With so many people involved in the process (client, recruitment agency, umbrella company and you), unfortunately it is inevitable that mistakes will be made.

But if a mistake is made on your account, how quickly does your Umbrella company sort it out for you?

The average Umbrella company will make around 2 mistakes a year that will directly affect you. Depending on how well the Umbrella company manage those mistakes will determine whether you stay on as a customer. It would be better to have one mistake a month which was satisfactorily resolved (cash back opportunity?), rather than one a year which left you out of pocket and fed up.

You should be able to say ‘Yes' to these questions:

• If my Umbrella company make a mistake, it's sorted even before I've noticed.
• If I spot a mistake and tell them, my Umbrella company are prompt, polite and treat me well in the process.

• Timesheet goes astray. You know you've sent it to them, but the Umbrella company swear it never arrived.
• Invoice to your agency is late. If you miss your agency deadline you'll have to wait for the next one before they'll pay your Umbrella company.
• Invoice wrong. Your agency will reject an invoice if it doesn't match the details on your contract and authorised timesheet.
• Monies not identified. Your agency may pay your Umbrella company, but they haven't yet worked out which amount is yours.
• Expenses not taken into account by your Umbrella company. This means you'll be paying more tax than you expected.
• Tax code. If your Umbrella company don't have your P45 you may be placed on emergency tax - that's not good.
• Cash not received in bank. Your Umbrella company sent you a payslip but your money hasn't arrived yet into your bank account.

David Jackson was part of the team that founded the Customer Experience Awards 14 years ago. Exposure to the customer service practices of thousands of UK companies has helped Jackson to formulate this list list of the ten most important lessons:

1. Customer intelligence is based on three questions: Who are our chosen customers? What are their needs and expectations? How are we doing in meeting their needs?

2. Understand how customers think. Few firms have begun to consider how they can test for the emotional elements of the customer experience.

3. Trust in your people. It is people that deliver great service, not companies. The award winners all give their staff as much freedom, choice and opportunity as possible.

4. Work for and with people who believe in service excellence. If the people at the top of an organisation don't believe in service excellence, it won't happen.

5. Master the art of organisation design. Service excellence is a function of how the organisation is designed. Its key elements are what the leaders do and how effective management processes are in facilitating the desired outcome.

6. Make the link to the bottom line. Masters of service excellence understand customers who have a great experience are more likely to continue to buy from their companies and more likely to recommend them to others.

7. Make everything a little better every day. Leaders in service excellence train their people to drive continuous improvement.

8. Understand that the future will be different. Technology is changing the way service is delivered all the time. Failing to grasp the opportunities and threats presented will mean failure.

9. Learn from your mistakes. Everybody makes mistakes but winners learn from them, giving their frontline people as much freedom as possible to fix problems. When individuals or teams make mistakes, use them as opportunities to learn.

10. Make things easier for customers. Too many firms still make buying unnecessarily difficult - for both retail and business customers - with unclear pricing, insufficient information and poor support & service. Customer patience is limited.