Popcorn Sales Focus Group

[Gags 10]

(Originally posted under "Program" by mistake)

 

Greetings all,

 

I've been invited to attend a focus group regarding "Improving the Scouting Program", I think with an emphasis on using Popcorn Sales to help boost Pack/Troop programs.

 

As a disclaimer - my Troop hasn't participated in the popcorn sale for the last 5 years or so, so I'm hoping the focus group isn't 100% popcorn related.

 

I'm fairly familiar with the program, and it's pushed hard here in my council. That being said, I'm wondering if anyone out there would be willing to respond with their brief (or not so brief) opinions.

 

Has the popcorn program helped improve your scouting program?

 

Is the time spent administering the sales drive worth the rewards (30% profits)?

 

Does the act of "selling" seem to have an effect on the boys (boosting confidence, encourage public speaking, better "ownership" of troop purchased equipment)?

 

Have you replaced the popcorn sales with another, more successful product?

 

Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

 

YIS,

 

Gags

 

[oldsm 10]

Good questions, Gags.

 

My troop has sold popcorn for longer than I can remember. Some years have been better than others.

 

Historically, we usually have 2-3 boys who will compete with each other for top sales - usually over $1500 each. Some don't do anything.

 

We use popcorn sales as only one of 3 funding methods (outisde of $1/week dues). We also do a Council Hike for Scouting and 6-times-a-year bottle and can drives.

 

Of the popcorn money, all of the profit (35% in our Council -- our troop foregoes the cheap prizes for an extra 2%) goes directly to the troop account of the boy who earned it. Same with the hike money. The bottle drive money is divided between the the troop committee (35%) and the boys (65%), prorated on who worked how many hours.

 

These various funding methods give the boys incentives and alternatives to help pay their own way in scouting.

 

Popcorn has far better profit margins than other commercial products: 35% is almost unheard of! It makes it a lot easier for the boys to believe that they really can earn enough to pay for the summer camp, obtain their own backpacking stoves, lightweight tents, etc., etc.

 

I'm told by our present popcorn kernel that competing commercial fundraising products generally yield a profit of only 15-23%. And there's no benefit to the council, either.

 

Quite a number of my scouts have "repeat customers". My sons even have friends in school who approach them with "my Mom wants to know when you're going to come sell her some more popcorn". Incidentally, we do only the "take order" method, not the "show and sell".

 

In my experience, the boys who sell popcorn wind up being the more successful scouts.

 

A key part of making popcorn sales successful is to have an enthusiastic popcorn "colonel". I used to do it myself. Then I got smart and got another adult to do it. He did very well the 1st year, not nearly so well the 2nd year (due to some other issues). This year, I have a husband/wife parent team. The dad has owned his own business (and is primarily a salesman) for more than 20 years. His wife works the business with him. They have brought more excitement and enthusiasm into the sale than I could have hoped for. Weekly contests for "big poppie", challenges between patrols. Hints and suggestions on how to sell. Encouragement! They've also signed on for Salesmanship, American Business, and Entrepreneurship MBs for those who want to pursue them.

 

So yes, I would say that popcorn has definitely helped improve our program. Remember, too, that your Council benefits from the sales: it helps to fund the staff that provides the support you need.

 

Is the time worth it? Is the time to develop scouts worth it?

 

Those of us who have worked the program for years often bemoan the "high cost" of the products. That's a red herring, in my opinion. Some people will always find any price too high. Sure, prices go up, or the price stays the same but the quantity gets reduced a little. That's part of how our whole economic system works.

 

Rather than dwell on cost, train the scouts to sell the program: "supporting scouting", "helping me earn my own way", "helping boys scouts", etc. It's important for people to realize that they're not so much "buying popcorn" as they are "buying scouting".

 

Good luck to you.

[ManassasEagle 10]

oldsm- what you said...

 

"Rather than dwell on cost, train the scouts to sell the program: "supporting scouting", "helping me earn my own way", "helping boys scouts", etc. It's important for people to realize that they're not so much "buying popcorn" as they are "buying scouting"."

 

...would seem to be in direct violation of Item #4 on the BSA "money-raising" application. It states...

 

"If a commercial product is to be sold, will it be sold on its own merits and without reference to the needs of Scouting, either directly (during sales presentations) or indirectly"

[ScoutNut 147]

"...would seem to be in direct violation of Item #4 on the BSA "money-raising" application."

 

 

Except that the popcorn is NOT a commercial product. It can not be purchased at any commercial store. Sure, you can buy popcorn anywhere, even the Scout popcorn makers commercial varieties. However, the commercial popcorn is NOT SCOUT popcorn. Scout popcorn is specially packaged & marketed for BSA. Part of the profit goes to support local councils. Part of the profit goes to support local BSA units.

 

The fact that by purchasing Scout popcorn you ARE supporting Scouting in your community, is one of it's BIGGEST merits!

 

Selling Scout popcorn can "improve the Scouting program" in many ways, not the least is to fund it. Depending on how individual units run the sale, the boys can learn a LOT by participating.

