Want to make it easy for your customers or prospects to find a slot on your calendar? Much as we discussed in Remember Grover’s Corner, there are several options.

We’ve come across one that you should consider - Genbook. The free level lets you book as many appointments as you like, provides an unlimited number of staff and service options (perhaps serving both a massage therapist and a personal trainer from the same gym), and includes the oh so important “book now” button (essentially a widget that you can place anywhere - not just your site, but also on your Craigslist ad, eBay listing, or even in a display ad). For $40/month Genbook adds text message notifications, credit card capture, a full year of advanced scheduling, and a more comprehensive customer database which can be utilized for coupon delivery and promotional campaigns.

While there’s a lot of great functionality, what’s also appealing is how the system automatically helps you manage the appointment. It sends an appointment reminder email 24 hours in advance of the appointment as well as a feedback/review request after the appointment.

If your company makes money only after it makes appointments, is it time to open up the calendar?

You’ve established a presence across the search engines, driven a respectable amount of traffic to your website, and even converted the curious browser to the ready-to-commit customer. One small problem- that customer can only get to your email or voicemail inbox when what he/she really wants to do is set up an appointment.

Think about using the online scheduling tool HourTown to close the deal right on your site. Once you create an account, you set up your service offerings and rates. Then HourTown generates a custom calendar for your business. Once you have a calendar with available time slots, you’re almost there. All you need to do is take the system’s “Book Now” button and put it where you need it - your website, mail signature, or e-newsletter.

You may even learn that your customers prefer to book your services online. Given that this tool is free, why not book some time with it.

These days, you’re more likely that ever to be working with customers across time zones - sometimes on the other side of the planet. Unfortunately, creating meetings across time zones just hasn’t gotten any easier - quick, what time works for Tokyo, Paris, and New York?

Give the mental gymnastics a rest with WhenIsGood. This simple and free tool solves one of those problems that’s plagued just about anyone who does any international work. Here’s how it works.

First, pick your time zone. Then, indicate what times you’re available to meet. Then, fill in your email address. The system will then send you an invitation that you can forward to anyone you like. Recipients can then see when you’re available and pick what works for them (and adjust by time zone).

You won’t get tripped up by time zones or daylight savings again … or worse, miss an important customer call.

Marketing is rarely a large department in any company - if it exists at all. Given that, how can you find a kindred spirit or maybe find someone who has been around the block a few times?

Check out Meetup as a way to build your personal marketing (or any other kind of) network. Meetup is simply a way to meet real people. Live. In person. You know the way it had to be before the web was around. It’s a simple and easy to use way to find people who live in your neighborhood who might be interested in the same things you are. All you need to do is sign up and join a Meetup group (as they call it). This group will actually have meetings where real, live, breathing people will get together and talk about stuff.

Also, many of these groups will sponsor featured speakers on an endless variety of topics. If you’re looking for a way to help your marketers develop by cross-pollinating with others, here’s the easiest and cheapest way to make that happen.

So often a marketing mistake results from what you could describe as a version control problem. An old version of a marketing item (e.g., a press release) is mistaken for the real version … and trouble ensues. Cringe.

To avoid this kind of problem, consider using the open source (free) content management tool called Alfresco. This system looks like a shared hard drive (what many people use today to share documents). However, you can create rules that are attached to documents. Things like who needs to approve a document for it to move forward. From there, it also automatically manages and tracks versions, so there’s really no risk that people get their hands on the wrong version. By adding workflow to your documents, systems like these can help you create marketing process that keeps things moving smoothly - on-time, and on budget.

While everyone likes to talk strategy, the reality is that getting work done is what occupies most of our time. This may be the key to improving your company’s efficiency.

Proving the ROI of a trade show can seem like an impossible task. How can you know the leads, if any that are generated, result from the show? Maybe the prospects just delayed their interest until the timing of the show to give the visit to New Orleans or Miami more purpose (beyond the sun and the beignets).

By creating or attending a virtual trade show, the math gets a lot clearer. You can manage your own trade show by using sites like GoExhibit. For $24.95 per month, you can set up and manage a trade show of an unlimited number of companies. This system lets you generate revenue from partners or advertisers as well as generate leads and track specific visitor behavior. What exhibits did they visit? What videos did they watch?

