His sales pitch was short, polite and to-the-point.

“Hello. Would you like to buy some Cub Scouts popcorn?” he said.

It worked. Sam Hagan, 8, single-handedly sold $4,226 worth of popcorn last month.

Hagan’s sales broke the record for his pack, the larger Southern Trails District and the entire Twin Valley Council of The Boy Scouts of America.

The Twin Valley Council includes Blue Earth, Brown, Cottonwood, Faribault, Freeborn, Jackson, Le Sueur, Martin, Mower, Nicollet, Redwood, Renville, Sibley, Waseca and Watonwan counties.

Pack 113 of Austin, which has about 50 scouts, grossed $30,733 in popcorn sales — also setting a new Twin Valley Council record.

“I went out everyday and sold popcorn at stores like HyVee and Ace Hardware and at St. Augustine’s church,” Hagan said.

“It’s fun… especially going outside to get some fresh air,” the third-grader added.

Dennis Hagan, assistant den leader and Southern Trails district popcorn chairperson, said the Cub Scouts were set up in front of HyVee almost every weekend to sell popcorn.

The pack’s goal was $24,000, and Dennis said he expected it to be a difficult fundraising year because of the economy.

“That was not the case, and people were very generous,” Dennis said.

“We want to thank everyone for supporting the Cub Scouts,” he added.

Pack 113 was one of the only packs in its district that experienced an increase in sales this year.

Part of the reason could be that Austin has about 20 more Cub Scouts than last year, Dennis said.

The popcorn sale is the only fundraiser for Pack 113, with 70 percent of proceeds going directly to the Scouts. About one third of proceeds go directly to Pack 113.

Though Sam is adept at sales and said fundraising is fun, he does not plan to become a professional salesman.

Right now, he wants to be a shark biologist when he grows up.

Whatever path Sam chooses, his days in popcorn sales will help him along the way.

Sam’s sales earned him college scholarship money. Every scout who sells more than $2,500 worth of popcorn receives a percentage of their sales, deposited into a scholarship account. Sam was in the scholarship-earning sales bracket last year, too.

The local Cub Scouts will celebrate their record-breaking sales at their Christmas banquet and awards ceremony, where scouts receive various prizes for their fundraising efforts.