POSITIVE CHARGE: Interstate Batteries’ Norm Miller_122203

Posted: 12/19/03

POSITIVE CHARGE:
Interstate Batteries' Norm Miller

Norm Miller is chairman of the board of Interstate Batteries System of America and is widely known for his appearances at NASCAR racing events with driver Bobby LaBonte and the race car sponsored by Interstate. More than that, however, he is an outspoken Christian. A one-time alcoholic, he testifies to God's power to change people's lives. Miller is a member of the Dallas Theological Seminary board, the Dallas Seminary Foundation and the Overseas Council. He is co-founder of the Great American Race, a premier vintage car event. He and his wife, Anne, have two children, Tracey and Scott, and five grandchildren. They attend Highland Park Presbyterian Church in Dallas.

Q.

What are your responsibilities as chairman of the board of Interstate Batteries?

Primarily what I am doing is looking ahead, seeing where Interstate can grow and where we can do better and kind of being an out-front-looking person. Of course, we have our board meetings every few months where I preside and look at our plans and how we are stacking up.

Norm Miller

Q.

How did you get to be chairman of the board, and when was that?

I went to work for the founder, John Searcy, in 1965. Prior to that, I had been a distributor for Interstate with my dad in Memphis, Tenn. Mr. Searcy talked to my Dad about joining him. I was fortunate. He was 22 years my senior and was my mentor. I worked with him, and he trained me from 1965 to 1972. Then he decided he wanted to make a buy/sell agreement with me. And graciously, he made it with me in 1972, and it had a 10-year mandatory enactment, meaning I could buy the company in 1982. However, he elected to exercise the option earlier, so in 1978 he elected the option for him to sell his stock and for me to buy controlling interest. I became chairman of the board in 1978.

Q.

Do you ever miss your old selling days?

Oh, some, because you're out there in the midst of it all and know what all is going on. But it's also a lot of work, and there is some rejection. Some people turn you down. But it also was a lot of fun because you had immediate response. At the end of the week, you knew things had gone well or they hadn't.

Q.

What college did you attend and what was your major?

I went to North Texas State University and graduated in general business in January 1962.

Q.

What did you plan to do at the time?

My father had a service station and garage in Galveston for 20 years but had sold it and was looking at some new business ventures. He had one that was coming to fruition, and he had asked me if I wanted to join him in it. But by the time I got out of college, it had fallen through. I met a fellow my brother knew and with him starting selling World Book Encyclopedias. I did that until I could figure out what to do. My dad knew some people with Interstate, and he asked me to come to Dallas. We talked to Mr. Searcy and took an Interstate Battery distributorship in Memphis in 1962.

Q.

By any measure, you are very successful. To what do you think you owe your success?

First, of course, to the grace of God. He has given me the gift of creativity in marketing. Also a major thing is Mr. Searcy really trained me in just doing it, the application of what we knew was right and getting out there and trying real hard and staying late, using our brain to make it all better. I tried to do things better and faster, being tenacious and diligent. I guess that's it–start early and stay late and do the best you can while you're out there.

Q.

Interstate Batteries seemed to emerge overnight. One day, it seemed, no one had ever heard of Interstate Batteries, and the next day they were everywhere. How did that happen?

We did not advertise. We were out building the distribution system door to door. I sold the batteries myself, going up and down the streets. I counted it up one time, and I did it in 43 states. I would go into an area and work for a week, all day every day, going into places that sold batteries and talking to them about selling ours. With a couple of us doing that 25 or 30 weeks a year–we went from that to 60 people going out every-other week from Dallas calling on service stations, garages, car dealers, marinas, recreational vehicle dealers. If you have 60 people going out and making 100 calls a week and if they can set up 20 accounts, that's 1,200 accounts every-other week. All of a sudden, that's 25,000 accounts in one year, which was about what we did at our maximum. At this time, we have 200,000 wholesale stocking accounts, serviced regularly by our trucks. We have probably set up out of Dallas 165,000 of those ourselves. It took a number of years. I was on the road like that for nine years. I spent a lot of man hours on the street. I called it fullback up the middle. You get three yards and then go back and get three more.

Q

. Aside from material things, how has your life been changed by your success?

