You are to visit (meet with, interview) a person outside your own company

Interview paper directions

You are to visit (meet with, interview) a person outside your own company (also no relatives or
personal friends allowed)(or at least don’t write the paper mentioning that you have met them
before) who is engaged in a service marketing or service management business activity
covered in the course.
Examples of service marketing and management activities or positions that personnel could be
engaged in include: Advertiser of services Agent or Broker of services Banking (loan officer)Busto-bus service representative Customer service representative Distributor offering services
Financial advisor (broker) Hotel manager Insurance agent Internet service provider Legal firm
(advisor) Marketing or management services consultant Market researcher in services Medical
care provider (doctor’s office or HMO representative)Purchasing agent or representative of
services Real estate agent Retailer Sales force manager of services Small service business
owner Software consulting Travel agent Any other service marketing or service managementtype business position First, to prepare for the interview, develop a list of questions or topics you
would like to discuss with your contact.
The interview should cover appropriate material (depending on the interviewee) in the course.
Ask questions related to service marketing with your chosen interviewee. Second, write up the
interview by answering the following 8 sets of questions: (remember to make each set of
questions #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6,#7and #8 appendix a subheading in your paper):#1)
Summarize (do not give a word-for-word account) the more interesting responses to your list of
questions plus any other interesting topics discussed in the interview. Were there any surprises?
Explain. (Remember to use appropriate business terms and weave course concepts and
material into your answers for questions #1 through #6).
#2)
Critically analyze the interviewee responses. Do you feel your contact really understands his/her
field? Explain. Did your contact reinforce points in the text or contradict the text? If so, in your
opinion, which is correct? Be convincing.
#3) Did you learn anything from the interview? Explain. Be specific.
#4) Develop a rating scale before the interview and rate the interviewee(after you have left the
interview) on job performance and any other criteria you feel are appropriate given the course
material and the interviewee’s job activity. Give your results and explain. (I would suggest you
do NOT mention this aspect of the write-up to your interviewee.) [Note: rating items are not
ranking items. With ratings, one uses a scale such as 1-5 where 1 is poor and 5 is very good.
Ranking is where one lists the items in some type of order such as from bad to good.]
#5) Given what you have learned in this course, what concepts or techniques covered in the
course would you recommend your interviewee adopt? Explain. Be specific and convincing.
Write this part as

if you were a consultant hired by your interviewee to review his or her work and make
recommendations.
#6) Would you recommend this type of marketing or management activity (the job activity your
interviewee discussed) to a fellow undergraduate student seeking employment? Explain.
#7) Give the name, company and location of your contact.
#8) In an appendix to the paper, list the questions you asked the interviewee.
The words in this appendix do not count in the 1600 word limit of the paper.
If you feel that your first interview does not give you enough material to write a complete
paper, contact a second person and add the results of the second interview to your
write-up. But, remember, do not go over the
1600 word limit with the two interviews.