Today is the biggest shopping day of the year and Maritz Research has some of the stats to define the day:

A recent Maritz® Poll found that one-third of respondents (37 percent) plan to shop on the day after Thanksgiving. In last year’s poll, a similar number (34 percent) said they would shop on Black Friday.

In addition, those who plan to shop on Black Friday say they will spend more overall on their holiday purchases - $790 compared to $637 for all shoppers combined.

Black Friday also has generational implications with the majority of Gen Y respondents (59 percent), as well as a significant portion of Gen X (46 percent), planning to shop. Only a small percentage of Boomers (23 percent) and the Silent Generation (21 percent) will venture out on Black Friday.

(h/t JustSell.com)

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As a complete coffee addict, I found these statistics about Starbucks remarkable:

Starbucks’s closest competitor in the coffeehouse market, Caribou Coffee, is just one-twenty-fifth its size. Every 10 weeks, Starbucks opens as many stores as the total number of Caribou outlets.

• Starbucks has had 14 straight years with at least 5% same-store sales growth.
• Contrary to popular opinion, Starbucks increases sales at rival nearby coffeehouses. For example, when it blitzed Omaha with six stores, coffee sales at local joints went up as much as 25%, and more new ones opened shop.
• According to Starbucks, the company pays more for insurance for its employees ($200 million) than it does for coffee beans, yet only 42% of its 125,000-plus workforce has company health insurance–a lower percentage than Wal-Mart (46%).
• The average customer spends $4.05 per visit for coffee; the average fast-food-restaurant visitor spends $4.34 for an entire meal.
• For a cup that costs $3.40, at least 40 cents is profit. When Starbucks bumped the 8-ounce cup off the menu, the 10-ounce “tall” (the new small) increased profits by 25 cents per cup for only 2 cents of added product.

Sip ‘em if you’ve got ‘em.

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The recent murder of a young woman responding to a Craig’s List ad here in Minnesota has saddened all of us. Although the details are still sketchy, it appears to be a heinous, planned murder.

Unfortunately, it has hit close to home with all of us at The Hire Sense. The murder occurred just 20 miles away from us in the same metropolitan county.

Furthermore, we know the victim’s uncle. He is the top candidate for one of the position’s we are selecting for one of our customers. I called the candidate yesterday to follow up on the next step in our process and was utterly stunned when he told me about his relationship to the victim. Obviously, everything is on hold with him as it should be. I was speechless especially after hearing the grief in his voice.

Their family is strong in their faith and, by all accounts, is dealing with this senseless tragedy in an admirable way. Our thoughts and prayers go out to them especially as they move forward with their lives.

And it is a good lesson to all in regards to responding to an ad of any sort. The most prudent path is to meet in a public location. We use coffee shops extensively to meet with candidates. They are public, high-traffic areas. Please keep this idea in mind and share it with anyone you know who is responding to a meeting request with someone they have never met before.

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Ok, I have been delinquent in responding to Clayton from Salesopedia and his tag of me. Apparently I have to share 8 little known things about me. I’ll give it a try:

1. I am a twin. I have a “younger” sister - I was born 3 min. before her. Still counts.
2. Although I live in Minnesota, I was born in Ann Arbor, MI and bleed Maize and Blue. I only lived there the first 5 years of my life, but it had a huge impact on me no matter what the Rock Star says.
3. I met my wife at work. I was in sales and she was in marketing. We worked together for 6 months before we found out that we were both ferret owners. I had a male ferret named Otto and she had a female ferret named Emily.
4. There is no sport I enjoy more than hockey. It is simply the coolest game on Earth.
5. I have a weakness for reality shows. Even So You Think You Can Dance. Definitely TMI.
6. I have a desire to be a coffee barrista at Dunn Bros. Irrational, maybe, but truly a passion of mine.
7. I’m a dog guy - can’t stand cats. I may get flamed over this, but I had to share it.
8. I once took a yoga class in college to basically meet some cute gals. At the end of the class, we would stand in a circle as the teacher dismissed us. One time I sat too long with my legs crossed and both legs fell asleep. I was right next to a female student I was hoping to impress. I tried to stand up but kept falling down like a French prizefighter. The entire class stared at me as they tried to suppress their laughter. After multiple attempts, I finally stood there like a newborn deer - teetering on my asleep legs as the teacher quickly dismissed us. The gal next to me did not appear to be impressed. In any way. Ever.