I guess my life has been changed by success in the ability to explore all different kinds of cultures. I have been able to go to a lot of places while on mission trips and visiting resorts. Most of it has been related to my Christian faith. It has given me an ability to participate in different ministries and get to know different people. It has expanded my range of relationships in the body of Christ, from paupers to presidents. God has allowed me to participate in both ends and all points in the middle. It's been a wonderful life of experiences.

Q.

What kinds of advice have you given to your kids about how to make it in the business world?

That's funny. I have two children, a daughter and a son. My daughter was never interested in the battery business. My son was not interested in it early and said he never would be, but he has been in business with me now for upwards of 15 years. I always told them to be happy, to do what they wanted to do and to give a day's work for a day's wages. I never was concerned. I saw they both were intelligent and if they worked they would be able to make a living, and whatever they did would be all right with me.

Q.

If you weren't in the battery business, what would you be doing?

I've thought about that. A number of years ago, I said if I wasn't in the battery business I would sell insurance. Everybody is a potential customer, and they are right at hand. There's no traveling involved, and you don't need a warehouse for your goods. As long as you have a policy, you have a product to sell, and once it is sold you earn a commission that not only pays today and tomorrow but has a long-term payout. There's a good accumulation of money to effort. I have enjoyed the battery business, but if I weren't selling batteries, I would probably be dealing in insurance or maybe mutual funds.

Q.

What role has religious faith played in your life?

I became a Christian in May 1974 when I was 35. At that age, I had already reached my goals I had set in college, but I considered myself an empty failure in regard to happiness and anxious about life. A friend began to tell me about the word of God. I challenged him to prove to me that it was the word of God. I began to study to see if a person of intellect could accept it. I studied not the Bible but ancient manuscripts and archaeology and looked at the fulfillment of prophecy. It was too much. Then I began to study the Bible to see what it said to me. I realized I was a sinner in rebellion against God, that his Son, Jesus, had paid the price for my sins and was a bridge to God. I embraced Christ as my Lord and Savior in 1974, and he is my Lord and Savior. That has given me freedom, peace and joy and an ability to love people where before I had liked people but was shallow and cold, and I saw them as here today and gone tomorrow. My relationship with Christ has changed my heart. It has been a great adventure and a wonderful fulfillment.

Q.

How do you apply your Christianity to the way you do business?

Simply said, I try to treat others the way we want to be treated. God in Scripture says we are to consider others' interests before we consider our own. In doing that, I have to ask how would I want to be treated. Not only do I feel that is God's mandate and the wisest way to do business, if I can meet their needs and make them happy in a reasonable financial relationship, they are going to be happy with me and take care of us.

Q.

Is it difficult to be a Christian and successful, hard-charging businessman?

I don't think so. The issue is if you are going to trust God in your life or not. My brother–who joined me in 1969–and I made the decision we would try to operate our company in the way God would expect. We had to ask how far to go with the Christian aspect. We saw that if we carried it too far we could offend people, our employees could quit or we might get sued by the government. We decided to pray about it and came across Matthew 10:28, where we are told to fear not, but if we feared anyone to fear someone who can do something to you after you are dead. We concluded that if we were going to make someone unhappy, we didn't want it to be God. We prayed and asked God to help us to be a great witness for him but at the same time to be perfectly bold and perfectly sensitive so we wouldn't offend anyone. We prayed, “Thy will be done.” It's going on 25 years now, and he has allowed us to be successful and at the same time I pray that we are winsome inside and outside the church.

Q.

Are you a NASCAR fan aside from your business interests in car racing?

I wasn't before. We got into the NASCAR thing because we thought it would be a good way to advertise. But once you get into it and you get to know the drivers and crew chiefs, you become a fan.

Q.

How difficult is it to be a Christian in the business of motorsports.

Not difficult at all. They have a chaplain, a ministry every Sunday. There is a church in the garage area where 25 to 35 drivers and their crew chiefs attend. It's all Christ-centered. We sing hymns, worship together. A great many involved are Christ-believers and honor God in everything they do.

Q.

Who are heroes in your life?

I always can say Joe Gibbs. I met him in 1995. He tries to live for the Lord and applies himself to it at all times. He uses every opportunity, uses his platform and do it in a way that is winsome to advance his faith. I read Oswald Chambers every morning and also writings of Charles Spurgeon, Chuck Swindoll, Charles Colson and Luis Palau.

Interview by Toby Druin