Girl Scouts Penny and Vivionna share their secret to success during Girl Scout cookie season.
Sisters Penny and Vivionna have been Girl Scouts for 7 and 6 years respectively. Over their years in the program, they have collectively sold 15,000 boxes of cookies.
This year they plan on using their cookie funds to fund their Silver Award project and give back to the community.
We asked Penny, Vivionna and their troop leader/mom, Dayna, about their cookie business. Here is what they had to say.
We live in a fast-paced world and not everyone carries cash. It is necessary to take different forms of payment. With digital cookie, we are able to accept card payments in addition to cash.
Know your customer base where you are going. We always keep cookies on hand so that we can sell them in different environments. (doctors office, friend's house, businesses, etc) We also keep change on us for those unexpected sales that may happen while we are out and about.
There are so many customers that can be reached in many different ways.
Calling friends and family is how we start our cookies season. We target our local customers by doing door-to-door walk abouts in our neighborhood and setting up a booth on our property.
Next, working cookie booths outside of retail stores is a great way to reach customers outside of your neighborhood.
Lastly, in the age of online shopping, selling online is also a great way to reach customers. We post our links to personal social media pages and also advertise the cookie finder page at gssn.org/cookies.
During the 2024 cookie season, Dayna, Penny and Vivionna joined Denise Wong on KOLO 8 to share their cookie tips with other Girl Scouts. Watch their segment here.
You must be determined to reach you goals and work hard. Start by making a small goal. Once you hit that goal your can work towards your larger goal. This gives you encouragement as you sell throughout the season.
Even when you get turned away at a customer’s door or you get a “no thank you” at a booth you keep a smile on your face and thank them for their time. Being positive and always having great customer service is a must.
When selling cookies money management and troop planning is very important. Before you go out and sell cookies you should have a future plan on what your troop will be doing with your funds. Our troop feels that it is always important to give back. We budget for a community project that will give back to our amazing customers. Next, we plan for our troop. This means that we look at future badges and patches that we want to work on and budget for what will be needed to complete those. Last, we budget for a celebration event. It is also important to give yourself a pat on the back for all of our hard work we put in during cookie season.
Dayna, the girl's troop leader and parent shared her experience with cookie season. Here is what she had to say.
As a troop leader and a parent, Girl Scout cookie season is a very busy, but rewarding time.
Watching these young entrepreneurs grow and run a business brings me great joy. Knowing that I have an impact in how these young ladies embrace the world and become future leaders is a very important job.
As a leader I oversee of all the cookie ordering, pick up, and distribution to the girls in my troop. I also run cookie booths with the girls and help them do their bank deposits. I oversee them when counting their cookie money and separating orders. I do my best to lead them and teach them along the way that way they learn to be very independent in their business.
Cookie season is one of my favorite times during the Girl Scout year. There are many fun activities that I plan for the girls including a cookie tasting meeting. Who doesn’t like eating Girl Scout cookies? My living room may be full from wall to wall with cookies but in each box I see new skills and important lessons that my girls will be learning.
The biggest take away from Girl Scout cookie season is that when the customers buy even just one box of cookies, they are not just buying cookies. The customers are buying into our girls’ future. They are buying from young entrepreneurs that are learning valuable life lessons that they will take out into the world and make the world a better place!
