- •Rules for good customer service and repeat business.
- •2. Fill in the gaps with the most appropriate terms from the bar.
- •Confusing words Customer or client?
- •3. Fill in the gaps with either client, consumer or customer.
- •What is customer care?
- •5. Does a speaker in each sentence offer clients good customer service?
- •Rewarding good customer service
- •The wow Awards
- •1. Turn these questions into indirect questions, beginning I ask.
- •2. Turn these questions into indirect questions, beginning I wonder.
- •3. Tick the sentences that are right. Correct the wrong sentences.
- •4. Write indirect questions.
- •5. Fill in the gaps.
- •6. Rewrite these direct questions as indirect questions starting with the words given.
- •7. Rewrite these direct questions as indirect questions starting with the words given.
- •8. Work with a partner. Use indirect questions to get the information you need.
- •9. Use capital letters where necessary.
- •10. Use capital letters where necessary.
- •1. Rewrite this letter using paragraphs, punctuation and capital letters, where necessary.
- •1. Match the phrases in bold in the text to definitions below.
- •2. Match the phrases in bold in the text to definitions below.
- •3. Match the phrases in bold in the text to definitions below.
- •Confusing words Workforce/Manpower
- •4. Fill in the gaps with the most appropriate term.
- •Employer/Employee
- •5. Fill in the gaps with the most appropriate term.
- •Personnel/Personal
- •6. Fill in the gaps with the most appropriate term.
- •7. Complete the paragraph with these words.
- •8. Complete the introduction to a company report with verbs from the box. Use the words in brackets to help you.
- •9. For each item complete the second sentence so that it has a similar meaning to the first sentence. Use one word from the box each time.
- •10. Complete the sentences below with words from the box.
- •11. Complete the extract from a company report with appropriate words or phrases from the box.
- •12. Complete the article with the correct alternative.
- •13. These sentences describe two companies, Autotech and Green Fingers. Choose pairs of sentences which describe similar things and match them with the correct company.
- •14. Make sentences about the companies using information from the box.
- •You and your company
- •Valentino can continue to grow, but only if it develops new products and finds new markets.
- •1. Underline the present simple or the present continuous form of the verb to complete these sentences.
- •2. Underline the correct form of the verb to complete the e-mail.
- •3. Complete these sentences with the best form of the verbs in brackets: the present simple or the present continuous.
- •4. Complete these sentences with the best form of the verbs in brackets: the present simple or the present continuous.
- •5. Complete this text with the best form of the verbs from the box: the present simple or the present continuous.
- •6. Complete this job advertisement with the best form of the verbs from the box: the present simple or the present continuous.
- •7. Complete the text with the best form of the verbs from the box: the present simple or the present continuous.
- •Ebb Bank
- •Goldcrest Hotel
- •1. Match the phrases in bold in the text to definitions below.
- •2. Fill in the gaps with the most appropriate term.
- •Confusing words
- •3. Fill in the gaps with the most appropriate term.
- •4. Complete the headings in this text with the words below.
- •5. Match the words in bold in the text to these definitions.
- •6. What was your worst journey? Give reasons (delays, long queues, etc.)
- •7. People often do these when they travel. Match the verbs with the correct phrases.
- •8. Complete the sentences with the words from the box.
- •9. Cross out the word that has no partner.
- •Doing business in Indonesia
- •5. Work with a partner. Think of a situation where there can be a misunderstanding between you and someone from a different culture. Use these ideas if necessary.
- •Countries and nationalities
- •1. Here are the names of countries. Write the corresponding adjectives.
- •2. Write the names of the corresponding countries.
- •3. Decide whether each word is a country or nationality. Tick the correct column.
- •4. Make the adjectives of nationalities.
- •5. Make the adjectives of nationalities.
- •6. Use the words in brackets to make the nouns describing nationalities.
- •7. Choose the most appropriate word:
- •The travel game
- •Write present continuous sentences from these prompts.
- •Are these sentences talking about the present (p) or the future (f)?
- •3. Complete this conversation with the present continuous form of the verbs on the list (the first letter of the verb is given).
- •4. Put the verbs in brackets into the present continuous tense.
- •5. Student a
- •Add the verbs from the box to the phrases below to create some common stressful situations.
- •What do you think are the main causes at work?
- •How good are you at troubleshooting? Where and when do you get you best ideas? Complete the following phrases and tick those that are true for you.
