Bill Price was Amazon’s first Vice President of Global Customer Service and is the founder and president of Driva Solutions, dedicated to creating and sustaining highly effective customer contact strategies and operations, locally and globally. He is an analytics and customer experience expert with over 35 years’ experience directing operations and consulting leading companies and he’s my guest this week on the On Brand podcast.

About Bill Price

Bill Price started Driva Solutions in September 2001 to help companies achieve the delicate balance between cost containment and greater customer loyalty, co-founded the 9-country LimeBridge Global Alliance in early 2002, and is the lead co-author of three books: The Best Service is No Service, Your Customer Rules!, and The Frictionless Organization. 

Bill served as Amazon’s first Vice President of Global Customer Service and before that was Vice President & General Manager of MCI Call Center Services, COO & CFO with a start-up software company in San Francisco, and a Senior Engagement Manager with McKinsey & Company in San Francisco and Stockholm. Bill received his undergraduate degree from Dartmouth College and his MBA from Stanford University and lives in Bellevue, Washington.

Episode Highlights

Wait, Bill started a business in September of 2001? “Actually, it was on September 1, 2001,” Bill noted, adding, “I was in Boston and ended up stuck there with my first client.” This turned out to be good for building their relationship.

How to navigate challenging times like 9/11 and COVID. Beginning our conversation with a business in the aftermath of 9/11 is surprisingly relevant in looking at business today in the wake of a global pandemic. “There a lot of concern for customers. ‘If we lose them—we’ll lose them forever.’”

What to do when you’re in a consistently inconsistent environment. Bill advises brands to find their “true north” and continue moving toward it, going around or through obstacles that lie ahead.

What is The Frictionless Organization? In discussing his latest book, Bill notes that you have to first define all the different forms of customer friction. His book does this in an innovative way—providing both good and bad stories (case studies) of organizations with various forms of organizational/customer friction.

What brand has made Bill smile recently? After talking about both good and bad stories, Bill closed with a good story from a brand that made him smile, Les Schwab Tire Company—for their simple, ongoing efforts at building loyalty.

To learn more, check out Bill’s website for the book at frictionlessorg.com.

Want more Bill Price On Brand? Check out his first appearance back in 2017!

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Until next week, I’ll see you on the Internet!

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