单选题 ·Read the article below about customer loyalty on the opposite
page. ·For each question 13-18, mark one letter(A, B, C
or D)for the answeryou choose.
The MiSmanagement of Customer
Loyalty The best customers, we're told, are loyal
ones. They cost less to serve, they're usually willing to pay more than other
customers. and they often act as word-of-mouth marketers for your company. Win
loyalty, therefore, and profits will follow as night follows day. Certainly
that's what CRM software vendors—and the armies of consultants who help install
their systems—are claiming. And it seems that many business executives agree.
Corporate expenditures on loyalty initiatives are booming：The top 16 retailers
in Europe, for example, collectively spent more than $1 billion last
year。Indeed, for the last ten years, the gospel of customer loyalty has been
repeated so often and so loudly that it seems almost crazy to challenge
it. But that is precisely what some of the loyalty movement's
early believers are starting to do. Take the case of one high-tech corporate
service provider. This company set up an elaborate costing scheme to track the
performance of its newly instituted loyalty programs. The scheme measured not
only direct product costs for each customer but also all associated advertising,
service, sales force, and organizational expenses. After running the scheme for
five years, the company was able to determine the profitability of each of its
accounts over time. Executives were curious to see just what payoff they were
getting from their $2 million annual investment in customer loyalty.
The answer took them by surprise. About half of those customers who made
regular purchases for at least two years—and were therefore designated as
‘loyal’—barely generated a profit. Conversely, about half of the most profitable
customers were blow-ins, buying a great deal of high-margin products in a short
time before completely disappearing. The research findings echo
that company's experience. Some experts have been studying the dynamics of
customer loyalty and have found that the relationship between loyalty and
profitability is much weaker—and subtler—than the proponents of loyalty programs
claim. Specifically, they discovered little or no evidence to suggest that
customers who purchase steadily from a company over time are necessarily cheaper
to serve, less price sensitive, or particularly effective at bringing in new
business. Indeed, in light of their findings, many companies
will need to reevaluate the way they manage customer loyalty programs. Instead
of focusing on loyalty alone, companies will have to find ways to measure the
relationship between loyalty and profitability so that they car better identify
which customers to focus on and which to ignore. The experts have found. a new
methodology that will enable managers to determine far more precisely than most
existing approaches do just when to let go of a given customer and so
dramatically improve the returns on their investments in
loyalty.
单选题
What does the writer say about customer loyalty in the first paragraph?
单选题
According to the second paragraph, many people are involved in the job to generate customer loyalty besides
【正确答案】
C
【答案解析】从第二段的第四句“The scheme measured…sales force, and organizational expenses. ”可推断出销售队伍与培养顾客忠诚度有关。A、B、D三项的内容在文章中都未提及，因此，C为正确选项。
单选题
The high-tech corporate sewice provider produced a costing scheme in order to
【正确答案】
D
【答案解析】从第二段的第三至最后一句可知该公司制作成本图的目的不仅仅是观察对每个顾客来说的产品的成本，也观察所有相联系的广告、服务、销售队伍和组织开支。但管理者们最关心的是在培养顾客忠诚度方面的投入带来了多少利润，“Executives were Curious to see just what payoff they were getting from their $2 million annual investment in customer loyalty. ”D项为该公司制作成本图的目的之一，而选项A、B、C在文中都未被提及。因此，D为正确选项。
单选题
According to the research findings, the customers who will bring in more profit are those who
【正确答案】
B
【答案解析】从第三段最后一句话“Conversely, about half of the most profitable customers were blow-ins, buying a great deal of high-margin products in a short time before completely disappearing. ”可知能给公司带来更多利润的是那些偶尔来此购物的顾客。本句中的“blow-ins”是相对于regular customers而言的，指那些偶尔来此购物的顾客。选项A与“About half of those customers who made regular purchases for at least two years—and were therefore designated as'loyal'—barely generated a profit. ”所述内容相反。选项D与第四段中的“Specifically, they discovered little or no evidence to suggest that customers who purchase steadily from a company over time are necessarily cheaper to serve, less price sensitive，or particularly effective at bringing in new business. ”所述内容相反。选项C没有被提及。因此，B为正确选项。
单选题
According to the fourth paragraph. the discovery of some experts disapproves the belief that loyal customers
【正确答案】
C
【答案解析】从第四段最后一句话“Specifically, they discovered little or no evidence to suggest that customers who purchase steadily from a company over time are necessarily cheaper to serve, less price sensitive, or particularly effective at bringing in new business”，可知专家们发现几乎没有证据显示为那些老顾客提供服务的成本更低，这些顾客更不在乎价格，或者能够给公司带来新顾客。因此，C为正确选项。
单选题
It can be inferred from the passage that the writer suggests companies should
【正确答案】
A
【答案解析】“从文章中可以推断出作者建议公司应该……”根据第五段第二、三句“Instead of focusing on loyalty alone, companies will have to find ways to measure the relationship between loyalty and profitability so that they can better {{U}}identify which customers to focus on and which to ignore.{{/U}} The experts have found a new methodology that will enable managers to determine far more precisely than most existing approaches do just when to {{U}}let to of a given {{/U}}{{U}}customer{{/U}} and so dramatically improve the returns on their investments in loyalty”，尤其是画线部分可以推断出公司要分辨出哪些顾客应该给予关注(focus on)，哪些顾客可以忽略(ignore)的目的就是为了更加有效地吸 引能给公司带来更多利润的顾客，而这些顾客未必是老顾客。因此，可排除B、D、C项，A为正确选项。