Cloze test.
Everyone in business has been told that success is all about attracting and retaining (留住) customers. It
sounds and achievable. But,1, words of wisdom are soon forgotten. Once companies have attracted
customers they often2the second half of the story. In the excitement of beating off the competition,
negotiating prices, securing orders, and delivering the product, managers tend to become carried away. They
forget what they regard as the boring side of business-3that the customer remains a customer.
4to concentrate on retaining as well as attracting customers costs business huge amounts of money
annually. It has been estimated that the average company loses between 10 and 30 per cent of its customers
every years. In constantly changing5 , this is not surprising. What is surprising is the fact that few companies
have any idea how many customers they have lost.
Only now are organizations beginning to wake up to those lost opportunities and calculate the6implications.
Cutting down the number of customers a company loses can make a big7in its performance. Research in
the US found that a five per cent decrease in the number of defecting (流失的) customers led to8increases
of between 25 and 85 per cent.
In the US, Domino's Pizza estimates that a regular customer is worth more than $5,000 over ten years. A
customer who receives a poor quality product or service on their first visit and9never returns, is losing the
company thousands of dollars in10profits (more if you consider how many people they are likely to tell about
their bad experience).
The logic behind cultivating customer11is impossible to deny. 'In practice most companies' marketing
effort is focused on getting customers, with little attention paid to12them', says Adrian Payne of Cornfield
University School of Management. 'Research suggests that there is a close relationship between retaining
customers and profits.'13customers tend to buy more, are predictable and usually cost less to service
than new customers. Furthermore, they tend to be less price14, and may provide free word-of-mouth
advertising. Retaining customers also makes it15for competitors to enter a market or increase their share of
a market.
( )1.A. in particular
( )2.A. emphasize
( )3.A. denying
( )4.A. Moving
( )5.A. markets
( )6.A. culture
( )7.A. promise
( )8.A. cost
( )9.A. as a result
( )10.A. huge
( )11.A. beliefs
( )12.A. altering
( )13.A. Assumed
( )14.A. agreeable
( )15.A. unfair B. in reality
B. doubt
B. ensuring
B. Hoping
B. tastes
B. social
B. plan
B. opportunity
B. on the whole
B. potential
B. loyalty
B. understanding
B. Respected
B. flexible
B. difficult C. at least
C. overlook
C. arguing
C. Starting
C. prices
C. financial
C. mistake
C. profit
C. in conclusion
C. extra
C. habits
C. keeping
C. Established
C. friendly
C. essential D. first of all
D. believe
D. proving
D. Failing
D. expenses
D. economical
D. difference
D. budget
D. on the contrary
D. reasonable
D. interest
D. attracting
D. Unexpected
D. sensitive
D. convenient