1. Booths start on Valentine’s Day. Have themed ribbon and cards at your booth and pre-package bundles (example: Chocolate lovers bundle)
2. When you arrive at your booth, “Check-In” on Facebook so your friends know where you are selling cookies.
3. Share GSGCF Facebook or other related cookie images on social media and encourage your friends to share too! Also, share the cookie locator link and app as much as possible: www.girlscoutcookies.org.
4. Hand out homemade thank you notes and include an adult contact in case the customer wants to order more cookies.
5. Show your fun and charitable goals at your booth and have a goal chart or a countdown so customers can see how close you are to your goals.
6. Promotion! Create yard signs, door hangers, car magnets, business cards, and decorate your car to get the word out that your Girl Scout has cookies.
7. Get creative in your signs, pitch, and booth. Check out Bling Your Booth Contest. 
8. Hand out some printed cookie recipes to customers. Checkout Pinterest page or www.littlebrowniebakers.com.
9. Open a couple of boxes to have some samples (you will have to pay for these cookies).
10. Remind them that cookies are here once a year. Towards the end of the sale, remind customers they need to order before it’s too late. “One more week.” “Last day of cookies.”

Updates and Important Dates:
– Taste of Home is sponsoring The National Girl Scout Cookie Recipe contest (bonus tip #11. Share this contest with customers!). See all the details here.
– Don’t forget to enter the National Bling Your Booth Contest. Six troops nationally will win $500 per troop!
– Cookie Boss Twitter Party is February 25, 2015 at 9pm. Join the conversation using #cookieboss and #gno.
– National Girl Scout Cookie Weekend is February 27-March 1st. We are looking to share your #cookieboss stories. Email marketing@gsgcf.org.
– Find all your resources for GSGCF Cookies here.

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The Girl Scout Cookie Program is the largest girl-led business as it not only teaches girls valuable skills, but it can help them financially create experiences they never thought possible.  Goal setting is one of the 5 Skills learned during the Girl Scout Cookie program and can help girls achieve their dreams.

Individual girls have their own rewards for every part of the Girl Scout program including patches, fun events, cookie dough (a credit card for the shop or Juniors and up can bank it for great options), and the extreme team: 1,000+ cookie sellers who earn items such as tickets to “Girls Unite” at Walt Disney World, iPad, and more (all items cumulative). Last year we had 145 extreme team winners!

Inspiration from 2014 top seller: “If someone says you can’t do it, don’t believe them. Just keep going; you’ll make it!” Emma sold 4,267 boxes of cookies.

Troops earn funds for each box of cookies. Volunteers should discuss what kind of troop goals they should set. Think about a fun/learning goal such as a celebration or travel opportunity and also a goal to help others and give back to the community. As a troop, try and do something new and exciting that girls may not experience otherwise. Also remember the most important aspect, girl-led. Incorporate goal setting in your troop meeting so girls can discuss and vote on what they want to do. And remember, girls can save their earnings for future big trips.

2014 GSGCF fun and learning goals: troop took a cooking class, designed and purchased troop shirts and visited the local print shop, space camp, saving for Europe in 2016, went to a marine biology camp in the Keys to learn about protecting the waterways, purchased starter kits and membership for each girl, saved for a troop trip to NYC and a Girl Scout program on Broadway.

2014 GSGCF Girl Scouts Give Back: purchased needed products for centers, shelters, and hospitals, supporting Ronald McDonald House with donations and dinner (and cooked themselves), each girl picked a charity and donated $25 in their name, donated $100 to a month of satellite time to track turtles, supported a 3-year old with epilepsy in getting her a service dog, purchased much needed PE equipment for their school, helped make play grounds wheelchair accessible, and delivered extra boxes of cookies to a veteran nursing home.

Don’t forget to tell customers about your goals! They might not need any Girl Scout cookies but once they hear your goal, they may just change their mind. Be creative. Troops last year decorated their booth with their goals and causes. With Digital Cookies, incorporate your goals on your personal pages.

Here are resources to help with Goal Setting: Goal Chart, Little Brownie Girls and Goals, Goal Setting crafts and games

2014 Girl Scout Goals:

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We have a day for giving thanks. We have two for getting deals. Now, we have #GivingTuesday, December 2, 2014, a global day dedicated to giving back. Join Girl Scouts of Gulfcoast Florida, Inc. on #GivingTuesday!

Did you know that 20% of Girl Scouts need support with their annual membership and uniform essentials? On #GivingTuesday, we are asking that families, donors, and friends join in a council wide effort to Give the Gift of Girl Scouts to 10 new girls! This gift can be your contribution in the Family Partnership Campaign.

