Cookie Season is finally here!

Excitement is in the air and I know why..... Cookie Season is finally here!! I have slept, dreamt and waited for this day to arrive! I was already approached by a Girl Scout over the weekend out selling cookies door to door. Way to go! One mom emailed me today that her daughter has already sold 1,200 boxes. WOW! I hope all of you have a wonderful selling season and are out and about in your neighborhoods, talking to friends and family about cookies. Most of all- I hope you are having tons of FUN doing it! At the end of the day- it is all about having fun while learning at the same time.

If you run into any snags on eBudde- don't forget about our optional Open Ebudde Trainings happening this week and next with your host, Product Sales Manager, Jered Michael. Dates:
Tues., Jan. 25, 2-3 PM or 6-7 PM at the Muskegon Service Center
Mon., Jan. 31, 2-3 PM or 6-7 PM at the Traverse City Service Center
Tues., Feb. 1, 6-6:30 PM or 8:30-9 PM
Thurs., Feb. 10, 2-3 PM or 6-7 PM.

You MUST RSVP 3 days prior. If there isn't enough interest- the trainings will be cancelled. To RSVP please email jmichael@gsmists.org. Put Ebudde Training RSVP in the subject line and indicate which training you will be attending.

Here's to a great 2011 Cookie Season!!!

Cookie Kickoffs+520 girls = AMAZING!

Hi all-
It was so great to meet so many of you at our Grand Rapids Cookie Kickoff! We had a ton of fun and the girls walked away knowing more about selling cookies and being comfortable while doing it! Booths focused on: marketing, safety, cookie opportunities online, goal setting and of course.... plenty of FUN! Afterward, the girls had the opportunity to see Tangled and have free popcorn! Spring Lake- the girls went through the stations and played games and Traverse City was spent doing gymnastics! What a great time! Thanks to all the leaders and families who brought out your girls. I am SO pumped about this cookie season!

Cookie Kickoff Events no longer accepting RSVPs

I am happily overwhelmed by all of you! As of today, we have over 700 girls who have reserved spots at 1 of our 3 Cookie Kickoffs this Saturday. Wow! You have blown me away!

Due to this number, we are definitely at capacity and cannot accept anymore RSVPs. We have 6 stations for the girls to go through and we want to make sure to take time with each girl so they know and understand the cookie program. While we won't turn anyone down, if you haven't reserved your spot- it's something to consider.

Some tips for this Saturday:

1. Come ready to stand in long lines. We will try to move everyone through the stations as efficiently as possible but due to the shear number of girls, there will be lines. Please come with plenty of patience.

2. When you arrive, stop first at the Registration Table and have your girls pick up their Cookie Passports. When they visit each station, they will receive a stamp on their passport. Once completed, turn passports back in at the reservation table for cool prizes! Don't forget to have them write their name/phone number on the back of the postcard.

3. Remember this event is Open House style. Come anytime within the 2 hour event. If 1 booth has a huge line, start at a different booth. The Grand Rapids event ends at noon so please do not show up at noon to go through the stations because we will be tearing down (due to room rental). This is the same for Spring Lake and Traverse City which are ending at 1:30 PM.

4. The most important rule- Have Fun! This event is for your girls to gain skills about cookies and to be proud and excited to be Girl Scouts!

Can't wait to see you all this weekend!

Cookie Materials shipped yesterday + fall incentives updated info

The Cookie Materials shipped out yesterday to the Service Units. So, expect materials to arrive this week.

Also- we are still having issues with Fall Incentives! I spoke with our QSP rep today and received the following updated information....
The following service units were shipped to on:

Dec. 29th-
Whitelake, Orchard View, Fruitport, Grant, River Bend, Kentwood, North Park, 5 Cities, Spring Lake, Zeeland, Evart, Belding/Greenvile, OScala, Onaway, Emmet, Manistee, Kalkaska

Dec. 30th-
Big Rapids, Hudsonville, Forest Hills, Grand River, Grand Traverse, Antrium

Shipping time takes 4 days (plus holidays).

Thanks all.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope everyone has a safe holiday season! What are your Christmas traditions? I am the oldest of 4 girls. When we were little, I would wake them up in the middle of the night (I barely slept anyway) and we would gather in my room. The night before, we taped Xs on the stairs on all the creaky spots so we could sneak downstairs in the middle of the night to check out the presents. We hid flashlights under our beds. We thought we were oh-so-sneaky! My Dad always changed all the Xs around on the stairs. We would go 2 by 2 downstairs to see the presents and find out who was getting the biggest present, etc. etc. It was very exciting! I still don't sleep much the night before Christmas. Excitement is in the air! My Grandma and I still bake cookies together (peanut butter balls are my favorite!). She wraps all the presents and puts them in neat piles (clothes pile, toys pile), all upside down so no one can snoop. It's funny how those traditions still hold true today. After presents, when my Grandpa was alive, he brought out the infamous huge box of chocolates. My Grandma carries on that tradition still and with extended family- breaks out the box of chocolates. And as our family has grown, that one box of chocolates has turned into 3!

As I type this blog- I cannot wait for this last day of work to be complete and to dive into our annual traditions. I hope all of you have a blessed Christmas filled with your own special traditions and family moments.

Merry Christmas!

Additional Cookie Trainings for Charlevoix, Traverse City and Atlanta

For Service Unit Directors, Service Unit Product Managers and Troop Leaders who have not received Cookie Training yet.

Tuesday, Jan 4, 5:30 p.m. (before the LCM) at the Atlanta Congregational United Church of Christ

Thursday, Jan 6, 5:00 p.m. (before the LCM) at the Charlevoix Public Library in the Trustees Conference Room (upstairs). In Charlevoix, we need to be out by 7:30 so that is why we start earlier.

Saturday, January 8, from 10:00 a.m. to 12 noon @ Traverse City Service Center

Wednesday, January 12, from 6:30 to 8:30 PM @ Traverse City Service Center

Fall Incentives on backorder

So Fall Incentives have been on backorder. As of today- all the incentives have gone out except the water bottle. I did contact QSP directly about the backorder issue and wanted to pass on their response to all of you.

From QSP:In regards to incentives, unfortunately everything is imported. When you run short, the delay to replace the item takes a lot longer than dealing with domestic suppliers as we used to do. I put in an estimate each year by Council based on items that they have chosen as incentives. For example- at the $100 level your girls had a choice of the bracelet or the gel pens. How many girls are going to reach that level are just as important which item are they going to pick. Even with girl input (some 500 are asked each year)into our selections, the numbers can vary dramatically from what really ends up being picked. It also varies by which part of the Country you are getting input from. Also adding to the problem is the fact that your Council is one of the later Councils to submit their orders due to the dates of your sale. Early Councils were pretty much error free. Please don't look at these as excuses, there is no excuse for being back ordered on patches nor will we be again.

We are meeting in early January and will be looking at ordering procedures and we will have inventory level discussions, which I have already been told will change for next year. We are not in any way satisfied with our incentive fulfillment. Besides being irritating to our customers it costs us more to ship twice or three times to a service unit person's house than to over order on inventory, especially the lower end items. Due to economic conditions we also expected a flat year sales wise and it has turned out to be a +8% year which further threw off incentive estimates.

I would also say that we have spoiled the service unit people as the past two years incentives have arrived about the same time as the product. For years prior, they were delivered in January in time for the first meeting so they could be given out.

So, folks- there you have it. We apologize for any inconvenience this has caused our girls. We are SO PROUD of them for selling. I am confident, that next year, incentives will arrive on time.

Thanks everyone!!