Girl Scouts' cookie business builds skills

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LINCOLN — The cookie customers came in bunches.

A group of three, then five, then four, browsing boxes of Thin Mints, Caramel Delights and Peanut Butter Patties.

With each buyer, Erin VandeHoef stood, smiled and sold, figuring the shopper's change each time.

"How many boxes can I get with $20?" a customer asked.

Eleven-year-old Erin stopped to think — five.

"With another dollar, you could get six," she said, like a skilled saleswoman.

The woman added a box of Thanks-A-Lots, paid and left.

It's easy to think of the cookie program as girls simply hawking treats, but there's something more behind the annual ritual, especially this year. For the first time since 1987, the Girl Scout curriculum has been revamped and now features a stronger focus on the financial literacy and business lessons behind the cookie sales.

The organization offers new badges — those ubiquitous adornments on Scouts' uniforms — focused on the cookie trade that girls such as Erin can earn after completing several steps that essentially frame sweets sales like a real-world business.

Scouts at each level, from the 5- and 6-year-old Daisies to the high school Ambassadors, learn about customer relations, business plans, research and development, marketing and sales analysis, all in the name of cookies.

Nebraska Girl Scouts sold more than 2 million boxes of cookies last year, and 200 million were sold nationwide.

"Some of the younger girls are looking at apps, technology and ways to organize their cookie program in ways I hadn't thought of," said Theresa Cassaday, chief communication officer for Girl Scouts Spirit of Nebraska, the state's arm of the national organization.

"What they don't realize as they're going through this program is that those skills are being ingrained. There will be a time when they realize, 'Oh, I learned that back when I started doing the cookie program back in kindergarten.' It happens for the younger girls more through osmosis," Cassaday said.

Each age group has its own applicable badges, but all revolve around five key competencies: decision- making, goal-setting, money management, people skills and business ethics.

"I think it's great they're emphasizing more of it being a business instead of, 'Oh, Girl Scout cookie time, just gobble them up,' said Dawn Eisert, who leads Daisy, Senior and Ambassador troops in Bellevue. "It's nice they're talking more about the communication and business skills."

The curriculum change is a reflection of girls' evolving interests and the importance of business and financial savvy in today's world, Cassaday said.

"The reality is that while girls score as high on tests and get into the same colleges (as boys), we're underrepresented in the business world," she said. "There are fewer women CEOs, fewer power women in Hollywood, fewer women CEOs of nonprofit organizations. We have to help girls level the playing field."

Erin's Troop 113, made up of nine sixth-graders from Lincoln, is working on the "Business Plan" badge. For that, the Scouts write a mission statement, define goals, research how to increase their customer base, decide what they'll do with their profits and plan accordingly. They make a risk-management plan and get expert feedback on their ideas.

Other badges at the Cadette level are "Marketing" and "Think Big," which encourages innovation.

"They're pretty into it," said Jennifer Davidson, the troop's leader. "There's definitely conversation going on at our meetings, and they're leaders in the conversation."

The troop's goal is to sell 1,500 boxes of cookies, which would earn them $750 in profit. This year's earnings and $2,000 in savings from past sales will be enough to fund a trip to Chicago — if the Scouts reach their target.

To do so, they'll likely need to lure new customers. The troop designed fliers to put on the doors of potential customers who weren't home when the Scouts visited. The fliers list the girls' mission statement and contact information.

Because they're using a direct-sales approach, instead of taking orders and delivering the cookies later, the girls are also putting labels on boxes to let consumers know how to get more treats when they run out.

They've discussed risk management — what to do if business goes awry. They talked about dealing with adverse sales conditions, including theft (that conversation was inspired by a real event) and have since handled a logistical error.

They thought they had ordered 50 cases for a cookie booth but had instead ordered 50 boxes, so the troop had to improvise and find additional cookies at locations around Lincoln.

Eisert's Daisy troop in Bellevue is working on goal-setting and communication. The girls role-play to practice sales and develop social skills, Eisert said.

"Where else could they get these skills for operating a business at such a young age?" said Davidson, an economics professor at Southeast Community College and director of programs and community development for the Nebraska Council on Economic Education at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

"Where else would they get these skills if it weren't for Girl Scouts?"

Erin sold 522 boxes of cookies last year. She said she's learned business basics, patience and math and people skills as a Girl Scout.

This year, she's involved in club soccer, confirmation classes at church and theater, so topping last year's tally will be difficult.

She's busy juggling a business and a personal life.

Just like a real CEO.

"If you think of Girl Scouts as two girls selling cookies, maybe this year your experience will be different," Cassaday said, "when you encounter a girl who can tell you about her business plan, goal-setting and mission statement."

Contact the writer:

teresa.lostroh@owh.com

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