Hidden Risk in Corrugated Sales: What Happens When Your Top Rep Retires

August 29, 2025

Relationship building has long been a critical aspect of sales in the corrugated industry. Many companies’ growth is thanks to the persistence and expertise of seasoned salespeople who’ve spent decades learning customer preferences, solving problems on the fly, and closing deals with a handshake.

But what happens when those people retire? It’s not a distant concern. It’s already happening, and many companies aren’t prepared.

State of the Aging Sales Team

While there are no industry-specific data on the age of the corrugated packaging salesforce, we can make reasonable assumptions by examining related statistics. As of 2024, nearly one-third of all employees in paperboard container manufacturing are 55 or older, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. When we look at sales roles across all manufacturing sectors, we find the same pattern—almost 1 in 3 salespeople are 55 or older.

It stands to reason that the corrugated sector is facing a similar demographic reality. That means up to a third of your sales team may be within five to 10 years of retirement. And many companies have no formal process for capturing their institutional knowledge, let alone a plan to replace retiring sales staff.

When Sales Knowledge Leaves

In many corrugated businesses, customer information lives in the salesperson’s head. Details about preferred board grades, quoting nuances, seasonal demand patterns, and buyer personalities and preferences may not be written down, structured, or shared. Sales representatives who have been with the company for 20 or 30 years often operate independently, managing accounts based on relationships and intuition.

When they retire, the impact can be significant in the following ways:

Longtime customers won’t get the same service and may look elsewhere.
Transition to new reps may not be smooth, creating challenges for operations, quoting, or customer service as well as customers.
Internal teams may need to scramble to rebuild the knowledge that has been lost.

This can result in lost revenue, weakened customer loyalty, and stalled growth.

Challenges With Hiring a Replacement

Even if you want to hire a replacement, finding someone with corrugated knowledge and the ability to hunt for new business will be challenging. Fewer young people are entering sales. Finding new customers, cold calling, learning on the job, and spending years to gain the knowledge of their predecessor doesn’t appeal to younger workers. At the same time, newer hires tend to expect structured processes, clear handoffs, and some level of technological support, which many companies haven’t fully implemented. Additionally, many young people prioritize flexibility, purpose, and personal alignment over job security or company loyalty.

This isn’t about work ethic; it’s just that younger people have a different set of expectations that may not align with how sales has always been structured. While there may be a generational gap, the larger issue is the process gap.

What You Can Do Right Now

If you have key salespeople who will be retiring in the next five to 10 years, you can start now taking small, deliberate steps to protect your customer relationships and prepare for future transitions. Here are several ways to do that:

Start capturing sales knowledge: Make it a habit to document key account information. Use templates for quoting preferences. Record short interviews or debriefs with senior reps. Ask them to walk through their sales approach to top accounts and document it.
Use a customer relationship management system (CRM): Not every company needs a complex CRM, but most need something more effective than spreadsheets. A CRM such as Pipedrive can track conversations, quotes, and account activity without overwhelming your team. Choose a CRM that integrates with your email so those conversations are captured, as well. If salespeople resist data entry, assign someone else to handle input. The goal is to have visibility and capture data, not create extra work.
Outsource front-end sales tasks: One way to support your sales team is to bring in outside help for front-end sales: lead generation, appointment setting, and pipeline management. This will keep your pipeline full and moving while your internal team focuses on closing and retaining customers. It’s not a replacement for your sales team; it’s a supplement. Fragmented salespeople are less productive. If you bring on a new sales member who needs to focus on learning your products and services and closing sales, having them prospect as well is setting them up for failure and being overwhelmed.
Practice division of labor: Similarly to outsourcing, you alleviate the fragmentation of your salesperson by allowing them to concentrate on selling. Allow a junior sales team member with the appropriate skill set to conduct prospecting tasks and pass on qualified leads to the salesperson. This is a good way to start developing your talent pool of people who may be able to step into the sales role when needed.
Cross-train your internal staff: Customer service and operations teams should have access to account details. If your best sales rep retires tomorrow, someone should be able to step in without starting from zero. Even simple shared documents or dashboards can make a difference.
Invest in succession planning: Reach out to local colleges and offer internships. Start a mentoring program that pairs junior employees who are interested in sales with senior representatives for ride-alongs or customer meetings. Don’t wait until someone gives notice to think about who might take their place. Succession planning is critical to the success of your employees and your business. Putting someone who may not be a fit or prepared in a sales role because you are in a bind after a senior salesperson leaves won’t benefit anyone, especially your customers.

Avoiding a Crisis

The loss of a top rep shouldn’t put your business at risk, but if you haven’t prepared, it will. The good news is that this problem is fixable. You need to start capturing what your best people know and put some basic structure and process in place so that tribal knowledge lives beyond them.

Whether it’s documenting sales strategy, investing in tools that fit your workflow, or using outside support for prospecting, the point is the same: Don’t wait until you’re forced to react. Start planning now to make sure your company’s future isn’t tied to a single person’s memory.