- •4. Read the problems that two real companies faced. Try to solve them with a partner.
- •Troubleshooting Techniques
- •1. Match the phrases in bold in the text to definitions below.
- •2. Fill in the gaps with the most appropriate term.
- •Dada Sky Inc.
- •Swot analysis
- •3. Match the phrases in bold in the text to definitions below.
- •4. Fill in the gaps with the most appropriate term.
- •Confusing words
- •What advice can you give in these situations?
- •Complete the sentences. Begin the sentences with “You should/ought to …” Use the phrases in the list or your own words.
- •Complete the sentences. Use should or shouldn’t.
- •Read this article about Turkish business etiquette. Use the notes below to give advice about doing business in Turkey, using should, shouldn’t, ought to, oughtn’t to. Doing business in Turkey
- •Work in pairs. Look at the “Contract for students”. Do you agree on all the rules? contract for students
- •Contract for teachers
- •6. How to keep fit.
- •7. How to make friends.
5. Does a speaker in each sentence offer clients good customer service?
“When I have an unhappy client, I deal with the problem face-to-face rather than by telephone or in writing”
“I had a difficult client who criticized me for something that wasn’t my fault, I apologized for causing the problem because the customer is always right.”
“If a client asks me for help that I’m not really qualified to give, I tell them what I think they want to hear.”
“One of our distributors couldn’t deliver goods to a very important client. Because it was our employee I took full responsibility for the problem.”
Discussion
Work with a partner or in small groups. You work for Pan-European Oil (PEO), which has petrol stations in your country. PEO wants to improve customer service in its petrol stations. Have a meeting to discuss the proposals and decide which one is the best.
- To introduce a new loyalty card: customers get one free litre of petrol for every 200 litres bought.
- To improve the quality of the food in petrol station cafes.
- To employ new staff to operate the petrol pumps for consumers.
- To offer a half-price car wash when customers buy 40 litres of petrol.
Case study
Rewarding good customer service
Background
The wow Awards
The WOW factor, or the ability to impress or surprise people, is something which Derek Williams believes is important in customer care. In fact, Derek is Mr WOW, whose mission in life is to inspire great customer service in the UK. He believes that price competition and product promotion are not as important as employees and existing customers. He says companies should make customers fall in love with them to achieve greater sales and profits. In 1998 he helped to establish the National Customer Service Awards, which have an annual Oscar-style ceremony at a top London hotel.
Discussion
What do you think are the benefits to a company of winning a customer service award?
What categories of award do you think there could be?
Can you think of any companies you would or would not nominate?
Task
You are on the committee for the National Customer Service Awards. Read profiles of different companies below and decide which company you think has given the best customer care and should be given the WOW Award.
Company 1 – Nothing quite like home
I bought some furniture from this company. When I went into the shop, they offered me some coffee and there was a sofa to sit on. When I paid for the furniture, they gave me an envelope which had two balloons inside. They asked me to blow up the balloons on delivery day and put them outside my house. They said it would help the driver to find my house and deliver on time. Ten days later they sent me some vouchers for the company to thank me for helping the driver.
Company 2 – Gizgets
I bought a gadget from the company. The first thing that happened was that they sent me the wrong product. I rang them and they sent me another one immediately but it was more expensive and better quality. Then, unfortunately, a few days later, I dropped it and broke it. It was my fault, but when I phoned to the company asking for a replacement, they were so friendly and offered to give me another free one. It arrived the next day.
Company 3 – Poochworld
I bought some products for my dog from the online company. A couple of weeks after they arrived, I got an email from the owner of the company asking me how my dog was getting on. I was also asked to send in a photo of my dog to go onto their website. People can visit the website and vote for their favourite dog each month. The wnner receives a special bag of dog biscuits. I felt as if the company really wanted to get to know me and my dog.
Grammar
Direct and indirect questions
If we do not begin a question directly, but begin it with something like:
Can you tell me...? Do you know...? I wonder if...? the word order is the same as in an affirmative statement:
e.g. He wanted to know when I could start. (NOT … when could I start.)
Direct question: What is he doing?
Indirect question: Do you know what he is doing?
Direct question: Where have they been?
Indirect question: I wonder where they have been?
Do, does, did.
If the direct question contains do, does or did, we omit it in the indirect question.
Direct question: What do you want?
Indirect question: Can you tell me what you want?
Direct question: When did she leave?
Indirect question: Do you know when she left?