a collection of important cookie communications from council
Submitted by Samantha Archibald
Thornton
Denver Metro
This is Fynn’s first year as a Daisy, she is in troop 65794. Her first video was done to get people excited about GS Cookie season. Going forward we made videos to introduce Digital Cookie, to help her get the Bronco Cookie Badge, and to encourage sales. Now people send requests for new videos.
This story was submitted using the Share Your Stories form. You can share your Girl Scout moments too.
Submitted by Nina Duncan
Northglenn
Denver Metro
This year, my daughter Gracynn (7), decided she wanted to increase her goal to 500. We talked a lot about how she would need to work hard to reach her goal, and we discussed ways to help her reach her goal. Being a firm believer that this is Gracynn’s cookie business, I explained to her that if she wanted to sell her cookies on social media, that we would need to come up with a way so that she’s doing the asking, and not me. That’s when she said, “it’s too bad I can’t talk to them. ”
That lead to the idea of making a video. Gracynn and I discussed what would be important to say to her customers, and that’s how we came up with a script. After recording, we played around with subtitles and stickers, just to make her video more fun. By the time her video was complete, Gracynn was confident and proud of her hard work, and super excited to sell cookies. We still have a month to go, and Gracynn is over half way to her goal!
This story was submitted using the Share Your Stories form. You can share your Girl Scout moments too.
Congrats to these Girl Scouts! They earned our special “Customer Service” pin at a Girl Scout Cookies Booth Sale in Brighton! Girl Scouts of Colorado employees are handing out these special pins to girls who are going above and beyond with customers.
We had some pretty awesome weather across the state for our first weekend of council booth sites. It was great to see our girls out in front of big box retailers having fun selling together, practicing their business skills and educating the public about the big things they plan to do with their cookie proceeds!
Contests
Did you ‘bling your booth?’ Don’t forget to enter for a chance at winning $200 in Cookie Credits. Take a photo of your troop at your decorated booth and post it to the Girl Scouts of Colorado Facebook page or tag us on Instagram or Twitter (@GSColo). You must include #BlingYourBooth, along with your troop number and cookie goal. Submit your entry by Feb. 25. Check the blog for some fun ideas.
Share your awesome cookie story and earn a free patch! We’re so excited to hear about all of the amazing things you will do with your cookie money! Help us celebrate girls and inspire customers to support you by submitting your cookie-earnings story here. Be sure to include your goals, Hometown Hero, and troop number, along with a fun pic of you and your troop! Submit yours by March 13, 2016 and you will get a free, fun patch.
Cupboards
Local cupboards are being restocked again this week. Please check in with your troop families to make sure they’re confident they will sell the cookies they have on-hand before ordering more from cupboards. If you have inventory available to transfer, the GSCO Classifieds are a great way to spread the word. Service Units also have systems in place to help troops transfer inventory within the same unit. Toffee-tastics are not being restocked. This is the second year of a pilot program and all the Toffees have been distributed. If you need Toffees, try troop to troop transfers. Also, Toffee-tastics will continue to be available through the Digital Order Card.
Resources for sellers
The excitement of opening day has waned, first weekend of booth sales has passed, now what? There are four weekends left in the sale. Keep your girls’ momentum moving forward with these marketing tools:
Contact your Service Unit Cookie Manager (listed on your troop page of eBudde)
Ask the staff Product Sales Specialist for your area (see below)
Try our Customer Support Team at 877-404-5708 or inquiry@gscolorado.org
Your Product Sales Specialists
Mary Ann Deard (Region 1, 2, 5) – maryann.deard@gscolorado.org
Rychelle Arnold (Region 3, 4) – rychelle.arnold@gscolorado.org
Laura Aguon (Region 6) – laura.aguon@gscolorado.org
Allison Snavely (Region 6) – allison.snavely@gscolorado.org
Elizabeth Lipp (Region 7) – elizabeth.lipp@gscolorado.org
Weekly Cookie Calls
Girl Scouts of Colorado will host weekly Cookie Calls – join in any Tuesday evening if you have questions. The calls will be 6:30 – 7 p.m. Tuesdays,
through March 22 . Each call will be hosted by a member of the Product Sales Team to answer questions from volunteers and parents about the 2016 Cookie Program.
Join the meeting: https://join.me/JamieHaxton
On a computer, use any browser. Nothing to download.
On a phone or tablet, launch the join.me app and enter meeting code: JamieHaxton
Join the audio conference:
Dial (303) 993-0071 and enter access code 710-989-496#, or connect via internet.
Colorado Girl Scout Crystal Schlueter was a finalist in the first-ever National Girl Scout Cookie Recipe Contest, sponsored by Taste of Home in 2015. Crystal, who is from Northglenn, created a “German Chocolate Ice Cream Cookie Torte.”
