Dunlap Develops the Future of Business

Written by Audrey Tuttle

The future of the business world ultimately lies within the hands of our current generation of college students, and Dunlap Marketing is doing its part in guiding these individuals to a successful future. Our summer internship program has created an opportunity for these ambitious individuals to work first hand with the leadership team and staff at Dunlap Marketing. The five-year program is moving into its second month of operation this summer, and these five college students could not be happier to continue getting their feet wet within the field.

Our interns have built upon their prior knowledge of business and have gained the skills that are critical to have in your tool box before taking the big step of earning a job after college. They have gained experience in cold calling, lead generation, telemarketing, marketing through social media, data research, B2B operations, and much more. Additionally, through the weekly breakout sessions with Mike Dunlap and Kaitlin Dunlap Cuevas, the interns have gained expertise on the ins and outs of being successful in the work force.

Of course, these statements can only be backed with a fun Q&A with the interns…

What work you have been doing at Dunlap Marketing?

“Making phone calls to capture data, working with other employees on campaigns, acquiring new clients for businesses.” Grant Haney, Texas A&M University, Finance

 “I have had the opportunity to build upon my communication skills through cold-calling and acquiring important information for databases. My other work responsibility has allowed me to expand my creativity as it involves creating and scheduling all social media posts for the company and writing company articles.” Audrey Tuttle, Texas Tech University, Marketing

What skills have you developed while working at Dunlap?

“Through my internship at Dunlap Marketing, I have enhanced my communication skills through phone calls and learned how to be persistent when making sales calls. I have developed a better sense of self-motivation and worked on adapting to whatever campaign I am assigned to.” Grace Mosby, The University of Texas at Austin, Business Major

“Some skills I have developed while working at Dunlap are spreadsheet organization and navigation, phone call communication skills, and more effective time management.” Addi Barrett, Belmont University, Commercial Music/Songwriting

            What exciting things our interns have to say about their internship experience! Don’t worry, we have more responses where that came from! Check out next week’s article for a part two of the intern’s Q&A. You won’t want to miss it.

A Note from Our President, Mike Dunlap

Today, Dunlap Marketing's president, Mike Dunlap, shared the following message on his LinkedIn account.

Please spread the word - if you know an essential business that is being overloaded with inbound call volume because of coronavirus related demands, we can help. Dunlap Marketing is happy to apply our idle capacity to a non-profit or for-profit organization that is challenged right now with higher than normal demand. We can also be a resource if outbound calls are the priority during this crisis period. All we ask is for our direct cost to be covered.

Generally, projects like this can be setup very quickly.

Holy cow! We love making our customers happy!

happy cow

There’s nothing like starting off the day with a smile. Nothing makes us smile more than happy customers – check out this sequence of events that happened during a project with the goal of setting up appointments.

We picked up 2 appointments yesterday – great stuff! But, is there a way to pick up the speed? Is it possible to get 8 Corporate appointments today?

 

After receiving this request to ramp up, Dunlap arranged to train a few more experienced staff members on the project and get them working on it ASAP. At the end of the day, this message came in from our client:

Home run today! Looks like your team captured 8 appointments that will be followed up on tomorrow. Fantastic! Can we do two more similar days for Corporate and then move to 5 other target locations?

 

And then the next morning, we woke up to find this in our inbox:

Do we have any additional capacity available within Dunlap? I’d love to see 20 Corporate appointments today. Then once we capture that, let’s shift focus to the 5 other locations. I want to push as hard as we possibly can and capture 28 appointments in each of the target locations.

 

Holy cow! We love making our customers happy! It definitely puts a big smile on our faces!

 Holy cow! We love making our customers happy!

Interested in learning more about how Dunlap Marketing’s lead generation, appointment setting, and other telemarketing services can put a smile on your face? Call us today – 281.496.9870 ext. 140.

Summer 2017 Internship Program Partnership and the Business Marketing Association

Dunlap Marketing has maintained a summer and winter internship program since 2004. Throughout the program, Dunlap has seen many interns use the skills learned during their internships to give them a leg up in their future careers.

“My summer as an intern at Dunlap Marketing has made me a much more confident employee and gave me a taste for working in the marketing world.” – Sarah, Summer 2017

Dunlap’s internship program allows students, or recent graduates, to learn and execute entry-level campaigns, such as research calls and basic surveys. In addition to campaign work, interns also participate in weekly breakout sessions. Breakout sessions help interns “connect the dots” between what they learn in marketing classes and real-life marketing experiences. Examples of breakout sessions include Q&As with Mike Dunlap, the founder and president of Dunlap Marketing, brainstorming activities, and leadership fundamentals.

“Hearing Mr. Dunlap talk about why he does and doesn’t do certain things in business will come in handy in the future. Receiving insight like that isn’t common in internships and I gained a lot from it.” – Allen, Summer 2016

Internship Program Partnership with the Business Marketing Association

To continue the 13-year history of hiring qualified intern candidates, Dunlap partnered with Houston’s Business Marketing Association (BMA) chapter for the Summer 2017 Intern Program. BMA’s internship program, the Vic Cherubini Internship Program, was started in 1997 by BMA member, Vic Cherubini, who saw the benefit of investing time into future marketers.

“In 1994, I suggested to the BMA president and board of directors for the Houston chapter to start a College Scholarship program for one scholarship to benefit a BMA member’s child. We did, and it proved to be very popular. The next year we started an auction with the sole purpose of raising money for additional scholarships. The success of the auction allowed us to fund two scholarships and our first internship in 1996. By 2000, we were funding 6 scholarships and 6 internships each year. These programs have helped dozens of college students over the years, and several of our recipients are working in the field of B2B marketing today.” – Vic Cherubini

 

The Vic Cherubini Internship Program provides internships at BMA member companies for the Summer, Fall, and Spring semesters. The program is designed for students who are studying marketing, advertising, and other related subjects. The goal is for all BMA internships to give interns the opportunity to learn different aspects of the marketing field.

“The internship program creates opportunities for business marketing students to gain experience in their chosen field. It also provides valuable assistance to member companies who host the interns. In the last decade, the Houston chapter supported nearly 70 internships with local companies. Pairing the students’ education with the work experience from their internships made them highly qualified business-to-business marketers; many of those interns were later hired by their host company. This program has been an incredible benefit to students as well as BMA members who host those interns.” – Brian Nessen, BMA Houston Scholarships and Internships Program Chair

 

In the words of Dunlap intern, Luke, “BMA and Dunlap Marketing have opened the door to many opportunities for me. I can’t say enough how much I appreciate their help in developing my strong suites and paving a path for my success.” After Luke’s internship at Dunlap, he was quickly hired at a local Houston firm where he uses skills learned during his internship daily. “I have to thank Dunlap for getting me on this track!” concludes Luke.

BMA Houston currently offers 10 internships annually. For more information on BMA’s Vic Cherubini Internship Program, please contact Brian Nessen at briann@stonefortgroup.com or 713.705.1512.

For more information on Dunlap Marketing, please contact Kaitlin Dunlap Cuevas at kaitlind@dunlapmarketing.com or 281.496.9870 x 180.