> whiter males

What does that have to do with sales aptitude?

Depends on the audience but the senior management at a lot of places is often disproportionately older white men of a certain background (MBA from one of a few schools, former frat / current country club member, etc.). This is relevant to consulting and sales because a lot of clients like to think someone like them is in charge.

I've known a few salesmen who were quite open about their role as the senior guy on the contract was literally to take the client it for a round of golf and reassure them that the 25 year-olds weren't going to suggest too much change too quickly. Sharing the same cultural background, wearing a good suit, etc. gave them instant credibility on that front so they could spend lunch talking about which colleges their kids/grandkids were looking at, which pro golf/baseball/football team was going to do well, etc. and get the deal because the client now felt confident that they'd get what they asked for.

It does depend on the audience, and really isn't unique to white golf-playing males. I've seen plenty of that sort of client management in a few types of work, ranging from suits and golf to hoodies and pubs, black tie events to nightclubs.

Oh, definitely – I just mentioned that because there was an era where that particular one was just a gravy train for salespeople targeting the Fortune 500, government agencies, etc.

This is definitely a generational thing and I'm sure there's more diversification as the Boomer executives retire. There's must be some salesperson cleaning up with craft beers and SXSW or Tour de France trips now.

I think there's a lot of cultural bias favouring older white males in situations where authority and trustworthiness is important.

It has nothing to do with sales attitude and everything to do with empirical evidence of who large corporations (and their employees) decided to hire for these jobs.