Description

The economy's service sector now exceeds the manufacturing sector in terms of relative contribution to the GDP. In addition, the service sector is where much of the economy's most vigorous growth is occurring. As a consequence, numerous marketing positions are available in banking and financial service institutions, health care organizations, leisure-oriented businesses, and in various other service settings.

Career Opportunities

Service sector career paths in many cases parallel those found in traditional packaged goods brand management. For example, the individual who manages the marketing of a bank's "NOW" account service is a generalist who coordinates the activities of specialists in sales management, advertising, promotion, and market research. These are high visibility opportunities that offer the possibilities of advancement to top level marketing positions.

Entry Level Positions

Entry-level positions are increasingly available to those with undergraduate business degrees, as well as those with MBAs. Positions are similar to those of the traditional packaged goods assistant brand manager. Other positions may be available in sales capacities, or in a large service firm's market research department. The latter would typically be available only to those with advanced degrees.

Requisite Personal Qualities

Individuals seeking service management positions should be strongly motivated, tenacious, and posses a healthy competitiveness. They should also have strong analytical and communications skills. Leadership ability is important because of the need to coordinate the diverse activities of many service delivery specialists. Because of the intangible (relative to packaged goods) nature of most service sector products, individuals should feel thoroughly comfortable dealing with product attributes and issues that are harder to observe and classify.

Academic Preparation

Individuals should have a broad background in marketing's functional core: strategy, research, advertising and promotion, quantitative analysis, and consumer behavior. Additional coursework in the behavioral sciences should prove useful.