By: Andrea Mac | December 19, 2023

If you can only take me in small doses, here's what's new:

Yesterday: Last business trip of the year to the snowy Cleveland. Team - thank you for your hospitality and the great snacks.

Next up professionally: I’m carving out some quiet and focused time to finalize my outcome-based plan for 2024. Should I share this with my readership?

Next up personally: Carving out some time to be with my family. For those new here, I am married with four kids (ages 19, 14, 7, and almost 5.) That’s a kid in college, preschool, and two in between, so our holiday break is already full and loud.

Building Prequal #20: Are You Team Thin Mints or Tagalongs?

I have a new client this December. She's intelligent, driven, and ready to surpass her 2023 revenue goals. She's also demanding and expects unlimited access to my time and talents. She's my daughter, Beaux, and she is on a mission to outsell every other Girl Scout in her troop this cookie season. Girl Scout cookie season is upon us, and Beaux is ready to pound the pavement and again be the top seller in her troop. To say I'm proud is an understatement.

Girl Scout cookies are big business. During cookie season, which kicked off on Dec. 15 for Beaux, the Girl Scouts sell roughly 200 million boxes of cookies. That equates to around one box per adult in the U.S. I don't know about you, but I've never been able to buy just one box.

And that's what the Girl Scouts and Beaux are banking on. On average, the Girl Scouts sell and deliver $800 million of cookies in a season. They're so dominant that other cookie manufacturers dial back their marketing and advertising during Girl Scout cookie season. There's just no competing with the Girl Scouts.

To me, though, this is about so much more than cookies. As the mother of an enthusiastic cookie seller, let me tell you why cookie season matters and how it ties to my greater life's mission.

Why It Matters

The Girl Scouts organization has long touted the importance of fostering leadership skills in girls from a young age, and they're doing something right. The GSUSA can point to some very esteemed alumni; 71.4% of women in the U. S. Senate and 67.1% of the women in the House of Representatives were Girl Scouts at one time.

While leadership skills are baked into the mission of the Girl Scouts, cookie season, in particular, teaches young girls something equally crucial to their future success. According to the GSUSA, the cookie program is the world's largest girl-run and girl-led financial literacy program, teaching skills like goal setting, decision making, money management, people skills, and business ethics. And sales. You can't sell Girl Scout cookies without sales skills.

At its core, Cookie season is about building sales and business skills. It's often a girl's first taste of what it's like to run a business. The scouts have to define their market, perfect their sales pitch, work their network, and create a great client experience to sell a lot of cookies.

These are all the same fundamental sales skills that I teach my clients. And if you're familiar with Prequal's mission, sales skills are essential to a woman's ability to make more money and gain economic empowerment and equality. You can't run a business, stay in business, or work for a business if you can't sell. Teaching cookie selling to girls at a young age is teaching a life skill.

My Cookie Story

It should not surprise you that my favorite cookie seller and I have a plan this season. Beaux is embarking on her second year selling cookies. And because Beaux has me as her mom, we're approaching cookie season strategically, using the same sales plans and skills that I've used to build my business and win my clients more business.

I want to take you on a journey with Beaux and me in the coming weeks. I want to lay out our go-to-market cookie strategy and show you how the sales skills that I teach can be applied to any company or business – yes, Girl Scout cookies included. I hope you'll join us for the ride. It should be fun.

And while you're at it, let me know how many boxes I can put you down for.

-A.

P.S. Speaking of sales skills, did you know Prequal has a sales masterclass? This on-demand course will teach you everything you need to know about finding your audience, generating quality leads, pricing your services, and creating a standout client experience. And really, so much more.Check out Sales Is Freedom here