GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT PRODUCT SALES
The webinar objective is that everyone receives the general product sale information and will be able to answer questions that may arise when they are approached by the public.
SALE DATES:
Fall Product SaleSeptember through December
Cookie SaleJanuary through March
COMPANY INFORMATION:
For Fall ProductsAshdon Farms, Waukesha, WI (AL Schutzman Co)
For CookiesABC Bakers, HQ’s in Richmond, VA (Interbake Foods)
PRODUCT INFORMATION:
Online Sales of Magazine/Keepsake Photo Options and Varieties of Nuts & Candy selling at $6.00, $7.00 and $8.00both online and by order card
Thank You - Military Nut orders are sent to the Cody Childers Foundation to be used in snack packages for our military members here and overseas
9 varieties of Cookies selling at $4.00 a box including the TRIOS - Gluten Free Cookie
Cookie Share – Virtual Military Donated Cookies sent to the Cody Childers Foundation
to be used in snack packages for our military members here and overseas
VOLUNTEER JOBS & DESCRIPTIONS:
Area Coordinators - train the GS Community Product Sale Facilitators & coordinate the sales within their areas
GS Community Product Sale Facilitators - train and manage troop sales within their community
Troop Managers - train the girls and parents and manage the sale for their troop
Booth Facilitators - organize their GS Community Booth Sales
Cookie Cupboard Facilitators - distribute extra cases of cookies to troops during the sale
WHAT IS A BOOTH SALE?
A booth sale is the sale where troops set up a table outside of a store and sell products to the store’s customers
GSUSA offers a booth locator for the cookie sale which is linked to our website for our customers to find our troops that are selling
WHAT IS A CUPBOARD and a COOKIE JAR?
A Cupboard is the location where additional cases of cookies are stored and through which troops can pick up extra cases of cookies during the sale –
A Cookie Jar is a site used for the delivery of Planned Orders only.
KICK-OFF EVENTS/RALLIES:
These are events planned within GS Communities/Regions to gather girls and troop managers in one place to kick off the product sales – girls receive training on safety, marketing ideas, and their sale materials at these events.
Ideas and materials are available through our Marketing/Communications Department
Both vendors give us access to clipart, program ideas, marketing materials, online information for reference – there are cookie costumes, I love cookie buttons and stickers, banners
COOKIE COLLEGE:
Training sessions set up by our Program Department where girls, troop managers and parents have the opportunity to learn about the Cookie Sale. They will learn about sale safety, sale techniques, selling online, program links, award program, product facts and marketing.
TRAINING TOOLS FOR BOTH SALES:
Fall Product Sale Theme
Fall Product Sale Manager Plan Books
NUTe ordering website for product sale managers provided by Ashdon Farms
ONLINE site for girls to set up their online shop
Activity site for girls and troop managers at NUT-e Site
Training Webinar #105 at the GSVSC website
Cookie Sale Theme
Cookie Sale Manager Plan Books
SNAP ordering website for product sale managers provided by ABC Bakers
ABC Bakers website with CoCo Command site for girls, troops and parents
COCO DIRECT/Digital Cookie where girls can use the online ordering features
MEMBERSHIP IMPORTS INTO BOTH VENDOR WEBSITES:
Both of the product sales ordering websites offer to councils the option to import their registered girls into the program. GSVSC has been importing the currently registered girls for this and it has helped us to provide a more accurate participation measurement.
Troop managers do not have access to edits, additions or deletions.
PARENTAL PARTICIPATION:
Adults are to take on the supportive role in both sales. It is statistically proven that troops that involve the parents in their goal setting and sale training have 50% better sales than those that do not.
GOAL SETTING:
Together, girls need to plan their reasons to raise money and they need to understand where the money they earn will be used
TROOP PROFIT:
Fall Product Sale -- Troops receive $1.00/OPT OUT $1.05 profit for each item they sell – both from their order cards and their online nut shop sales.
