Girl Scouts, Digital Cookie & the Value of In Person Interaction
The Girl Scouts have come a long way since the days I was selling cookies. The original “girl power” group recently announced that it will now allows its girls to sell their famous cookies online. The Digital Cookie platform allow Girl Scouts to create their own customized websites or mobile apps.
It was only a matter of time the organization would have to engage with e-commerce, since that is the way most people make purchases today. Online marketing and sales are great skills to have, especially for young entrepreneurs. I know looking back at my time with the Girl Scouts, I wished I could have utilized Facebook, created a website or run a Constant Contact email campaign.
However, the best and most important part of running a small business is the face to face interaction with a customer. Talking to clients in person forces you to learn how to make a sales pitch. When I sold cookies, I had to make the case for why a potential customer should purchase from me.
It’s about making eye contact, really listening to the customer and understanding what they want and what they can get from you. Face to face interaction also means learning how to deal with rejection when a sale doesn’t go through and starting over. These are all skill sets that you not only need to be an entrepreneur, but also the kind of people skills needed to survive in life.
While technology is a great thing, I also feel like today’s youth don’t have these people skills anymore. Digital natives only talk in their own language via social media. Even my own kids in my family seem to only want to talk to me via text message!
The other side of this issue are the safety concerns among some parents and privacy experts. According to Digital Cookie, girls can choose to created a webpage on the platform with their picture and their first name. The girls have the option to write a short letter on the page about their cookie campaign. There is a concern that the girls could be exposed to online predators. But most likely if the girls are already online using Twitter or Instagram, their online safety is already at risk.
I see this as a perfect opportunity for both the Girl Scouts and parents. For one thing, the organization should maintain that the girls sell a minimum percentage of cookies through in person interaction, while learning e-commerce techniques through online sales. Also, the Digital Cookie program should provide training for both the girls and their parents on how to stay safe online.
I think this new initiative is a great way for the organization to open a new chapter in its long history by being relevant to the needs of today’s young girls.