Who’s Going to Buy the Cookies?

It’s that time of year again. We all know it well. Thin Mints. Samoas. Tagalongs. Yes – Girl Scout Cookies! Last year, I worked in an office, and my daughter (aka me) sold 200 boxes of cookies. This year, as many of you probably know, we get the cookies first and sell them as we go. No pre-ordering. Last weekend, we picked up 200 boxes of cookies – exactly what we sold LAST year. One problem: For the business we do at our consulting firm, CultureRx, there’s no office. I cannot pawn boxes of thin mints off on my unsuspecting colleagues when I see them in the hall.

So, I ask “Who is going to buy 200 boxes of cookies? “

We problem-solved and looked at the options. Carry cookies through the neighborhood with 3 feet of snow on the ground? No. In that scenario, I envisioned having to buy a lot of snow covered and damaged boxes. Email everyone we know. Yes. That works. But 200? Post it on social media. Face book, Twitter. Yes, we did that and thought it might work. Until we saw dozens of other people doing the same thing. And still, 200 boxes of cookies.

So, we are trying something new: A cookie booth at our local drugstore. We will see how it goes.

When I stepped back and reflected on our new found challenge, I laughed. It reminds me of ROWE. What’s the outcome? What are we trying to achieve? How are we going to get there? And sometimes, it means doing something DIFFERENT. And different may feel scary at first. But if we can sell 200 boxes of cookies and be done in two hours, won’t different be better? I think it will.

If it doesn’t work, I will enjoy some thin mints, talk to family and friends, and come up with a new way to achieve our outcome.