|
It all begins with COOKIES!
by, Claude W. Diamond J.D.
|
I’m drowning in a sea of Chocolate Thin Mints, Peanut Butter Patties
and other assorted flavors. I have no one else to blame but myself and there isn’ta darn thing I can do about it. It’s all my fault! I am surrounded in
my living room with over 800 boxes of these Girl Scout prepackaged
delights. They are everywhere and I can’t even really complain.
One of my favorite Success Training stories is about my own pride and joy, my11 year old Rebecca. She has given new meaning
to the word precocious. She is feisty and outspoken (I wonder where she gets those qualities from), but
also minds her manners in front of others. In other words, she is a good kid.
Rebecca is home schooled. I work from my home office. We are both trailblazers (even before it was fashionable) so I shouldn’t
have been so surprised that she developed some first class sales and marketing skills.
Most days I am on the phone several hours Mentoring, Coaching, Consulting
and of course, selling, negotiating and kibitzing. So it should have come as nosurprise to me that Rebecca must have overheard a few conversations and
picked up a few techniques.
She joined the entry level of Girl Scouts called the Daisys when she was 5years old. She came home with her first cookie sales
sheet the second year shewas in Brownies and said she wanted to sell 200 boxes. My little girl(firstborn) set high standards and
goals for herself when it came to sellingthese $3.00 concoctions. I, who mentor people in setting reasonable,
but achievable goals was a little concerned. ‘Oh yea of little faith’ I
muttered to myself, ‘what kind of Success Mentor are you when you have
doubts concerning your own flesh and blood?’
My wife and I were determined to make her first sales adventure a positive oneso we drove her everywhere and helped make all
kinds of phone calls. Lo andbehold, our little Salesperson not only reached her goal of 200, but she soldanother 51 for a grand total
of 251 boxes. The cookies came about a monthlater and one of the cars had to be sacrificed
in order to make sufficient space in the garage. No Problem.
The next year Becca wanted to sell at least 500 boxes so of course my
little overachiever sold 579. We moved some of the cookies into the bedrooms as
the garage was getting a little too impractical to store the goodies.
This year she wanted to sell 750 and as you now know she managed to drum up841 boxes. That is why I was swimming in a living
room full of red, green andyellow boxes!
Rebecca managed to be the Number One cookie seller in her Girl Scout troop
and service unit. She won a sleepover to SeaWorld and several gifts. Thanks, inlarge part to her efforts and those of the other girls in her troop they wereable to take several trips and
camping excursions all due to the salesefforts and the monies that were generated. This year she was honored by beingon the
cover of the Girl Scout 1998 Calendar. Excuse a Father’s pride, butthis stuff ain’t bad for a kid who is only 11 years old!
How did she do all this? What’s her secret?
Well she would go in uniform to friends and businesses, all people we know
and ask them if they would like one of each flavor. She would also bring a
plate of samples. Note: It is almost impossible to say ‘NO’ to a cute redheaded
Girl Scout with free samples.
Becca has a database of all her loyal customers and gives everyone a
thank-you note (no matter the size of the order) when distributing the cookies.
The following year she calls everyone back and asks them if they would like
to increase their order or do the same as last year. I even heard a rumor
that she went to one potential customer and asked them if they wanted 10 or
20 boxes?
Where did this kid learn all this stuff?
What can we all learn from this story? That attitude, setting goals,
planning, desire to succeed, determination and common sense sales techniques will
ensure success! Everything you need in life can be learned from a good
cookie salesperson.
Now, I have to get to the most important question. Becca wants to sell 1000boxes of cookies for 1998.......
Will that be 10 or 20 boxes for you?
For more information on Success Mentoring, see www.claudediamond.com
|
| |
|
