Name_______________________________________ Class______________________________

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.

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 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

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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

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28 Mortgage customers’ experience with staff is _______________ influence on their decision to
buy.

a) not considered a big b) almost never an c) the most important

29 It is important to ask customers’ feelings _______________.

a) at the right time b) before they become angry c) about advertising

30 Brand advertising and communication often focuses on _______________.

a) customer satisfaction b) staff c) products and fees

SKILLS
A Complete the conversation with the words in the box.
see feel get down hang on need talk about don’t think don’t offer

Jan OK, let’s _______________31 to business. The aims of this meeting are to
_______________32 the training budget for this year, and to –

Pat In my opinion, we _______________33 to work on team building. I _______________34 that

we –

Jan Could you just _______________35 a moment, please? The other purpose of this meeting is to
agree the new seating arrangement. OK, now, how do you _______________36 about training,
Pat?

Pat Sales could be better. I don’t think our sales staff understand the product. Why
_______________37 we plan a product training day soon?

Jan I _______________38 what you mean but I think we need to do more. May we could
_______________39 incentives, too.

B Put the sentences into a logical order to make a conversation.

a) This is Lee Simpson.

b) No problem. How about Tuesday at ten o’clock?

c) Great. So I’ll see you on Tuesday. Goodbye.

d) I’d like to speak to Lee Simpson, please.

e) Hello, Lee. This is Dana Kirk. We’ve got an appointment next Monday but I’m afraid
something’s come up. Could we fix another time?

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f) That’s OK for me.

40 _______________ 43 _______________

41 _______________ 44 _______________

42 _______________ 45 _______________

VOCABULARY
A Match the sentence beginnings (46–51) with the best endings (a–f).

46 I prefer to take only carry-on a) of our soft drinks in a popular TV

show.

47 The T-445 is the market b) class when we travel for work.

48 When the New York branch is c) leader, but the challenger is selling
downsized, very well.

49 To keep costs down, we all fly d) about fifty jobs will be cut.
economy

50 After the new system is installed, e) the staff to use it.

we’ll retrain

51 We had a good result from the f) baggage when I travel by air.

placement

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

52 We need to _______________ decision-making to give middle management more control.

a) relocate b) relaunch c) decentralise

53 Customer _______________ means consumers like to keep buying our brand.

a) image b) loyalty c) awareness

54 Americans usually say _______________ for a ‘single’ ticket.

a) round-trip b) one-way c) return

55 After the new team have had time to settle in, we’ll _______________ the situation.

a) reassess b) upgrade c) deregulate

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56 In London, people talk about the _______________ rather than the subway.

a) motorway b) lift c) underground

57 When a famous actor says he uses a product, that’s called an _______________.

a) endorsement b) launch c) share

58 When you reduce the number of employees in an office, you call it _______________.

a) downsizing b) desizing c) resizing

59 At the end of a meal, a British person usually asks for the _______________.

a) check b) cost c) bill

60 A market _______________ is customers of a similar age, income or social group.

a) share b) segment c) leader

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