Ernest: Ditch the stale. Blaze your trail.
- KLS
- Jun 9
- 8 min read
For the 249th feature of our "Together Talks" campaign, we collaborated with Ernest and Director of Sales, Jeremy Hare. Ernest is a family-owned packaging solutions company that creates amazing experiences for you and your customers. And at 77 years young, we're just getting started. Our goal? To be your long-term partner in all things related to getting your product to market. All while keeping your costs down, your social buzz up and your business thriving.
Since we’re local, we come to where you work to listen, engage and connect. Whether it’s employee wellbeing, packaging, supply chain process automation or brand recognition, there’s no challenge we can’t tackle on your behalf. And remember: we’re not just here to serve you. We're here to partner with you. To help you make the impossible, possible. How? By saying no to the status quo, focusing on bringing smiles to faces and making the world a little more Ernest. Learn more at ernestpackaging.com.
"Together Talks" feature 249: Ernest presented by KLS - Your Trusted Shipping Solutions In The USA
What separates you from your competition? What have been the biggest challenges? Goals for upcoming year for your department? What were your concerns to transition to this company?
Share a decision that you made that was detrimental? Do you have a moment that brings you the most joy?
Story of how it was created?
Ernest Packaging Solutions traces its roots back to the years following World War II, when Ernest Wilson returned home and started the business. Shortly after, Charles Wilson became the company’s second employee when he also returned from the war. The company remains family-owned to this day.
Tim Wilson currently serves as CEO and Chairman of the company, representing the third generation of ownership. Tim’s son, Matt, now works at Ernest as well and is learning every aspect of the business as he prepares to eventually take over leadership from his father.
Charles Wilson ran the company for many years and remained actively involved almost until the very end. He passed away just before Veterans Day last November at 101 years old. He was a World War II veteran who was still coming into work three or four days a week.
Originally, the company operated as Ernest Paper until 2008, when it evolved into Ernest Packaging Solutions. As the company grew and acquired other businesses, customer needs expanded beyond paper products, and the business transformed into a full-scale packaging company.
Then, in 2024, Ernest underwent another rebrand to reflect the continued evolution of the organization.
What separates you from your competition?
Ownership really emphasizes face-to-face relationships. When something is sold by an Ernest sales rep, it becomes part of an Ernest-managed inventory system. That means someone is physically there every couple of weeks or once a month, working directly with the customer, qualifying what they need, and helping manage inventory levels.
That helps customers avoid paying somebody internally just to take inventory and hand that responsibility off to someone else. We don’t operate through an online catalog like Uline does. Everything we do is relationship-based and face-to-face.
That approach also allows us to move faster. We have our own design lab and design team in Commerce, so we can quickly create CADs, prototypes, and custom box samples.
We also have 17 locations across the country, which expands our purchasing power. We own our own trucks as well, so we’re able to control the process from end to end. From sourcing to sales to delivery, it’s all handled by Ernest employees. We’re not outsourcing those touchpoints to outside companies.
What have been the biggest challenges?
There’s a lot of competition in this industry. It’s a very cutthroat business where a lot of opportunities come from cold calls and reps physically walking into buildings trying to earn business.
That’s why we focus so heavily on relationships, because relationships are what keep customers from leaving over a few cents. There are always companies willing to undercut pricing by a couple of nickels.
Technology has also changed significantly over the last few years, especially with sustainability initiatives becoming more important, particularly in California.
Stretch films are getting thinner while remaining recyclable, and poly films are evolving to stay puncture-resistant while using less material. Keeping up with those technological changes and sustainability demands has probably been one of the biggest ongoing challenges.
Goals for upcoming year for your department?
For my division, which is one of the 17 Ernest has, we’re growing rapidly.
The goal right now is expansion. We want to grow enough to move out of our current facility and into one that’s quite a bit larger, which we hope will become our permanent home for the division.
We’re also looking to graduate our first few sales reps from the program for this division, which would be a huge milestone. We’re hoping to bring on a new director as well, and that person would then help recruit and develop additional salespeople.
So overall, the focus right now is continued growth and expansion.
What were your concerns to transition to this company?
Before Ernest, I worked for a company called MediUSA, a medical textile manufacturer based in North Carolina and Germany. I was a regional manager covering six states with a team of reps under me.
We sold compression garments, orthopedic bracing, wound garments, and similar medical products. I had been in medical sales and management since 2003 before joining Ernest in 2023.
What really stood out during the recruiting process was how intentional and impressive everything felt. It was clearly designed to make you curious and want to learn more.
I first got a text message saying, “Hey, I’d love to chat with you about this opportunity.” The recruiter knew I was in medical sales and acknowledged it might not seem like an obvious fit but wanted to talk anyway.
After that call, he sent me an email with links to some Ernest YouTube videos, which were pretty funny. I remember thinking, “Okay, this company is different.”
