What Business Owners Can Learn About Marketing From Girl Scout Cookie Selling Superstars
It’s Girl Scout cookie time and you don’t have to go out of your way to find a group of girls in green uniforms with a table full of colorful cookie boxes and sweet smiling faces asking if you want to buy a box or two or three. From the outside, these girls may look like most other non-profit groups that set up outside the local Walmart to sell their wares and raise some funds. But when it comes to marketing and sales; these girls rock. Small business owners can learn a lot from those little girls in green.
I recently had the opportunity to interview Tiffany Manley (blogger, homeschooling mom, and one of my awesome 23 Kazoos marketing team members) about how Girl Scouts go about selling so many boxes of cookies. Tiffany’s daughter Ava, who is 9 years old, sold 500 boxes of Girl Scout cookies last year which is pretty phenomenal. This year, Ava has set her sights even higher and is working hard to achieve her goal of selling 750 boxes. Ava, along with four other girls is part of Troop 763 from Chelsea, Alabama, have already pre-sold 1000 boxes of cookies for this season. With pre-sales that high, it’s no doubt Ava and the other scouts will meet or exceed the sales goals they have set for themselves.
So what is the secret to their success? I asked Tiffany for some insight to share with small business owners. Tiffany explained that “They don’t want to fail; they work really hard to reach their goal.” She added that she lets Ava run the cookie sale the way she wants to because “it’s her own little business.” With the support of their parents and their eyes on the prize, the Troop comes up with their own ideas about how to market the cookies and increase their sales. When I heard what Ava and her troop were doing to sell their cookies I thought, “These girls are brilliant!” I immediately wanted to share their marketing practices with you.
Here’s how they do it.
- They set a goal. (The number of boxes they want to sell.)
- They have rewards. (Prizes for each level of sales)
- They formulate a marketing plan to reach their goal.
To come up with their plan, Ava and her mom visited retail and grocery stores in their local community. Ava noted what she liked and didn’t like about what the stores were doing and used the best of their ideas to create the Troop’s marketing plan.
Here’s their Girl Scout Cookie Marketing plan.
1. Talk to everyone you know.
When the order forms come out, the girls hit the streets to visit friends and neighbors and ask them to order a couple boxes of cookies. Business owners can do this too by getting out of the office and talking to people wherever they go about their business.
2. Go to where the most customers are.
The girls visit area businesses and ask the business owner and employees to buy cookies. One of their marketing tips: Business owners buy more cookies. I think it is an act of solidarity as small business sales teams have to stick together. Business owners can benefit from this strategy by doing the same thing, going to networking events, attending chamber of commerce events, and putting themselves in the path of prospective customers at every opportunity.
3. Build a customer list.
The girls keep their order forms from previous years so that when the new order forms arrive, they hit the phones and call all previous customers to ask them how many boxes they want to order. Customers from previous years will refuse to buy cookies from other Girl Scouts because they have an existing relationship with the Girl Scout who calls them personally every year. This strategy helps secure repeat business but also frees up the Troop members’ time which allows them to market to new customers. Most business owners know how important it is to build their customer and prospect lists; this example from the Girl Scouts just reinforces the importance of list building and highlights how much difference a personal touch can make.
4. Boost sales by bundling.
The girls tie three boxes of cookies together, wrap them in a bow, and sell them as a unit. Even without a reduction in price, this increases the total number of boxes they sell. Business owners can use similar tactics to bundle products and services in complimentary packages and increase their sales.
5. Tie marketing promotions to holidays.
To attract more business and differentiate themselves from other Scout Troops, the girls are turning their bundles of cookies into special Valentine’s Day bundles wrapped in Valentine’s Day ribbon complete with a Valentine’s Day card. They make it easy for buyers like me who have little imagination and even less time to shop for the holiday. Business owners can capitalize on this strategy all year long by tying promotions to the various holidays and using the promotions to generate business buzz and attract new customers.
6. Support a charity.
The girls are also taking donations of money that is used to buy cookies to send to the troops overseas. This is a win for everyone. It creates good will for the Girl Scout Troop, offers people a creative way to support the troops, gives soldiers a little taste of home, and helps the Troop sell more cookies. This is a perfect example of how business owners can do good deeds for their community in a way that also boosts their bottom-line.