To help promote the 2016 Girl Scout Cookies sale, Crystal joined Media Stars Anna and Mika for an interview with Corey Rose of 9News/ KUSA-TV. Girl Scouts showed Corey how to make Crystal’s “German Chocolate Ice Cream Cookie Torte” and talked about the sale. To watch the interview, click here.
Click the links below for Crystal’s “German Chocolate Ice Cream Cookie Torte” recipe and other recipes she created using Girl Scout Cookies.
German Chocolate Ice Cream Cookie Torte Recipe
There are so many ways for you to win BIG during this year’s Girl Scout Cookies sale. We’re hosting a variety of contests, including ones for best cookie video and best cookie dad.
Each contest is listed below along with a brief description. To learn more about the rules, deadlines, etc., click on the contest name. It will take you to the blog announcing the contest.
Selling Girl Scout Cookies online? Make sure you’re taking advantage of all the tools, which Digital Cookie gives you to be creative and customize your website, like creating and uploading a video. In addition to attracting more customers and increasing sales, your video could earn you $200 in Cookie Credits!
Share Your Awesome Cookie-Earnings Stories
We’re so excited to hear about all of the amazing things you will do with your cookie money! Help us celebrate girls and inspire customers to support you by submitting your cookie-earnings story here. Be sure to include your goals, Hometown Hero, and troop number, along with a fun pic of you and your troop! Submit yours by March 13, 2016 and you will get a free, fun patch.
Colorado Girl Scouts: #BlingYourBooth
The #BlingYourBooth Challenge is back and this year, you could win up to $200 in Cookie Credits! This is also your chance to come up with fun and creative ways to attract more customers and increase sales.
Why is your Cookie Dad the best?
Dads are an important part of the Girl Scouts of Colorado Cookie Team. That’s why we honor dads, who help cookie bosses all across Colorado meet their goals. If your Cookie Dad is the best, write a short essay about what he does that is so awesome and submit it through the Share Your Stories form on the Girl Scouts of Colorado blog.
If you have questions, please email Girl Scouts of Colorado Public Relations Director AnneMarie Harper.
The #BlingYourBooth Challenge is now underway and this year, Colorado Girl Scouts have the chance to win up to $200 in Cookie Credits!
Here are four fun ideas/themes to #BlingYourBooth to attract more customers and increase sales:
Remember these rules:
First Prize: $200 in Cookie Credits
Second Prize: $100 in Cookie Credits
Third Prize: $50 in Cookie Credits
Remember, you need to be 13 or over to upload your own entry. If you’re younger than 13, that’s OK! Just get some help from a volunteer, parent, or an adult you trust.
If this challenge sounds familiar, that’s because it is! Girl Scouts of the USA is also hosting a #BlingYourBooth Challenge and giving troops across the country the chance to win $500.
If you have questions, please email Girl Scouts of Colorado Public Relations Director AnneMarie Harper.
*** Note: This contest is for Girl Scouts of Colorado girl members only.
Colorado Girl Scouts can donate cookies to be sent to the military thru Hearts Across the Miles while families can submit names of deployed service members to receive donated cookies.
Girl Scouts of Colorado is partnering again this year with Hearts Across the Miles to send donated cookies to deployed service members. Any troop or Girl Scout who would like to make a reservation to drop off donated cookies or who is interested in helping pack up the cookies for shipment to deployed service members, please email hatm@gmx.com. Reservations must be made for cookie donations. The packing day will be Saturday, March 19th from 9 a.m. – noon at Rangeview High School (17599 E Iliff Ave Aurora, CO 80013).
Girl Scout families in Colorado can also submit the names and addresses of family members who are deployed service members to Hearts Across the Miles and the organization will ship donated cookies to them. The addresses must be APO addresses. Please email the info to hatm@gmx.com no later than March 11th with that information.
If there are any issues with the hatm@gmx.com email not working, please email mart1k@yahoo.com.
We’re so excited to hear about all of the amazing things you will do with your cookie money! Help us celebrate girls and inspire customers to support you by submitting your cookie-earnings story here. Be sure to include your goals, Hometown Hero, and troop number, along with a fun pic of you and your troop! Submit yours by March 13, 2016 and you will get a free, fun patch.
Want to share even more? Great! We’d also love to hear what you’re learning by selling cookies. Have you discovered something new this year? Did you develop a new skill? Do you have a fun or uplifting cookie customer story to share? We’re all ears! In addition to filling out the form above, submit those stories through the Share Your Stories form on the Girl Scouts of Colorado blog.
We’ll be featuring the best submissions here on the blog, on our social media pages, and elsewhere. And, on top of giving you the opportunity to celebrate all of your inspiring cookie awesomeness, this is a chance for you to connect with and motivate each other, share ideas, and let everyone know about the incredible things you’re doing through the Girl Scout Cookie Program.
