The greatest saleswoman in the wold today doesnt mind if you call her a girl. thats because Markita Andrews has generated more than eighty thousand dollars selling Girl Scout cookies since she was seven years old.
Andrews learned early that knocking on doors wasn't worth her time. At age 6 when she and her mother moved to New York after a marital separation, she joined a Brownie troop to meet other girls her age. It was during the Girl Scout cookie sales period.
She started out by knocking on doors in the Lincoln Towers apartment complex where she lives with her mother, aunt and uncle. "One of the doormen said, 'If I get any complaints about you knocking on doors, I'm going to bring you down to the lobby,'" Andrews recalls. Sure enough, there was a complaint, and she was demoted to the lobby. But it turned out to be a boon. "It just happened to be when people were coming home from the office," she says. "I sold to 45 people that afternoon." She adopted this strategy and has used it ever since.
Andrews likes to find her customers all in one place. "I sell in lobbies at a lot of companies, and I try to find new companies every year," she says. Dubbed as the top Girl Scout cookie seller of all time, Andrews last year sold 8,006 boxes--$16,000--not bad for a little over three weeks of work. And the girl, who is described by her aunt, Meredith McSherry, as "shy to a certain extent," has sold well over 30,000 boxes of cookies in the past eight years, with sales increasing around 30 percent each year.
By comparison, in 1984, Girl Scouts sold 130,250,000 boxes of cookies, mostly in the United States. Excluding volunteer adults who sold cookies, that averages out to somewhat less than 100 boxes of cookies per Girl Scout.
Some of the big guys have taken notice of Markita Andrews' astonishing sales figures. Companies like International Business Machines Corporation, Lotus Development Corporation and Pacific Telephone have flown her to conventions to speak about her sales techniques.
In 1982, Walt Disney Productions made a 12-minute sales motivation film that featured Andrews. Businesses throughout the country have purchased the film to educate their sales forces. And Andrews, with the help of writer Cheryl Merser, has written a book for Random House, detailing her basic steps of successful selling. The book is aimed at both the youth market and salespeople and is scheduled for release in March.
The first step in selling, she says, is setting short- and long-term goals. Andrews tries to take 100 orders a day after school during the three-week selling period. "If I don't reach my goal of 100 on one day, I'll work harder the next day, and I'll try to think of new places to go."
Andrews also stresses the importance of keeping good records. Sometimes, if customers say they have paid for an order and Andrews has doubts, she checks her spiral notebook of all the people she has sold to, what they bought and what order form they are on.
Wearing her uniform helps attract attention when Andrews is selling in an office. "People will see me and wonder, 'Who's going to be wearing a uniform like that? What is this girl doing?'" she says. "Then they'll think, 'It looks like she's trying to sell something. I wonder what she's selling?' So they'll come up to me part way, and I'll meet them the other part of the way and try to sell them some cookies."
Perhaps the real secret of her success is charm. "A lot of people have bought from Markita just because she's Markita," says her aunt. "People like her and they'll buy one box." Andrews says, "I try to be very kind to people because then they'll tell other people."
Last year Andrews, an honorary member of the National Association of Professional Saleswomen, charmed members of the Million Dollar Roundtable into buying 5,000 boxes of cookies when she was a featured guest at their convention at Radio City Music Hall. Andrews has also appeared twice on "Late Night With David Letterman" and "Good Morning America."
But Andrews does not rest on her laurels--she wants to go to college to polish her sales techniques. Yet for now, with only a couple of years left in Girl Scouts, she wants to reach her goal of selling 40,000 boxes of cookies. This should not be an impossible task for Andrews because she's motivated by a strong belief in her product and organization. "Girl Scouts are a great cause. I sell cookies to help them out--helping kids who don't have enough money to go to camp and helping buy office supplies." Andrews' troop receives 25 cents for every box the troop sells. With the money, she says, "we go to dude ranches in upstate New York."
However, selling does have its ups and downs. When people don't want to buy any cookies, says Andrews, "I will try to convince them what a good cause Girl Scouts are." But it they still refuse to buy and don't wish to make a contribution, Andrews politely thanks them. "I know there are people who don't want to buy, but there are a lot of people who do, and I look forward to the people who do want to buy."
Once on live TV, the producer decided to give Markita her toughtest selling challenge. Markita was asked to sell Girls scout cookies to another guest on the show. "Would you like to invest in one dozen or two dozen boxes of Girl Scout cookies " she asked.
"Girl scout cookies" I dont buy any Girl scout cookies he replied. I am a Federal Penitentiary warden. I put 2,000 rapists, robbers, criminals, muggers and child abusers to bed every night.
Unruffled, Markita quickly countered, "Mister, if you take some of these cookies, maybe you wont be so mean and angry and evil. And , Mister , I think it would be a good idea for you to take some of these cookies back for every one of your 2,000 prisoners, too"
Markita asked.
The warden wrote a check.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
I wrote a story about this girl at least 25 years ago. She has since grown up and the last I knew - about 5 years ago, was married and living in Southern California. Incidentally, I started the National Association for Professional Saleswomen in 1980.
Post a Comment