How to organize your Interior Design business with Trello
Are you still running your interior design business using spreadsheets? If you are looking for better and more productive ways to run organize their businesses and run projects, then Trello might just be the answer.
There are lots of Project Management (PM) software options out there on the market. Some like Clickup, Monday and Trello can be used in any industry and it is not design specific. Trello is probably the easiest of these and within in no time, you can improve your productivity and feel instantly organized.
There are also a lot of other PM software options specifically for the interior design industry such as Ivy, Gather, Indema, MyDoma, Studio Designer, Design Manager, DesignFiles. If you don’t have one of these programs then the free or paid Trello version will change your life. Some designers even use Trello in conjunction with the above software options, as they find Trello to be so intuitive and easy to use.
An example of a simple kitchen design project. This program could change the way your run your business (and personal life)! Source: Trello
What is Trello?
Trello is a great visual project management software - in one glance it will tell you what is being worked on, what the status is and who is assigned to it. It is great to help you organize, prioritize and delegate tasks.
Imagine a giant white board with sticky notes showing all your projects, to do lists, checklists and more. Now imagine these sticky notes in a virtual world - sticky notes with attachments, sticky notes with images, sticky notes with due dates, color coded sticky notes, sticky notes assigned to team members, sticky notes with progress status and more. Also imagine that these sticky notes can be seemingly moved across the board to new boards in a simple drag and drop motion.
Trello is the ultimate list making software, if you are a list person and a visual designer you will love Trello for your business and even your personal life. You will have such a sense of accomplishment as your tick of your to do lists and checklist and best of all - you can see the progress of your projects in one quick glance.
If you are a list maker, then easy to use software is for you!
Main Trello Features:
In a nutshell Trello is used for managing projects, tracking work tasks, and organizing to-do lists. Here are the main features:
It allows users to create boards to represent different projects, and within each board, users can add lists to represent different stages of a project, and within the lists the cards represent individual tasks or ideas.
Here is an example of a simple client enquiry or client onboarding template to keep track of all your new client enquiries. Every board has different cards and under each card, there are tasks and checklists.
See how Trello can be used in your interior design business
Here is a 2 minute video to show you how Trello can be used in your interior design business.
What else can Trello do?
Trello can be as simple or complex as you want it to be. Here are a few other examples of how Trello can be used.
1. Product tracking
Trello is a great tool for tracking your orders, here is an example below. Product cards can be moved from left to right to show the progress of the order. It is a good idea to add labels to show status, room name and any other pertinent details such as delays.
An example product tracking template - with one glance you can see the status of all your products
2. Client project tracking
This is where Trello shines! Imagine tracking your entire project in just one place! A central place to store information, track progress, delegate tasks to your team and making sure you have that you follow up with your client every step of the way. This template will take you from the initial client intake to the final project wrap up, down the thank you gift for your client. Every little detail! Nothing will get missed.
An example of a template used for tracking an entire client project.
3. Resource library
I love to use Trello as a central place to keep handy information and resources for my interior design business - I save links and images and ideas on a range of topics all in one place. There is a great search feature - so it only takes me a few seconds to find my information.
An example of my Resource library in Trello
4. Delegating tasks to my team or Virtual assistant
The secret to great delegating is in being quite specific with the tasks you would like to have completed. When I delegate I break down the tasks in smaller chunks of work and put these down as a checklist and if needed I add a due date. My team or VA can then easily see the amount of detail which is needed and then can tick of items as he or she work their way through the task. I can look at the card at any time to the see progress!
An example of how to delegate tasks to your team or virtual interior design assistant.
5. Gantt chart - Project roadmaps
Gantt charts are a great way to see a project’s progress against a timeline. If you are tracking a new build or a renovation project, then you are going to enjoy this feature. Make sure tasks in your cards and lists have dates attached to them and they will show up on your Gantt chart.
An example Gannt chart showing how a project can be planned. Any date changes on your card will automatically update your Gantt chart. Source: medium.com
5. Social media planning
Whether you are doing your own social media inhouse or use a social media marketing agency, you probably do get involved in the planning the content.
An example of a social media marketing board. Source: Moisson Marketing
7. More advanced features
Trello also has lots of more advanced features, such as email capabilities, automations and more. By using ‘Power Ups’ you can add more functionality to your boards. It can also integrate with Zapier, Slack and Jira.
Is Trello right for my business?
In the fast-paced world of interior design, staying organized is the key to success. If you are still running your business with spreadsheets, then you are going to find Trello revolutionary. Trello will provide you with the tools to streamline your design projects, enhance your client communication, effectively assign and delegate tasks to your teams, automate repetitive tasks and track your progress all in one place.
We are excited to announce that we can help busy design professionals like yourself to set up Trello and we offer 1:1 training sessions to get up and running in no time. We know that adopting new software can be overwhelming, that is why we also offer ready to use Templates specifically tailored to the interior design industry.
Get in touch today by Scheduling a free discovery call or email us at info@bdesignspace.com