 

GSUSA hit the nail on the head with their cookie sale. A few years back they stopped calling it a Cookie SALE & started calling it what it really was, a Cookie Product Program Activity. The Cookie Program is a tool used to, not only fund councils & Troops, but to teach girls many different things. Selling Scout Popcorn can teach boys many of the same lessons.

 

Some of these are :

Budgeting

Money management

Math skills

Time management

Goal setting

Merchandising

Public speaking

Graphic design

Salesmanship

Self confidence

 

Some will say that the boys can gain all of these by selling any product & that is true. However, no other product also supports your council. Yes, you could simply write your council a check, but how many units would do that? With states putting more restrictions, paperwork & taxes on retailers, why not just use a program that is already set up.

 

Yes, popcorn is expensive, but so is any other product specifically for fundraising. My Pack has always managed to fund our entire year on just the popcorn sale. I would not want to have to do multiple smaller money-earning projects to net the same profit we do from the popcorn. Considering all of the other sales most Scout families have to do (school, sports, church, etc), one Scout sale is enough.

 

 

[ScoutNut 147]

BTW - Who is running this focus group? What is it's purpose? Do you know how/why participants are selected?

 

 

[Gags 10]

Follow up question and response:

 

What percentage of the sales stay with the Council? I hadn't quite thought of that aspect of it - that would explain (somewhat) the higher costs.

 

ScoutNut - The focus group is handled by Metro Research Services, which I'm assuming was contracted by the Council (I know the contact the company used in their initial phone call to me). All I know of the purpose is what I initially posted - the caller didn't have much more to give me than the one line title, which I vaguely recall as containing the words Scouting, Program, and Popcorn.

 

I asked the same question of the caller - how was I selected? I told them my troop is actually in another state (my council covers a 3 state area), but the answer they gave implied that they just downloaded all the names and home addresses and sorted by state. Given the location of the focus group meeting, I'm guessing they'll have other meetings for the neighboring jurisdictions (which they did previously for Summer Camp opinions, but I don't think those were official "focus groups"). They also wanted to know if I belonged to a Cub or Boy Scout unit, and position held, which (in addition to the address selection) leads me to believe it was overall a random sampling.

 

Thanks for the great responses. I had convinced myself it was just going to be all "we gave up on popcorn years ago"!

 

YIS,

 

Gags

[oldsm 10]

In my council, the rule of thumb has been that it's 1/3 each for the product, the council, and the unit. Since council gives us the option of earning an additional 2% by opting out of the prizes, I assume that the prizes or extra commission come out of the council portion. That would mean that our breakdown is 33% product, 32% council, 35% unit (+/- 1% between product and council). Pretty darned good if you ask me!

[Lisabob 13]

My son's cub scout pack participated in the popcorn sales. His current boy scout troop does not. Part of this has to do with market saturation (8 packs and 2 other troops in our town, plus umpteen more packs and 3 troops in the next town 2 miles down the road all sell popcorn). In all honesty and purely selfishly, I'm kind of glad we no longer sell the popcorn. I was our pack's "kernel" for several years. I got real tired of constant push from council to sell more. Also my son consistently did sell a huge amount, typically over $1000, and we got burned out on it. Someone said in another thread a couple months ago that they came to loathe the smell of the stuff in their living room and I completely understand that sentiment.

 

At any rate: yes, I do think the program is reasonably well designed to help scouts learn about salesmanship. I think the program does a nice job, if used properly, of helping scouts see just how much support they get from their community. When we did show & sells outside local stores the boys were always amazed at how many people would support scouting, even many who just gave a few dollars and didn't buy any product. Also they were always surprised at how many people were former scouts, including many store owners/managers who went out of their way to help them as a direct result.

 

With cubs I don't think selling popcorn had an effect on how careful they were with equipment - the connection was too distant for them in some cases. Not to mention that most packs I know don't have much equipment (other than a pinewood derby track maybe), and tend to use the money raised for program, awards, and outings instead. Maybe it would make a stronger impact on boys in a troop, who would see that the money they raise directly funded their tents or stoves or something.

 

My son's troop does a variety of fund raisers instead of popcorn. (Yes I know that these do not provide financial support to the council. Please don't jump on me, this is not a decision that's mine to make.) We sell wreaths in the fall and plants in the spring, both through local nurseries. In the case of the plant sale what we actually sell is coupons that people can take to the nursery and pick out their own plants. This works really well, people are supportive, the local nursery appreciates our partnership, and the boys love that they don't have to do a return visit to deliver a product - just sell the coupons on the spot. We also perform clean-up at a couple of major community events each year, for which we are paid. Again this seems to work fine for all involved.

 

 

Oh and all the adults in our troop are easy marks for an enterprising younger brother who is in cubs. All they need to do is show up at a troop meeting and we all end up buying the stuff. Usually from 2 or 3 different boys in fact. So I like to think in that way that we're still contributing a bit to council's welfare AND the packs. If our troop were selling it too, we wouldn't be supporting the pack sales. Maybe a self-serving thought, I don't know.