Girl Scout Cookie Boss Packet Are you ready? Let s rock this cookie season! Everyone knows how delicious Girl Scout Cookies are, but a lot of people don t realize how much girls learn when they sell them. They learn how to be an entreprenuer, think outside the box, feel confident, and take the lead. Through the Girl Scout Cookie Program you ll gain experience in these 5 Skills: 1. Goal setting 2. Decision making 3. Money management 4. People skills 5. Business ethics Use this packet to help you: Find ways to talk to customers Plan where to sell cookies Decide who to sell cookies to Learn how to make change Become a Girl Scout Cookie expert : Let s do this!
Entrepreneur Skills As a cookie boss, you re an entrepreneur! Entrepreneurs are business-people who work to make the world a better place with their product or service. Below is a list of some of the skills entrepreneurs have. On the next page, decorate a poster of yourself as an entrepreneur. Write the words or draw pictures of the skills and interests you have, they could be some of the items listed on this page or you can think of your own. Be creative! Creative Dreamer Problem-solver Helpful Goal Setter Thinker Team player Never gives up 2
I m an Entrepreneur! 3
Did you know? Did you know that when you sell Girl Scout cookies you are an entrepreneur helping with the largest girl-run business in the whole world? Running our cookie business helps girls do great things. One great thing I hope to do this year is: The Girl Scout Cookie Line Up To sell cookies, you need to know what kinds there are so you will have all the answers when customers ask. Study the list below and you ll be a Girl Scout Cookie expert. Caramel DeLites Thanks-A-Lot Girl Scout S mores Shortbread Lemonades Thin Mints Peanut Butter Patties Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookie Quiz Can you guess which cookies contain chocolate and which contain nuts? Your customers might want to know. Draw a circle around the cookies that contain chocolate. Draw a square around the cookies that contain nuts. 4
Goal Setting Set a sales goal. For each box of cookies you sell, you can work toward earning special rewards we call recognitions or Program Activity Credits (PACs) that can help you pay for Girl Scout events or camp. How many boxes of cookies do you want to sell? That s called your goal. My Cookie Goal Meter Number of boxes I hope to sell Set a goal for the number of boxes you hope to sell. Start with a Smile. Say to yourself: I can sell cookies. Positive thinking makes you feel good about yourself and whatever task you will do. Be Smart. Set goals you can reach. No Girl Scout can sell a million packages of cookies alone. Think about what you can really do. Goal Draw a poster to help you see your goal or use the one provided. Put lines on the pictures that show the number of boxes sold. Hang your goal poster somewhere so it will remind you of your goal every day. Once a week, color in the meter to match your sales and see how close you are to reaching your goal. Like this! Did you know? The council goal is 175 packages sold per girl. Each girl reaching this goal can choose ONE of the following: $10 Program Activity Credit or Pool package sunglasses, beach towel, cinch sack or 2 Wisconsin State Fair tickets For recognitions below 175 packages, refer to gswise.org. Cut out this page and hang it up to remind you of your goal! Be a sister to every Girl Scout by donating $10 of your earnings to help another girl have a Girl Scout experience. 5
Goal Setting Entrepreneurs know the types of people that want to buy their product or service. To reach your cookie sales goal you need to find customers. Think about who your customers may be. Are they family, friends, teachers, or neighbors? Make a list of your cookie customers here! 6
My Business Model Hey Cookie Boss! Every business needs an awesome name. What is the name of your business? The product or service my business provides: People who are most likely to be customers of my business: Price of my product is $4.00 a package Promotion How do you make your sale stand out? Should you make a poster, a cheer, or even a video? 7
Be Prepared Hearing people say, No, thanks is a part of selling any product. If you prepare ahead of time and listen closely to your customers you may be able to turn that No, thanks into a sale. Think about what you might say if a customer said one of these things: Answers here! My kids aren t at home anymore, they re in college. I don t eat cookies because they aren t healthy. I love chocolate. I really don t like chocolate. You know, I sold cookies when I was a girl. I already bought a box from the girl down the street. I can purchase cookies for less money at the grocery store. 8
Advertising Girls get to decide where and when to sell cookies and how to inspire customers. They also get to decide which rewards or recognitions they would like to earn. Did you know that when you make decisions, big or small, you are learning a skill? Here s an exercise to help you develop your decision making and advertising skills. Imagine that you re ready to start another new business as an entrepreneur. What will you decide? Add your name and future career to the business cards below. We ve made a sample to help get you started. (For safety s sake, don t include your address or phone number, but you can make one up just for fun!) Allison Animal Doctor Furry Town Animal Clinic 4226 Birdwing Drive Helping animals stay healthy and happy. 9
Advertising Now that you made some career choices, cut the cards out and hand them to your friends or family. Ask them if they think you made a good choice or what career they would decide for you to do in the future based on your unique entreprenuerial skills. 10 This is the back of your business cards. It matches the design of the front side!