All troops will receive 15% of the total sales of Magazine subscriptions and renewals and purchases of the digital photo keepsake items
Cookie Sale -- Troops receive 65cents/OPT OUT 70 cents for each box of cookies they sell
OLDER GIRL OPT OUT:
GSVSC has extended an offer to our Older Girl Troops that if they would prefer to OPT OUT of the award program, they can receive an additional 5 cents profit per
box of cookies or nut/candy item. This is extended to Older Girl Troops only – not to Individually Registered Girls and not to Groups of mixed age levels. Before the Troop Manager places the Initial Cookie Order for the troop, all girls registered in the troop must sign an agreement which must be turned in to their local Facilitator indicating that the majority of girls in the troop have agreed to opt out of the awards. Girls in these troops will receive Theme patches, Achievement Bars and the Pearl, in the cookie sale, if eligible.
INDIVIDUALLY REGISTERED GIRLS:
Their sales are managed through the GS Office. Since they do not have the opportunity to set goals with others, they are informed at the beginning of the sale that we send them Credit Coupons based on 50 cents for each item they sell to be used to subsidize the costs of any GSVSC program, event, camp and GS Shop purchases. Their annual Membership is renewed each year they participate in a Product Sale.
ADVENTURER GROUP SELLERS:
Girls that want to help contribute to the treasury that will pay for an Adventurer Group activity must contact the Adventurer’s Treasurer, tell her the activity she is interested in and then make arrangements with her to sell through the Adventurer’s Group. The group has a credit program based on girl sales.
GIRL SCOUTING STANDARD CONCERNING PROFIT EARNED FROM PRODUCT SALES
At no time is money earned through product sales to be considered the property of a girl that is selling. Profits from girl sales must be added to the troop treasury, applied to an activity group’s treasury in which the girl participates or used to defray costs of GS activities made available to her through her GS Council.
The money in troop treasuries should be used to pay the fee for membership renewals for all girls in the troop and to defray the costs of the troop activities planned by the girls in the troop. Because individually registered girls cannot plan with others in a troop atmosphere, the proceeds from their sales are used to pay for their membership renewals each year they participate in product sales and they receive credit vouchers from the account set up for Juliette Sales.
The remaining profit amount from the Individually Registered Girl’s Account is held in an account used to assist those troops that have a collection issue and cannot do an activity they had planned as their goal because someone didn’t pay for their order.
5 SKILLS GIRLS LEARN THROUGH PARTICIPATION IN THE PRODUCT SALES:
People Skills, Business Ethics, Decision Making, Money Management, Goal Setting
PROGRAM PIECES/GSUSA LINKS:
All GSUSA program links are located at the GSUSA website:
GSUSA Activity Pin - activity guide found online at
DAISY LEAVES: Money Counts, Making Choices, Count It Up, Talk It Up
BROWNIE BADGES: Money Manager, Philanthropist, Meet My Customers, Give Back
JUNIOR BADGES: Business Owner, Savvy Shopper, Cookie CEO, Customer Insights
CADETTE BADGES: Budgeting, Comparison Shopping, Financing My Dreams, Business Plan, Marketing, Think Big
SENIOR BADGES: Buying Power, Financing My Future, Customer Loyalty, My Portfolio
AMBASSADOR BADGES: On My Own, Good Credit, Research & Development, P & L
PRODUCT SALE AWARDS PROGRAM:
For the Fall Product Sale:
GSVSC gives award to those girls that sell 5, 12, 25, 50, 70, and 100 items and an overall council highest seller award. There are online patches and a Certificate for a FREE Digital Photo Book for each troop that has on online order credited to their troop. Girls are given patches and choices of awards at their levels of achievement. Our overall highest seller will be given a GSVSC Campership for any GSVSC Program, Camp or Event. It is a onetime use Campership and will remain active from December 1 through December 1 of each year.
