Scott Williams is the CEO of Batteries Plus, which he joined in January 2019.
For over 25 years “in retail and e-commerce,” Scott Williams has proven herself to be a “highly accomplished executive.”
Batteries Plus chose Scott Williams as CEO because of his “perfect combination of experience, expertise and vision.”
Before Batteries Plus, Scott Williams “held a number of positions at Cabela’s,” which include being the “President of Cabela’s Inc., Executive Vice President, and Chief Commercial Officer.”
For 6 years at Cabela’s, Scott Williams has delivered significant achievements. He has improved “retail operations,” revamped “marketing, as well as many others.”
Scott Williams has also served in senior management roles with Fanatics, Samsclub.com, and OfficeMax.
While pursuing his MBA at Northwestern, Scott Williams didn’t learn much about “retail, e-commerce and omnichannel capabilities” during business classes. He “didn’t anticipate that I would become focused on this sector.”
However, OfficeMax tasked Scott Williams to run “all the marketing, e-commerce, and direct-to-consumer messaging” for the company, which became a “pivotal moment in my career.”
The company was a “Top-6 e-commerce site,” and Scott Williams “was thrown into the deep end based on my propensity with CRM experience.”
Scott Williams also had a “background with successful advertising campaigns, such as The Rubberband Man.”
In 2000, Scott Williams had already begun working in e-commerce while it was “still seen as small and emerging.”
Check out more interviews with e-commerce executives here.
I saw early-on that Batteries Plus had a lasting competitive advantage. Scott Williams, Batteries Plus
Jerome Knyszewski: Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dive in, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your ‘backstory’ and how you got started?
Scott Williams: I grew up in Kansas and graduated from the University of Kansas in Lawrence.
Eventually, travelling north to Chicago to pursue my MBA at Northwestern.
During business school there wasn’t much being said about retail, e-commerce and omnichannel capabilities, so I didn’t anticipate that I would become focused on this sector.
However, a pivotal moment in my career was being tasked to run all the marketing, e-commerce, and direct-to-consumer messaging for Office Max.
I transitioned from serving as the SVP, of Marketing with Boise Cascade to the SVP of Marketing for Office Max, the newly acquired company.
It was a Top-6 e-commerce site and I was thrown into the deep end based on my propensity with CRM experience and background with successful advertising campaigns, such as The Rubberband Man.
At that point in 2000, e-commerce was still seen as small and emerging.
Jerome Knyszewski: Can you share an “Aha Moment” that influenced the success of Batteries Plus?
Scott Williams: As I joined Batteries Plus my analysis focused primarily on the question “What’s our moat?” — meaning what protection can we build or fortify to avoid attacks on our castle — in this case the castle being the company — from competitors aka primarily online retailers.
Despite the articles written about the difficult future for retail and those public failures and store closures, I saw early-on that Batteries Plus had a lasting competitive advantage.
We’re a specialty retailer with a real niche as our categories are primarily product plus service — hence the plus differentiator.
For example, we install auto batteries that cannot be shipped to homes (as they contain lead) and are challenging for most to install.
Also, our key fob business reduces the hassle of any at-home programming and saves consumers time from having to schedule an appointment at their auto dealership. Service in this case is both knowledge and installation.
In fact, 97% of our e-commerce orders are ordered online and picked up in store or serviced on-site (BOPS or buy online, pickup in-store), compared to single digits for most omnichannel retailers — this is our moat!
Jerome Knyszewski: Can you tell us a story about the hard times that you faced when you first started your journey? Did you ever consider giving up? Where did you get the drive to continue even though things were hard?
Scott Williams: When I joined, sales were a bit sluggish, franchise owners were seeking momentum, and new franchise sales were relatively flat, causing me to explore the root of the challenge.
Interestingly, we had many of the fundamentals in place — but we weren’t telling our story or getting credit for all the services we provide.
Some customers didn’t know about our device repair business or key fob programming and some were confused by the Batteries Plus Bulbs naming, which limited our scope to consumers.
That was another pivotal moment internally as we recognized that our greatest brand story was not being told.
Fast forward two years, we are now no longer positioning Batteries Plus as the best retail franchise opportunity, but rather the most predictable investment opportunity due to the multiple revenue streams, essential products and growth potential with commercial, national accounts and ecommerce.
We found our mojo.
Not all solutions can be taken from a text book.
Jerome Knyszewski: So, how are things going today? How did your grit and resilience lead to your eventual success?
Scott Williams: We have the momentum we were seeking, as evidenced by the nearly 40 new store signings over the last year and start of Q1.
Also, our existing franchise owners have reported returns of comp of +5% over the last eight months of last year and the sales growth has been across a variety of commercial categories including transportation and customers seeking more hands-free technologies.
In fact, a handful of our owners have signed on for expansion agreements to open new stores based on the business stability throughout the course of the pandemic.
Jerome Knyszewski: Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lessons or ‘takeaways’ you learned from that?
Scott Williams: As I was graduating from undergrad, I was racked up in student loan debt. I had one suit from my dad that I was wearing for all my interviews.
Once I landed my first job, I was informed that I had to wear a suit every day, and I realized I was not going to be able to afford four more.
To work around that, I purchased two different color shirts and five ties to disguise it that I wasn’t wearing the same shirt/suit jacket and I’d take the jacket off as soon as I got into work.
That lasted me long enough to wait for a couple of paychecks.
The takeaway is that people are often more self-conscious than they need to be. It’s more important to put in the thought and effort versus focusing on the outward appearance.
It’s more important to put in the thought and effort versus focusing on the outward appearance. Scott Williams
Jerome Knyszewski: Ok super. Here is the main question of our interview. What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Began Leading My Company”? Please share a story or an example for each.
Scott Williams:
- The pronouns change as you progress through your career. When people are talking about management it’s often said that “they need a better strategy or they need to communicate more.”As the CEO, you learn that they means you.
- Not all solutions can be taken from a text book. There will be things that need to be solved that cannot be addressed by pulling a book off a shelf.It’s more about using common sense, leveraging what you know and asking the right questions to get to the root of the problem.
When the pandemic hit, there wasn’t a manual for how to host daily war rooms. We knew as a team we needed to quickly offer solutions and resources for franchisees.
No matter the severity of the new circumstance, it’s the leader’s responsibility to lead.
Don’t wait for the playbook, make the playbook.
- It’s not a popularity contest or about being liked. There are times that the best decision is a difficult one.There are times when I might have an 80/20 split of overall approval, it’s more important to make the right decision versus waiting for 100 percent collective agreeance.
- You’re the protector. As a franchisor, with 280 franchise owners who decided to invest in Batteries Plus as their livelihood, and in many cases uprooted their lives to open their stores — there is a great deal of responsibility.I don’t take that lightly, the team and I do everything in our power to protect the system and provide them with everything they need from quality product, PPP guidance support, innovated technology and more.
I’m always blown away by the amount of franchisee testimonials we have, and what they’ve been able to do long before I arrived.
- The golden rule of making sure to get the right people on the bus and in the right seat as soon as possible.It’s important to navigate the culture and people need to be able to feed off of one another.
I learned early-on in my career and its helped me ever since, that it’s not always what you work for but who you work for.
Jerome Knyszewski: How can our readers further follow you online?
Scott Williams: You can learn more about me and Batteries Plus on LinkedIn.
Jerome Knyszewski: This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for the time you spent with this!
