Fun Cookie PR Events happening this Saturday and Monday!

Traverse City:
If you are in the Traverse City area on Saturday, please pop by the Cherry Capital Winter WOW! Fest.  An area troop will be decked out in cookie costumes, passing out Girl Scout cookie information.   The WOW! Fest has everything from an ice cream eating contest to a frozen cherry pit spit contest!  It is going to be one fun weekend with activities for kids as well as adults.  Come on out and support Girl Scouts while having a family-fun weekend! 

http://www.winterwowfest.com/

Grand Rapids:
This Monday, Feb. 20th, make a stop out to Woodland Mall.  Girl Scouts and Michigan Blood are partnering together on a Cookie Blood Drive.  The Blood Drive will be next to Express down the Sears wing, 3:30-7:30 PM.  2 troops will be on hand, in cookie costumes with cookie info for the public.  After giving blood, donors will receive a Girl Scout cookie.  We will also be doing some fun giveaways.  Make a stop to the mall to support Girl Scouts and give blood too!

http://shopwoodlandmall.com/calendar/event/13501

What selling Girl Scout cookies teaches you about business

By: Laura Vanderkam

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505125_162-57376447/what-selling-girl-scout-cookies-teaches-you-about-business/?tag=mncol;lst;6


(MoneyWatch) 
The Girl Scouts are celebrating their 100th anniversary this year. Though the cookies didn't come until later, this annual fundraiser is what the Girl Scouts are probably best known for, and at this point, millions of girls have gotten an early lesson in business by hawking them. Among my take-aways from a scouting stint years ago:


1. The most likely sale is to an existing customer. I had one lady who bought about 20 boxes from me one year. I made sure to call her up the next year to get that order logged fast. These days, likewise, I know that people I've worked with before are better bets than hunting for new prospects. If I want more work, I call them first.


2. There's no accounting for taste. I don't particularly like Think Mints, but they were always my biggest seller, so I made sure to mention them when people asked what kinds of cookies we were selling. Likewise, I'm not particularly fond of lists like "22 Things To Do During That Boring Conference Call," but those are always my most read posts. So I write them.


3. Cold calling isn't as awful as it sounds. My best friend and I went door to door through our neighborhood, alternating who would get each sale. There were, indeed, some questionable people who answered the doors (one reason I suspect many parents don't encourage door-to-door selling now) but in a team, and always smiling, we racked up some serious sales that way. Whenever I'm nervous about picking up the phone, I remember that it usually turns out fine.


4. Internal motivation is great, but sales targets are motivational too. One year, as I neared sales of 200 boxes (then costing $2/each), I became incredibly fixated on crossing that mark. Seeing that neat number on my total, and counting up $400 in cash and checks, was so much nicer than counting up $396. These days, I know that setting a specific, numerical goal (a certain number of blog readers, book sales, newsletter subscribers, etc.) tends to have a focusing effect. Even if I like the work for its own sake, too.


5. Connections matter, but they're not everything. Some girls sold cookies largely by having their parents take the sign-up form to their offices. That can work, but those girls weren't necessarily our troop's top sellers. Smart scouts learn that customers prefer to buy directly from the girl the sale is benefiting. If you want to be well-connected, you can make your own connections.


What did you learn by selling Girl Scout cookies?

Fun Cookie PR Opportunity for the Traverse City area

Earn cookie proceeds!  Participate in an ice cream eating contest!  Do a frozen cherry pit spit! 

We have an excellent opportunity for troops to participate in the Winter WOWfest in Traverse City this Saturday.

A troop or 2 can pass out cookie postcards directing the public to purchase cookies at the TC Service Center.  Troops will then get those proceeds. 

In addition to earning cookie proceeds, troops can participate in  The Brain Freeze Ice Cream Eating Contest!  How cool is that?
We have a morning or afternoon slot and will have cookie costumes available.  If interested- please contact Deb Lang within the next 24 hours.  dlang@gsmists.org or 231-947-7354 x 222.

http://www.winterwowfest.com/

Cookie Booth Etiquette 101

Just a reminder that when you secure your own booth sale location (March 23-April 15), you must have Girl Scouts!  We had a few instances last year where only the adults showed up to man the booth. Girls must be present and selling the cookies. 

Also- you may begin reserving your own personal booths anytime.  Just remember to post them to eBudde for council approval.  This way, we can help advertise your cookie booth as well as avoid any duplicate scheduling errors.

Community Cookie Booth weekend is March 17-18.  You can reserve your booth space beginning February 20th on eBudde.

Thank you and happy selling!

Where is my magazine?

We have received a few calls about magazine subscriptions.  If you ordered a subscription from a Girl Scout on paper (not online), it should arrive by the March issue.  Online orders should be coming already.   March issues come out at the end of February, unless it's a quarterly subscription.

Thanks for your patience.

How to Accept Credit Cards at Cookie Booths

How to Accept Credit Cards at Cookie Booths

GSMISTS is offering to partner with troops this year to have credit/debit cards be a form of payment for cookies purchased at cookie booths or expos.  GSMISTS has selected Square as the vendor for credit card processing.

