the mantra in sales psychology used to be that the salesman should always look and act as much as possible like the potential client ...
i once worked for a company long ago that purchased some expensive IBM gear, but the technical sales representatives assigned to us were for the most part lazy bozos, with one exception being an outstanding black rep: personable, helpful, diligent and very knowledgeable ... i begged him to be our primary rep, but he confidentially told me that wasn’t possible because IBM’s policy was essentially that black guys could rep only black-dominated businesses and white guys could rep only white-dominated businesses ...
It is sad that IBM had a policy like that, but It does not surprise me.