3 months of which was ramp, another 2 weeks of which was holiday. She was given bad manager feedback, no chance to correct, and fired without proper explanation. To her, this was churn and burn, and I wouldn't be surprised if the other 40 people fired where similarly treated.
If my job is sales and I hadn't closed a single deal in 4 months, I'd have quit myself. I'd either take the blame upon myself or I would have figured that this company already saturated the market, or has a bad product that nobody wants. The easy route is blaming someone else.
Do you not understand how ramp works? She would not be allowed to a sell during the first three months, or only with direct supervision. I'd be very surprised if you've ever worked in a sales first position, given this basic misunderstanding.
You're correct, I'm not a sales person, which is maybe why I'm finding it hard to be sympathetic to her firing.
"She closed zero sales 4.5 months into a 3 month ramp."
She had 1 month, after 3 months of ramp, to close something. Based on that, alone... I'd still stick by my comments above. If she has even a single peer closing even a single tiny deal in that 1 month, then she's already at the bottom of the list.
1 month, 2 weeks of which was holidays. As someone with extensive sales background, I'd advise you to step back and realize your judgements are heavily under informed.