1)      In order to use the credit card reading device at cookie booths an iPhone, iPad, or Android device is required.

2)      Go to www.squareup.com , enter your email address and create a password.

3)      Click “continue” and fill in the rest of the information as prompted.  Please note that you will be asked to give a mailing address to ship the credit card reader to, your date of birth, and your social security number.   

4)      Select to sign up as a business and enter our EIN of 38-1366924 when prompted.  Type your business name as: GSMISTS-Troop (your troop number).  This is what will show up on the customer’s credit card statements.

5)      You will also need the account information for your troop bank account, such as routing number and account number, so that deposits can be made to the bank account.

6)      Upon completing registration, make sure to download the Square app on your mobile device.  Feel free to spend a few minutes browsing the help information on the website and/or app to familiarize yourself on how to accept credit/debit cards.

7)      Your Square credit card reader should be shipped within a few days!

***IMPORTANT REMINDERS***

1)      Credit/debit cards can only be accepted at cookie booths or expos.  The idea behind accepting credit cards is to increase payment options for people who are walking by your cookie booth who otherwise might not have stopped to purchase cookies.  Feel free to advertise the fact that your troop can accept credit cards at the booth so people who are walking by can see.

2)      There is a 2.75% fee charged by Square for credit card sales.  Council will be reimbursing these fees to the troops for transactions occurring at booths and expos.  In order for your fees to be reimbursed, you will need to submit a detail of your credit card sales and fees to council within three days of the completion of your cookie booth.  This information will be cross referenced with the sales information in ebuddie.  To access this detail, login to your account on squareup.com, choose the tab that says “deposits,” then click “download spreadsheet” to download to Excel.  Please return this report to your retail/product sales manager by email, fax, or by dropping it off at your service center.

If you have any questions regarding the above process contact Justin by email at jglover@gsmists.org or by phone at 616-784-3341 ext. 125.

Updated Cookie Station List & Instructions

 

2012 Cookie Stations

Alpena County ~ InGS Store Front @ Harborside Mall

135 N. State Street

Alpena, MI  49707

Contact: Cindy Ranshaw, 989-464-6022, alpenagirlscouts@aol.com

 

Alto/Caledonia

8479 Vincent Ave 

Alto, MI  49302

Contact: Gayle Kraft, 616-891-1802, kraftj7471@aol.com

  

Bellaire ~ Bellaire Wesleyan Church

108 E. Cayuga sally_ann@charter.net

Bellaire, MI 49615-0250

Contact: Sally Ann Corner, 231-533-8751,

 

Big Rapids

420 Hutchinson St

Big Rapids, MI  49307

Contact: Nancy Pins, h: 231-592-5251, w:231-796-6138, nancypins@charter.net

 

NEW***

Carson City

7681 E. Holland Lake Rd

Carson City, MI

Contact: Linda Limon, h: 989-235-4336, w: (between 7 AM-10:30 AM) 616-597-3220 x 8354 or 2071

llimon@ventra.us or llimon13@gmail.com

Charlevoix~ Your Service Plus                                                                                                           6643 Easter WoodMichelle@atyourserviceplus.com

East Jordan, MI 49727                                                                                                                  Contact: Michelle Nowka, c: 231-350-0751, h:231-536-2532, w:231-536-9668

Ionia

644 Woods Road

Orleans, MI  48865

Contact: Jenny Root, h: 616-527-9532 (after 3:00 PM),   c: 616-240-7256

Gumby63@charter.net

 

Ludington ~ Ludington Little House (trailer in parking lot)

1024 Olmstead St

Ludington, MI  49431

Contact: Pam Huether, 231-843-4814, phuether@charter.net

 

Manistee

1424 Timber Ridge

Manistee, MI  49660       

Contact: Renee Myers, 231-690-7340, myers1424@sbcglobal.net

 

Zeeland

954 64^th Avenue

Zeeland, MI  49464

Contact: Norma Dearborn, 616-688-5221, norma@towersunlimited.com

Cookies also available at our 3 GSMISTS Service Centers


STATION GUIDELINES

•      Please call  Cookie Station a day ahead & order your cookies so they can be prepared for you in advance. 
•      Please call the Cookie Station at least 4 days ahead for orders of 25 cases or more. As the sale winds down we may not have all varieties available.
•     Cookies must be taken by Troops in full cases of 12 packages each. 
•      Mixed cases of 12 packages each are available.
•       The big change for this year is that there will be no post-dated checks (and actually no checks being left at the stations at all).   Cookies taken from your Cookie Station will be paid for via the bank sweeps on April 5 (and again on April 17 for those taken after April 5). 
•       Station cookies are $2.95 per package or $35.40 per case until the Troop’s initial order is paid for.
•        If a Troop earns over $.55/ box proceeds an adjustment will be made from the amount due for the initial order.
•       There will be absolutely no returns of cookies. Damaged or defective cookies will be replaced.
•      Cookies purchased by the box will be $3.50 per box and not included for girl incentives.
•      The Troop Cookie Manager or Leader must allocate boxes of cookies taken from the Cookie Station to individual girls in the e-budde software to qualify for added incentives. This can be done any time after they are picked up but must be done before April 15, 2012.