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| Photo from activerain.com |
Thanks for not buying popcorn from my son
by Trey Tompkins, Cub Scout parent
If you declined my son's offer to buy
popcorn from his Cub Scout Pack yesterday, I owe you one. I'm serious.
I spent yesterday afternoon outside the
exit of a local home improvement store with my six year old son and two other
father / son pairings from his Cub Scout Pack. They were performing the
seasonal ritual of selling popcorn to help raise money for their Pack's
activities.
Through their efforts, they raised
about $200 in about two hours. That seems to be pretty good production for
three elementary school kids.
In watching my son and his friends
"work", I was struck most by two different but ultimately related
things.
First, many individuals who they talked
to seemed so uncomfortable in saying "no". Everyone was very polite
and many offered reasons for not handing over money to the kids. However, it
was obvious that saying "no" made some of them uncomfortable.
Looking back on it, they needn't have
felt any remorse or guilt at all. Those folks were doing my son and his friends
a great service in teaching them valuable lessons about sales and achievement.
In sales, no matter how good your cause
is (or no matter how cute you are in your little scout uniform) people don't
owe you anything. They have to have a reason to want
your product or "service." Most people who
donated or bought popcorn told the kids that they wanted to support the scouts
because they themselves or their children had been scouts. My guess is that
they knew the good works that scouting does for kids and it made them feel good
to make a small investment in that.
Also, even if someone values your
product service, they might not be in a position to buy at that moment. Maybe they aren't carrying cash or they already bought from
a kid in their neighborhood. Which leads to my second "aha"
observation. Those kids heard a lot of "no" responses and yet they
just kept on asking people exiting the store if they would like to support
their Pack. They were so excited when someone eventually said yes.
After the Popcorn Sale, I took my son
out for a quick dinner at a local restaurant. Over dinner, he told me that selling is hard work because you have to let so many people tell
you "no" before you ever get someone to tell you "yes".
If you politely refusing to buy popcorn
from him yesterday helped teach him this lesson at age 6, I owe you a debt of
gratitude.
Thanks again!
Boy Scouts of America also featured Mr.
Tompkins' life lesson on 10-17-2014.
Ret. 6-21-16
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