The Herman Trend Alert enewsletter (sorry, no link) takes a look at last week’s unemployment numbers.  Some interesting items in there (emphasis mine):

This increase in unemployment continues to mask the real situation. Looking at the BLS’ Household Survey, in the month of May, the national unemployment percentages among adult men and women were 4.9 and 4.8. At the same time, the rate for teenagers, ages 16 to 19 jumped from 15.4 in April to 18.7 in May, an increase of 21.4 percent. While part of this increase is due to high school and community college graduations, these new job seekers do not account for this huge increase. Rather, we believe that something else is happening.

We believe that employers are holding on to their skilled, experienced workers and those with lower skill levels are considered more expendable and easier to hire back—as employees or contractors—when conditions improve.

What these data reflect is that the US has a real problem with its under-resourced schools—schools that are either not engaging students enough to keep them there or preparing them for the job market.

I think that last sentence is right – schools are not doing a good enough job preparing students for the job market.  One other note – how can these numbers be analyzed without taking into account the increased minimum wage?  The minimum wage is scheduled to increase again so I suspect companies are not hiring entry-level employees (16 to 19 year-olds) at the same level.

Whatever the explanation, 5.5% unemployment is a historically low number despite what the media reports.

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I have been noticing a common value proposition from distribution companies – “your one-stop shop for all things _________.”  Some of the sales reps for these companies use this value proposition as their main lever.  I tell them this is a mistake.

Here’s why – the web changes everything about sourcing.  I don’t need to limit myself to one vendor for all my _______ needs.  In fact, I have a subtle doubt about that approach – am I getting the best deal, product or solution if I go with one company exclusively?  The “catalogue mentality” is fading from our society and being replaced with a research mentality.

The proverbial old days were serviced by the Sears Roebuck catalogue where they had everything in there from clothes to tools to kitchenware.  I remember looking through that catalogue when I was young to check out the toys.  My kids think that idea is crazy.  They hop on the web and visit multiple sites to track down a specific toy or game.

Today, distribution sales requires salespeople to take more of a value-added reseller approach.  Customers are less impressed by companies that offer many different lines.  If needed, the customer can probably source the lines themselves from alternative channels.  Sales reps have to find the value their company brings to the marketplace and then leverage it in their approach.

One example is a friend of mine who sells office furniture.  He does not have exclusivity in this territory and there are bigger competitors.  His value is to provide certified interior design services.  I wouldn’t say that is a revolutionary approach, but his designers are quite skilled and the salespeople know how to leverage their designers’ abilities.  The fact that they are smaller than their competition allows them to provide highly attentive service to their customers.  Simple and effective.

Successful selling requires an detailed understanding of your value proposition.  If it is no more developed than “one-stop shop,” I would suggest you revisit your company’s offering to the market…unless your company is called Amazon.com.

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