Well, There Goes MY Diet!

You've probably noticed I’m all about finding ways to stand out of any crowd.

Given that it’s Girl Scout Cookie Season, hordes of young women are out hustling baked goods. When she was younger, my daughter’s friends were my preferred salespeople. Today, lacking relationships with these youthful entrepreneurs, I’m fair game for anyone with a creative strategy.

Greeters at a Rotary meeting almost had the sale, but I lacked cash that night. I was in a rush, so skipped the table at the street corner. And I debated between the promotional doorknob hanger and the sales team outside Von’s with the sign “Invest in your future leaders.”

The smartest cookie? The teenager selling Thin Mints after a show at Rancho Bernardo High School’s Performing Arts Center. Her initiative was refreshing, her location unique. And her plan: go door-to-door in the dorms at San Diego State University during the Superbowl, looking for groups of munched-out football fans.

As Sir Francis Bacon advised; 'If the mountain will not come to Muhammad, then Muhammad must go to the mountain'.

Her strategy was solid. "If there's a group and one person buys, there's a very good chance that others in the room will also buy," she told me.

So big groups of hungry people egged on by peer pressure bought her product, with no competition in sight. BRILLIANT!

This year 1.7 million Girl Scouts will raise $800 million selling 200 million boxes of cookies. Most girls will ask parents to bring them to the office.

But those who are serious will find ways to be like the 8 year-old in San Bernardino who sold a record-breaking 32,484 boxes of cookies in two months. SWEET!

Now examine your business. You've got competition and a noisy marketplace. Are you still doing things the way you've always done them?

We adults should learn from these young women and look beyond stale business tactics. By approaching things differently, we'll all increase opportunities for growing our revenues in both the short- and long-term.

Call it thinking outside the cookie box. Or re-examining priorities. Call it what you will, but it all amounts to the same thing. By knowing your product, understanding your marketplace, and being willing to try a new idea, you'll set yourself apart and create situations where none would otherwise exist.

With that said, I wish you a week of profitable marketing.

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Creative thinking is baked in at www.marketbuilding.com.