Ejercicios Inglés

Progress Test 1 (Units 1–3)

LISTENING

Track 2

A Listen to the interview with Alicia Chavez, an expert in news media and new technology. Choose the correct answer - a, b or c - to the questions below. You will hear the interview twice.

1 What does Ms Chavez say about newspapers?

a) They will soon be replaced by the Internet.

b) They need to change.

c) They are losing money.

2 What does Ms Chavez say about the newspaper business?

a) It’s becoming easier.

b) It’s becoming more challenging.

c) It’s always been very difficult.

3 What does Ms Chavez say is the main source of income for newspapers?

a) Sales

b) Marketing services

c) Advertising

4 What does Ms Chavez say newspapers should do?

a) Publish on the Internet

b) Encourage readers to buy new devices

c) Understand the technology that people use

5 How does Ms Chavez say that online content will be paid for mostly?

a) By advertising

b) By users paying for it directly, for example, through subscriptions

c) Through the sale of electronic reading devices

6 What does Ms Chavez say about TV?

a) The TV business and the newspaper business are similar.

b) TV will probably be replaced by the Internet.

c) When it was invented, it didn’t end the newspaper business.

LANGUAGE

A Choose the correct words to complete each sentence.

7 (I’m going to visit / I visiting) the factory in Itami next week.

8 Have you (ate / eaten) lunch yet?

9 We’re (worked / working) very hard this week to meet the deadline.

10 (He move / He’s moving) from Brussels to Riyadh in October.

11 We (have / having) a staff meeting every Monday morning.

12 They’ve (decided / going to decide) to close the Barcelona office.

13 My company (producing / produces) brake parts for cars.

14 My fight (arrives / arrived) next Tuesday at noon and my first meeting is at two o’clock.

15 She (goes / has went) to New York about three times a year.

16 (We’ve invested / We investing) about two million dollars in R&D so far this year.

17 I usually (take / am taking) a taxi when I go to head office.

18 We (are being / are) very busy these days.

READING

Read the article about brands.

Brands through people

By Simon Glynn

What makes consumers choose one airline over another or one mortgage provider over its rival?

Our research shows that your reaction to a brand depends on your experience of buying, using or owning it and not just on advertising. The most important part of that experience is often your personal interaction with people. This is an area that most companies don’t understand or invest enough in.

Take airlines. Satisfaction with cabin crew contributes more to people choosing the same airline again than other factors.

Why do companies not spend more on their people when there are clear benefits? Here are two common reasons.

It’s too expensive

Many organisations know that people matter. But they don’t invest in this area because they think it is a luxury they cannot afford. And it’s true that some role models, such as the Four Seasons hotel group or Virgin Atlantic Upper Class, would be too expensive for most to copy.

But there are smart, affordable solutions that create a lot of brand value out of only a little customer interaction. First Direct earns the highest level of customer recommendation of any UK bank through just the telephone contact with its customers.

Customers at QVC, the market-leading television shopping channel, value their interaction with the station’s people – in this case not the call centre staff who take the shopping orders, so much as the relationship that viewers believe they have with QVC’s onscreen presenters.

The importance is not clear

Satisfaction surveys can hide the importance of people. For example, choosing a mortgage is often very influenced by counter staff in a bank or building society. Research with customers at the critical stage, where they have received a quote but not yet signed a document, shows that their interaction with the mortgage provider’s representative is the biggest single influence on their choice.

It is bigger than perceptions of the products and fees, which are often the subject of the brand’s advertising and communications. Yet in the same research conducted after the loan is given, customers may have forgotten the good customer service they received and may focus more on general brand impressions. If you conduct your research at that point – and this is often the case – the very important role that your staff have played will not be clear. FT

A Now decide if these statements are true or false.

19 Advertising is by far the most important way of supporting a brand’s image.

20 Companies often don’t invest enough in counter staff.

21 Customers may become loyal to an airline if they like the cabin crew.

22 Spending money on employee training generally isn’t very beneficial to a company.

23 Most companies need to understand more about how customers behave.

24 Four Seasons and Virgin Atlantic have invested a lot in their people to build brand value.

B Choose the best word or phrase to complete these sentences.

25 First Direct has created high customer satisfaction with _______________ interaction.

a) only a little b) frequent c) Internet-only

26 QVC customers feel that they have _______________ with the company’s presenters.

a) little time b) a relationship c) two-way communication

27 _______________ don’t always give a clear understanding of customers.

a) Satisfaction surveys b) Sales figures c) Perceptions

28 Mortgage customers’ experience with staff is _______________

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