Kate Hardcastle

Kate is known for her determination to transform the customer experience in the UK and beyond. She is often referred to as the “Queen of customer service”. This is because central to her belief  is how the retail sector can engage with consumers.  A consumer champion who listens and translates consumer needs, she has worked with major household brands. These include Silentnight, and in 2011 she established the Customer at the Heart Awards, rewarding great customer service.

Adept at working in the independent sector or with multi-nationals, Kate has combined a “back to basics” pragmatic approach with a career built on helping brands expand and raise their profile.

Delivered around the globe it provides advice to retailers and businesses on using the five senses to entice consumers and increase footfall and profitability.

Kate’s career highs include Business Founder at IWP, General Manager at Halo Intl, Marketing Chief at Silentnight. Furthermore her impressive expertise covers consumer Insight, Brand, Marketing and Communications & Retail.  She is a regular contributor and industry commentator to Sky News, BBC as well as many prevalent trade publications. She is also Patron of a district of the RSPCA, Founder and Chairwoman of The Charity Dreamgirls. In addition she is the Founding Partner of business transformation organisation Insight with Passion.

What can Kate Hardcastle do for your organisation? Maybe ask yourself, “what can’t she do?”.  An award-winning professional, consultant and entrepreneur, Kate Hardcastle MBE, a.k.a. The Customer Whisperer is the UK’s leading ‘go-to’ business expert on consumer insight for National TV and Media and keynote speaker on customer engagement and behaviour.

Her work has included the successful turnaround of ailing retail brands and shopping centres, the creation of powerful consumer brands and as a consultant to oversee business redevelopment, restructure and takeovers.

As a trail-blazer in the male-dominated advisory world, Kate is a huge supporter and advocate for women in business and has paved the way for others. Her work as won her a Queen’s Honours Award for services to business, awarded with an MBE, and she was also the recipient of the Prime Ministers Point of Light Award.

NEW: More than Words

Over 60% of communication is via body language

Yet call & message centres can’t rely on it.

How can you choose language that works & feel confident in serving the customer in the best way? Kate Hardcastle MBE gives the best advice & case studies

NEW: Customer at the heart – Millennials, Gen Z and beyond

In this session, Kate Hardcastle MBE, will examine the myths and realities of emerging shopper generations, and reveal how putting them at the heart of your business can help you better understand, connect with and nurture your future customers.

• Experience, speed and person-ability – The shopper of tomorrow wants it all and it wants it now
• Understanding evolving customer needs and shopping journeys
• How creating a strategy with the customer truly at the heart can make significant change for your business
• How to live it and love it – Nailing your proposition and service delivery
• Keeping up with rapidly evolving customers – Ensuring you’re not meeting needs of future customers with retail solutions from the past
• Who will be the next generation? Predictions to help you prepare for the future shopper

Keynotes also include:

• Get closer to your customers:  ‘The Customer Whisperer’ Kate Hardcastle MBE
• Every customer counts: ‘The Customer Whisperer’ Kate Hardcastle MBE
• Stay one step ahead with business expert Kate Hardcastle MBE
• Building the future around customers with business expert Kate Hardcastle MBE
• #WWPD – What would Poppins Do?
• Things that make you go – OOMPH
• Customer at the Heart
• Bootstrap your Business
• No-one is buying, everyone is selling!