Dynamic VP graduates from Univ. of Washington’s MBEP program

Rick Antezana, Vice President of Dynamic Language, recently graduated from the University of Washington’s Minority Business Executive Program (MBEP), which took place June 12-17.

UW’s Foster School of Business hosted participants from around the country in its fourth annual MBEP. The program, organized by UW’s Business and Economic Development Center, strives to help minority business leaders stay competitive in their industry.

“Although it was a huge amount of information in a very short amount of time,” Rick told me, “I can say that I’ve already made some changes to our organization based on what I learned, and plan on even more improvements going forward.”

Rick’s favorite section was the one on Relationship Marketing, taught by professor Rob Palmatier. Some of the concepts mentioned in that section were:

– Customer Loyalty is your best measure for how well you’re doing. Loyalty has a huge impact on client Acquisition, Expansion (cross and up-selling) and Retention (churn, defection)

– If you’re using price to compete, you’ve failed as a marketer

– Study your “lost” customers. They have knowledge about you; they know why they chose to go to your competitor. Call them up after they’re definitely gone, and ask some questions, “Was it our price? Our customer service? etc.”

– Book: Driving Customer Equity: How Customer Lifetime Value is Reshaping Corporate Strategy – Roland T. Rust, Valarie A. Zeithaml, Katherine N. Lemon

Next year’s program is scheduled for June 10-15, 2012. To find out more about the Minority Business Executive Program, visit the program’s webpage on UW’s website.

Check out the BEDC July 2011 Newsletter to see all of the 2011 graduates and to find out more about program.