In addition to the life and business skills earned through NUTS+MAGS program (previously known as the Fall Product Program), helps the troop get money in their bank account early in the year, and helps girls earn cool patches and rewards.
Tips for Success from last year's top sellers:
- My daughter loves being a Girl Scout and is always excited for anything we do. She made videos for all our family members to tell them why she was selling and why she loves to be a GS. We sent emails to all our friends and family. She always had her order card with her for if we went anywhere and someone wanted to buy. She would ask me often what prizes she had won and what she needed to do to get to the next one. It was a lot of work but she enjoyed the process.
- My Co-Leader and I have been with our troop since Kindergarten and the girls are now in 4th grade. We have basically followed the same routine each year for both Fall and Cookie sales. We talk a lot about it at each meeting leading up to the kick off of the sales, the products being sold, the rewards and sales goals. We have our troop set a personal sale goal and a troop sales goal for each sale. In the past, the girls have made fun personal goal trackers to keep at home, an idea we found on the Girl Scout Website. That made for a fun craft to do. We also keep track as a troop at each meeting, I’ll collect the numbers and fill them in as they rise. As they have gotten older they have definitely become more excited at each meeting to see how we are doing and they get super excited at the final sale meeting when we reach and usually go over our goal! I usually make a simple visual poster board chart and color it in as they reach towards the final goal. We aim a little higher each year based on previous year sales. At the initial sales meeting when we talk about our sales goals we also gather ideas of what we want to do with our sale money. We make two lists. A fun list and a community service goal list, usually we donate some money for a good cause or use the money for our varying community service projects throughout the year. Although they still have Disney on their fun list we haven’t quite achieved that yet! LoL! While we encourage the girls to do most of the selling themselves, we also keep the parents involved when it comes to the sales. Communication with the parents is key from the beginning so that they are aware of what we expect from the sales. Especially now since they are still a young age, they do need help navigating the online portion of the sales with their parent. We stress to the parents and to the girls that being involved in the sale is the most important aspect whether you sell $20.00 or $200.00, we need everyone to try to put forth the effort and do their best! We also use 90% of our funds to put towrds patches, supplies and their gear. Our parents have understood that from the beginning because of our clear communication so it hasn’t been a problem. At the end if the day the most important thing we find is to keep them involved and have fun with it!!
- ...the majority of our moms are very responsive and involved. We email them very detailed instructions on how to set up their online sites, encourage social media sharing and send lots of reminders for due dates. I think reminding them of the minimum sales to earn the personalized patch also helped.
- We did bring focus to it with the mothers in a group chat, we noted success on our Facebook group pages, and the girls started sending videos and moms posting things on Facebook promoting it. We are super excited about cookie time!!!
- the girls and their families did such a great job! The one bit of feedback I did get from parents was that my emails were very helpful. I worried that I was being too persistent, but parents said it really helped to get the deadline reminders regularly and that my emails were pretty clear and easy to follow. Otherwise it was all them!
We asked leaders how the NUTS+MAGS program has supported their troop's activities. Here are some answers:
- As this was our troop's first year, the NUTS+MAGS program and the profit went to establish a troop checking fund.
- We bought supplies for holiday card making for persons in the St. Lukes Cornwall Hospital and fabric to make cat beds (pillows) for the animal shelter.
- They used their profit to create all their crafts, including making beautiful decoupaged glass candle holders for Mother's Day.
- The troop went apple picking in the fall and used profit so parents did to have to pay.
- They had a wonderful tea party with tablecloths and decorated cupcakes, planted flowers in pots that the girls could grow at home, all as part of completing their Plant, Water, Grow Journey.
- End of the year was celebrated with a dance party at a dance studio, complete with a piñata, all paid for with their product sales profit.
- At the end of the year, our girls celebrate our success with a pool party that they very much enjoy
- We use the NUTS+MAGS profit to take a trip of their choice every year
- The leaders were happy that profit also paid for all the badges the troop had to buy