For the Cookie Sale:
GSVSC gives awards to those girls that sell 12 through 3000+ packages of cookies with contests available to them and highest seller awards. Girls receive the Theme Patch with a matching Achievement patch at the highest level of her sales, tshirt, hoodies, tote bags, gift certificates for GSVSC events & shop purchases, Best Buy Cards, Theme Park Tickets and a Laptop for our overall council highest seller’s award
Contests include chances to win a Day with our CEO and a Kindle Fire
We have a unique award for our 1000+ cookie sellers – our ‘String of Pearls’ group: at 1000 boxes of cookies, a girl will receive a pearl on a chain, a framed membership certificate into our ‘String of Pearls’ group, her name embossed on a brass circle hung on the wall of our HQ lobby and an invitation to the ‘String of Pearls’ Reception held each January to kick off the next sale.
CUSTOMER CONTEST:
We also offer ‘customer coupons’ to those cookie customers that purchase 5 boxes of cookies. The coupons are collected at the end of the sale and a winner is chosen for each of our Regions. These 4 winners are presented with 52 boxes of GS Cookies – a year’s supply.
PR PRODUCTS:
Both vendors provide product to be used for training samplers and for promoting the sale. All requests for promotional product items should be directed to our Marketing Director.
MARKETING SUPPORT:
Our GSVSC website for both sales
GSUSA website for product sales
For the Fall Product Sale on the GSVSC website:
Forms, books that are used throughout the sale
Pictures and descriptions of all items our girls are selling with contact information
Links to the NUTe Activity site for troops and girls with clipart and marketing ideas
Links to nutritional information charts for all items
Links to both the Ashdon Farms NUTe site, Online Shop and the GSUSA website
For the Cookie Sale:
Forms, books that are used throughout the sale
‘Bling You Booth’ Contest information
PSA’s and Thank You Bags with products
Milk and Cookie Events with local Businesses
Online Booth Sale listings
GSUSA offerings – GSUSA website, GS National Cookie Weekend promotional items, media notices, 5 skills information, GS Activity Pin program
ABC Bakers website with COCO COMMAND– online marketing site for girls, troops, volunteers and families – ecards, online ordering, viewing incentives, setting and measuring goals, troop chat rooms – COCO Direct/ online ordering and direct shipping
FORMS:
All ordering, reporting and summaries are found at both vendors’ websites. Each user is assigned their own login and password. They have access to both NUTe and SNAP through their web browser and can place orders and manage their sales from home.
There are some forms that we require for risk management purposes that are not available through our vendors, such as; parent permission forms, attendance records, job agreements, evaluations and planbooks These are made available to everyone attending a training and through our website and can be printed off as needed
We also provide pictures of the awards we give and contact information
DELIVERY OF PRODUCTS:
Delivery of products isprovided through the vendors – they contract with delivery agents and they follow our scheduling as much as is possible.
Nut Sale deliveries take place in October and November
Cookie Sale deliveries take place in January, February and March
DAMAGES:
Replaced through troops, cupboards and office - trades or refunds
MONEY ISSUES:
Deposits are made by GS Community Product Sale Facilitators for both sales
They receive a Community deposit packet that contains stamped and addressed envelopes, receipts and 3-part NCR deposit slips labeled with the name of the GS Community for tracking purposes
Once the Facilitators receive the troop payment checks, they are asked to receipt them for the troop and then list them on the provided deposit slip – put a copy of the deposit slip in the already addressed, stamped envelope and drop the deposit in the mailbox to be sent to the First Citizens Bank Operations Center in Charlotte, NC where they have set up a special PO Box through which they process our deposits.
COLLECTIONS:
The sooner the GS Office receives information about returned checks, outstanding money to troops, etc. The sooner action can be taken and the less time that transpires, the better chance there is of recovering the money.
I suggest that any collection problems be brought to the attention of the Community Product Sale Manager at the time the paperwork is turned in.
The Money Handling Procedures are printed out in both sale plan books.
For information about past debts, contact the Finance Manager at the GS Office.
EVALUATIONS:
The product sale evaluations give the managers the opportunity to evaluate the goal setting, the training tools and the program pieces. We hope that this will make those managers that are not aware of these tools, etc. be made aware for future sales.
There is an electronic version of these Evaluations available at the GSVSC website.