Title: Gower Handbook of Call and Contact Centre Management
Author: Edited by Natalie Calvert
Publisher: Gower Publishing Ltd
ISBN: 0-566-08510-0
Price: £75.00
Reviewer: Sarah Kellett, Services Development Director, Institute of Customer Service.

The Institute of Customer Service can recommend this handbook as a very readable guide to managers either managing an existing call centre or involved in setting one up. Customers are at the core of every successful contact centre but it is often difficult to know how to take the first steps in creating and managing a centre that is efficient, cost effective and delivers the required results to both customers and the bottom line.

This handbook is particularly effective in the way it marshals the individual experience and knowledge of more than 30 experts and distils many man years of call centre development and management into one readable book that is an excellent source of ideas, experience and practical know-how written by people who have actually carried out the roles and projects described.

At the heart of all the management skills, strategies tools and technologies described is the customer and the customer experience – these drive the bottom line. Research published by the Institute of Customer Service shows that there is a positive correlation between the provision of excellent customer service and profit.

It is a book that can be read from start to finish or dipped into for specific guidance and knowledge. It is inspirational and motivational, making the connection between satisfied, fulfilled staff and satisfied customers yet the advice is down to earth and practical ranging from topics such as operator desk arrangements to coaching the reader through the finer points of budget setting and management and statistical analysis of customer feedback.

The book covers all aspects of call centre management but it is also a useful and relevant resource for managers covering or directing other areas of business – the chapters on people management, the business plan and building profitable customer relationships are full of useful practical transferable advice, ideas and knowledge.

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