Carew International provides sales training built for the paper, packaging, and forestry industry’s specific challenges: commodity pricing, long-standing incumbent supplier relationships, and multi-stakeholder buying decisions. For more than 50 years, Carew has helped sales teams in this industry build consultative selling skills through Dimensions of Professional Selling, Positional Prospecting, and Excellence in Sales Leadership.

Paper, packaging, and forestry companies compete in a market where products, whether containerboard, kraft and specialty papers, corrugated and flexible packaging, or converting and forestry products, are frequently viewed as interchangeable, customer relationships often span decades, and switching suppliers carries real operational risk for the buyer. Winning and retaining business in this environment takes more than product knowledge and a competitive price. It takes a sales team that can navigate RFQs and formal bid processes, sell effectively to procurement, packaging engineers, plant operations, and increasingly a sustainability or ESG stakeholder, and differentiate when the product itself looks the same as everyone else’s.

Whether your team sells packaging materials, containerboard, specialty or coated paper, corrugated or flexible packaging, forestry products, or converting and packaging equipment, Carew’s programs help sales professionals have more productive conversations that lead to stronger business outcomes.

Why Paper, Packaging & Forestry Companies Choose Carew

Companies in this industry face a consistent set of challenges:

• Products that are difficult to differentiate on specifications alone
• Long-standing incumbent relationships that are hard for a new supplier to break into, and hard for an existing supplier to protect
• Buyers who default to comparing quotes rather than evaluating full value
• Long-term contracts and relationships that require sustained account management, not just an initial sale
• Sustainability and supply chain considerations that increasingly factor into purchasing decisions
• Sales teams with strong technical and product knowledge who need a more structured, consultative sales process

Carew’s approach helps sales professionals move from presenting products to understanding customer priorities, differentiating beyond price and specifications, and building the kind of trust that protects long-term account relationships.

Common Paper, Packaging & Forestry Sales Challenges

Competing on price in a commodity market: When paper, packaging, or forestry products look interchangeable, price becomes the easiest way for a buyer to decide. Carew’s programs help sales professionals uncover the business problem behind a purchase, quantify value in the customer’s own terms, and lead conversations that compete on outcomes rather than specifications.

Breaking into or protecting long-standing supplier relationships: This industry runs on incumbency. Buyers frequently stay with a known supplier for years, and switching carries real risk and cost. Sales professionals need a deliberate strategy for either displacing an entrenched incumbent or protecting their own position against a competitor trying to do the same.

Managing multi-stakeholder, long-cycle decisions: Purchases often involve procurement, packaging engineers, plant operations, and increasingly a sustainability or ESG stakeholder, each with different priorities, and the sales cycle can stretch over many months and include formal RFQ or RFP processes. Carew teaches sales professionals how to navigate every stakeholder and maintain momentum across an extended process.

Growing and protecting existing accounts: Many paper, packaging, and forestry companies depend on long-term contracts with a relatively concentrated set of major accounts. Protecting and growing these relationships requires an intentional account strategy, not just responsive customer service.

Developing new business in a relationship-driven market: Winning new accounts in an industry built on long-standing relationships requires a confident, strategic approach to prospecting, not just persistence.

Paper, Packaging & Forestry Sales Training Programs

Carew’s core programs apply directly to this industry, and can be customized further for a specific company’s products, customers, and sales process.

Dimensions of Professional Selling® – Carew’s flagship sales training program gives paper, packaging, and forestry sales teams a practical, repeatable process to build trust quickly, discover customer business needs, differentiate beyond product features, handle objections with confidence, create customer commitment, and win profitable business. The methodology applies directly to real customer conversations and supports both experienced sales professionals and newer account managers.

Positional Prospecting™ – Winning new business in a relationship-driven industry takes more than a prospect list. Positional Prospecting helps sales professionals build confident prospecting conversations that create real openings with prospects who may already have a long-standing supplier.

Mastering Strategic Selling Plans – Paper, packaging, and forestry companies often depend on a concentrated set of high-value, long-term accounts. Mastering Strategic Selling Plans helps teams build a structured plan for these accounts, strengthening the partnership, identifying growth opportunities, and protecting the accounts that matter most from competitive displacement.

Excellence in Sales Leadership™ – Training loses its impact without strong sales management. Excellence in Sales Leadership helps sales managers in this industry build the leadership skills to guide their teams, reinforce selling behaviors, and hold reps accountable to a consistent sales process across territories and business units.

Excellence in Customer Service™ – Companies with customer-facing service and support teams can extend the same relationship-building approach beyond the sales organization. Excellence in Customer Service helps these teams handle customer interactions in ways that strengthen retention and protect long-standing accounts.

Working With Paper, Packaging & Forestry Clients

Carew has worked with companies across packaging materials, containerboard, specialty paper, and forestry products to build consultative selling skills across their sales organizations. See how one packaging company built a single sales process covering cold calls through close in this case study.

Paper, Packaging & Forestry Organizations We Help

Carew’s experience spans a range of environments in this industry, including:

• Packaging materials and converting, including corrugated, flexible, and rigid packaging
• Containerboard and corrugated packaging
• Specialty, coated, and industrial paper products
• Kraft paper and pulp products
• Forestry, timberland, and forest products
• Paper mills and processing operations
• Companies selling to consumer packaged goods (CPG) brand owners and industrial buyers

What Results Can Paper, Packaging & Forestry Companies Expect?

Every organization measures success differently. Companies in this industry commonly work with Carew to improve sales growth, win rates against entrenched competitors, average deal size, customer retention, account penetration, sales manager effectiveness, and consistency across regions and business units. Carew’s programs are designed to produce measurable business results across the full sales organization.

Why Paper, Packaging & Forestry Companies Partner With Carew

Companies in this industry value practical, immediately applicable training. Carew’s programs focus on behaviors that sales professionals can apply in customer conversations the very next day, combining proven sales methodology with realistic scenarios specific to commodity-driven, relationship-based selling.

Lasting improvement requires more than a single event. Reinforcement, coaching, and manager involvement help organizations sustain new behaviors long after training concludes.

Go Deeper on Paper, Packaging & Forestry Sales Topics

• How a Packaging Company Built One Sales Process That Works From Cold Call to Close — a case study on replacing an inconsistent sales approach with one shared, reinforced process.
• Selling Value in a Commodity-Driven Paper and Packaging Market — how to move customer conversations from price comparisons to quantified business value.
• Winning Business From Entrenched Incumbent Suppliers — how to displace a long-standing competitor or protect your own position against one.
• Coaching Paper and Packaging Sales Teams for Lasting Results — what effective sales coaching looks like in this industry and how to build it into regular sales management.

Frequently Asked Questions

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Build a Stronger Paper, Packaging & Forestry Sales Team

The paper, packaging, and forestry industry continues to face pricing pressure, consolidation, and evolving customer expectations around sustainability and service. The organizations that thrive are those whose sales teams can build trust, differentiate beyond price, and protect the long-term relationships the business depends on.

Carew International helps paper, packaging, and forestry companies build those capabilities through practical sales training, leadership development, coaching, and reinforcement that produce lasting results.