Fastenal Employee Reviews for Outside Sales Representative

Fastenal has been great to me so far. The management is amazing, the people are amazing and really push every employee to succeed in the company. could pay better but thats the same everywhere

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blah blah

Outside Sales Rep (Current Employee) - Thunder Bay, ON - 12 September 2021

Very poorly run management gives very little direction and allows things to get out of control when the customers needs should be met consistently and with more professionalism

Pros

free hat & tshirt

Cons

poor pay

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Insights into Fastenal

Based on 73 survey responses

Areas for improvement

Fair pay for job
Sense of belonging
General feeling of work happiness

depend on the location But real nice place to work

Outsides sales representative (Former Employee) - Saint-Jérôme, QC - 9 June 2020

All the branches are not the same, it depend on the GM. If you have a General Manager close to the team you will have a great time with Fastenal. Higher management is great too.

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Poor compensation

Outside Sales (Former Employee) - Truro, NS - 13 May 2020

Culture which doesn't reward hard work over how well you suck up to your boss. Biggest waste of time was working for thos company. I watched a guy get handed not only a mamagers job, but 2 years later become a district manager when he wasnt actually qualified,but he had a good relationship with his higher up my manager was part time until everyone in the branch quit, then she was5handed the manager job which she never had the ability.

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No breaks or lunches. You are an employee number easily replaced.

Outside Sales Representative (Former Employee) - Barrie, ON - 10 April 2020

Constantly under staffed as they will only hire part time and usually students. Management is abrasive with very little empathy. Did not take more then 3-4 lunches/ breaks in a 3 year period. Very hard to balance work/home life. Pay is well below the industry average. They do tend to promote from within but have a very fast employee turn over.

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Bad culture

Outside Sales Representative (Current Employee) - Ontario - 19 February 2020

I would not recommend working here. They don't care about you and will overwork you. If you try to leave they will try to guilt trip you. Also they don't care about their customers, only their money

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fun but competative

OUTSIDE SALES REPRESENTATIVE (Former Employee) - Kingston, ON - 18 November 2019

great place to work. the entire staff across NA work as a team although also compete is sales competitions. Job can become repetitive. great place for someone looking for a stable job.

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Run in the other direction from Fastenal

General Manager/Outside Sales (Former Employee) - Winnipeg, MB - 16 September 2019

Easily one of the worst companies I have ever worked for in my life. My boss was the worst boss I have ever had in my life hands down. Do not consider a position with this company. Poor management, the commission you are promised will never materialize.

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Great place to begin a career

Outside Sales Representative (Former Employee) - Brantford, ON - 8 August 2019

Definitely a great place to begin your career in business or sales. They provide you with a great starting pay and are willing to invest in you with a lot of resources and training.

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Great pleace to work

Outside Sales Representative (Current Employee) - St. John's, NL - 26 July 2019

had a good experience , great opportunity for learning and an awesome team. would recommend working there, management could use work on professionalism.

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Decent for experience, nothing more

Outside Sales Representative (Current Employee) - Calgary, AB - 14 July 2018

Not a great company to work for if you are in Canada, especially in a big city like Calgary. Trucking routes are big in the states which lead to long lead times for us in Canada. It is also very difficult to be competitive with pricing. They preach all the potential earnings you could make in your commission check. However, it is near impossible to do this because you need a high margin and new business to do so. Instead you will most likely be faced with getting your commission check cut in half due to low margins to win business and make the company money. - I know, it doesn't make sense. Two weeks vacation, which is lower than average. Can't take it all together either or your customers will suffer. No coffee breaks, very low base salary, very high chance a low commission check, mediocre benefits.

Pros

Good people and management. You also get a pay check.

Cons

No coffee breaks, sometimes working through lunch, unpaid overtime since the company is too cheap to pay overtime hours, very low base salary with almost near impossible to have high commission checks, high turnover rates, very low vacation times, mediocre benefits

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Fast paced job

Outside Sales Associate (Current Employee) - Whitecourt, AB - 18 May 2017

The team was amazing, fun people that worked well together. Job was fast paced, worked with many different customers. I learned lots about the different industries in town from working here, and there was also lots of opportunity to learn about our products.

Pros

amazing learning experience, great people

Cons

Low pay, not getting paid for overtime

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A day at Fastenal

Outside sales (Current Employee) - Aurora, ON - 26 February 2017

Our days start early and are filled with customer orders and deliveries. The most enjoyable part of the day would be going onto all the different sites and meeting everyone. The hardest part would be lifting some of the deliveries on your own.

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Ok Campany

Outside Sales Representative (Former Employee) - Calgary, AB - 14 January 2017

Great company if you are located in USA, not a great company for competition based in Canada. Don't be fooled by the commision compensation. Unless you live in a remote area where you are the only company, you will never be able to sell products at a 50-60% margin and be competative. If you can't sell at the crazy high margins than you won't earn commision. If you don't make sales you will lose your job, so your base pay is really all you will earn, and you have to make sales at lower margins to make Fastenal money, but you wont earn any commision.

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bllaaaaa

Outside Sales (Former Employee) - Edmonton, AB - 20 May 2016

this company is a horrible company to work for and the turn over is ridicules I have never in my life seen a business model like that before.

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Good

Outside Sales Representative (Current Employee) - Ottawa, ON - 4 May 2016

Good work Envirnoment. Wonderful staff. Would continue to work for them but am moving. Not much room to grow unless you're willing to relocate to where there is positions available.

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Great entry level position

Outside Sales (Current Employee) - Kitchener, ON - 14 January 2015

For those looking to gain experience with industrial sales. Great entry level sales company. Amazing team to work with.

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Critical thinking/multitasking/management

OUTSIDE SALES REPRESENTATIVE - GENERAL MANAGER (Former Employee) - Fort Saskatchewan, AB - 3 August 2014

Typical day at work was to make cold calls and bring a value added service to our customers. It was a brand new company, and I was part of piloting the sales portion of the venture for northern Alberta. I learned how to ask effective questions that allowed me to learn the specifics of a company so that I was prepared to make presentations if needed. Management moves quickly due to quick turn around within store fronts and upper management. I had developed some great mentors during my time with the company For the most part I had great experiences with coworkers both inside and outside of my branch. Finding the right employees is the most difficult part of developing any company. The stress put on by only one individual made by multiple customers with limited assets like employees and logistics. Developing relationships with customers that turned into great business partnerships.

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Great company to work for- LOTS of room for advancement and encourage to promote from within

Outside Sales (Current Employee) - Windsor, ontario - 7 March 2014

I have been at fastenal for 3 years, started out as sales support part time while in school, then after a year I was promoted to full time sales and have loved every moment of it. The base salary is ok, but what you make your money is off of commission. If you do not have the right motivation or are not a peoples person or hate sales, Then I would suggest to NOT apply here. Fastenal is all about challenging your self EVERYDAY and if you dont have what it takes to succeed than you will not go far. Fastenal is not made for everybody but if you have the skills and determination I DO recommend working here, your co-workers are amazing and the relationships you build with customers are great and not to mention they have lots of great perks of working at fastenal. Ill keep those a surprise. I bleed BLUE !

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Great workplace amazing team work

Outside Sales (Current Employee) - Windsor, ON - 2 August 2012

A typical day, is constant phone calls, e-mails, faxes ECT. Visiting onsite with customers promoting your products and your services that are available. I've learned all different sourcing, how to properly communicate with customers and pin point their needs for their specific jobs in order. My co-workers are amazing, we have a great small team inside. Overall through out the whole company everyone is great and we all work together to help each other stride to do great and advance in the company.