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Displaying a large Wright Tool wrench, Elko Tool & Fastener owner Robert Collyer says teamwork is a big part of his success.

Built on Relationships

Customer Service, Teamwork Keeps Elko Tool & Fastener Thriving in Nevada

For Elko, Nevada, there really is gold in them hills. Near the Ruby Mountains, the city of 21,000 is considered the capital of the state’s gold belt. Nevada produces more gold than all but four countries, and the northeast corner of the state is based almost entirely on mining.

Elko Tool & Fastener Inc. was founded in Elko in February 1996 by Don Wilkinson, the late father-in-law of current president/owner Robert Collyer, to serve the mining companies and related contractors.

After 30 years, Robert says there are still some customers who date back to the start of the company.

“A lot of faces have changed,” he says. “That’s one of the hardest things nowadays: you build relationships, then the people are gone, and they’re replaced, and you must build a new relationship. It can be a real challenge.”

Those relationships and the more personal level of customer service that comes with them are a significant part of Elko Tool & Fastener’s success.

“It’s that customer service,” Robert says. “It doesn’t go any further than my wife and me. If there is an issue, we take care of it right here on the local level. There is no corporate red tape to cut through.”

Until the last couple of years, Robert was still regularly on the road selling, two to three times a week.

Elko Tool is built on the outside sales model. Now with a staff of about 15, Robert says he has about five or six outside salespeople compared to three or four inside.

“There’s a fleet of trucks on the road all the time,” Robert says.

Despite its size, Elko Tool does not get a lot of walk-in traffic. He says only about 5% to 10% of Elko Tool’s business comes from walk-ins or local customers such as smaller contractors or area ranchers.

“We have no minimums,” Robert says. “They’re not a huge part of our business, but they’re certainly welcome, and we take them.”

RELATIONSHIPS DRIVE GROWTH

No matter the size of the purchase, he says it is imperative to treat the customer as a partner.

“We’re in it together; that’s always been the way I’ve kind of looked at it,” Robert says. “It’s not so much about the customer as it is about how you can help them get their job done.”

He says the Elko Tool sales approach is to be part of the customer’s team. “You need to be that way, or you’re just looking at your profit and your bottom line,” he says. “That may work for a short time, but I don’t know that it works for the long term. I think you must be a team member and be a partner with them.”

As an illustration of that policy, part of the Elko Tool customer service model is that everything in the warehouse is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, with no callout charge.

“These mines run 24/7 and 365 days a year there; they don’t have days off,” Robert says. “We’ve always felt that if you’re going to be a partner with them, you have to be a partner all the way, and that means that you’re available when they need you, so we’ve been there.”

Because callouts are frequent, there is always someone available to respond.

The staff at Elko Tool & Fastener share the unique bond of a team. Among them are: Latiana Vogl, Robert Collyer, Joe Petri, Eric Vogl, Cooper Dewey and Keith Stevenson.

ONE TEAM, ONE GOAL

Among the Elko Tool staff, there are no designated drivers. Sales team members fill bin stock, pull orders, deliver to the warehouse, or whatever else needs to be done.

“We kind of all work together, and we’re all well-versed,” Robert says. “We all do what needs to be done to make it work. We’ve always tried to work like a team, and all have each other’s backs.”

To ensure a sense of team camaraderie and benefits, no individual sales commissions are offered. Sales commissions are based on overall company success.

“That goes for everybody because we work as a team,” he says. “It’s hard when you’re in the field, and you have a request for a customer, and you call the office, and you expect them to drop everything and take care of that, and then you get a commission on that sale.”

To counter that issue, Elko Tool and Fastener’s employees work together as a team.

“We all get paid together as a team, so when we’re successful and we’re profitable, then we all do better,” Robert says.

The process benefits both Elko Tool and its customers.

“There’s no reason for my guys to overstock somebody and take advantage of policing themselves with quantities and product amounts, because they’re not going to get a bigger paycheck for it,” he says. “Their job is to take care of the customer in an honest, sincere fashion. That’s how we build that relationship and hopefully keep those relationships to make us successful.”

