Top Girl Scout cookie seller shares her sales secret

By Melanie Barker
Correspondent

VIRGINIA BEACH

Paige Agnew’s Girl Scout vest is decorated with shiny pins, gold stars, and brightly colored patches and badges earned during her seven years in Scouting.

But all that flair pales in comparison to her flair for selling Girl Scout cookies.

Paige, 13, an eighth-grader at Corporate Landing Middle School, has been the top cookie seller in the Redwing area of Virginia Beach for the past six years.

Last year she sold a personal-best 1,251 boxes and is looking forward to this year’s cookie sales, which run through March 15.

“I always keep a smile on my face, and if they ignore me or shut the door on me, that’s OK,” said Paige.

This year, Paige’s Cadette Troop 568 will join other troops in sending donated boxes of cookies to military men and women serving overseas through an arrangement with the USO.

“Lots of people say 'Oh, no cookies for me, I’m on a diet,’ so we’ll ask if they’dlike to buy some boxes for soldiers overseas," said Paige, adding that the program has generated wildly popular response for other Girl Scout troops over the past five years.

Also expected to boost sales is a new cookie, the Dulce de Leche (DOOL-say duh LAY-chay), a Latin American-inspired cookie featuring milk caramel chips and stripes.

The two best-selling varieties, Thin Mints and Samoas, will return, along with Trefoils, Do-Si-Dos, Tagalongs, Lemon Chalet Cremes and Sugar-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies.

The price per box remains at $3.50, and all proceeds stay in the local Girl Scout community to fund activities such as field trips and service projects.

Paige and fellow Cadette Cassie Schule, 13, are planning an event to promote recycling, while Amber Hardy, also 13, plans to make pillows for Children's Hospital of the King's Daughters.

Paige attributes her top sales performance to past customers and cookie booths.

"Whenever there's an opportunity to sell at a cookie booth, I volunteer," she said. "And I keep all my customer lists from past years, so I can call or e-mail them about putting in an order, instead of going back around door-to-door."

Troop leader Tanya Agnew, Paige's mother and a Pine Meadows resident, adds that online selling is not allowed, but girls may use e-mail and phones as marketing tools.

"I always teach my girls that a cookie sale is only a phone call away," Agnew said. "And believe it or not, they have customers who are waiting for that call."

Melanie Barker, melanbark@cox.net