Interviewee: Evan Hardin

Job Title: Director of Sales

Salesperson: John Lirette

Top Selling Tingley Product: Flite (26256) & Eclipse (J44129)

HQ Location: Winona, Minnesota

No. of company employees: 21,948 with 3,225 global In-Market locations (25 different countries)

How long have you been with Fastenal? 14 years

How has Tingley developed its recent relationship with Fastenal? Tingley is a top 20 preferred supplier with 2 years of over 50% growth.

If you could switch your job with anyone else within Fastenal, whose job would you want? The President/CEO. As an ambitious 35-year-old, I think I would be selling myself and the business short without ambitions.

What drew you to Fastenal originally? I went to a career fair my Sophomore year in college and started my Junior year part time.

What do you like most about Fastenal? I like how it is a grassroots, southern Minnesota company with solutions for customers. People buying from people.

What is your proudest moment at Fastenal? Helping mold future leaders of the company so that they can go out and lead other teams or strategic customers within the organization

Any stories about working with Tingley you could share with us? Before working with John, I didn’t have a whole lot of familiarity with Tingley. John changed that with dedicated, focused attention.

Tell us a little about yourself. I’m married with 2 daughters, Harper, 6 and Addison, 3 living in Indianapolis, Indiana.

What do you like to do in your spare time? Travel, we have a lake house in Northern Indiana. My family and I like to take the boat out on the water. When I do get some time to myself, I love to golf.

If you were on death row, what would your last meal be? Hard question. Probably chicken parm from Capri in Indy.

If you could only drink one beer for the rest of your life, what  would it be? Stella or Gumballhead from 3 Floyds Brewing in Munster, Indiana.

What are your hopes for the safety industry?
I hope people continue to have a safety-first type of
mentality, especially as it relates to selling. Safety should be number one, and sales should be after that. The supplier, manufacturer, distributors, rep groups… prior to worrying about the bottom line should be practicing the best possible safety culture operationally. At Fastenal, we want to be a partner in safety to our customers, helping them eliminate SIFS (Serious Injuries & Fatalities) in the workplace so you can go home to your family and live healthy lives outside of the workplace.
Another concern within the safety industry continues to be large eCommerce
sellers more aggressively focusing their efforts on B2B markets. They will gobble up the transactional spends for many local and regional distributors if they are winning business on price alone. That’s why we enjoy selling premium brands like Tingley, since we know when you buy Tingley, you are buying the Cadillac of hi-viz. If you can’t associate a premium value on a premium product, everyone suffers.

What is your favorite quote, Motto or personal mantra? Iron sharpens Iron… face challenging conflicts and problems head on.