By Bryan Neale

On the eve of March 1st, it suddenly dawned on me that the world’s greatest sales force is once again in full force in their mission to dominate their market. Oreo’s sales people-take not. Archway sales support-time to step up. Keebler-all elves on deck………THE GIRLSCOUTS ARE HERE.

I believe the world’s greatest, most efficient sales force doesn’t use Salesforce.com, never makes PowerPoint presentations and can’t even find the power switch on a Blackberry. No, the Girl Scout’s do it the old fashioned way. They hit the street, use pure and honest techniques, find our pain and sweetly barter thousands of calories in exchange for even more thousands of dollars.

So what can we mature, seasoned, professional sales people learn from these Punky Brewster clones. More than you probably think:

1-Be Real, Don’t Fake It: I’ve yet to have a Girl Scout ask me transparent, contrived and often hokey rapport building questions. They never come to the door and say, “Hi Mr. Neale, how are the wife and kids?” when really all they want is a sale to meet their quota. No, they get right down to business. “I’m with the Girl Scout’s and we’re holding our annual cookie drive. Would you like to look at purchasing some to help us raise money for our programs?” The answer is irresistibly, YES.

2-Know Your Mission: The Girl Scouts do a terrific job of communicating what it is they do. They sell cookies to raise money for their programs. They give me the opportunity to participate in their learning/programs and get some of the world’s best cookies to go along.

3-USE leverage: Leverage is one of the most important concepts for a professional sales person to understand. It simply means making multiple sales contacts in one sitting. The Girl Scouts do this by placing themselves strategically in front of all entrances and exits in most metropolitan grocery stores. Hence one sales call puts them on front of thousands of shoppers who are already in the mood to spend money.

4-Referral Sources can make it Easy on You: Girl Scouts inevitably rely on their mom’s and dad’s work friends to propel their annual sales efforts. How many times have you received an e-mail at work…..”Just to let everyone know, my daughter Cutie Pie, is selling Girl Scout Cookies…..no pressure, but let me know if you’re interested.” What a brilliant strategy employed by these youngsters. I wonder what would happen if we were that pro-active soliciting referrals from our network.

I could go on, but you likely get the picture. So this spring, buy some cookies and pay attention to the sales process. You just might learn something. At worst, you pick up some killer cookies.

BN