Customer service: The Fuelstar approach  

We all know the value of good customer service, after all, we are all customers. Outside of work, we are customers when we shop, eat out in a restaurant or even when we have to pay our utility bills. While within a professional setting almost any interaction with another company places us as a ‘customer’, even if we’re not the ones signing off on the purchase order. In all of those situations we instinctively feel the benefit of good customer service and the frustration of receiving poor service.  

For customers, especially in a business-to-business setting, once the pre-sales and order fulfilment process has been completed, the next key interaction is with the customer service team. Customer services serves as the gateway for customers to inquire about the product or service, to raise questions and concerns, and to engage with the company they have chosen as ‘partners’ to resolve their issues.  

From a business perspective, customer service is a vital part of any organisation and can go a long way to enhancing (or destroying) a brand’s image and reputation. It is where customer loyalty can be won, where upsell and cross-sell opportunities can present themselves, and a single sale can become a long-term partnership.  

AI and Customer Service  

It has been claimed that AI will be the future of many different sectors and customer service is no different. Yet, as with nearly all other sectors, the truth is that AI can help in some respects, but it is a long way from being able to take over completely.  

Assisting with automation and pattern spotting are areas that AI can excel at, but at Fuelstar we believe that customer service is, and should remain, a human endeavour. Our support for you will always be led by real people.  

We do not believe that AI will ever be able to fully replace people as the key elements of customer service require that special human touch, such as:  

Listening: We don’t mean listening so that we can pass you along to the next choice of the Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system, we mean actually and actively listening. People listen in a way that makes the customer feel heard, but also in a way that clarifies the issues and moves the conversation in the right direction.

Empathy and Understanding: Through actively listening people can relate to the caller, they can understand and empathise with them. They can create the kind of human connection that AI can never achieve.

Adaptability: People can more easily and quickly adapt to the individual they are dealing with. This allows conversations to jump, change course or repeat themselves as they do naturally amongst people.

Problem Solving: Adaptability leads to problem solving. There are times where the solution required is one that is ‘out-of-the-box’ and finding those options is only something that people can do.

Human Connection: Finally, one of the key reasons to employ people in customer service is that most customers would rather deal with a person. That becomes even more important when it is a person that you have dealt with before. Long-term engagement, especially when issues are successfully resolved, creates a sense of trust and a strength of relationship that even the best AI cannot replicate.  

What this means for you  

Here at Fuelstar we pride ourselves on our customer service and we are very proud of the team that works most closely with you, our customer. One of the key aspects of our customer service approach is that we don’t believe in waiting for issues to arise, instead we always seek to be proactive. This means that at Fuelstar customer service starts as soon as the project does.

All Fuelstar projects include the following:  

• Initial scoping: initial exploratory conversations enable us to understand your key requirements and produce detailed workflows and integration work. This ensures that we all have clear visibility of how the project will progress.  
  
  
• Go-Live support: from the moment the project goes live we are by your side offering enhanced support, either on-site or remote, to ensure that everything happens as smoothly as possible.  
  
  
• Configuration: the full Fuelstar system is fully configured to your desired workflow, including setting up all the master data, so that all implementation is complete.  
  
  
• Training: we also believe in providing quality training, with a ‘train the trainer’ approach so that you can manage future training requirements quickly and cost-effectively internally.  
  
  
• Installation: all equipment is professionally installed and checked. Sometimes the installation process will be staggered across the fleet, in order to minimise disruption, and we will work with you to agree an installation strategy.  
  
  
• Project Management: throughout all of the process we provide experienced project management to ensure governance of all project delivery related activities.   Should you need ongoing support once your project is live, then our team of support personnel – real people, experienced at providing enhanced support services that help you to optimise the running of your business operation – is on hand.  

Fuelstar customer service will always offer:

• UK based support helpdesk
• E-Portal online booking system for instant, online support
• Rapid response call out from our team of qualified mobile engineers.  

However, the exceptional, personal support they offer means more than that. It means that any operational issues that you may face are swiftly rectified, so that normal business operations can continue, and any downtime is minimised. Our customer support works to ensure that you can always use Fuelstar to enhance the efficiency of your fuel delivery operation.    

Our People  

Mark Owen -  Head of Projects & Service Delivery  

Before joining Touchstar, Mark had worked in the fuel industry for nine years, including spending time in Germany. At Touchstar Mark’s job involves being responsible for delivering all customer projects, including planning, scheduling, risk management, resource allocation, and communication with stakeholders. But this role allows him to “See happy customers after we have delivered a project on time.” Outside of work, Mark enjoys travelling and visiting cities across Europe, coastal walks and hiking.  

Craig D'John - Software developer   

Craig started out at Touchstar as a Junior Developer, but now helps to develop the key mobile software used by our customers – including developing the fuel delivery applications to cover the needs of over 2,000 vehicles throughout UK, Europe, Middle East and Africa. It is the success of these projects that gives Craig his greatest satisfaction at work and [almost] makes up taking him away from spending time with his family and dog. Craig also enjoys watching football, rugby, ice hockey and playing video games, including on retro gaming systems.  

Chris Edwards - Business Support Executive   

Chris joined a forward thinking Touchstar over 18 years ago! Although despite being with us so long, he still loves the fact that every day is different. One of Chris’s major successes in his role was introducing our support ticketing system. While outside of the office he’s keen on the outdoors, National Trust and drinking new ales as part of his CAMRA membership.  

Luke Hall Software Support Engineer

Luke provides remote software support to customers and loves getting rewarding feedback from end users upon resolving a query. The hardworking and friendly environment at Touchstar is what Luke enjoys in the office, while out of it he enjoys watching football and playing video games.