Standing out among your competitors is no longer about having cool branding or witty content — it’s about the whole customer experience.

From text to email, there are many ways to communicate in the modern age. In business, talking on the phone has proven to be the most important medium of them all, still. A single phone call can be the deciding factor on whether you gain or lose a customer. 

If you work in customer service or more specifically, a call center, chances are you've dealt with customer complaints before. And if you haven't, don't worry, your time is coming.

Falling in love with customer service is easy. Helping someone find a solution to a problem leaves us going home satisfied and gives us a sound night's sleep. When you provide great service, your customers become so much more than that.

Call Center - Basic Customer Service Solutions Over the Phone

What it is: A call center is something we all know about, but might not be able to define. The basic definition of a call center is a place to outsource your basic call needs such as:

• Information gathering
• Call handling from advertising
• Conference registrations
• Retail ordering

No matter the industry you are in, a great customer experience is vital to the success of your small business. There are enough challenges when growing a business without adding poor customer service to the mix.

Customer service leads to happy customers, and happy customers keep buying your products and services. It really is that simple on the surface, but there is more nuance.

Whether you should provide great customer service isn’t a question, yet determining what form of department or partnership is right for your company can be perplexing. Factors including cost, time and effort all weigh heavily on the decision on whether to build and train an in-house customer service department or to outsource and partner with someone like an answering service.

Finding the right answering service can feel like a long list of features and services. It can be hard to sort through what matters the most to you. If your company works a lot locally, off-site, and one-to-one with customers then a local answering service offers you something no other answering service can, a personal flair you can’t get anywhere else.

We all love to hate some of the awful customer service reps we see in movies and on TV because sometimes we can relate so closely it hurts. Here are some of our favorite customer service reps and why you never want them anywhere near your customers (except one).