Life at Goldstar – Behind the scenes with Customer Services

The Goldstar Transport origin story began with just a few office staff and a tiny fleet of 4 Scania’s. From day one our ambitions have been big. But the truth is, we wouldn’t be where we are today without the team of people past and present who make Goldstar great.

Over this series, we’ll be shining a spotlight on what really makes Goldstar tick. We’ll take you behind the scenes to meet the people who keep the wheels turning on the UK’s number 1 container haulage company.

Good Customer Service Costs Less Than Bad Customer Service

Working in customer service has to be one of the toughest jobs in the transport industry. It may not be a physically demanding role like our warehouse divisions, and it doesn’t have the documented struggles that our driving teams face every day, but reputation is everything in this game. Our customer service teams are on the front line ensuring our customers get the Goldstar service we are known for and coming up with creative solutions for the times when things just don’t go as planned.

It doesn’t matter how great your company is: If your customer service is poor, people will complain about it, and you’ll lose customers.

When a customer leaves a business, 86% of the time it’s due to a bad experience. A good customer service team is the foundation of any successful business and Goldstar Transport are proud to have the best customer service team in the business – with an outstanding track record in delivering excellence.

That’s why this month’s focus is entirely on our excellent Customer Services team.

Goldstar’s Customer Service Heroes

This month we spoke to Belinda and Karen, part of the customer service dream team at our HQ in Felixstowe, and James, the first point of contact for Goldstar customer accounts enquiries at our Liverpool, Knowsley Office. They provided us with honest and insightful information on life in Customers Services at Goldstar.

A Typical Day Behind the Scenes at Customer Services

We asked Belinda Stephenson, Customer Account co-ordinator, craft-loving grandma and Liverpool fan, what a typical day looks like for her.

“As a general rule of thumb, the morning is madness, especially a Monday morning, catching up on delivery times & issues from the weekend. A ‘normal’ weekday morning is checking the work from the night before, then making sure all work for customers is planned for the next working day and all is released. Afternoons are a little easier and less hectic, although that can change if any of the ports close!”

Liverpool rising star James Collins, who was inspired to join the transport industry by his father, adds that constant communication with the customer; updating Goldstar and making sure the jobs are correct – from the input to the delivery and container return – are essential to success.

Karen Lambert has progressed through the company in the 9 years she’s been with us. She initially joined as Bookings Clerk and is now one of our valued Customer Account Coordinators. Her days follow a similar pattern.

Karen says “Each day I’ll go through my checklist – Checking my customer containers are released for the next-day deliveries and reporting back any issues. I’ll deal with any emails and be the first port of contact for our customers on the telephone. Then I’ll work out and send customer demurrage charges and all the quotes. My role also includes helping the Traffic Operators/Planners with any issues that may arise throughout the day.”

What really goes on in a Customer Services Job?

We’ve always got our eyes and ears open, so we understand that working in customer-facing roles isn’t always the easiest. So, if you’re working for us – what are some of the challenges you’ll face? We asked our customer services teams what their favourite parts of their jobs are and lift the lid on the parts of a customer service job that makes them want to scream.

The general consensus is that attempting to fulfil customer requirements in troubling periods is the biggest challenge. Covid -19 is the obvious one that springs to mind, but port closures are another event that puts our teams to the test. Overcoming these hurdles does have unexpected benefits though and many of our staff cite that their biggest accomplishments within the business involve successfully managing these issues.

What makes a customer service team great?

Our thanks go to Karen and Belinda in Felixstowe along with James in Liverpool for giving us their insights into customer services at Goldstar Transport. It’s clear to see that they were born to be in customer services. Each team member mentioned ‘helping’ throughout our interviews, not just the buzz they get from problem-solving for a customer, but the importance of building good relationships and supporting colleagues.

“Customer service shouldn’t just be a department; it should be the entire company.”

As far as team shoutouts go, Karen put it best when she told us “I believe that one person cannot be singled out as the office is full of expertise, which enables us to work as a strong team”. We couldn’t agree more.

Comments such as this are how we know that we simply wouldn’t be Goldstar without everyone in our customer services team.

Customer Services jobs in the Transport, Haulage and Logistics Industry

We are always looking for the next gold star employee. If you’re friendly and motivated to give great customer service via phone & email, and confident in building strong internal and external relationships we’d love to hear from you.

Ideally, you will have experience of customer services, however, we have an excellent record of training – take a look at our current vacancies or sign up to our jobs newsletter today. Next time, we’ll go behind the scenes with our Operations team to meet our planners and traffic operators as we discover more about life at Goldstar!