Scott Swearingen
Vice President | P3 Cost Analysts
- B.A. from Western Colorado University in Gunnison, CO
Scott Swearingen serves as the Vice President of P3 Cost Analysts. He began working with P3CA in 2008 and has since become a partner in the company.
Before working with P3, Scott worked for one of the major waste haulers in the country and is an expert in waste and recycling and cost reduction. He has personally audited more than 2,000 client locations around the country in his career, generating millions in savings.
Scott currently oversees the day-to-day operations of the waste audit team as well as supporting the franchisees and clients with P3’s numerous other cost reduction categories. Scott is passionate about forming strong relationships with P3’s clients and ensuring their expectations are met.
Being from, and still living in Northwest Arkansas, most of his time outside of work is spent outdoors with family and friends. He is passionate about trail running, and was a two time All American in cross country in college. He also enjoys mountain biking, canoeing, and cheering on the Hogs. Additionally, Scott also stays active in the community and enjoys doing volunteer work with several different organizations in Northwest Arkansas.
Q & A with Scott
I was the 2nd person to work at P3. Before that, I was working for one of the major national waste and recycling haulers. I enjoyed the industry but wasn’t wild (at all) about their pricing practices and how they would overcharge people and lock them into contracts. When I was offered a job at P3, it was a welcome change to use my knowledge and skills to come over and start advocating for the client.
Waste and recycling was where I got started and will always be my first love so to speak. That’s certainly where I have the deepest knowledge. But we’ve expanded a lot over the years and added more and more categories. I’ve come to love them all.
It really is cool to see that every cost reduction category is at its core, the same. What I mean by that is any time you spend decades of focus, like our category experts do, you can find savings and help clients out
I think when I was first getting started I might not have thought that was such a ‘truism’, but it holds true across every single cost category we’ve ever seen.
That depends wildly. I’ll start with the fact we find savings for 90% of the clients we work with. So 10% of the time, we don’t find anything. Doesn’t happen often, but it can. We simply say ‘thank you for the opportunity’ and let the client know they have a clean bill of health.
To answer this question more specifically, it depends. What I mean by that is take a car dealership for example. For most dealerships, we would want to look at their uniform/linen, telecom, copier expenses, waste and recycling, as well as utility costs. Those are some of the most relevant categories for that particular type of client.
But for a large law office, with multiple locations, we may only be looking at their copier expenses and telecom (the other areas are negligible or irrelevant).
So it depends vastly on the client. Hospitals are different from manufacturers, and everyone in between.
For me, it’s seeing a franchisee become successful. Our franchisees are the ones on the front lines talking to clients and getting them to let us help them.
Everyone thinks what we do should be an easy sell, and it should be and often is. After all, if we don’t help our clients save money, it doesn’t cost anything.
But at the end of the day, it’s still talking to people, sales, business development, and dealing with rejection. And that’s not easy on anyone, and definitely not when you have a great service that everyone needs.
So I think to see a franchisee build a book of business and make a living working for themselves through helping businesses save a lot of money, that’s really what it’s all about.
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