Franchise Business Review Interviews Interstate All Battery Center® SVP Scott Miller
Eric Stites of Franchise Business Review recently interviewed Scott Miller, Senior Vice President of the Independent Distributor Group and Interstate All Battery Center® at Interstate Batteries. Miller talked about Interstate and the new All Battery Center franchises available.
Battery Market
The battery market is a $15 billion per year business in the United States, and experts project the market will grow to $18 billion by 2015, increasing by 5% annually. The Interstate® brand has been around for almost 60 years, selling batteries for transportation needs in the wholesale market. Ten years ago, the company expanded into the retail and wholesale markets through their All Battery Center franchises to address an industry that was very fragmented. Today, these franchises provide two revenue streams: 40% in the retail market and 60% in the commercial market.
Company Mission and Values
The mission of Interstate Batteries is to “power the things that make life better for customers,” as the company firmly believes that power is a means to an end. To achieve this mission, the company formed what they term the “Golden Rule” value system, which reads, “Treat others as you would want to be treated.” In this interview, Scott states that the standing joke in the office is that they “want to ‘Golden Rule’ team members and customers to death.” To be a successful franchisee with All Battery Center, candidates must share the company values.
Franchises
According to Miller, the ideal franchisee must understand that a constant sales presence is necessary to succeed with All Battery Centers. Because a larger share of the revenue for each franchise comes from commercial customers, franchisees must either have a strong desire to sell or understand that they need to develop a team with a strong desire to sell. Unlike other retail outlets, All Battery Centers are a “go out and get it” business. For this reason, partners spend a significant amount of time each day systemizing and planning sales activities. Interstate encourages partners to have commercial representatives on the ground running every day, using the processes that have been mapped out for them by the company.
Recruitment
Interstate prides itself on straight talk when interacting with potential All Battery Center franchisees. They firmly believe that being up-front and honest helps reach solutions sooner. The company does not try to sell the franchise and does not consider franchisees to be customers. Instead, Interstate views the franchisee as a partner and this attitude has led to outstanding franchisee satisfaction across the board. In an industry that is less than glamorous, Miller said that long-term franchisees are reporting record growth in an economy that is still struggling. One reason for this is that people keep things longer in a bad economy, so battery replacement is an important part to keeping older electronics running.
Miller also said he believes that All Battery Center is successful due to the alignment of partners with the company values and their way of doing business, and that this partnership is evident to customers, whether retail or commercial. These company values have led to record growth and a business that is relatively recession-proof.
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