I was accompanying a salesperson who had managed the same territory for eight years. During that time, the business had supplied eight people to one client.
I asked, “Have you met the CEO or anyone in the executive management team?”
The salesperson looked surprised.
“No.”
As we drove through the industrial estate, I noticed other businesses surrounding the client’s premises.
“Have you walked into any of those businesses?”
Again, the answer was no.
Eight years. Eight people supplied. No executive relationships and neighbouring businesses left unexplored. The salesperson was maintaining an account. But who was developing the territory?
I have observed this pattern in established client relationships across different industries. Familiarity gradually becomes cruise control. The salesperson knows the usual contacts, understands the established requirements and assumes there is little more to discover.
Sometimes that assumption becomes apparent before a question is even asked. The salesperson’s body language and vocal tone communicate a lack of genuine interest.
Yet consider how much can change between two sales calls. A client may have new responsibilities, commercial pressures, competitors, ambitions or plans. Their business may be moving in a direction the salesperson knows nothing about. If we assume nothing has changed, why would we ask?
The relationship remains cordial. Orders may continue. But the salesperson is no longer discovering what the relationship could become. And where was management during those eight years?
The eight people supplied were visible. The executive relationships never established, the neighbouring businesses never approached and the potential business never uncovered were not. A salesperson can become comfortable with a territory. A manager can become comfortable with the salesperson’s results. Both can mistake continuity for performance.
Consider what this might look like in the marine industry. A supplier has served a shipping company, marina, boatbuilder or marine service business for years. The regular contacts are familiar. Enquiries arrive. Quotations go out. The relationship appears secure.
But what has changed in the client’s operation? Who else influences decisions? What new requirements are emerging? What opportunities exist elsewhere in the organisation or among neighbouring businesses? A competitor who takes a genuine interest may discover what the established supplier has stopped looking for.
Eight years in a territory is not the same as eight years of developing it.
For marine business owners and sales leaders, the question is not simply whether established relationships are being maintained.
It is whether anyone is still discovering what those relationships – and the surrounding market – could become.
About the Author Kurt Newman is the Founder and Managing Director of Sales Consultants and author of 21 Timeless Insights For Sales Success, and The Most Unlikely Salesperson. His forthcoming book, What CEOs Don’t Know About Sales, is scheduled for release in late October 2026. For information about Kurt’s books, visit salesconsultants.com.au or email .
