sales representative

outside sales representative

operator

inside sales representative

recruitment resourcer

KLINGSPOR Abrasives

The outside sales position for this company has some great customers, but you will not be paid or make enough commission income to survive in most markets - especially where the cost of living indexes are from normal to above. It simply doesn't make sense.  
The technological and communication infrastructure of the company is archaic. This becomes more relevant to the modern day job/career journey because you will not learn and develop with systems that benefit you, the customer, or even the company itself.  You will learn mostly about what companies should NOT be doing the modern market. 
The leadership of this company has its challenges too. For the most part, there is a culture of manipulation and intimidation. Having worked with leaders that develop, grow, inspire, and encourage - this company operates on the other end of the spectrum.

As mentioned by other reviews; selling abrasives direct versus through distributors. 

Pros; great products, some customers like a rep specializing in abrasives and the great attention through samples and availability of a company car to call on customers at anytime, great employee benefits, lap top, computer support and great corporate staff.

Cons; competition sells a variety of products (they can deeply discount abrasives in order to keep the rest of the business), not having a local warehouse can put a Klingspor rep out of the game for large purchasers of abrasives, takes a lot of accounts to make decent commissions, very little national sales effort and no marketing effort for name notoriety.

There is a huge big brother presence. They know everything you do (including running the AC while you do paperwork in your car). There is a big push for new customers over growing current business. Commission is poor due to the sliding pay scale. I had a top performing territory and averaged 7-9k per year. The 31k base makes the bulk of your pay. HQ has a very "my way or the wrong way" attitude and did not account for regional differences. They gutted a once decent sampling program, list prices don't reflect the "no middleman" sales model,  and you have zero expense account, so competing can be tough. The products are typically great quality, so at least I believed in what I sold. 

Klingspor is not competitive w/competitors pricing. Training is horrible. Can't idle in car more than 5 minutes. Comission structure is unfair. Micromanage. Ordering website is antiquated and not user friendly. It's the CEO's way or no way. Sales goals are unattainable. Health insurance  is too high. Benefits  are useless. $30.00 per week taken out of check for company car personnel  use. At interview, you will be told a bunch of lies. All smoke and mirrors. Once the training is over, gloves come off and the truth reveals itself. Turn over is tremendous!!


DO NOT WORK FOR THIS COMPANY!!  Run away quickly to a better company and job. Totally unprofessional, extremely low starting salary, poor communication, very restrictive company policies, make you pay for things they should pay for if they were a quality company to work for!  Hiring process paperwork was ridiculously long and very one sided for the company!  Terrible benefits not starting until your 61st day.  Only one very high deductible health insurance option.  401K  starts after one year!  What a joke?

Call on existing customers and prospect for new business.  Ive learned a lot about the different industries that use abrasives.
Management could be a little more responsive to changing conditions.
There is a churn and burn culture. You get initial training and a little more advanced training after 60 days. It is learn on the fly after that though. 
Hardest part of the job is understanding what product goes best with each application.
I enjoy learning about what my customers do and learn a lot from just talking to them.

 I enjoyed being on the road and working from my home. I try hard to follow the rules of the company that I work for,  therefore I usually do well.
  This company has been around a long time and expects you to do things their way, even though it seems that they make it harder than it has to be. They exercise almost complete control of the sales/service process, so you'd better be okay with that to work here.

Daily meetings with established customers as well as locating new clients to test & sample abrasives & tools.  The training provided was top notch and truly made me a "professional" in the industrial sales field.  The most enjoyable part of the job for me was learning from my customers how their manufacturing process worked.  In turn I was able to provide current & new product suggestions as well as helping my customers solve any potential challenges.

As an Outside Sales Rep you are continually monitored via AVL in your company vehicle. After that they have access to email, text messages, phone calls, and that’s only the ones I am aware of but are probably more. Highly micro managed with unreal sales and new customer goals. Compensation is on the lower end of the scale and promotional spiffs are available but you can be disqualified depending on the information received weekly from your AVL tracking device.

What is the best part of working at the company?
I had an honest regional manager that explained how to work despite the limitations of the company.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
You are always being watched and tracked with the company car.  They are very distrustful of reps and don’t pay them well. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
As a rep you can kind of escape the overbearing leadership.  But it is definitely oppressive.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Sales representative 1 salary reported	$37,000 per year
Outside sales representative 4 salaries reported	$31,000 per year
Operator 2 salaries reported	$13.50 per hour
Inside sales representative 1 salary reported	$47,000 per year
Recruitment resourcer 1 salary reported	$60,000 per year

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