Trello board (Source: Trello)

Now that your board (pipeline) has been established, your lists (stages) have been made, some cards (leads) have been placed, and your team has access to the board, the next step is to personalize it to your liking. By going to your board and choosing “Menu,” you may change the background color and add images or board descriptions.

Change the backdrop of your board to give it a unique appearance. (Image courtesy of Trello)

4. Integrate Third-Party Software (Optional Step)

Because all of your tools are available in one location, Trello’s numerous third-party connectors and “Power-Ups” enable you to operate more effectively as a team. The connection and Power-Up options shown below are just a handful (out of hundreds) to help you get the most out of your Trello CRM experience.

When you enable calendar Power-Ups, your team will be able to see sales deadlines on a calendar (assuming you set deadlines for each card). To do so, go to the top right of your board and select the “Calendar” icon. You can also sync your Trello calendar with other calendaring apps like Google Calendar and Outlook.

Power-Up for Trello Calendar (Image courtesy of Trello)

Use the Custom Fields Power-Up for each of your cards since you’re utilizing Trello as a CRM rather than conventional project management. Select “Custom Fields” from the Power-Ups directory from the board menu. Once you’ve clicked “Enable,” you’ll be able to modify different fields inside each card (lead).

If you want to add “quoted price” data or information related to serving the customer (assuming they become one), such as “number of workers” or “past suppliers,” this is a great method to accomplish it. Checkboxes, dates, drop-down menus, numbers, and text are some of the custom field possibilities.

Fields that may be customized (Source: Trello)

If your sales process includes a lot of files or papers, such as quotation proposals, contracts, and asset information, consider combining Trello with Google Drive. You can now connect files from Google Drive to your cards (leads), bringing all of your information together in one location.

Follow these three simple steps to connect Google Drive with Trello:

• Search “Google Drive” in an empty Power-Up space on the board menu.
• To activate the integration, click “Add.”
• Each team member must then provide access to their Google Drive after it has been activated.

Google Drive search with Trello Power-Up (Source: Trello)

Including a Google Drive Booster (Image courtesy of Trello)

Hundreds of third-party connectors and Power-Ups are available in Trello. Other alternatives for particular requirements that may be helpful in different sales processes are listed below:

• Lead importation: With lead importing, customers may automatically import contacts from one platform onto their Trello board as a card. Zapier, Google Forms, JotForm, Typeform, and Gmail Contacts are some of the platforms that connect with Trello.
• Communication within a team: The capacity to communicate within a team may help to speed up the sales process. Everything is more centralized with communication tools connected to a CRM. Trello’s Slack connection, for example, enables teams to interact through chat and give each other Trello cards (leads).
• Trello interacts with Twitter and enables users to link personal information and tweets to Trello cards.

Integration between Trello and Twitter (Source: Trello)

5. Keep track of your sales process

You’re ready to handle your sales process after your CRM board is set up (complete with lists, cards, modifications, team members, and the connectors you need). Cards may be inserted manually or automatically, and they can be dragged and dropped along the sales funnel.

Add a card to your Trello board by dragging and dropping it (Source: Trello)

It’s possible that a lead will need to be transferred to a different pipeline. This might happen if a prospective customer showed interest in one of your company’s services but not in another. Alternatively, if a lead has “earned the business” and is ready to begin the onboarding process. You may simply transfer a card from one board to another in Trello.

Select the context menu on the top right of a card and click the “Move” option to move a card to another board. The card may then be moved to another list (a stage in the current pipeline) or to a different board entirely.

Transfer the cards to a new board (Source: Trello)

The Resource Lists are another feature found on Trello boards. You may simply drag and drop files onto cards or to team members by adding them to a list. This is a great place to save templates for email drafts, generic contracts, marketing materials, and sales price estimates.

Most Commonly Asked Questions (FAQs)

On Trello, how many boards (sales funnels) can I make?

With the Business Class subscription, Trello enables you to create an infinite number of boards. There are only ten boards included in the free plan.

Is Trello available on a mobile device?

Yes, Trello has a mobile app for iOS and Android that allows you to manage your CRM on the move.

Is there a limit to how many cards I can put on my board?

Both the free version and the premium Business Class plan allow you to add an unlimited number of cards.

Conclusion

While Trello is an excellent project management tool, many of its advantages also apply to its use as a CRM system. Trello provides capabilities that other sophisticated CRM systems give without breaking the bank, thanks to drag-and-drop tools, board customizations, platform Power-Ups, and third-party connections.