Those colorful boxes of Girl Scout cookies now on sale are more than just an annual sweet treat.

They're also giving the girls who sell them some early lessons in business smarts, from learning how to count change to developing marketing plans to setting--and reaching--goals.

"One of the most important is people skills; learning to talk to people, learning to accept 'no' and 'yes' gracefully," said Tracey Miller, service unit director for the 17 troops in the Battlefield Girl Scouts.

This year's round of sales, which launched Jan. 13 and will end April 1, also kicks off the Girl Scouts' 100th anniversary. The organization got its start when Juliette "Daisy" Gordon Low gathered 18 girls from Savannah, Ga., on March 12, 1912, for a local Girl Scout meeting.

Members of the Battlefield troops have set their sales goals higher this year because part of the proceeds will be used to help defray the cost of a trip this summer to the Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace, a Girl Scout national center in Savannah. Other trips will be planned for the girls who are unable to go.

Miller, who also leads Troop 784, said the 29 girls in her unit have set a total goal of selling 4,000 boxes this year, and one girl has a personal goal of selling 1,000. If she reaches it, she'll get a brick with her name on it placed at the Pamunkey Ridge Girl Scout Camp in Doswell.

"We just took in our initial orders," Miller said. "So far, she's sold 400."

Cookie sales season begins with training sessions, which cover sales techniques and safety issues. The girls also set their goals and discuss ideas for encouraging sales, such as telling potential customers that buying cookies will enable them to meet those goals or asking if they'd like to donate a box to the troop's community service project or a Girl Scout Council approved "gift of caring."

"Last year we went to Quantico and delivered donated cookies," said Miller. "The girls learn about giving that way."

Girl Scouts can sell cookies by going door to door with their parents or by "tailgating" with their troop leaders, that is piling boxes of cookies into red wagons and walking with the leaders through neighborhoods to sell door to door.

"Our first priority for the girls is making sure they're safe," Miller said.