Is your call centre a take-away joint or a fine-dining experience?

It doesn't really matter whether you position your business as a 'McDonald's' or a 'Michelin star restaurant'. Both models are successful because, while they meet different needs, they both provide excellent service - service that is consistent with their brands.

No matter what your business does or how your products or services are priced, your brand and its reputation are vital. It doesn't start and end with marketing and branding. If you want to build a base of loyal, returning customers, the promises your brand makes need to carry through into the experience people have after they have become customers. Your brand values should be evident and consistent in every part of the business if you don't want people to become disillusioned by bad customer service, billing or technical support.

If you've built a luxurious five-star brand, for example, your customers will expect the service they receive from your call centre to be world class. Equally, if your business prides itself on speed and efficiency, your call centre should be proof of that.

Live up to the promises made

It's no good spending thousands on advertising if the post-purchase experience does not live up to the promises made by the marketing department.

The secret to successful, consistent customer service is the ability to manage, measure and maintain good standards. Gaining this level of visibility requires a robust system and well-thought-out and managed processes and reporting mechanisms.

Without the ability to measure things like productivity and service quality, maintaining good standards and a solid reputation in the long term is very difficult. And improving them is impossible. Luckily, there are technology solutions available that are designed to give contact centre managers insight into a whole host of key performance indicators like these - so there really is no reason for your business to be let down by poor customer service.