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In the more and more competitive service industry, it is no longer enough to promise customer
satisfaction. Today, customer "delight" is what companies are trying to achieve in order to keep and
increase market share.
It is accepted in the marketing industry, and confirmed by a number of researchers, that customers
receiving good service will promote business by telling up to 12 other people; those treated badly tell
tales of woe to up to 20 people. Interestingly, 80 percent of people who feel their complaints are
handled fairly will stay loyal.
New challenges for customer care have come when people can obtain goods and services through
telephone call centers and the Internet. For example, many companies now have to invest (投资) a lot
of money in information technology and staff training in order to cope with the "phone rage"-caused by
delays in answering calls, being cut off in mid-conversation or left waiting for long periods.
"Many people do not like talking to machines," says Dr, Storey, Senior Lecturer in Marketing at City
University Business School. "Banks, for example, encourage staff at call centers to use customer data to
establish instant and good relationship with then. The aim is to make the customer feel they know you
and that you can trust them - the sort of comfortable feelings people have during face-to-face chats with
their local branch manager."
Recommended ways of creating customer delight include: under-promising and over-delivering (saying
that a repair will be carried out within five hours, but getting it done within two) replacing a faulty product
immediately; throwing in a gift voucher (购物礼券) as an unexpected "thank you" to regular customers;
and always returning calls, even when they are complaints.
Aiming for customer delight is all very well, but if services do not reach the high level promised,
disappointment or worse will be the result. This can be eased by offering an apology and an explanation
of why the service did not meet usual standards with empathy (for example, "I know how you must feel"), and possible solutions (replacement, compensation or whatever fairness suggests best meets the case).
Airlines face some of the toughest challenges over customer care. Fierce competition has convinced
them at that delighting passengers is an important marketing tool, while there is great potential for
customer anger over delays caused by weather, unclaimed luggage and technical problems.
For British Airways staff, a winning telephone style is considered vital in handling the large volume of
calls about bookings and flight times. They are trained to answer quickly, with their names, job title and
a "we are here to help" attitude. The company has invested heavily in information technology to make sure
that information is available instantly on screen.
British Airways also says its customer care policies are applied within the company and staff are
taught to regard each other as customers requiring the highest standards of service.
Customer care is obviously here to stay and it would be a foolish company that used slogans such as
"we do as we please". On the other hand, the more customers are promised, the greater the risk of
disappointment.
1. We can learn from Paragraph 2 that _______.
A. complaining customers are hard to satisfy
B. unsatisfied customers receive better service
C .satisfied customers catch more attention
D. well-treated customers promote business
2. The writer mentions "phone rage"(Paragraph 3)to show that ________.
A. customers often use phones to express their anger
B. people still prefer to buy goods online
C. customer care becomes more demanding
D. customers rely on their phones to obtain services
3. What does the writer recommend to create customer delight?
A. Calling customers regular.
B. Giving a "thank you "note.
C. Delivering a quicker service.
D. Promising more gifts.
4. If a manager should show his empathy (Paragraph 6), what would be probably said?
A. "I know how upset you must be."
B. "I appreciate your understanding."
C. "I'm sorry for the delay."
D. "I know it's our fault."
5. Customer delight is important for airlines because ________.
A. their telephone style remains unchanged
B. they are more likely to meet with complaints
C. the services cost them a lot of money
D. the policies can be applied to their staff
6. Which of the following is conveyed in this article?
A. Face-to -face service creates comfortable feelings among customers.
B. Companies that promise more will naturally attract more customers.
C. A company should promise less but do more in a competitive market.
D. Customer delight is more important for air lines then for banks.