II. Match the words from column A with the words from column B to make word combinations. Translate the word combinations into Russian.

A

1. personalized

2. to keep

3. call

4. to conduct

5. customer

6. age

7. meet

8. half

9. repeat

10.  loyalty

B

a. loyalty

b. the needs

c. survey

d. price

e. card

f. centre

g. group

h. service

i. promises

j. business

III. Circle the correct variant

1. To make somebody wait for a short time is to …

a) put on hold

b) put to hold

2. A prize or a sum of money that is given to someone following an official decision is …

a) award

b) reward

3. To make someone feel that they want to do something and can do it is to …

a) encourage

b) inspire

4. Pleased because something has happened in the way that you wanted is

a) dissatisfied

b) satisfied

5. If something is not good or of a very low quality, we say it’s …

a) poor

b) awful

6. If something is important or noticeable we say it’s …

a) significant

b) specific

7. To answer the phone is to …

a) pick on

b) pick up

8. To cause something to get better is to …

a) improve

b) repair

 

IV. Complete the sentences with words from the Useful Language (the first letter is given):

1. She runs her business very e……….. . And she has just been n ……….. for the best business woman of the year!

2. Did you get any f……….. from customers about our new soap? Maybe we should c ……….. a s ……….. to get to know their opinions.

3. I need to buy a l ……….. it can very useful when working outdoors. I will order it on the internet, I hope the company will keep to the d ……….. d ……….. .

4. A new boss didn’t want to n……….. with his employees.

5. I took a radio back to the shop and asked for a r ……….. because its q ……….. was really poor.

6. They got hundreds of r ……….. for more information about new product.

7. I took a t ……….. to get from the airport to the hotel.

8. There was a p ……….. in the supermarket and they were giving free moisturizers.

9. If you want to buy a plane t ……….. you need to l ……….. o……….. airlines website.

10.  If you always meet the customer needs, you will develop strong c …….. l ………. .

 

 

READING.

V. Read the text and choose sentence a or b which best describes the main point

a. Companies that receive no complaints offer the best service

b. It’s good for companies to receive complaints

Getting better service.

(1)      Australians call the British “whingeing Poms*” because they complain so much. But a new study suggests that Brits should whinge more, not less. A team led by Chris Voss of the London Business School found that service quality in Britain is typically worse than in America. One reason, the research suggests, is that British customers complain less about bad service than hard-to-please Americans do.

(2)      The failure to complain is everywhere in Britain. Hunter Hansen, an American who runs the Marriott Hotel in London’s Grosvenor Square, notes that a British guest would make a fuss only about a significant problem – and even then they would do so in a roundabout way. Americans are critical of even small mistakes.

(3)      The result, Mr. Voss finds, is that Brits suffer. But so do companies in Britain’s service industries: they do not receive much feedback and so loose a chance to improve service quality. They may spend more than they need on service-quality improvements, because they do not get direct help from customers.

(4)      Management gurus know more about how companies respond to complaints than about why the British are phlegmatic. In America, well-run companies have “service recovery” strategies. Staff at the Marriott group are trained in the LEARN routine – Listen, Empathize, Apologize, React, Notify. The final step insures that there’s a record of each complaint. The Ritz hotel chain, another with a good reputation for handling complaints from customers, trains its staff not just to say “sorry” but “Please, accept my apology”.

(5)      When Brits finally complain, they get what they want. Mr. Voss told his doctor that he would like to have the results for test more quickly. “The next time I got them sooner” he says in surprise.

 

*Pom (pommy) - a mildly offensive word used by Australians and New Zealanders for an English person -  англичанин

 

VI. Are the statements true or false?

1. Australians are correct when they say that British people complain too much.

2. The British aren’t very direct when they make complaints.

3. Americans only complain when there’s big problem.

4. British companies don’t spend much on service.

5. The Marriott Hotel Group trains its staff to follow a fixed routine when handling complaints.

6. Complaining about bad service in Britain does bring any result.