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Passage 52 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 (5) 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 (10) 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 fail- (15) ure 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 (20) services, it may mislead clients by suggesting that law- suits or medical procedures will have guaranteed out- comes. Indeed, professional service firms with outstandin reputations and performance to match have little to gain from offering unconditional guarantees. And any firm (25) that implements an unconditional guarantee without undertaking a commensurate commitment to quality of service is merely employing a potentially costly marketing gimmick.

1. The primary function of the passage as a whole is to