Girl Scout Cookies – America’s Unicorn

girl scouts

As January winds down, the Girl Scouts will once again demonstrate their high level of business acumen and begin their annual cookie sales. Business schools and MBA programs love case studies of businesses that are remarkably successful. I am always amazed that these professors do not pay more attention to the Girls Scout’s cookie sales program. 

The Girl Scouts have been selling cookies for more than a century. To say that they have it down pat would be an understatement.

You can laugh it off, but in about 8 weeks from start to finish the Girl Scouts will sell and deliver about 200 million units and take in about $1 billion in sales. I know Fortune 500 companies that do not come close.  In fact, I know Senior VPs at Fortune 500 companies that would call the Scout’s attempt to deliver that many units in that short a period of time a logistical nightmare. One told me that even thinking about it would make him reach for the antacids he keeps in his desk drawer. 

What is the secret to the Girls Scouts display of logistics perfection? Their mothers already have way too much on their plates to screw around.  Just get them sold, get them delivered and move on, one Scout’s mother told me as she was chaperoning her second daughter around the neighborhood. That phrase should be on a sign on the wall in the office of every sales manager and operations manager in America.

The entire operation is a model of efficiency. I have ordered quite a few boxes over the years. They always deliver exactly what I ordered exactly when they promised. My Amazon Prime deliveries often go to the house across the street.

The cookies themselves are manufactured in two bakeries. They are of high quality and consistent year to year. Over the years they have eliminated some that did not sell well and introduced others.  

Personally I have a thing for Samoas. Maybe it is the combination of chocolate and coconut; the sweetness and the texture.  I have been known to munch my way through an entire box during the NBA All-Star weekend.  If they ever eliminate Samoas from the menu I think it will represent a decline in Western civilization.

People do not appreciate the value of a box of Girl Scout cookies as a business tool. I have a friend who worked in the back office of the trading department of one of the large banks.  Each year he has 10 cases of Girl Scout cookies delivered and stacked up against the wall in the trading room.  He tells me that the traders, in their thousand dollar suits and $300 shoes literally climb over each other to get a box. He told me that some of the traders who don’t know his name and are not certain what exactly he does, refer to him as the “cookie guy”. He is certain that his yearly largess has raised his status at the bank. 

There are a lot of anecdotal stories about cookie sales. Back in the 1980s, one Scout sold so many boxes that it got her an invitation to visit the White House. While waiting to meet Pres. Reagan she found herself waiting in an ante room with Secretary of State George Schultz.   When Schultz complemented her on her achievement, she reportedly responded by asking Schultz if he wanted to buy some.  Do you need a better example of the phrase “never stop hustling”? 

This particular Scout went on to sell more than 100,000 boxes in her Girl Scout career and while still a teenager gave lectures to adults at sales conventions. Her success was not from going door to door but by setting up a table in the DC metro during rush hour. She told the salesmen at the convention to go where the customers are and not wait for the customers to come to you.  

More recently there was the story of the Scout who set up her table at the entrance to one of San Francisco’s medical marijuana dispensaries. Yes there was some controversy about a pre-teenager and marijuana. As a parent I had to face the questions from my own kids about what I was doing back in the 1960’s. Still the munchies are the munchies.

But from a purely business standpoint I would say that both of these young women understood their market better than a significant number of the sales people I meet almost daily.  I cannot imagine the sales manager at any Fortune 500 company not extending a job offer to either.

girl scouts

My own experience with superior Girl Scout sales women came a few years back when two neighborhood Girl Scouts, sisters aged 11 and 9 rang my door bell one Saturday. They were chaperoned by their mother. Each was in a well pressed uniform intending to make a sharp presentation. I invited them in and the oldest started her pitch by asking me if I was familiar with Girl Scout cookies and did I have a favorite.  

I professed my fondness for Samoas and ordered 3 boxes. She responded by suggesting that I try some of the other popular flavors. She knew what was in each of them and described how they tasted. She suggested that I should buy a box or two of Thin Mints “to take to the office”. I ordered 3 boxes of those as well.   

She thanked me and filled out the order form which is color coded for the ease of these young sales people. It also significantly sped up the ordering process. 

When I thought we were done her younger sister stepped forward and asked if I would buy some cookies from her as well. I would have needed ice water in my veins to turn down this innocent looking youngster who apparently had seen Glengarry, Glen Ross and taken it to heart. 

I told her that I did not want to buy too many because I was watching my weight. She responded by telling me that I could buy a few boxes and that they would ship them to servicemen serving overseas. That’s right, a 9 year old who had already learned to anticipate a customer’s objections and have an excellent response ready. 

I wrote a check and two weeks later, right on schedule, I took possession of a case of Girl Scout cookies. I swear if these two had been 20 years older they might have saved Lehman Brothers. 

I think more people should take notice of just how successful the Girls Scouts are. Two years ago I found myself having lunch with the founder of a Silicon Valley start-up who exhibited more ego than brains. He spent the better part of the meal telling me how his yet to be launched company was certain to achieve unicorn status. It never did.  

The Girl Scouts, on the other hand, will likely sell a billion dollars worth of cookies this year. They have a well known and ubiquitous product. Their brand, if not as valuable as Coca-Cola, is certainly closer to it than Uber or Airbnb.  Imagine the Girl Scouts as a unicorn without the ego.

There is huge push to give young girls more training in STEM subjects and a great many programs teaching them to write code.  I am a strong advocate for both, but learning to write code becomes less important if you can’t sell it.  As long as there are Girl Scouts selling cookies, the art of salesmanship will never die.

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