Robert says he has heard of commission salespeople who will oversell items. Customers will even ask, “Oh, is Christmas coming, are you overstocking this?” and he responds, “No, we don’t work that way and here’s why.”

It is a key example of how he approaches the business.

“I’ve always felt that you don’t want to make your profit today or tomorrow; you want to make it in the long term,” he says. “Because if you’re trying to make it today and tomorrow, you’re charging too much, you’re going to get caught up in it, and somebody else is going to step in and take your business away.”

Also, via the total commissions process, turnover at Elko Tool is minimal. While there are a few staff members with less experience, many have more than a decade.

Robert says the key to working with the team is communication.

“You have to communicate,” he says. “I tell them constantly, if you’re overwhelmed or you need help, you must communicate that so somebody can come and help you out. No matter what it is, you’ve got to communicate, because everybody needs to be on the same page.”

Problems come from not understanding what’s going on. He says whether it is something going on at home that’s overlapping into work or an issue at work, the more everybody else knows, the more they can help and get someone through it.

LEARNING THROUGH LEADERSHIP

While Robert is the president and owner of the company, he isn’t just sitting in the office counting profits. He still hits the road on sales calls, puts stock away, sweeps the floors, takes deliveries out, and helps customers.

“We all do whatever needs to be done, so we’re together all the time,” he says. “There aren’t any walls.”

Robert originally came on board in July 1996 following a layoff from his role as a heavy equipment operator for a timber company in northern Idaho.

“I had two young daughters, and I felt that was just not a good situation for them, and I wanted something that would challenge me professionally,” he says. “This was an opportunity, so I jumped in with both feet, and away we went.”

Though he had worked in the shop as well, making the shift to tool and fastener sales was a huge learning curve for Robert.

“It was a total change in profession,” he says.

To assist himself, he would read the company equipment catalogs cover to cover. His need to learn the business accelerated rapidly in those first few years.

Don’s financial partner died within Elko Tool’s first year of operation, prompting Robert and Don to acquire the remaining shares of the company from his estate.

Sadly, in February 1999, Don himself suffered a massive heart attack and died.

“When Don passed away, that was a huge challenge,” Robert says.

At the time of Don’s death, the company was in debt, and there was some doubt about whether Robert and his wife, Gail, would carry the business forward.

“I felt like we could make it work, so we just dedicated ourselves and went for it,” Robert says.

Through those early years, he was on the road constantly. Elko Tool had a staff of three, which included Robert and Gail.

“It took a number of years, but we made it work,” Robert says.

Even with such a small staff, the difference in those early years is what still sets Elko Tool & Fastener apart today: customer service.

Owner Robert Collyer looks over the store’s Stihl display.

HOLDING OFF THE COMPETITION

“We’re local here in Elko, and there was nobody here at the time, and that gave us a huge advantage,” Robert says.

Mining was on the rise, which further benefited Elko Tool in establishing its primary customers. “It’s kind of a little unique economic niche,” Robert says.

Unlike some distributors, the economy in Elko can swing differently from the rest of the country. While others are in a downturn, Elko may be on an upswing due to increasing gold prices.

Since opening, Elko Tool & Fastener has maintained a dominant position within the market.

“All the big guys have been here,” Robert says. “We’ve been able to hold them off so far.” Fastenal and Home Depot each have operations in Elko.

“I don’t think it bothered us in the slightest bit,” Robert says, noting that he sees that as a success. “Mining has changed from what it was 25 years ago, so it’s certainly been a challenge, but we’ve managed.”

In each instance, he admits there was some concern, but overall, he says there was never really any substantial difference having the other operations be in Elko.

Currently, Elko Tool covers about a 300-mile radius around Elko.

The three core product lines are grease and oil products, hand tools, and fasteners.

“We delve into safety equipment, commodity stuff, rags, paper towels, the type of thing that turns over quickly. But our three big ones are the tools, the grease and oil, and the fasteners,” Robert says.