• $15 will get her a year’s membership to Girl Scouts
• $72 will get her the starter kit which includes essentials to get going
• $87 will get her everything she needs to feel like a Girl Scout

Give the Gift of Girl Scouts and let’s help 10 new girls be a part of the movement that’s changing the world! Save the date and invite others to Give the Gift of Girl Scouts with our Facebook Event>> 

Invest in girls. Change the World.

Kaitlyn P. is the TOP Seller for the 2014 Fall Product Sale! 

Kaitlyn and GSGCF CEO, Sue Stewart

Congratulations to Kaitlyn P. of Troop 600! She is the 2014 Girl Scouts of Gulfcoast Florida’s, Fall Product Sale, TOP Seller. Kaitlyn sold over $1,200 in items by participated in both the online sales and direct sales. She said she wrote the emails and made the asks, stating “it was a really easy sale.”

Kaitlyn’s troop is planning a trip Savannah, Georgia.  She has never experienced the history of the birthplace of Girl Scouts and is excited that her sales will help her troop achieve that goal. When asked what to tell other Girl Scouts about her accomplishment she said, “If you put your mind to it you can do it.” Skills she learned during the sale include responsibility, pride, and courage. Way to go!

Fall Product Sale – Round 2

Did your troop miss out on this year’s Fall Product Sale? We are so excited about the new online options and products that are part of the Fall Product Sale that we wanted to be sure every girl had the opportunity to participate!

November 14 – December 1, 2014 – (online only)

During the Round 2 sale, girls can participate in all of the ONLINE ONLY pieces of the Fall Product Sale, including nuts, candy, magazine subscriptions and photo keepsakes!

• Troops earn 10% of all online sales from 11/14/14 – 12/1/14.
• Customers’ products are delivered right to their door just in time for the holidays!
• No money to collect!  No products to deliver!  No forms to fill out.
• Troop proceeds will be deposited in early January 2015.

Perfect for online holiday shopping during Black Friday and Cyber Monday!

Every girl who participates in the Round 2 sale and sells at least one item will earn a special patch!  (No other individual rewards can be earned during Round 2.)

How to Dive In to Round Two:

1. Troop volunteers and families log in to the Online Fall Sale Program at http://girlscouts.qspgao.com/gulfcoast.
2. Girls set goals, customize their online shops and enter email addresses to send friends and family a link to their own online shops.
3. Customers shop online, pay with a credit card and items are shipped directly to the customer.
4. Families and volunteers can track progress, send additional emails and celebrate success.
5. Troop proceeds are distributed to troops in early January.  No paperwork to fill out, no money to collect.

Got Questions?  Need additional info? Contact Alicia Rance, Sales Coordinator, at aliciar@gsgcf.org or (941) 921-5358 ext. 315.

Did you know Juliette Gordon Low’s birthday is October 31? Learn more about her life and legacy, and celebrate her birthday on Oct. 31 — also known as Founders Day to Girl Scouts everywhere.

10 Facts

1. She was married but never had children of her own
2. Her uncle took one look at her and said “She looks like a Daisy”. This nickname stuck with her for the rest of her life.
3. Some of the rice thrown at their wedding become lodged in Juliette’s left ear, causing her to become deaf in this ear.
4. Juliette loved animals, especially horses.
5. Juliette also loved to draw and paint pictures – so much that she created children’s magazine with all of the articles and pictures done by children.
6. Juliette called her cousin, Nina Pape, and told her “Come right over! I’ve got something for the girls of Savannah, and all of America, and all the world, and we’re going to start it tonight!”
7. March 12, 1912 was the day Girl Scouts was founded with 18 girls
8. Juliette Low died on January 17, 1927. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1923 but kept it a secret.
9. Juliette was the eighth woman to have a stamp dedicated to her in 1948
10. Juliette was added to the National Woman’s Hall of Fame on October 28, 1979

Check out this really cool interactive timeline of the Story of Juliette Gordon Low! (Scroll the trefoil to the right to activate)

FYI: Celebrating Juliette’s Birthday is a step in the earning the Legacy Badge, Girl Scouts Ways (for Brownies)! 

Quick History: In 1912, Juliette Gordon Low started an organization that would provide more than 59 million women the opportunity to learn leadership skills. She went against the grain to address issues that were not popular, including equal opportunities for women and girls.

Juliette, nicknamed ‘Daisy’ by family and friends, was born in 1860 in Savannah, GA. She grew up in England and the United States. On one of her many trips abroad, she met Boy Scouts founder Robert Baden-Powell who inspired her to start a similar organization for girls. She cultivated adult volunteers as active role models, troop leaders and program volunteers.

Low succumbed to breast cancer in 1927 during a time when the words breast and cancer were not used in conversation. Today, October is not only Low’s birth month, but the month devoted to raising awareness about Breast Cancer.

Check out the Story of Juliette Gordon Low here: