It’s that time of year again. It’s Girl Scout cookie time. Everyone has their favorites and there are so many varieties to choose from. But local insurance agent and Bernie native Devin Busby doesn’t want just one variety, he wants them all.
He will buy two boxes of cookies from any Girl Scout that comes to his office and delivers her sales pitch. The promotion will continue until he purchases 50 boxes of cookies. The original plan was to buy one box from 50 Girl Scouts, but he wasn’t sure how big the Girl Scouts were in this area. So he changed it to two boxes from 25 Girl Scouts, he could at least help at least 25 Girl Scouts that way.
Why is he doing this? He is doing it to give back to the local communities that have greatly supported him.
“I’ve been shown a ton of support since I have been in the insurance business,” said Busby “All of the communities around here, everybody helping me and giving me opportunities have allowed me to grow a lot faster than a regular agent.”
Busby explained that normally an agent struggles to get started in the business. All of the support he has received has allowed him to get out there and grow faster than average. He went on to explain that he is always looking for a way to give back to the communities and show his appreciation.
“I can’t go through and thank everybody, that’s going to be impossible,” said Busby. “Being Girl Scout cookie time, I thought it would be a great time to say thank you again.”
Busby runs a Christmas charity every year to help local families and he is involved in other activities. But this is the first year he has done the promotion with the Girl Scouts. The response has been tremendous.
“It’s been insane,” Busby said.
Busby explained that he has been contacted by multiple media outlets, has been featured on a insurance website and thousands of responses on Facebook. As of last Friday afternoon he is about halfway to his goal of 50 boxes.
So what is the plan for the 50 boxes of Girl Scout cookies? Busby is not planning on eating them.
“There is no way I’m eating them all!” Busby laughed.
The plan is to disperse them through the community and to local food banks. He also will donate some back to the Girls Scouts to be sent to members of the U.S. Military stationed overseas through the Gift of Caring program. However he may keep a few boxes.
“There is no way I’m eating 50 boxes of cookies,” he said. “But my girlfriend told me these thin mints are my cookies. The rest are going because we are not eating them all.”
Busby said he does small things like this all of the time but he never would have imagined that this would have taken off like it did.
“I mean overnight within a couple of hours it just took off,” he stated.
One of the rules with the promotion is the scout must give the sales pitch not the parent. Busby made this a rule because he felt it was important to help build the confidence of the scout. He feels if they stand in front of someone they don’t know it will also help build courage and character. Busby also stated this could pay dividends down the road for the scout during job interviews or speaking in front of people at a social event.
“I’m not doing it to build up the insurance,” he said. “I’m doing it to help them, to help build their people skills.”
Busby explains that when he was a kid he was super shy and would not talk to anyone. He said its really helped him to build confidence and leadership skills talking to different people every day and engaging in that conversation.
I hope that is what the girls take away from coming into my office and throwing their sales pitch at me,” said Busby.