The Value of Selling Cookies

Katie has finished her last round of selling Girl Scout Cookies (thus it will also be my last year to be the cookie mom! Woohoo!). Actually, it is a lot of fun and three years ago I would not have ever known how valuable this experience would be for her. Katie is extremely shy. When she first started doing this three years ago, we had to do a lot of the talking for her. Katie went to Jobing.com last year to sell to their office, per their request. When she was asked to stand on a table and shout "Come and get your cookies, she dropped to the ground like a lead weight. She sold cookies, but quietly, cubicle to cubicle. We would bring it up every once in awhile and ask if she was going to do it this year. About a week before we were to start selling she declared, "I am going to get on the table and yell this year." After practicing projecting her voice versus screaming in the car on the way there, she did it! Katie even called one of Mike's board members (also on the Girl Scout board) after he said he would order 10 boxes if she called. After making a script for her, she did the whole thing. I was right there beside her in case she needed help, but she dialed, talked to the secretary, got another number, called him and did it! Now I know for myself, selling cookies is not all about money. It is a great learning experience...even if it is motivated by an incentive program. Are we not all motivated by one thing or another? Talk about pushing her personal boundaries! Wow! Congratulations Katie for coming out of your shell!