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Marketing Calendar

Purpose: Marketing tool which helps you corner future sales

Master List File Name: MARKCALN

Format: Single Page, 1 Part

Suppose a representative for an annual event walks in your door, and asks you to quote a large order. Suppose also that she informs you that you will be bidding against a number of competitors for the goods. While there is nothing you can do to better your odds of acceptance short of put forth a professional showing, and offer your best price, isn't there something you can do to make your company look more favorable in the future?

There is, and the marketing calendar is the tool for your future success. Next year, instead of hoping this person asks you for a bid, go see her or call her a week before she starts gathering bids - prepared with ideas for a better product than she had this year.

Use: Start by preparing at least 12 copies of the marketing calendar form, and placing them in a 3-ring binder. Date each monthly calendar from the current month to consecutive months going a year into the future. Each time a client who wants quotes for a recurring need is discovered, go to your marketing calendar. Find the date of the next occurrence of that need, and trace the dates back to a date approximately a week or more before the bid process might begin. Jot down notes that will help remind you of the person or events needs and requirements.

As time passes, you will consult your marketing calendar each week, and plan how to best approach each prospect. With good timing, you will begin approaching clients at just the time they were starting to think about the service you provide, and days before any other competitor has been contacted. You'll be prepared with ideas and products to share -   a great service to the customer that makes your firm stand out. As you approach each event on your marketing calendar, remember to schedule the next event on the calendar too, so that you can always stay one step ahead of the game.

Tips: There are hundreds of formats a marketing calendar can take. The form in this kit is only one possibility. Marketing expert Larry Welty suggests another great marketing calendar format. He says that you can select a large wall in the office area of your company - possibly a hallway - and line the wall with paper. Create sections for each month that you will display, with a minimum of a 12 month future period. Salespeople can write information about future contacts on the wall, giving the whole sales force and management a graphic picture of upcoming events, and potential busy periods.

Another alternative that can be used would be to harness a calendar software such as Microsoft Outlook or Symantec Act!. The perpetual appointment calendar can be used to schedule events far into the future, and the calendar can be easily searched.

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