Bringing In The Dough Spokane’s Girl Scouts Learn Not To Crumble When Cookie Sales Don’t Come Easily

It’s a tough business, selling Girl Scout cookies.

Consider how it went for 9-year-olds Jamie Saddler and Kari Finnestad as they embarked on a door-to-door business trip in north Spokane last week.

No one was home at the first house. Or the second. Or the third. At the fourth house, another Girl Scout had been there the day before, beating them to a sale.

Jamie and Kari weren’t about to panic. After all, they both sold more than 100 boxes last year.

Jamie and Kari were among more than 3,000 Inland Empire Girl Scouts who started taking annual cookie orders early this month. For $3.50 a box - 50 cents more than last year - customers can buy old favorites like Thin Mints and chocolate and coconut Samoas, or skip the calories by trying the new Low-Fat Snaps.

Local Girl Scouts sold 243,744 boxes last year, an average of about 72 boxes per Scout. Eight-yearold Charlene Brown, of Spokane, sold the most: 1,001 boxes.

Scouts are taught to use the buddy system when they sell door-to-door. Clad in their Brownie uniforms, Jamie and Kari took turns. After one made a sale, the other got a chance to ring doorbells and solicit customers until she sold a box or two.

Sometimes, the Brentwood Elementary thirdgraders ended up asking together.

“Is your …”

“… mom or dad home?”

The method wasn’t flawless.

“It’s my turn because she bought some from you, too,” Kari told Jamie.

“Jamie had more turns than me,” she said, explaining why she had sold three boxes so far, compared to Jamie’s 12.

Not all Scouts sell door-to-door. Some find lucrative markets at their parents’ workplaces. Kari’s father sells cookies for her at his dental office.

“There’s a lot of competition out there,” said Judy Finnestad, Kari’s mother and former Girl Scout troop leader. “You’ve got the Campfire girls and other Girl Scouts in the neighborhood.”

Before hitting the streets, younger Girl Scouts such as Brownies spend about two hours with their troop leaders learning the rules, setting goals and practicing selling techniques. They normally watch a video and learn through role playing, Finnestad said.

“It’s an educational program about goal-setting and working hard,” said Jana Worthington, Girl Scout fund development director and cookie program manager.

“I learned a lot selling cookies,” said Worthington, a former Girl Scout. “I was quiet and shy, but I learned to compete with myself. It was the first time I set a goal that I was responsible for … I hope the girls now can learn that, too.”

More than half of the money from cookie sales subsidizes Girl Scout camps.

Scouts also can get individual prizes for selling a certain number of boxes. Jamie and Kari’s goal this year is to sell at least 50, enough to get them each T-Shirts and pens. Some Scouts earn credits they can use for uniforms, patches and summer camp. Older Scouts can save their “cookie dollars” for four years and, if they earn enough, go to Switzerland, Worthington said.

Door-to-door sales also sharpen the girls’ marketing skills. Jamie and Kari declined to share their trade secrets, but after only a week of sales, both girls have already reached the halfway mark toward their goal of 50 boxes.

“These girls have learned how to be organized and responsible,” said Lisa Saddler, Jamie’s mother. “They collect the orders and organize everything.”

MEMO: This is a sidebar which appeared with story: Info: Scouts will take advance cookie orders until Sunday. Cookies are scheduled to arrive the last week of March and door-to-door sales will resume April 1 through April 23. To reach your nearest Girl Scout, call 747-8091.