Then I went to the website and realized they weren’t really showing products at all. The website focused almost entirely on culture — cool projects, company personality, and the things they were doing internally.
We even have a full band made up of corrugated instruments that travel around recording with different artists every month.
I got the initial text on a Thursday, had the first call Friday, and they wanted me onsite the following Tuesday. I told them I already had a final interview somewhere else, and they asked, “Is it on Zoom? If so, we’ll open a conference room so you can take it here. We want you onsite with our team.”
At that point, I realized they were very serious about me. Eventually I adjusted the schedule because I didn’t feel comfortable mixing the interviews together, but even driving home that Tuesday, they were already calling to schedule the next step. They pursued me aggressively because they genuinely wanted me there.
And honestly, the support still feels that way today.
It truly is a family organization. Tim Wilson, our CEO, handwrites nearly 700 Christmas cards every year for employees. Mine gets mailed to my house addressed to my wife first and then me, not “me and my wife.” That level of intentionality matters.
We also do events called “The Ernies,” which are celebration dinners for each division. Employees get recognized for everything from safe driving milestones to years of service. It’s not just salespeople getting celebrated — it’s the entire team.
Because once a sales rep places an order, there are about 15 people who touch it before it reaches the customer. From the sales rep to the driver, everybody matters in making sure nothing gets screwed up along the way.
What aspect of the company do you appreciate the most?
The culture, without question.
As a sales leader, having a culture where you can genuinely celebrate people is huge. Not just when somebody hits their number — that’s their job — but when they truly crush it.
Being able to take somebody and their spouse out to dinner or celebrate them in a meaningful way matters more than just handing out an Amazon gift card.
We also have a ton of options that get us out to have some experiences with our customers and their families, that helps build real relationships.
You get to know customers beyond simply asking, “What do you need?”
Tim, our CEO, always says, “You don’t sell to somebody for 25 years. You maintain a relationship with somebody for 25 years.”
That philosophy drives everything we do.
Share a decision that you made that was detrimental?
In this industry, sometimes you’re dealing with stock items like plain brown boxes, and other times you’re working with highly customized products that have company branding and logos on them.
We had a situation where we went through the entire approval process on a custom product, but when the customer received it, the final product looked different than they expected.
To be fair, I don’t think either side realized just how different it was going to look. But at the end of the day, it was their logo and their branding.
The owner and I had to have several uncomfortable conversations about paying for the merchandise because they had signed off on the order.
Eventually, after multiple in-person meetings and follow-up calls, we reached an agreement. They paid for the order, and moving forward we committed to finding a different supplier that could better deliver the result everyone wanted.
The biggest lesson was that we rushed the process trying to meet their emergency deadline, and we allowed their emergency to become our emergency.
When you’re dealing with overseas manufacturing, things cannot be treated like emergencies. You need to be planning 16 weeks ahead because lead times can easily range from eight to sixteen weeks.
My sales rep was excited and worked incredibly hard to make it happen. He had support from the internal team as well. It just ended up being a miss.
The positive outcome is that we’re still getting additional orders from that customer, and we’re currently working on redesigning those bags the right way.
Do you have a moment that brings you the most joy?
Today, actually.
I received an email letting me know that my first sales rep officially qualified to graduate from our program.
This is an extremely difficult program to graduate and to do this with all 3 honors is amazing. These are top-tier, fully commissioned salespeople. Depending on the track, the program lasts anywhere from 27 to 36 months, very similar to what financial planners go through.
Essentially, we’re teaching people how to become business owners. They transition off salary and into full commission, so graduating is a huge accomplishment.
I’ve spent three years trying to get one person through the program, and now I may have two guys getting ready to graduate. It’s been a long road, but it’s incredibly rewarding.
Piece of Advice
It’s always “no” if you never ask.
Have the confidence to ask, and have the confidence to accept “no,” because it could just as easily become a “yes.” You honestly never know.
We also do these things called “Ernest Moments.” One says, “I whisper to my Wi-Fi: Be strong.” Another says, “Life’s a climb, but the view is worth it.”
They don’t have the sales rep’s name on them. They just include our Chevron logo as subtle branding. We create new ones every month.
Because we’re so relationship-based and our reps see customers once or twice a month, a lot of customers genuinely look forward to them.
One of my best friends owns a real estate company, and he actually shares these in his own sales meetings with his team.
It’s just one of those small cultural things we do here that I think is really special.
Community Callout
He has been a huge influence on me thanks to Ernest.
He’s a mental performance coach who works with a lot of PGA Tour athletes, and Ernest provides access to him for our team.
He’s helped me tremendously with confidence, leadership, and the way I manage my team. We work more as coach and player than boss and salesperson.
One of my reps also works with him, and he went from scratching to make his number to performing well above plan in a matter of weeks.
That kind of support truly makes a difference.
In Closing
KLS wants to thank Ernest and Director of Sales, Jeremy Hare, for today's "Together Talks" feature. Follow along for their journey with their social handles below!
Comments