Money Management When it comes to making decisions about spending your own money, you will have to decide what you need and what you want. You might find out it s not as easy as you think. Bed Microwave Tennis shoes Food and water, clean clothes, and a place to live: these are things everyone needs. A closet full of shoes, a new desk, and tickets to a movie: these are things people want. Desk Perfume Toothbrush But how do you figure out what you need and what you want? Rank the items you need the most to the items you need the least. Discuss your order with a friend or family member. Cell phone Refrigerator Television Computer Shower Video game Flip flops Soccer ball Winter coat 11
Money Management When it s time to deliver cookies to your customers, you (and the adults helping you) will be in charge of handling money. Let s get ready to manage money by learning which coins are which. Draw a line to connect each coin to its name. 5 10 25 Dime Dollar Nickel Penny $1.00 Quarter 12
Money Management Chances are pretty good that some of your customers will use coins to pay for their cookies. Doing the exercise below will help you figure out how many coins it takes to equal or make a dime. If you want to learn more, grab a parent or family member and a handful of change and figure out the following: How many pennies make a nickel? How many nickels make a quarter? How many quarters make a dollar? Color enough coins to equal a dime. 10 5 5 5 5 10 10 10 10 10 10 13
Money Management Sometimes, instead of paying for things with cash, you might see adults paying with a plastic card, or writing a check. Learn the difference between using cash, a plastic card, or writing a check. Cash is money you have Bills and coins in your wallet or purse are money you already have. You earned that money and can spend it on things you need or want. Checks or debit cards use money we put in the bank to pay for things Some adults have a checking account and a debit card. To spend the money using a checking account or a debit card, you need to earn the money first, and then put it in the bank. They will keep it until you need it. When you are ready to use the money in the bank to pay for something, you can either write a check or use a debit card. Both are ways of telling the bank to take money out of your bank account. Have you ever seen someone using a machine at a gas station or outside of a bank to get money? That is called an ATM. You can use your debit card at an ATM to take cash out of your bank account but every time you do that there may be a charge. So if you want $20 of your money that is in the bank, and you use an ATM, you may actually have to pay an extra $2 $5 just to get the $20 that you want. Whenever possible, be sure to plan how much cash you need and get it directly from your bank instead of using an ATM. Adults borrow money with credit cards Some adults use credit cards to borrow money to pay for things. Usually they do this when they don t have enough money saved up to buy what they need right now. Credit cards can help a family that needs extra money to help with an emergency. Example: Let s say that the car breaks down and no bus service is available for the grown-up to get to work. It s important to get to work on time everyday in order to earn money to pay for your home, clothes, food, heat, and electricity. But the family doesn t have enough money in the bank to pay for the car repairs. So what should they do? They can use a credit card to borrow enough money to pay for the car repairs. The family will then get a bill from the credit card company and will need to pay them back (using a check or debit card) once they have earned enough money. The family will want to pay the bill as soon as they can. If they don t pay back the money back right away, the credit card company will charge extra money. 14
Money Management Test your skills with bills! With your friends or family, practice making change using dollar bills. This is a good time to grab some play money from a board game or make your own money. Make sure you have five one dollar bills, three five dollar bills, one ten dollar bill, and one twenty dollar bill. Once you have your money see if you can complete the tasks below. Remember, one box of cookies costs $4.00. Pretend a customer gives you $5.00 and wants one box of cookies. How much change would you give them? = $ Pretend a customer gives you $10.00 and wants two boxes of cookies. How much change would you give them? = $ Pretend a customer gives you three $5 bills and wants three boxes of cookies. How much change would you give them? = $ Pretend a customer gives you $20 and wants four boxes of cookies. How much change would you give them? = $ 15
