re: Anyone here do sales for United Rentals?

The one by us has had "help wanted" on the sign out front for 4 years.

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Especially if you want to eventually move up to heavy equipment or industrial sales.

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A real baw goes into Medical Devices.

would have more fun


Fukin millennials... :

RER 100

When I was in the industry, H&E was the best to work for but hardest to get foot in door here. They are based in Baton Rouge. It was a family business and generally everyone was happy. The sales reps did well and had good quality of life for outside sales. That was before / during going publicly traded so Im not sure of status now. Sunbelt was #2 and UR #3. Theres a lot of room in Louisiana for mid-majors.

Ive told Mrs AYC that going back to that line of work would be one of my options if I ever get canned at my current clown show.

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would have more fun


Fukin millennials...

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1. I’m not a millennial.
2. Why is there an issue with finding a career path that you enjoy if you have the education to do so? Someone sounds dissatisfied with their career

You’ve had some decent answers so far. I worked for United after college. Here’s the skinny - they’ll go through a lot of sales reps because sales is hard and you’re going to start out in a territory that’s smaller market. There’s no differentiation, really, in what United, Sunbelt, CAT, or any of the other major rental companies offer from a product or service standpoint so it will ultimately come down to price and/or relationship.

You need to manage the offices in your area because many of the rental decisions on job sites or in plants are made from fleet or project managers sitting in an office somewhere based on the relationship and pricing they have from a local rep, or if they’re big enough, from a National or key account rep. You gotta manage your offices knowing that many of their jobs won’t be in your territory, but you pass it along to reps where they’re working. You better hope the guys working in your area have a good relationship with the office rep back wherever they’re from. A good rep has a pair of well worn boots and a pair of well worn loafers. Being a rental rep won’t be glamorous - you’ll play some golf and pay for some lunches, but there will be a lot of driving around and walking jobsites and days where you eat a CLIFF bar for lunch in your truck between appointments.

It’s a numbers game - build more relationships, walk more jobs, see more people, and it pays off. Spend more time with customers and less time driving and build relationships internally with other reps. Study your contractor lists. Meet your municipal guys. But it also comes down to how much industrial and construction you have in your territory. Cold territories are cold territories and the best rep in the world can only do so much in a cold territory.

Pros: selling and relationship building. You’ll meet a lot of people and learn how to manage your time. You have to be self-motivated and not want to sit in an office. Theoretically uncapped income potential - but there’s a unique catch (see below).

Cons: no differentiation and your income will depend, to a degree, on how hard others in the company are working and how much construction and industrial you have. It’s a grind, like all sales, and there’s a reason you don’t see a lot of 45+ year olds.

You can make some money. Guys in major metropolitan areas do pretty well - think $125k+. Key account guys do well. Branch management and regional jobs aren’t too glamorous compared to other industries.

The Auburn guy who told you to work for CAT is into something. I would always tell a young guy to go be a manufacturers rep first and move around and get some business experience. In equipment, that means CAT, Deere, Komatsu, Volvo. There are other short lines where you can do well.

Move from a manufacturer to a rental company or a dealer then, once you have some experience, and some money saved up. Lots of general line reps in heavy and farm equipment (in big ag areas) are making $200k+. But there’s a caveat there too - a good general line rep needs to be managing a $10-20 million book of business and he or she needs to be pulling in $150k minimum. The offset of that is dealers know that and if you aren’t pulling in $150k minimum, somebody else will be pretty quick.

Thank you for the feedback. It means a lot. I will definitely take everything you said into consideration.

Yep. The long term career potential with a CAT dealer is much better than with a rental company. In the south, you’ve got Kelly, Yancey, Thompson, and Louisiana CAT who are all great companies. TEC out of Birmingham is strong. You’ve got Flint, Nortraxx, Doggett, and some Deere dealers who are strong in the forestry and municipality game.

All of them, but especially CAT, offer higher potential earnings and better advancement potential than a rental company. General line sales folks and branch managers are making some coin at those dealerships. On the ag side, your Deere guys in big ag areas are doing well. But you won’t walk in as a branch manager making six figures.

You’ve got to learn the business, learn how to sell, and build your network and career over time. And you’ve got to GO. There isn’t any sitting around doing the kind of business volumes those folks are churning through.

I will definitely do that. Thanks so much.