Could it be true

[daveashton]

We were given data on a new survey that claims to show that the bets new business sales people are single and the best account managers are in stable long-term relationships.

What does the forum think of this and has anyone got any data on the subject.

[billhilton]

That sounds quite entertaining and maybe even has a ring of truth about it. However, it also sounds like the sort of survey I'd arrange if I wanted to work up a bit of PR for the company that did it. Where did you hear about it?

[daveashton]

This is the interesting bit. The email was forwarded from a client in reading who had a recruitment company in last week.

We have just had our weekly sales meeting and none of the sales consultants have every known of any survey like it.

There have been surveys on age, IQ and sex that we know of but not on this.

It also brings a few interesting questions i.e.

Some single people could not sell themselves because they are shy etc and others enjoy are obviously outgoing and enjoy flirting. So can the data be true?

Also if you recruited on these principles are you not discriminating?

[billhilton]

I think it's likely to be correlative rather than causal. The fact that sales people tend to be more outgoing and accounts people more introverted is pretty clear, though it's a general tendency that doesn't really do justice to some of the crazier accounts people I've known. If it is a thorough study, I'd also be pretty interested to see how the results broke down by gender :-)