The Importance of Measurable Skills in Sales

Almost 10% of the US labor force are somehow involved in the sales function. We see data for about 40,000 business to business sales workers at over 130 different US-based firms. How many of those were in managerial roles? 5,000 managers and about 1,500 promotion events. The other benefit is that we have a very good measure of their performance so we can test are the stronger performers more likely to be promoted. So how generalizable do you think your findings are? I believe it's likely to apply to other settings where the skills required to succeed at one level differ from skills needed to succeed in the next level.