Business

My internship with Envoy, subsidiary of Maritz research has helped me develop many competencies that are key to conducting successful marketing research interviews. I could definitely say that I became a better speaker, better persuader and above all this experience has taught me how to tolerate stress, especially during times I was coping with a difficult customer who thought I was a telemarketer as opposed to a research interviewer. This brings up an important point when dealing with customers since most of them apparently assume that a marketing research call is a telemarketing call which means that from the start we need to clarify to the customer that our purpose in contacting them is to improve the level of service that our clients offer them and not to sell them anything. In this direction, the interviewer has a significant importance since interviewing becomes the key into getting unbiased and real opinions from consumers. All the work that goes into a study is either made or broken by the interviewer's capability this is why it is important to make a good but impartial impression. And therefore every study is only as good as its interviewer.

The importance of the interviewer:

* The interviewer should be observant, sensitive, and with a pleasant personality.

* The interviewer should not be too aggressive or too backward.

* The interviewer should be free of obvious racial, political, and religious prejudices.

* The interviewer should be professional and should have great delivery skills

* The interviewer should be conversational and polite even when the respondent is rude.

* Most importantly interviewers must read each question verbatim every time to ensure consistency in a study.