About Us · Our Team and Approach
Our Team and Approach
We believe feedback should help people improve — not simply tell them what went wrong.
A small, specialist agency with senior expertise — and an established belief in fair, constructive, motivating feedback.
Where we started
A belief in better feedback
Silent Customer was founded in 2008 around a simple belief: people are more likely to make positive change when feedback is fair, constructive and delivered with kindness.
That principle still shapes how we work today. We help businesses identify the behaviours that influence customer experience, team performance and commercial outcomes, then turn evidence into clear, practical action.
We recognise what teams do well as well as where the experience could improve. Our role is to make the evidence useful — so managers and teams understand what to keep doing, what to try next and how progress can be re-measured.
Now part of the SHARCC Group, Silent Customer combines a personal, specialist approach with access to wider research, analytics and data capability when a client question needs it.
What we stand for
Give feedback kindly. Celebrate what works. Make the next action clear.
We are not advocates of criticism for criticism’s sake. We want feedback to motivate positive change. That means being honest about the evidence, fair in how it is interpreted and practical about what teams can do differently.
The aim is not to catch people out. It is to understand the customer experience and help people improve it.
The team
Senior expertise, personally involved
Our team profiles add personality and support our positioning as a small specialist agency with senior expertise. New team photography is on the way.
James
James is the Managing Director of Silent Customer and brings nearly a decade of experience in the research industry. Prior to joining Silent Customer, he spent eight years as Managing Director of ESA Retail, where he helped drive business growth, strengthen client relationships, and deliver high-quality insights for leading brands.
Prior to moving into research, James built his career in the consumer electronics retail sector, where he led agency teams responsible for delivering sales activation, training, and merchandising programmes for major global brands. This combination of commercial, retail, and research expertise gives him a deep understanding of customer behaviour and market dynamics.
Outside of work, James is a long-suffering supporter of West Ham United and enjoys a round of golf whenever time allows. With his children heavily involved in sport, much of his spare time is spent coaching, supporting, and chauffeuring them between football, netball, swimming, and a busy social calendar.
Janet
Janet, is our Founder and began in hospitality, working weekends and evenings from the age of 14.
During the many more years that followed in the industry, she saw a clear difference in behaviours, motivation, and productivity when people were given words of encouragement rather than those of critical preaching.
She learned that people perform better when given autonomy to learn from their mistakes, rather than being reprimanded for simply trying their best.
Silent Customer was founded in 2008 bringing learning directly to the front line, based on the core values of giving feedback kindly to motivate and influence positive change.
Collectively we believe that nobody who runs a pub or restaurant goes to work to do a bad job or disappoint customers. We support managers and owners in finding ways to make changes within their organisations to action smoother running operations which generates happier teams, increases sales and reduces revenue leakage.
Our team of editors, client managers and silent customers are all selected based on their understanding of the importance of these values.
Sally
Sally, is our Operations Manager. Previously a software engineer, she began working for Silent Customer in 2016 and is a perfect fit for the mystery shopping world for which tech and data has become a necessity in delivering our services.
As well as having enviable patience in being able to navigate our enormously complex software platforms, Sally is also incredibly kind and patient with our Silent Customers and editors who have to embrace our tech from a different perspective.
Sally is super proactive with client support and highly accurate in just about all she does.
She makes a pretty damn fine chocolate ganache cake too.
Greg
Greg is a Director at Silent Customer and brings a wealth of experience and expertise from across the market research industry. Throughout his career, he has held senior commercial positions with leading organisations, including Nielsen and ESA Retail.
Most recently, Greg served as Chairman of ESA Retail, where he worked closely with the leadership team to provide strategic guidance and support the continued growth of the business.
At Silent Customer, Greg plays a similar role, supporting the development of the business, providing strategic oversight, and helping to drive sustainable growth for clients and the wider organisation.
Outside of work, Greg is a loyal supporter of Carlisle United and enjoys spending time exploring the British countryside.
Richard
Richard has over 15 years’ experience helping organisations better understand their customers and improve the experiences they provide. His career spans customer experience, mystery shopping, retail auditing and pricing research, working with leading organisations across financial services, retail, automotive and transport.
He has built and led client service teams, developed strong partnerships with clients and delivered complex research programmes that help businesses understand customer behaviour and make informed decisions.
At Silent Customer, Richard brings his expertise in customer experience and behavioural research to help clients design effective mystery shopping programmes and uncover the insights that matter most to their business.
Measure behaviour. Change outcomes.
Start with the outcome. We will help build the right evidence and make the next action clear.
