July 2020 -- Kirkland, Washington

Scot Evans enjoys helping companies grow. Sometimes that means helping business leaders who just aren’t seeing the growth they want. Other times it means helping owners who want to increase their market share. Then there are the businesses that are growing and still lag behind the competition. Often that means helping a business reinvigorate or reinvent an existing brand, or helping a small company get their niche product onto the shelves of major retailers.

Scot's 30+ years in sales and marketing equipped him for a specific niche: small companies in the consumer packaged goods space with a product, any kind of product, they want to sell in a retail store or online.

‘My skill base is really in sales and marketing within channel sales — anything that comes in a box, from buying an aspirin to buying a TV and everything in between,” said Scot.

The Compound Interest of Early Discipline

Scot is one of those rare natives, born, raised and still living in Bellevue. He attended the Washington State University and earned his business degree. Pursuing business was an obvious choice for him.

“It probably goes way back,” he said. “I had a paper route when I was 11 or 12 years old. I enjoyed it, and the money I made I invested into the stock market and started learning about business and investing.”

Scot’s dad was well-versed in investing and his mom was a banker, so between the two of them Scot had a wealth of information and guidance. He credits that early education and the discipline he gained from investing with much of the success he’s experienced since.

“It’s not like today,” he said. “There just wasn’t much to buy back then, so I instead just saved and invested my money. If I could have bought the kinds of things kids can buy today, like the electronics that are available, I don’t know that it would have been the same.”

During his college days, Scot spent two of his summers interning at a real estate company and liked the sales aspect of the job. After college, he decided to find a larger corporation that offered a training program and a career track, which led him to taking a job as a sales rep for Colgate. After six years, four different positions and a job transfer to Portland, his division was sold off.

Scot returned to Bellevue and joined Merck Pharmaceuticals as a district sales manager. He got married, had a daughter and started attending night school at Seattle University to earn his MBA. Merck eventually moved Scot and his family to Southern California, where Scot managed the company’s west coast sales.

“I managed everything from Arizona to Montana to Hawaii and Alaska — the whole region."

Since he was covering the entire West Coast and wanted to be closer to his family, Merck agreed to transfer Scot back to the Seattle area after three years in Southern California.

“My family was up here and I had travelled enough throughout the United States to know that Seattle’s a great, great area. The climate is wonderful and I know, in the business I’m in, a lot of the people who get transferred to Seattle never want to leave.”

That was Scot’s last move. He remained in Bellevue and finished out 23 years with Merck as a senior business manager.

“Sales is fun. I really enjoy determining customer needs, collaborating on solutions and ultimately delivering the final product to the client. When you’re managing a lot of people, you’re removed from sales a couple steps and some of the creativity and spontaneity is lost, though management is still very impactful and satisfying."

When Merck sold Scot’s division to Bayer Healthcare, Scot went to work for Fromageries Bel for three years before (sort of) retiring. He decided to enjoy some downtime before jumping into the next thing, whatever that was going to be.

The Next Thing

For several years, Scot had been running into OneAccord co-founder Jeff Rogers at the gym. They talked periodically and Scot learned about the company.

"Over time, it seemed like a natural progression to come over to OneAccord," he said. “I like the culture at OneAccord, the people and, obviously, Jeff. I was able to actually be involved in a couple projects at OneAccord prior to joining, so I saw firsthand the people, the values and the fact that their priority is to serve people and to do the right thing. That just seemed like a perfect fit for me and my values.”

The timing worked out just a few months ago, and Scot joined the team as a Principal.

Scot's daughter is now grown and a graduate of her father’s alma matter, Washington State University. For fun, Scot hikes, kayaks, bikes and swims.

“I like the outdoors,” he said. “I like to be active. I have a big yard with lots of plants and bushes and a vegetable garden. It’s a love-hate relationship because it’s a lot of work, but during this home-bound time it’s been nice to escape into my yard and garden areas and work the land, since you can’t do much else.”

You can learn more about Scot's professional experience here. Contact him directly at (425) 269-7122 or scot.evans@oneaccord.co.