NYC Girl Scout Cookie Season: Helping Your Scout Sell
It’s the sweetest time of year: Girl Scout cookie season, which kicks off March 1 in NYC.
While cookie lovers across the city will soon indulge in these annually distributed sweet treats, there’s an even bigger purpose behind the cookie program. It teaches girls important business and financial literacy skills that will stay with them throughout their lives.
“What makes Girl Scout Cookies even sweeter? Behind every box is a girl learning important skills to power her leadership journey and unlock a world of opportunities,” Wendy Lou, Girl Scouts of the USA’s chief revenue officer, said. “Financial literacy is not only a critical skill required for entrepreneurship, but an essential life skill.”
As a parent of a Girl Scout in NYC, you want her to get the most out of this time-honored program—not just sell a ton of delicious cookies.
So, we spoke to some local scout leaders who offered advice and tips on how scouts can have a safe, successful and fun selling season this year!
NYC Girl Scout Cookie Season: A Time for Selling and Learning
The Girl Scout Cookie Program is arguably the world’s largest entrepreneurial program for girls. The Scouts’ newly updated Financial Literacy badges offer entrepreneurial playbooks for every age level.
From the Cookie Goal Setter badge earned as a Daisy to the Entrepreneur Accelerator badge earned as an Ambassador, the program teaches girls financial literacy, planning, budgeting, teamwork, innovative thinking and confident decision making.
As an added bonus, all proceeds from cookie sales stay with local councils and troops to provide year-round experiences for Girl Scouts.
Here are four tips Girl Scouts can use to sell safely and successfully:
Go Digital
There’s something to be said of selling cookies the traditional way, such as outside of a local supermarket or other neighborhood business.
But during NYC Girl Scout cookie season, many troops also sell their cookies online. Many Girl Scout councils across the nation participate in the Digital Cookie platform—and this includes the Greater New York council.
Tara Benowitz is the troop leader of Troop 5201 on Staten Island. Her scouts only sell cookies online, allowing them to sell more cookies to more people.
“Digital cookie sales provide a safe and effective way to sell cookies. And we’re able to reach a broader audience,” Benowitz said. “Scouts can sell to family members and friends who might live across the country. With traditional booth sales, it’s only local.”
Each scout gets her own site, where she can write a summary about why she’s selling cookies and forge a digital connection with valuable customers. The personalized site allows scouts to set goals, upload a pitch video, track their sales and more, all while learning valuable money and business skills.
“Digital sales are more lucrative for us,” said Leesa Goldstein, co-leader of the troop.
Promote the Free Shipping Feature
Marketing is key to any successful business! That’s why Benowitz encourages her troop to promote the free shipping feature provided by the Girl Scouts.
Basically, this is a time period during cookie season when there is no charge for shipping or delivery.
“Shipping has become so costly because prices of so many things are going up,” Benowitz said. “I tell them to get their family together, and try to get them to order during that time period.”
Deliver Only to Friends and Family
Sometimes, scouts deliver cookies in person. If this is the case, scouts should only deliver to people they know and trust. And always deliver during the day—never at night.
Run a Cookie Booth
Of course, the traditional cookie booth is still a great way to sell cookies. Cookie booths are not only fun, interactive and educational, but very successful, according to the Girl Scouts of Greater New York website.
As with selling cookies online, there are many rules and regulations to follow, which are available on council websites.
For more information about Girl Scout Cookies, including where to buy them in NYC, visit the website or follow the Girl Scouts of Greater New York on Instagram or Facebook.
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