Of course, you can also just participate in one of the many virtual trade show events that are now available across to many industries to name.

While these virtual tradeshows create a virtual experience that may make you think of the super-hyped virtual reality world called Second Life, this is all about business. If you have a broad array of products to sell, why not create or participate in a sales event that lets anyone attend, even if they can’t leave their office?

Even though it seems like the whole world carries a PDA with up to date calendaring, text messaging, and email, why is it still so hard for your customers to remember appointments? No matter what you’re selling, a missed appointment is revenue that’s not going to happen.

Phonevite is another tool in your arsenal to make sure your customers don’t “forget” appointments. At the very least, it will make them dream up new excuses. It works very simply. You sign up for an account and have your phone number verified (to avoid voice spam). Then, all you have to do is record your message (on the phone or on your computer), provide the list of phone numbers you would like the system to call, and then sit back and do nothing. The system will call all of the numbers you’ve indicated and deliver your message.

One nice feature is that it lets you request a voice message in return or simply an RSVP (assuming you’ve extended an invitation). You can also track everything from their website. If you ever lose revenue because your customers forget to just show up, why not let this system send everyone a nice, friendly voice mail reminder . . . from you?

Almost every business has an ebb and flow of important events throughout the year. There’s always something interesting on the horizon - the next season of clothing, the new model year, the next version of the iPod . . . or maybe just the big annual sale. It’s the rare company that gives its customers a full view of what’s going to happen throughout the year, even though this is exactly how everyone in marketing normally looks at things.

With Google Calendar, your brand can be the exception and give your customers a full view of key events. As you’ll see in this public calendar gallery, brands ranging from Faith Hill to Disney to the Florida Gators have found value in publishing a calendar of events. This calendaring system makes it easy for viewers to add an event to his/her own (Google) calendar. Or, even better, the system can let a viewer save all of the events to his/her (Google) calendar.

Shouldn’t you have a way to ensure that your best customers know about your key events - whether that’s a sale or the arrival of a new product line?

Surprise! One of the best ways to grow sales is to just meet with a lot of customers or prospects all at once. Creating and managing events represents a core element of the marketer’s repertoire. However, events can also represent a tar pit of details and aggravation . . . something that will give you gray hair (or more of the same).

Eventbrite can help you with many of the challenging aspects of event management. First, you can use the system to create the event, including setup of tickets and acceptance of credit cards or Paypal / Google Checkout. One especially nice feature is the ability to make an invitation match your company style and carry a logo. Next, you can promote the event, including of course sending email, but also publishing the event on major search engines. Finally, you can even use the system to keep track of attendees, and even manage payment for tickets at the door.

While it rhymes with E-vite, it’s an entirely different animal. The price for all of this event management goodness? 2.5% of all ticket proceeds (maximum fee of $9.95 per event). Free events are, well, free. Wouldn’t you take on more events if they were easier to manage? Look for a feed growth! event sometime soon, managed by Eventbrite.

Appointments make the world go round…or at least most businesses. When customers miss their appointments, or, in the pharma business, forget to do what they’re told, that’s revenue lost. Imagine if there were a way to keep your customers on time and, where relevant, on their program (take the meds, follow the diet, put the flea stuff on the dog, etc.).

Memotext is a great example of how to keep patients on the straight and narrow. For only $10 a month, a patient can receive a daily text message or voicemail reminder to take a medication. With 60% of medication not taken correctly or at all, there’s plenty of room for improvement. While this is an ideal solution for pharma companies, the idea could be replicated for almost any industry. Even a chain of hair salons or health clubs could benefit from a similar service.

Your customers are with you because they want to be. When it comes to an appointment, a program, or a medication, they don’t want to stray. They may just need a bit of electronic discipline. Are you doing everything you can to keep your customers in the fold?

All of your company’s smarts are locked up in the brains of your employees. But most of the time those brains are locked up far away from customers.

With online scheduling, you can give your customers access to your employees to create an instant service business - and high-margin service revenue. Apple has recently unveiled its One to One program that unlocks the intelligence of its legions of retail employees. Customers use a simple online scheduling tool to create an appointment for personal training with store employees.

Not just retailers can turn smarts into service revenue. Manufacturers should consider opening up R&D, operations, or any area of expertise to customers. Remember, even IBM is now a service company.