7. Be prepared for objections.
One of the most common objections the girls hear is “I’m on a diet.” Their standard reply is, “Well that’s okay, we are also collecting donations so we can send boxes of cookies to the troops overseas.” This strategy has a 90% success rate at converting an objection to a sale, according to Tiffany. The girls have learned that if they stick with it, and keep asking, most people will buy at least one box. There are two great takeaways here for small business owners. First, be ready to answer objections. Second, perseverance pays off.
8. Dare to be different.
Like other Troops around the country, the girls set up booths in front of local businesses with lots of foot traffic to sell cookies. The Troop took this sales tactic to the next level by creating “Girl Scout Cookie Billboards” out of strapping and empty boxes that they walk around in to funnel customers to the table. This is the kind of “out of the box” thinking that can be sales gold for small businesses.
9. Have a contest.
The girls set up a drawing for a free box of cookies at their booth which helps pull people over to the table where the girls can talk to them and make the sale. As part of the drawing, they collect email addresses and get permission to email people when their order is in or when cookies come out next year. This is a great example of how business owners can use a low-cost contest to generate interest for their business and build their customer list for future promotions.
10. Follow up after the sale.
The girls don’t stop after the cookie orders have been delivered to customers. They send handwritten notes to each customer thanking them for buying cookies and letting them know that they have extra boxes for sale in case they want to buy any more. They sell lots of extra cookies this way. And the handwritten thank you notes go a long way in cementing the relationships the girls have built with their customers. This is another great example of how powerful personalized service can boost sales. Small business owners can mimic this type of tactic to build customer relationships and attract future sales.
Girl Scout cookies may seem easy to sell because they support great programs, are sold by cute little girls in green uniforms, and they sell a product that most people love. However, Ava and the girls from Troop 763 in Chelsea, Alabama, are proof that it’s having a marketing plan along, and paying attention to details, can make the difference between an average cookie selling season and a Troop of cookie selling superstars.
February 14th, 2012 at 4:10 pm
I suppose each Council could be different, but ours enforced extraordinarily strict rules on promotions. Our service branch definitely would have lost our Cookie benefits if we tried to give away a single box or discount them in any way.
February 14th, 2012 at 8:40 pm
Point 2 is what Marketing 101 leaves out and I believe is one of the essentials of awesome performance.
Everything seems common sense but the consistent execution is the trick here.
February 15th, 2012 at 12:39 am
Girl Scout Cookie Sales is one heck of a confidence booster for girls!!! Years ago in 2nd grade, my daughter sold over 1200 boxes to reach one of the three top individual sellers in her Council! She has excelled in everything she has done in her life and reaches her goals! Girl Scouts goes a long way…
You Go Girls!
February 15th, 2012 at 4:58 am
The successful operation of a business is possible only with the setting of a goal and implementation of a proper plan. Brilliant plans definitely bring in rewards. Girl Scout’s ability to decipher their goal guided them to set a proper plan in place. It eventually generated more customers for their ‘box of cookies’.
February 15th, 2012 at 7:50 am
Thank you for your comments everyone! I was totally inspired by these girls! Such insight for being just 9 years old!!
February 15th, 2012 at 11:37 am
Intriguing to me are two features of this 10 step plan from which all business owners can learn. First, ownership of the sales program rests squarely on the shoulders of those responsible for implementing the plan. We owners often have OUR sales plan. But when the sales team makes it THEIR plan, the results will speak for themselves.
The second feature of note is the appreciation for the business which was achieved. Thank you’s at the point of sale is nice and is simply a common courtesy. But when someone takes the time to call or better yet write out a thank you, the chances of repeat business increases dramatically. So thank you Wendy for sharing this informative sales piece!
February 15th, 2012 at 1:06 pm
I’ve sold numerous things in my life, including Girl Scout cookies with my daughter for two years. GS cookies are about the easiest thing in the world to sell. Yes, better strategies can sell more, but selling a lot is still no problem. So, my Girl Scout actually came away with some WRONG lessons about how easy sales is.
February 15th, 2012 at 7:52 pm
Larry, thanks for your comment, actually the thank you notes were one of the methods that impressed customers the most!
Dave, yes, selling can be difficult for some people. What I learned after being in sales myself for 7 years was that you have to believe in what you’re selling. Then the selling is easy(er)!
