You know it’s that time of the year when one of the parents in your office is suddenly much more popular. He or she is passing around a laminated cookie order form and suddenly, you see them everywhere. Little girls dressed in uniforms, covered in patches, hawking their treats. The names are exotic and unlike anything you’ve ever heard – Samoas, Trefoil. With 101 years under their sashes, the Girl Scouts have come a long way from their original 18 girls in Savannah (approximately 59 million women consider themselves Girl Scout alumnae). In all that time, the Scouts have come up with a few best practices – aside from great recipes – perfect for your medical supply company.
Tell Your Story
Cookies are inevitably the first thing most people associate with the Scouts, and that’s okay with them. Cookie packagers capitalized on this recently and totally revamped the boxes to include more information than just calorie content and ingredients. Each box contains pictures of actual Girl Scouts, their stories, and inspirational details. You may have no control over your own packaging, or may be sticking to stringent medical restrictions, but you can still brainstorm additional story-telling opportunities. Enclose brochures with your story in all order boxes, beef up the “About Us” section of your website, and train sales personnel to have face-to-face conversations with buyers. It’s your story, so share it.
Incentivize the Team
Scouts sell cookies to contribute to their troops, raise money, and get some sales experience – but they also do it for the prizes and the patches! Your walkers, stents, and scopes may not translate to cute embroidered patches employees race to collect, but the idea of small benchmark goals can spur your workers to success. Whether you go for gift cards, toss out t-shirts, or promote plaques, you may see an uptick in revenue when workers have something other than the norm to stretch for.
Advocate Awareness
Keeping their Scouts happy and healthy is important to the organization, which participates in a number of endeavors toward good body image. Take a cue here and publicize how your own company contributes to the greater good. Place testimonials from customers or physicians’ offices on your social media sites. If one of your products recently received good press for its impact on the medical community, be sure to promote that too. Always be on the lookout for ways to educate the public or do something good, such as donating wheelchairs to a Special Olympics or plasma bags to a blood drive, and of course, spread the word about your contributions.
Educate Others
Aside from the knowledge troop leaders share at every meeting, the entire Girl Scout organization is always striving to educate Girls and the public. Their publications include “Having It All: Girls and Financial Literacy,” “Change It Up! What Girls Say About Redefining Leadership,” and “Linking Leadership to Academic Success: The Girl Scout Difference.” Consider writing an opinion piece or scholarly article in journals such as Medical Device and Diagnostic Industry or Medical Product Manufacturing News. Article ideas include a Q&A with a subject matter expert, new product reviews and testimonials, and opinions on industry trends.
Transformation
Girl Scouts who enter the program from the youngest age start as Daisies, traveling through Brownies, all the way up through Ambassadors. Along the way, they learn strategies to combat a slew of real-world problems and emerge stronger. You may not have small armies of green-vested girls to help you combat real-world problems such as lost revenue and late payments, but you can use the girls’ innovation and positivity as your model. In fact, you can build your own team by recruiting a debt collection company to go to bat on your behalf.
What’s your favorite Girl Scout cookie flavor? Post it in the comments below. And while you’re here, download our free guide to choosing a debt collection company!
