It’s that time of year again … Girl Scout Cookies! Before the girls start working cookie booths at your favorite locations in mid-February, they get a jump start on sales via pre-orders during the month of January. The first day they can start selling is this Friday, January 8, 2016 and they are on a mission to reach their goals.
For Girl Scouts all across the USA cookie time offers many benefits to the girls to include goal setting, decision making, money management, people skills and business ethics. Both pre-orders and real time sales allow them to do all this, so why on earth should you place an order before you can get your boxes?
I asked several “cookie moms” and some of the girls why their customers should pre-order and here is why:
5. Boosts the Girls Confidence and Excitement
As the girls start selling the cookies, each sale boosts their self-esteem and gets them excited to keep on selling. This is especially helpful for when they run into a series of “no thank-you’s.” And remember, even if you don’t want cookies to eat yourself, you can always purchase a box to donate to the military.
4. Nurtures Goal Setters and Planners
When you place your order in January, you help the girls learn how to plan in order to reach their goal. Each girl sets a goal they want to reach in a limited amount of time. As you can imagine, it can be daunting to look at how many boxes you need to sell to reach your target. Pre-orders let them know they can do it and helps emphasize the importance of setting goals and the steps needed to achieve them, which is an important life lesson. By ordering in January, you help them get one step closer to their goal.
3. Builds One-on-One Customer Relations
You get to help the girls become better at marketing the cookies and learn how to interact with customers, adults and people in general. With each customer a girl speaks with, she learns how best to phrase questions, share the product and complete a sale. By pre-ordering, you and the Girl Scout get a more customized, one-on-one experience that isn’t always found at a cookie booth.
2. Order Now, Pay Later
How great is this one? You place your order for all the boxes you want in January and you don’t have to pay (unless you want to) until your cookies are delivered to you in mid to late February. This also allows you purchase exactly how many boxes you want and fit the cost into your budget at a later date instead of taking a hit from your wallet upfront.
1. Choice! Choice! Choice!
You don’t have to rely on what a cookie booth happens to have on hand because you can choose all the flavors you want and as many boxes as you want. And let’s face it, since the cookies only come around once a year, nothing is more disappointing than wanting to buy five or more boxes of your favorites only to find out the cookie booth just sold their last box to the person in front of you. Remember they freeze well, so go ahead and stock up on all you want by pre-ordering.
Added Bonus: Cookies will be DELIVERED to you by the Girl Scout you order from!!!!!
So what are you waiting for? Find a Girl Scout near you and order today. Pre-order start January 8 and the initial pre-order is due January 24 so you only have a couple of weeks to get in on the first round.