February 17th, 2012 at 5:08 am
I really enjoyed the article. One thing I would add is that the girls have a great advantage-they are usually not afraid to hear “no,” something many adults fear when tasked with selling. I chalk up my ability to keep selling even after many no’s to my early days selling these same cookies. a lesson I teach clients: every no gets you closer to a yes.
I also agree with Wendy - selling isn’t hard when you believe in what you’re selling. In fact, it feels a lot more like sharing than selling.
February 17th, 2012 at 11:34 am
Amen to all of these points! Our troop funded educational trips to Disneyland, Washington DC, New York City, and the Grand Canyon with exactly this approach. We have a thousand stories about lessons learned and priceless life skills developed.
One of my favorite stories (not about us) is about the Brownie troop who had worked so hard for countless hours selling cookies that when a guy came up and tried to steal their cash box, they absolutely refused to let him run off with it. A passionate tug-of-war ensued, accompanied by much screaming and hanging onto shirttail, jacket, and cash box … pigtails flying. They delayed the robber long enough for adults to take action and police to nab him. Way to defend your hard-won earnings, Brownies!
February 17th, 2012 at 11:39 am
Stephanie, that’s true! There is nothing like the tenacity of a 9 or a 10 year old! We could definitely learn from them!
Katherine, congrats on funding those trips, that’s a huge accomplishment!! And woe to the evil villain who tries to come between these girls and their cookies!
Reading all of these comments inspires me even more. I didn’t get the opportunity to be a Girl Scout when I was a little girl. Sounds like I missed out on a lot!!
February 20th, 2012 at 9:09 am
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March 3rd, 2012 at 11:03 am
I ordered 10 boxes of GS cookies from aforementioned troop 763. This was back in January. I was told cookies would be delivered around the second week of February. I have yet to receive my cookies and the check cleared the bank weeks ago. I have not received a “hand written” thank you card nor have I received a call or most importantly my cookies. I speak for myself and several other employees at St. Vincent’s who also purchased cookies,checks cleared, and did not receive them. I assume this would be considered uncharachteristic conduct of Girl Scouts and especially those in charge of troop #763. For someone who buys every year this has been by far the worst experience I’ve had purchasing cookies.
March 7th, 2012 at 9:23 pm
Ashton, thanks so much for bringing this to my attention. As the troop leader, it is always important for me to know what is going on with my troop.
You are correct, this is uncharacteristic behavior for Girl Scouts and our troop. In addition to all the valuable lessons learned that are listed above, we learned another valuable business lesson this cookie season: you have to be ready for your business to succeed.
My daughter and her friend {also in the troop} sold 2,500 cookies between the two of them. We had no idea we’d reach this number, and given the fact that most people order one or two boxes of cookies, that leaves a ton of folks to deliver cookies to! Add to that the fact that I was out of town and the flu was passing through the troop, and we dropped the ball.
I’d like to point out it was not the girls’ fault, and those in charge accept full responsibility for not staying on top of things in the manner we should have.
I am sorry you have had such a bad experience, but hope that my prompt attention to your email on Saturday as well as delivery of your cookies on Monday helped this in some small way. It was not our intention to create a bad experience for you at all, and again I apologize.
March 8th, 2012 at 6:30 pm
Has anyone ever considered that using girl scouts to sell cookies could be interpreted as a form of exploitation? I wonder how many cookies the bakery (company making the cookies) would sell without the girls-scouts? Do the girls-scouts truly benefit from this business relationship?
I am certain there are positive aspects to girls scouts selling cookies, but somehow I have the impression there are more negatives than positives.
March 13th, 2012 at 2:45 pm
Troop 763 must be the exception to the rule. We live in Iowa, and for many years I’ve seen very few actual Girl Scouts selling cookies. No one comes to our door for a pre-order. Parents don’t want to walk around town with their kids while they talk to strangers, and won’t send them out alone. Moms seem to have stepped in and taken over. They sell cookies at work, at church, at garage sales and at sports events. You seldom ever see the girls themselves. If this is what we are teaching our Girl Scouts, they will become a bunch of dependent little lazoids, not business women.
March 15th, 2012 at 12:18 pm
I just saw a segment of the show “Office” that illustrated exactly what I’m talking about (see above). Two of the salesmen at Dunder Mifflin brought in order forms for cookies that their daughters were selling. You didn’t see their daughters at all, just the ridiculous antics they performed to get a big order.
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