If you have questions, please email Girl Scouts of Colorado Public Relations Director AnneMarie Harper.
*** Note: This contest is for Girl Scouts of Colorado girl members only.
Smart Cookie – 4
Wow! What a super Super Bowl selling weekend! Girls all over the state were highly motivated to sell at least 50 packages of cookies this weekend to earn a free Super Bowl fun patch. The win was big for the Broncos and we loved seeing all these Girl Scouts showing their Broncos pride.
Booth sales
Friday is the first day for council booth sale sites in front of big box stores!
- Got enough inventory? Check with your girls to see if they have unsold cookies they do not think they will be able to sell before ordering more cookies from the cupboard. A general guideline for the number of cookies to take to a first weekend booth sale at WalMart, King Soopers or CityMarket is about 240 packages of cookies. Remember this is a guideline, some metro area booths will sell more than that, some rural areas may sell fewer, the weather and the appeal of your booth can also be big factors. You can use the SIO calculator to determine a basic breakdown of varieties.
- Bling Your Booth: The “Bling Your Booth” Challenge is back and this year, you could win up to $200 in Cookie Credits! This is also your chance to come up with fun and creative ways to attract more customers and increase sales. Read more on the blog.
- Review booth etiquette with your girls and adults who will be at the booth. Some key points to remember – girls do the selling, not adults; dress appropriately and identify yourself as a Girl Scout with a uniform or pin; be polite, smile and thank people whether they purchase or not; do not block entrances; do not leave money on the table, under the table or in a box. Check the Troop Cookie Manager guide for a full list of Booth Etiquette pointers.
Inventory
Make sure you are staying in touch with your troop’s families about inventory. Cupboards are open and being re-stocked this week but remember all cookies you take from cupboards your troop is responsible for selling. NOTE: The gluten-free Toffee-tastics are available in limited quantities because this is the second year of the pilot program. This will be the final week to get Toffee-tastics from cupboards. Once the cupboard supply is gone, we cannot order more. Troops can transfer inventory to other troops in need of Toffees and customers can continue to order Toffee-tastics through your Digital Cookie sites but would have to pay for shipping.
Recipes
Girl Scout Cookies are delicious in many ways including in a variety of recipes. We’ve created a Cooking with Cookies section on our blog with recipes for you to try, print out and give to customers or even email to your Digital Cookie customers in hopes of another order. Check out the recipes here.
Digital Cookie
If you haven’t already set up your Digital Cookie site, it’s not too late. More than 45,000 packages of cookies have been sold through Digital Cookie and girls are finding it an easy way to boost their sales and get closer to their goals. You can use the Digital Cookie app to take credit card payments and hand the cookies to the customer in person, or you can send customers a link to your Digital Cookie site where they can order cookies to be shipped or donate cookies. NOTE: Cookies donated through Digital Cookie automatically count as Gift of Caring cookies (cookies not from your physical inventory that council delivers to military personnel) however if you prefer those donations go to your Hometown Hero, you can move the cookies from the Gift of Caring column to the Hometown Hero column in eBudde and then your troop is responsible for providing the inventory and delivering the cookies to the organization you’ve selected to be your Hometown Hero.
Need help?
Contact your Service Unit Cookie Manager (listed on your troop page of eBudde)
Ask the staff Product Sales Specialist for your area (see below)
Try our Customer Support Team at 877-404-5708 or inquiry@gscolorado.orgYour Product Sales Specialists
Mary Ann Deard (Region 1, 2, 5) – maryann.deard@gscolorado.org
Rychelle Arnold (Region 3, 4) – rychelle.arnold@gscolorado.org
Laura Aguon (Region 6) – laura.aguon@gscolorado.org
Allison Snavely (Region 6) – allison.snavely@gscolorado.org
Elizabeth Lipp (Region 7) – elizabeth.lipp@gscolorado.org
We love Valentine bundles
Everybody loves chocolate on Valentine’s Day! Try creating some Valentine bundles for your customers this weekend. Create a chocolate lovers bundle with a mix of Thin Mints, Tagalongs and Samoas, tie them with pretty red and pink ribbon and add a handmade heart-shaped Valentine. Sell bundles of five for $20.
Weekly Cookie Calls
Girl Scouts of Colorado will host weekly Cookie Calls – join in any Tuesday evening if you have questions. The calls will be 6:30 – 7 p.m. Tuesdays,through March 22 . Each call will be hosted by a member of the Product Sales Team to answer questions from volunteers and parents about the 2016 Cookie Program.
Join the meeting: https://join.me/JamieHaxton
On a computer, use any browser. Nothing to download.
On a phone or tablet, launch the join.me app and enter meeting code: JamieHaxton
Join the audio conference:
Dial (303) 993-0071 and enter access code 710-989-496#, or connect via internet.