People Skills Everyone who buys cookies is helping you and other girls have a great time in Girl Scouts. Customers want to feel that they are helping girls do something important when they buy cookies. Plan to share what you will do with your earnings. Practice saying these three things: Every cookie helps girls do great things. The money I earn will help me:. I am a Girl Scout and I help lead the largest girl-run business in the whole world. I am running my own business. With all this practice, I will be really great at it by the time I m an adult. Make thank you cards When you make your customers feel appreciated, they are more likely to come back and buy more cookies. Show them you appreciate their business by creating thank you cards, hand outs, or e-cards. Cookie Booth Sale Tips Many people want to buy Girl Scout cookies, but lots of them say they are never asked so they don t buy any. To help reach more people, some Girl Scouts set up cookie booths at their home or school. Girl Scout troops often run cookie booths at local businesses, like a grocery store. This is a way to sell cookies directly to lots of customers at the same time and reach those that live outside of your neighborhood. Remember these tips: A friendly smile and a helpful attitude can make your customer s day. There are lots of ways to practice being friendly and helpful. Try it out by thinking of three ways that you can be helpful at school or at home. Then pick one thing to do during the next week. You might: pass out papers for your teacher, help clean up around the house, or set the table for dinner. Smile and be polite! Ask nicely if the customer would like to buy some Girl Scout Cookies. Make sure you know how much one box of cookies costs. Practice making change. Wear your Girl Scout vest or a Girl Scout T-shirt. Make posters to advertise your sale. Follow the Girl Scout Safety Guidelines for selling that we discuss in our family cookie training video which can be found at gswise.org under Cookies+. Remember you are representing Girl Scouts wherever you sell cookies. Make a good impression with everyone you come in contact with. Be prepared to tell the customer about your favorite cookie. Let your customer know what you want to do next in Girl Scouts. Always say thank you even if people don t want to buy any cookies. 16
Business Ethics Girl Scouts are honest and fair in everything they do, especially when it comes to selling cookies. If you are honest and fair, your friends, classmates, and teachers will count on you and think of you as trustworthy. Let s talk about what it means to be honest and fair. When were you honest and fair? Girl Scout Law I will do my best to be honest and fair, friendly and helpful, considerate and caring, courageous and strong, and responsible for what I say and do, and to respect myself and others, respect authority, use resources wisely, make the world a better place, and to be a sister to every Girl Scout. Why do you think games have rules? What happens when people aren t honest and fair when they play games? Why do you think it is especially important to be honest and fair when you sell Girl Scout Cookies? There are lots of ways to practice being honest and fair. Try it out. The next time you and your friends play together, let everyone take a turn choosing which game to play. 17
Make Sure the Fun Continues! Parents: As a member of Girl Scouts, your daughter is eligible to take advantage of everything we offer. Studies show that girls who participate in a troop experience are better behaved in class and more engaged! Adults who were Girl Scouts are more likely to attend college, are more active in their community, and make more money than their co-workers who weren t Girl Scouts. Sign her up for more Girl Scout fun! Visit gswise.org and check out the programs we offer. Your daughter may earn Program Activity Credits from participating in the Girl Scout Cookie Program. These credits can help offset the cost of Girl Scout programs. Financial assistance is also available. Interested in getting involved? Now is a great time to help your Girl Scout continue the fun by volunteering to lead a troop. At least two adults are needed to get started. You decide what your time commitment will be. Contact customercare@gswise.org or call 800-565-4475 to volunteer. Drop by our Resource Centers to find everything your Girl Scout needs! Vests and sashes Girl Scout books Fun patches T-shirts Sweatshirts Accessories Cups, mugs and much more! Or contact Customer Care at 800-565-4475 or custmercare@gswise.org. Resource Center Locations Marion Chester Read Service Center 131 S. 69th Street Milwaukee, WI 53214 New Berlin Resource Center 21430 W. Greenfield Ave. New Berlin, WI 53146 Woodhaven Service Center 2303 37th Street Kenosha, WI 53140 18