Despite its size, Elko does have distributors in other niche markets, such as safety equipment, welding gas supply, plumbing, etc.

“We do cross into other areas, but as long as they kind of stay out of our way, we’ll stay out of theirs, and we all try to get along,” Robert says.

Elko Tool’s warehouse receiving bay shows that fasteners are the top seller, followed by hand tools and grease products.

MORE THAN NUTS AND BOLTS

Brands such as Schaeffer Oil, Wright Tool, Harrington Hoist, Stihl, Klein Tools, Knipex, Crescent, Ingersoll Rand and more are among the highlights of Elko Tool’s line card.

In addition, they carry the most popular power tool lines like Milwaukee Tool, DEWALT, and more.

However, Robert says there is no question that fasteners are the number one item.

“We do a bin stock service where we set up and supply the bins in their shops with nuts and bolts, electrical connectors, drill bits, abrasive products, generally all of the day in and day out usage items,” he says.

Among the top sellers are the larger 1 1/2-inch, 1 3/4-inch, and 2-inch diameter liner bolts, which are essential parts of the maintenance and operation of the mills.

In many cases, companies would have to order individual items from different suppliers to set up a mill reline.

Working with customers and Copper State Bolt & Nut Co. in Phoenix, Robert says Elko Tool offers an alternative.

“We’ve worked closely with our customers to make it easier for them so when they have a job, they have everything in one place,” he says. “We build kits where we’ll have all the washers, nuts, caps, bolts, all in one big metal box to do a reline on their mills.”

MANAGING RISING COSTS

Over the past year and a half, tariff increases on numerous products have impacted Elko Tool’s business.

With larger mining customers, Robert says some business is under contract, including clauses to hold pricing for a year.

“We got caught pretty badly by some of the tariff increases,” Robert says. “We’re still here, but we didn’t make the money that we should have.”

In addition, fuel, freight, and insurance costs have risen.

Customers generally understand what’s going on with the markets.

“Honestly, you’d have to have your head in the sand not to know that the prices and costs are increasing,” Robert says. “We just have to work through it.”

Elko Tool & Fastener has a fleet of trucks constantly on the move. Here, warehouse techs Latiana Vogl and Cooper Dewey, pose with Eric Vogl in purchasing.

COMMITTED TO THE COMMUNITY

Elko Tool has been in the same location since it was founded.

The building was being leased until Elko Tool purchased the site in 2014, nearly doubling the space being utilized.

Robert says they can accommodate all their customers from their current location, but that could change.

In addition, as a small business in a small community, he says they do everything they can to give back.

September will mark the 27th annual Don Wilkinson Memorial Golf Tournament, a community fundraising event.

“We try to support anything and everything that we possibly can that’s local here,” Robert says. “We’re very family-oriented and very community-oriented.”

He has considered expanding into another branch, specifically in Winnemucca, Nevada. However, one significant setback to any such expansion is finding enough employees to maintain a second location.

If there is demand, Robert says he would be open to expanding.

Like many independent distributors, Robert regularly receives calls from private equity or venture capital firms and national distributor chains about the possible sale of the company.

While he doesn’t outright hang up on them, he approaches his response as “kicking the can down the road.”

“It’s got to be the right fit for us, for the community, our customers, and most of all our employees,” Robert says. “We’ve worked for a long time to build this into what it is. I would hate to see it go downhill just because it is mismanaged or because it becomes a little cog in a big wheel.”

For now, he has no plans to go anywhere anytime soon. As to the future of the business, Robert doesn’t currently have any official plans in place.

“Any way that could be done, whether it be through sale or some other fashion, the key would be to ensure the long-term employees were being taken care of, since they are the ones that have made Elko Tool successful,” he says. “We’re extremely proud of what we built. I feel like we do a very good job. We provide a good service, we’re competitive, and we’re very proud of that.”

This article originally appeared in the August/September 2026 issue of Contractor Supply magazine. Copyright, 2026 Direct Business Media. Photos by Gayla Rockwell.