found this on Google from heart of Ohio Council

Thank you for having Michael Beck share his popcorn selling techniques at the kickoff meeting. Despite skepticism from some of our den leaders,
I followed his advice in the entirety. We set up three four‐hour shifts. and I trained the boys ahead of time on Michaels technique. The
boys were awesome and sold ALL the popcorn I ordered in just two shifts. I think Michaels script was the key, as they got turned down cold
when they veered off message and simply asked if people wanted to buy popcorn. But when they did their speech, people just could not
walk by without giving something.
The boys worked really hard and stuck to their scripts. Not only did we make more than four times what we earned last year, but also I think
the boys have a real sense of accomplishment and pride in their hard work. I could see a big difference in their courage and assertiveness by the
end of the shifts. I cant brag enough about how hard they worked.
I look forward to expanding our schedule next year with the help of Michaels techniques. That was a great way to use our time at the kickoff
meeting. Thanks again for sharing the ideas.
Thanks,
Samantha Ospelt
Cub Scout Pack 334, Avon Lake

Well post up his script or give us an idea...


I always tell the boys we are not selling popcorn, but scouting......In our council 70% of the money stays in our area to support it....

A 4-hour popcorn shift?

The Boy Scouts might make it thru, but the Cubbies would be climbing the walls - literally!

I did 2-hour shifts, and it worked out fine. Plus, since 2-3 boys is the MOST you want on a shift, you have slots for more boys.

I assume CampMaster popcorn is a competitor with Trails End? I'd never heard of them before.

Yeah, we just switched this year from Trails End to Campmasters. The thing that really tipped the tables in favor of Campmasters was that they had $10 and $20 tins along with the $30 and $50 dollar ones and the microwave popcorn of course

We sold Campmasters for a couple of years, and then went back to Trail's End.

We felt that the quality of Trail's End was significantly better.

We also made sure to include $10 choices in our TE products.

Last year we had two $10 products, four at $18, two at $20, one at $25, one each at $30/$44/$50, and the military donation at $30.

It is a pretty decent spread, which gives customers options.

Look at the last 3 pages of this document...

http://www.baltimorebsa.org/openrosters/DocDownload.aspx?orgkey=749&id=112992

Thanks Neal....


Completely underwhelmed..... I was expecting something earth shattering......

Yeah Basementdweller. That is why I made this topic. While it isn't earthshattering and a lot of stuff is common sense and most people do anyways, I was wondering if following it to a "t" made a difference or not. And I was hoping someone here had first hand experience.

Our Pack is very successful at store front popcorn sales.....


Our Speil goes something long the lines of

"Hi I am from Pack 123 and we met at UMC at the corner of Main and elm would you like to support?"

In our area there is large local pride, for what ever reason folks are proud of it even if it is a slum. Folks that really shouldn't spend money on popcorn do. I feel bad for asking them.....

We make no mention of popcorn, the boys bring them over to the table and sell the product....

We end up with donations and treated as found money.....Our money grubbing DE told us this year that all donations need to be turned into the district........ The started a heated debate...

I spoke with the new popcorn kernel for the Pack as said we would donate a $1 to the district.... The money belongs to the boys not the DE's salary fund(This message has been edited by Basementdweller)

We went to a seminar and for the most part followed the plan. While I agree and we practiced his method of leading with the high end packages, we burned through our meager stock of $10 tins quickly and turned down a lot of sales when we ran out.

That said, last year was our troops first year both as a troop and selling popcorn. All scouts except three had never done popcorn before. Our DE told me that he uses our troops successful year as an example to other troops.

We practiced a lot at troop meetings. This year, we're going to concentrate more on neighborhod blitz sales and see what happens

"Our money grubbing DE told us this year that all donations need to be turned into the district"

that's a new one, unless your unit is disbanding. I don't blame you one bit for your discussion
Yes, it's hard to sell stuff during a depression. We favor everyone picking up odd jobs every week, from lawn mowing & window washing to baby-sitting and walking the dog. A free carwash sometimes works, too

We feel a lot less guilty with selling camp cards and two for one pizza cards

raisinemright -

Awesome, i am glad that I found someone who used his method. Yeah he said not to have too much of the lower products because that is what most people will buy.

How did the actual show and sells work out? were you able to get around 100-200 an hour and you did do 4 hour shifts with the boys?
I am just getting nervous about how much to order for the show and sells. Our council is NOT carrying any stock this year, so I need to order what we think we will use, and there are no returns. Right now I have 4 locations for Saturday and 3 for Sunday, so a total of 7 4 hour shifts.
And I am at a loss of how much to order. I assume the tins sell the best? over the microwave boxes? I would love to find a mentor in this whole popcorn thing!


Edit: Also i think its really silly that our council isn't carrying extra stock especially when we are with a new company that actually has tins and they are recommending this heavy show and sell method by bringing in the guy to speak to us.(This message has been edited by jc2008)