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A press release from the Milken Institute’s annual Cost-of-Doing-Business Index lists the most expensive states for doing business and the least expensive.

First, the top of the list:

Ten Most Expensive
1 Hawaii
2 New York
3 Alaska
4 Massachusetts
5 Connecticut
6 California
7 New Jersey
8 Vermont
9 Delaware
10 Rhode Island

And then the inexpensive list:

Ten Least Expensive Rank
50 South Dakota
49 Iowa
48 North Dakota
47 Nebraska
46 Idaho
45 South Carolina
44 Montana
43 Missouri
42 Tennessee
41 Arkansas

I see lists like this and think one thing - taxes.

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Talk about another bad business decision - from the Pioneer Planet’s Bloggers May Form Union:

A loosely formed coalition of left-leaning bloggers is trying to form a labor union in hopes of helping them secure health insurance, conduct collective bargaining or even set professional standards.

But wait, it gets better:

“Blogging is very intense - physically, mentally,” she said. “You’re constantly scanning for news. You’re constantly trying to … mobilize your readers.

I particularly enjoyed the first part of that quote - blogging is very intense physically.  Physically?  Insert your own Jay Leno joke about how fat we are becoming as a nation.

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I can’t begin to tell you the enormity of the 35W collapse up here in Minneapolis. That is the main artery through Minneapolis and that bridge is one that almost all Twin Cities’ residents have traveled across - probably within the last 6 months. I cannot count how many times I have been over it.

All of our people are accounted for this morning. As strange as it sounds, things could have been worse if the bridge wasn’t under construction. Traffic was crawling along through the construction zone during rush hour so there weren’t the normal number of cars racing over the bridge.

The latest information is that 9 people have died and 20 are still missing. Our prayers go out to the people affected by this tragedy.

If you would like to help, please consider a donation to the American Red Cross - Twin Cities.

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This may be a topic that only interests me, but here is the link to the annual Fortune 500 list (h/t JustSell.com).  You can sort the list on a myriad of criteria.  I sorted the data by state and found that Minnesota came in with a respectable 20 F500 companies with an impressive 5 companies in the F100 (based on revenue):

21. UnitedHealth Group

33. Target

72. Best Buy

89. Travelers Cos.

97. 3M

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I wanted to just post a quick shout-out to Paul DeBettignies at MN Headhunter who organized one of the most impressive, impromptu conferences I have ever attended.  Paul is a genuinely humble guy but he did yeoman’s duty as the driving force behind the conference.  He has a post summarizing the event that you can read here.  John Sumser has pictures here.

110+ people attended the event at Best Buy corporate headquarters yesterday and the feedback has been amazing.  The discussions I had afterwards were all highly complimentary and those attendees were hoping for a continuation of the conference.  That discussion has already started so I will pass on information on the next Twin Cities’ conference as it becomes available (here is the information pertaining to yesterday’s conference).

The next traveling roadshow will be in Atlanta in Sept. in case you are in the area and would like to attend.  I’ll post the details when they are available.

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As my wife will gladly attest, I am NO slave to fashion.  In fact, if they made Garanimals for adults, I would buy them.  So my interest was mildly piqued in CareerJournal.com’s What to Wear to the Office Where Suits Aren’t the Norm.  Some fashion advice for us guys:

Casual wardrobe essentials for men include casual and dress pants in khaki, navy, black, and perhaps a pair of relaxed-fit — but not too baggy — dark navy pressed jeans. Men should think creatively with shirts, with colors beyond white and blue, an assortment of styles in solids and stripes, and some turtlenecks. A couple of blazers in navy or tan allow guys to be spiffier for important meetings. Go with dark loafers, with or without socks.

The last line caught my eye and I have to share a story from yesterday.  I was out at a couple appointments yesterday and stopped by a coffee shop.  As I was getting my coffee, I noticed a well-dressed gentleman in a sharp suit - 2 piece with complementary shirt and a coordinated tie.

The strange part of his ensemble . . . he was wearing Teva sandals.  Honestly, there were his barefeet exposed in a pair of hiking sandals.

Trust me on this one, it was passing strange.

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