Cookie Sales Tips for Success

90% of the general public would gladly buy Girl Scout Cookies, but did you know that nearly 35% are never asked? Sometimes we expect girls to naturally know how to sell cookies. The fact is that most girls need at least some guidance in the selling process. Below, you’ll find some tips and techniques to help your girls achieve their goals.

Door-to-Door Sales
• Encourage girls to canvass their communities, leaving no doorbell unrung!
• Girls should take orders, door-to-door, at the beginning of the Cookie Sale with their order cards.
• Sell door-to-door with cookies in hand. One week after cookies are delivered, load up a wagon with cookies, make signs and take a walk through your neighborhood!

Telephone Sales
• One of the fastest, easiest ways to sell Girl Scout Cookies is by phone.
• Girls should review order cards from previous years and use them to contact these customers again.
• Once cookies have been delivered, girls may want to call customers, thank them for their orders and ask if they need additional cookies.

Workplace Sales
• Girls can contact business owners or managers to request permission to sell cookies at a workplace; maybe even make a quick “sales pitch” at a staff meeting, or sell “office door-to-door” depending on the business.
• The business may allow girls to leave an order card in a visible spot. Leave a note from your team outlining your goals and plans for the cookie proceeds. (Remember not to list the girls’ last names or phone numbers on the order card or note).
• Girls should establish a date and time to pick up the order card and to deliver the cookies.

Success in Five Easy Steps!

Step 1 – Set and Share Team Goals
Goal-setting is a valuable life skill. Each girl writes the team’s goals on her Goal Tracker, which is attached to her order card. Inside the order card, girls write the goals where customers will see them.

Step 2 – Set Personal Goals
Inspire the girls to imagine how they can be even more successful than last year. What would they like to learn? Be sure to remind girls that achieving a team goal requires that every person achieve her personal goal.

Step 3 – Hold a Family Meeting
Adults need to understand the importance of an activity before they give it their full support. Engaging families in the Cookie Sale Program encourages them to be involved and stay informed.

Step 4 – Sell Beyond Family and Friends
People love Girl Scout Cookies and are generally predisposed to buying them. Many women say their first business success was getting a “yes” from an unknown customer. Encourage your girls to market beyond people they know. Step 5 – Track Your Progress and Celebrate Your Success! Using a Goal Tracker to watch sales grow keeps everyone focused on the goal. When girls reach their goal, remember to celebrate. Thin Mint shakes, anyone?