Beating Back Every "No"

Adorable smile, snappy comebacks make Alyssa No. 1 in cookie sales

By Mandy Catoe

Sunday, February 12, 2017

It’s hard to say no to 9-year-old Alyssa Mangum.

Last year, she amassed hundreds of yeses in three months.
Alyssa was the No. 1 Girl Scout cookie seller in Lancaster County. The Heath Springs fourth grader sold 1,005 boxes of cookies, most in the sparsely populated southeastern end of the county.
The 2017 cookie campaign has begun, and Alyssa is going strong. She has already sold 200 boxes and has about six weeks remaining.
Her sales numbers prove her skills in what has become the largest entrepreneurial training program in the world for girls.
Strategic marketing seems to be her forte, backed up by a killer smile and a soft Southern drawl.
“I go to my daddy’s shop and set up on the day they get paid,” Alyssa said, smiling. “Mama drops me off and I set up to sell.”
Her dad, Tracy Bowers, works at Brandy Baker’s Soggy Bottom Logging Co. Alyssa has realized that men are easier targets for cookie sales.
“They don’t really diet,” Alyssa said.
In Lancaster County, Girl Scouts averaged selling 171 boxes of cookies last year. Alyssa’s 1,005 put her at the top locally. Lancaster is one of 22 counties in the Midlands to Mountains region, which has 6,782 Girl Scouts. Alyssa ranked in the top 100, according to Karen Kelly, director of marketing for the region.
Alyssa, now 9, has learned a lot since her first attempt at cookie sales four years ago, when she joined the Girl Scouts as a 5-year-old.
“She would just hand the brochure to them,” said Sarah Bowers, her mom and troop leader, who accompanies Alyssa on door-to-door trips around Heath Springs.
She now has a polished presentation with a smooth comeback for every imaginable “no.” Her routine is as tried and true as the cookies she is peddling.
It begins with a smile and the scripted spiel, “Hey, my name is Alyssa. I’m a Girl Scout with Troop 2381. Would you like to buy some cookies?”
From there, if she doesn’t get an immediate sale, she improvises. She has a comeback for whatever objection the customer throws at her.

MANDY CATOE/mcatoe@thelancasternews.com

Alyssa Mangum was the No. 1 Girl Scout cookie seller in Lancaster County. The Heath Springs fourth grader sold 1,005 boxes of cookies, most in the sparsely populated southeastern end of the county.

Instant responses

She has heard them all.
“I don’t like cookies,” someone says.
“It would be good to have some on hand for visitors,” she responds instantly.
“I’m on a diet,” says someone else.
“You could let your kids eat them,” Alyssa answers, with a big smile.
“I’m allergic,” says another person, thinking she’s off the hook.
“We have gluten-free cookies,” Alyssa says without blinking.
Some people see her and pretend they’re talking on their cell phones. She doesn’t waste time on them.
Once Alyssa realizes she is up against a solid no, she plays her final card: “You can order a box for the soldiers, and we will ship the cookies to them.”
Then she holds that gorgeous smile of hers for as long as it takes. Last year, her troop sent 50 boxes to servicemen and women overseas. Her troop of four is small in number, but mighty in mission.
“Even if they can’t send notes back about the cookies,” Alyssa said of the soldiers, “I know they are still pretty happy to get them to snack on.”
When she can’t close the sale, she thanks the non-customers for their time and wishes them a good day.
The crackerjack sales lady has learned something valuable. If a door-to-door customer hesitates before saying no, Alyssa follows up with a second visit to offer another opportunity.
“I wait a few days and go back to ask them, and they usually say ‘yes,’” she said, smiling again.
The cookie campaign begins in early January with individual pre-orders for later delivery. Troops begin booth sales in mid-February. They set up outside local businesses with cookies on-hand for quick sales offering immediate gratification. The troop will divide the booth sales equally among the individual members.
Alyssa’s sales’ goal for 2017 is “around 800” – well above the national average of 185 and the Midlands to Mountain average of 239. She explained that she lost a few customers to the Girl Scout she trained last year.
“I’ll just find new people,” she said. “I have family in Vermont, Georgia and South Carolina.”
Clearly, Alyssa gets a lot of yeses. When asked how the yays compare to the nays, she said, “Pretty much, most of the time, people say yes.”
She said it is easier to sell when she is part of the group rather than when she is alone.
“At the booth, they can see the cookies and I don’t have to name every single cookie.”
In addition to the high standards Alyssa sets and achieves in cookie sales, she adheres to the higher principle of humility.
“We don’t allow bragging,” Alyssa said. “Like if I sell 20 boxes and my friend doesn’t sell any boxes, I don’t brag.”
Alyssa’s troop meets on Tuesday nights at Salem Methodist Church in Heath Springs. Despite having only four members, Troop 2381 has already placed orders for 900 boxes.


Little Heath Springs

“We have to work hard because we are a small troop out here in little ol’ Heath Springs,” said Troop Leader Bowers, who stepped in to lead when the former chief moved away.
She welcomes more members and invites anyone wishing to join the troop to call her at (803) 246-2793. Bowers, an outdoor enthusiast, takes the troop on many natural expeditions. She said she runs the troop the way she parents, with an expectation of independence and the realization that every moment offers an opportunity to learn.
Alyssa nodded and quickly confirmed that, “When we go places and come back, she asks us what we learned there.”
The troop uses proceeds from cookie sales to fund field trips and buy badges and supplies.
“We get bigger field trips because we are a small troop,” Alyssa said.
Past field trips include the Heath Springs Pizzeria, Aww Shucks, and Horseplay Farm. Future plans include trips to the zoo and the home of Girl Scout founder Juliette Low in Savannah, Ga.


Alyssa dreams of future Girl Scout rewards, including scholarships and grants for travel abroad.
“When you are a cadet, you can go to Paris,” she said with little emotion.
Then she lit up, leaned forward, and said, “I want to go to where they have kangaroos and koalas.”
Alyssa loves all animals and hopes to become a veterinarian. She and her family have one horse, five dogs, two cats, and a bearded dragon lizard. And she has a little brother, Trace, who is 4.
The cookie sales teach the girls five essential skills – goal setting, decision making, money management, communication and business ethics.
Alyssa said her cookie experience will come in handy later if gets a retail job to help pay for college.
“It’s the same as selling cookies,” she said, “but I would just be selling different things.”

Girl Scout cookies by the numbers
◆ 175 million boxes of Girl Scout cookies are sold annually in the United States for a total revenue of $656 million.
◆ Baking and transporting the cookies makes up 27 percent of the cost, 21 percent goes straight back to the troop and the rest goes to local and national councils.
◆ The bakers licensed by the organization may change from year to year, though this is not common. Current licensed companies are Little Brownie Bakers, a subsidiary of Keebler, which is owned by Kellogg’s; and ABC Bakers, a subsidiary of Interbake Foods, which is owned by George Weston Limited. With the exception of Thin Mints,™ each bakery uses a different name for the cookie varieties.
◆ There are 28 total cookie varieties. The five most popular are Thin Mints,™ Samoas or Caramel deLites, Peanut Butter Patties or Tagalongs, Peanut Butter Sandwich or Do-si-dos and Shortbread or Trefoils. These five account for 77 percent of total sales.

These facts appear courtesy of Wikipedia.com and statisticsbrain.com

Follow Reporter Mandy Catoe on Twitter @MandyCatoeTLN or contact her at (803) 283-1152.