Responding to Requests for Proposals (RFPs) is a critical part of many businesses, especially those in the B2B space. Winning new contracts through successful RFP responses can mean significant growth for your company. However, the process of responding to RFPs can be time-consuming, stressful, and difficult to manage, especially when multiple people and departments are involved.

That's where Trello comes in. Trello is a versatile project management tool that can help you streamline your RFP response process, from capturing initial requirements through final submission. In this post, we'll walk through how to set up and use Trello to make your RFP process more efficient and effective.

Setting Up Your Trello Board

The first step is to create a new Trello board for each RFP you are responding to. This keeps everything related to that RFP in one central place.

Once you have your new board, create a list for each major stage of your RFP process. For example:

• RFP Requirements
• Content Creation
• Internal Review
• Graphics & Formatting
• Approvals
• Submission

You can adjust these list titles and add/remove steps to match your company's specific RFP workflow.

Capturing RFP Requirements

Now it's time to start filling in your board. Begin by thoroughly reading through the RFP document and creating a Trello card for each section or question you need to respond to.

In the description field of each card, paste in the specific question or requirement text from the RFP. This allows you to break the RFP down into discrete, actionable chunks rather than being overwhelmed by a massive document.

Use Trello's color-coded labels to quickly identify the priority level of each card (e.g. red for high priority), or to indicate categories of your choice like types of questions or departments responsible. At a minimum, you should have labels for "High", "Medium", and "Low" priorities and for "Blocked" cards so you can easily see anything which has got stuck.

You can also link out from the card to any relevant Google Docs, past proposals, or other reference materials that will help in drafting that RFP section.

For complex, multi-part requirements, use the Checklist feature within the Trello card to track progress on each component.

Assigning Tasks & Responsibilities

With your requirements captured, you can start assigning out pieces of the RFP response. For each Trello card, assign the user who will be responsible for drafting that section of the proposal. You may need to add Trello users for anyone who will be substantially contributing.

Set realistic due dates for each card based on the overall RFP timeline and the complexity of that section. This helps keep everyone accountable and aware of the timeline.

As team members work on their sections, they can use the comment feature within each card to collaborate, ask questions, and provide feedback.

Tracking Progress

One of the major benefits of using Trello for RFP management is the ability to easily track progress. As team members complete their sections, they move their card from the Content Creation list to the Internal Review list, and so on down the line.

This allows managers to quickly glance at the board and understand the overall status of the RFP response. If any cards get stuck in one stage for too long, it's a visual cue that there may be a blockage that needs to be addressed.

Consider adding either of these Power-Ups to your Trello board to improve your workflow:

• Time in List: Shows on cards how long they've been in their current list, great for spotting bottlenecks.
• Blue Cat Reports: Fully customizable reporting for Trello, which can pull data from multiple boards.

Reviewing & Approving

As sections of the proposal move into the review stages, Trello can help facilitate the feedback and approval process.

Use the Time in List Power-Up which will show how long cards have been sitting in a specific list. This can draw attention to sections that have been in "Internal Review" for longer than anticipated.

Assign specific reviewers and approvers to cards when they are ready for feedback. Reviewers can leave their feedback as comments directly in the Trello card, keeping all conversations about that section centrally located.

As sections receive final approval, attach the completed documents directly to the Trello card. This makes it easy for anyone to find the most up-to-date versions without digging through email chains.

Tips & Tricks

Here are a few more Trello tips to optimize your RFP process:

1. Use Trello templates to quickly spin up new boards for each RFP, with your standard lists and labels pre-configured.

2. Integrate Trello with chat tools like Slack for streamlined communication. For example, you can set up notifications in Slack whenever a Trello card is moved or completed.

3. Leverage Trello's automation capabilities. You can set up rules to automatically assign people or trigger notifications based on specific conditions.

4. Use the card voting feature to quickly gather team feedback or preferences on specific proposal elements.

Conclusion

Managing RFP responses can be chaotic, but Trello provides a structure to break the process down into clear stages and digestible pieces. By using Trello to capture requirements, assign responsibilities, track progress, facilitate review cycles, and gather final deliverables, you can significantly streamline your workflow.

Trello's visual nature provides instant insight into proposal status and helps ensure no sections get overlooked. The ability to link all RFP-related communications and documents directly to their associated Trello cards is a significant time-saver and reduces the risk of working from outdated proposal versions.

If you're looking to reduce the manual effort and stress associated with responding to RFPs, give Trello a try for your next proposal. With a bit of up-front configuration, it can become a valuable tool to optimize your RFP process and help your team collaborate more effectively.