Sales leaders should be careful about assuming their top reps are locked in.
DMC’s 2026 Building Materials Sales Salary Report found that sales reps have a median of 15 years of industry experience, yet half have spent 5 years or less with their current employer.
That is a clear warning for employers. Strong reps are staying in the industry, but they are not necessarily staying loyal to one company.
Loyalty is changing
For employers, this should be a wake up call.
A long tenured industry professional may still be open to the right conversation. They may like the industry, understand the products, and have strong customer relationships, but still feel that their current company is no longer the best place to grow.
This is especially true when compensation, leadership, territory structure, or career progression starts to feel unclear.
The data points to a clear shift: mobility is becoming a normal part of career strategy.
Experienced reps are not necessarily waiting for something to go wrong. They may simply be watching the market, comparing opportunities, and asking whether their current role still reflects their value.
Satisfaction does not guarantee retention
One of the more interesting findings in the report is that respondents with shorter employer tenure reported higher job satisfaction overall.
A new role often comes with renewed energy. Maybe it offers a clearer territory, a stronger compensation plan, better leadership alignment, or more confidence in the company’s direction.
This means your long term employees may not be your safest employees.
In fact, they may be the group most likely to feel overlooked if they have not seen meaningful changes to their compensation, territory, role, or career path in several years.
What top reps are evaluating
The report shows that earning potential remains the leading priority for sales professionals, with 78% rating it as very important when evaluating a role.
But compensation is not the whole story.
Sales professionals also rated these factors as very important:
- Working environment and culture: 71%
- Flexible hours: 60%
- Company values: 59%
- Vacation time: 52%
- Job responsibilities: 52%
- Career and professional development: 48%
This matters because competitors are not only trying to beat you on pay. They may be offering better support, clearer leadership, more flexibility, or a role that feels better aligned with how strong reps want to work.
If your retention strategy focuses only on compensation, it is incomplete.
Why this matters today
When market conditions are strong, sales activity can hide talent risk. Demand is high, customers are buying, and reps may be able to hit targets without much friction.
A slower or more price sensitive market exposes the strength of your sales team.
Customers push harder on price. Projects take longer to move. Margins become harder to protect. Order volume can be less predictable. In that environment, experienced reps are crucial.
They know which accounts need attention. They understand how to defend value. They can spot customer risk earlier. They know how to keep relationships warm when buying decisions slow down.
Losing that kind of rep is not just a hiring or retention problem. It can become a revenue problem.
Employers need to stop assuming stability
Tenure can create a false sense of security.
A rep who has been with the company for years may still be open to a better opportunity, especially if they feel the business has not adapted to current market realities or their professional needs.
Employers should be asking:
- Are our top reps still motivated by their compensation plan?
- Have we benchmarked their earnings against the current market?
- Do they see a future here beyond their current territory?
- Are targets realistic based on market activity?
- Are we giving them enough sales, pricing, and operational support?
- Do managers know what might cause each top performer to leave?
- Are we waiting until resignation to have retention conversations?
The last question is the problem for many employers.
By the time a strong sales rep resigns, the decision has usually been building for months.
The takeaway
Building materials sales professionals are not becoming less loyal to the industry.
They are becoming more selective about where they build their careers.
For employers, this is a direct retention warning.
Your best reps may not be unhappy. They may not be actively job searching. They may not be raising concerns in every meeting.
But they are paying attention.
If your compensation, leadership, culture, and career paths are not keeping pace with the market, another employer may give them a reason to listen.
Check out the 2026 Salary Report for Free here.
Connect with our building materials team here.
