A Pickup Artist Is A Salesman

I had the pleasure (?) recently of sitting down with two guys who consider themselves “pickup artists”. They’d like to remain anonymous, for obvious reasons. One of them is a Twitter follower and happens to live pretty close to me, so he invited me out. I accepted this meeting because there was free beer involved for me. I didn’t expect much, except a few laughs. But I was wrong. These guys actually had some good insights and I noticed a pattern emerging. Online “game” and sales/business have quite a bit in common. I should note that while I don’t necessarily agree with their tactics, I also withhold judgment.

Craft the perfect pitch. These guys spent a lot of time crafting their pitches to women. The general idea stayed the same, “let’s hang out”. They believe they’re funny guys capable of showing a girl a good time. But they also had ways to tweak the pitch to make it more personal.

How you do it: Spend some time on your pitches. Figure out why you’re doing what you do, how you are different and then inject your personality into it. Keep it short. No one has time to read your novel. And I hate to break it to you but, nobody really cares what you have to say. Until you make them care.

Quality product (profile). They knew the importance of showcasing themselves properly. They both spent time selecting photos to add to their profiles. And the profiles themselves, while short and to the point, were funny and showed personality.

How you do it: Take a bit of time to design and create your website. Be very human and casual. Have a “meet us” page with some fun photos. Show your personality all over the place. It’s the one thing your competition can never really replicate.

Cast a wide, but local, net. The guys keep it local, makes it easier to cement a relationship. But they cast their net over pretty much every girl within a 50 mile radius.

How you do it: Start small. Work with other local vendors. Do charity work in the community. Get some loyal, local followers and then slowly build up. Word of mouth is the most effective marketing in the world.

Know your competition. They spent time studying other guys’ profiles. What kind of pictures these guys used, what kinds of words, etc. Suffice it to say, most guys online are pretty bland.

How you do it: A little market research goes a long way. Know what the other people in your field are offering. Doesn’t mean you copy them or worry about their pricing. But it’s good to be familiar with what is going on in your industry. And you’ll probably find most other businesses are pretty bland too.

Catalog conversations and remember details. This part might be a little icky to some, but both guys keep spreadsheets of the girls they speak to and note key details. Details such as her favorite color, movie, her birthday, her sister’s name, etc.

How you do it: Not a terrible idea to keep a spreadsheet of your clients and your network. Note communication with them and details you come across during your conversations. This way you can send them happy birthday greetings, articles that may interest them, etc.

Set up dates/meetings. Pretty quickly after initial contact these guys try to get on the phone. And then pretty quickly after that they set up in person meetings/dates. They keep the momentum going.

How you do it: You’ll want to try to close asap. The sooner the better. While their feelings about you are high. You make a connection; try to have a phone chat with them. On that chat try to set up an in person meeting if possible. Keep the relationship process moving.

Keep it casual. The dates are always casual. Coffee or beer…wait…

How you do it: If you don’t know how to be casual, I really can’t help you. It’s just being human, like you would be with your family and friends.

Be selective and not needy. They don’t accept every message from every girl. And they don’t always accept second dates. They never hound any of the girls.

How you do it: You don’t want every customer. Seriously. Sometimes they’re more headache than they’re worth. Don’t lower your prices just to get business. That shows lack of value. Don’t hound your clients at every turn. Reach out here and there. And not always with a sales pitch.

Success is born of rejection. And repetition. Both guys have been rejected, nastily and many times. They don’t get discouraged; they know there’s always more fish. They stick to their plan and maintain a daily routine of reaching out.

How you do it: People who really don’t want what you offer really don’t matter. Keep moving. In a handful of cases those same people will be back, wanting something from you down the road. Create a routine. Keep doing it. Every day. Whether it’s emailing 10 new people a day or calling 100. Get to work.

There you have it. A very interesting afternoon led to, what I hope is, a very interesting article. It’s also proof that everyone has something to teach and that inspiration comes from the oddest of places. Okay, we’re done here, go pick up some clients.