Seeking a competitive advantage, some professional service firms (for example, firms providing advertising, accounting, or health care services) have considered offering unconditional guarantees of satisfaction. Such guarantees specify what clients can expect and what the firm will do if it fails to fulfill these expectations. Particularly with first-time clients, an unconditional guarantee can be an effective marketing tool if the client is very cautious, the firm's fees are high, the negative consequences of bad service are grave, or business is difficult to obtain through referrals and word-of-mouth.
However, an unconditional guarantee can sometimes hinder marketing efforts. With its implication that failure is possible, the guarantee may, paradoxically, cause clients to doubt the service firm's ability to deliver the promised level of service. It may conflict with a firm's desire to appear sophisticated, or may even suggest that a firm is begging for business. In legal and health care services, it may mislead clients by suggesting that law-suits or medical procedures will have guaranteed outcomes. Indeed, professional service firms with outstanding reputations and performance to match have little to gain from offering unconditional guarantees. And any firm that implements an unconditional guarantee without undertaking a commensurate commitment to quality of service is merely employing a potentially costly marketing gimmick.
(A) The passage does not discuss the popularity of guarantees.
(B) Correct. The passage examines and judges the advantages and disadvantages of a business practice.
(C) The passage does not show how to put guarantees into place.
(D) The passage does not discuss ethics.
(E) The first paragraph does explain the reasons for offering guarantees, but that is only a portion of the passage, not the passage as a whole.
The correct answer is B.
1. The primary function of the passage as a whole is to
(A) account for the popularity of a practice
(B) evaluate the utility of a practice
(C) demonstrate how to institute a practice
(D) weigh the ethics of using a strategy
(E) explain the reasons for pursuing a strategy
(A) The sentence begins by noting that unconditional guarantees are particularly important with new clients; clients of long standing are not discussed.
(B) Lines 12–13 include the difficulty of getting business through referrals and word-of-mouth.
(C) Line 10 cites high fees as such a circumstance.
(D) Lines 10–11 include the severe repercussions of bad service.
(E) Lines 9–10 cite the cautiousness of the client.
The correct answer is A.
2. All of the following are mentioned in the passage as circumstances in which professional service firms can benefit from offering an unconditional guarantee EXCEPT:
(A) The firm is having difficulty retaining its clients of long standing.
(B) The firm is having difficulty getting business through client recommendations.
(C) The firm charges substantial fees for its services.
(D) The adverse effects of poor performance by the firm are significant for the client.
(E) The client is reluctant to incur risk.
(A) The passage does not mention liability limits.
(B) Correct. Some firms off er unconditional guarantees as a way to compete successfully against firms that do not offer them.
(C) Line 10 mentions that high fees would be a reason to off er guarantees, but fee increases are not discussed.
(D) The second paragraph suggests the reverse: offering a guarantee may hurt a firm’s reputation.
(E) Improving the quality of service is not mentioned as a reason to off er guarantees.
The correct answer is B.
3. Which of the following is cited in the passage as a goal of some professional service firms in offering unconditional guarantees of satisfaction?
(A) A limit on the firm's liability
(B) Successful competition against other firms
(C) Ability to justify fee increases
(D) Attainment of an outstanding reputation in a field
(E) Improvement in the quality of the firm's service
(A) Although this statement may be true, it cannot be derived from the cited reference.
(B) Correct. Legal and medical professionals cannot guarantee the outcomes of their work.
(C) This statement cannot be drawn from the description of the issue.
(D) Compensation is not discussed in the reference.
(E) Predicting costs is not discussed in the reference.
The correct answer is B.
4. The passage's description of the issue raised by unconditional guarantees for health care or legal services most clearly implies that which of the following is true?
(A) The legal and medical professions have standards of practice that would be violated by attempts to fulfill such unconditional guarantees.
(B) The result of a lawsuit or medical procedure cannot necessarily be determined in advance by the professionals handling a client's case.
(C) The dignity of the legal and medical professions is undermined by any attempts at marketing of professional services, including unconditional guarantees.
(D) Clients whose lawsuits or medical procedures have unsatisfactory outcomes cannot be adequately compensated by financial settlements alone.
(E) Predicting the monetary cost of legal or health care services is more difficult than predicting the monetary cost of other types of professional services
(A) In this case, the problem occurs after, not before, the service is rendered.
(B) This situation exemplifies another problem of unconditional guarantees, the suggestion that a firm is begging for business (line 21).
(C) The problem occurs after, not before, the service is rendered.
(D) Correct. The architect’s apparent need to offer an unconditional guarantee makes potential clients question the outcome of the architect’s work by suggesting the likelihood of their dissatisfaction with the architectural services.
(E) This situation contradicts the problem.
The correct answer is D.
5. Which of the following hypothetical situations best exemplifies the potential problem noted in the second sentence of the second paragraph (lines 14-17)?
(A) A physician's unconditional guarantee of satisfaction encourages patients to sue for malpractice if they are unhappy with the treatment they receive.
(B) A lawyer's unconditional guarantee of satisfaction makes clients suspect that the lawyer needs to find new clients quickly to increase the firm's income.
(C) A business consultant's unconditional guarantee of satisfaction is undermined when the consultant fails to provide all of the services that are promised.
(D) An architect's unconditional guarantee of satisfaction makes clients wonder how often the architect's buildings fail to please clients.
(E) An accountant's unconditional guarantee of satisfaction leads clients to believe that tax returns prepared by the accountant are certain to be accurate.
(A) The statement in the passage concerns the present; nothing is implied about what may have been true in the past.
(B) The statement includes no information about profitability, so no inference may be drawn.
(C) No information is provided about specific fields or likely outcomes.
(D) Fees are not discussed in this statement.
(E) Correct. No guarantee is needed when clients are already satisfied with the quality of work provided.
The correct answer is E
6. The passage most clearly implies which of the following about the
professional service firms mentioned in line 22?
(A) They are unlikely to have offered unconditional guarantees of satisfaction in the past.
(B) They are usually profitable enough to be able to compensate clients according to the terms of an unconditional guarantee.
(C) They usually practice in fields in which the outcomes are predictable.
(D) Their fees are usually more affordable than those charged by other professional service firms.
(E) Their clients are usually already satisfied with the quality of service that is delivered.
18 Feb 2022, 03:30
74% (01:34) correct
