Types of Openers

Openers can be classified along the so-called risk-reward continuum. For instance, a low risk-reward opener tends to get a girl to respond but it’s less likely to result in a normal conversation e.g. asking a woman for the time - she’s likely to answer but not to move onto a normal conversation.

In contrast, a high risk-reward opener normally is about the two of you. The risk is you might not successfully open i.e. she won’t want to talk to you but the potential reward is you will move onto a normal conversation. For instance, you can open with “Why don’t we sit down and get to know each other?” Most girls would of course just say no, but if the answer is yes, you’ll already be in a normal conversation.

There are six main types of openers as follows:

Functional openers - this type of opener is of the lowest risk-reward profile. They mainly relate to conversational subjects most people feel bound to answer e.g. ‘Have you got a lighter?” It’s more than possible to successfully use these especially when you’re approaching a woman who’s alone and there isn’t much else to distract her attention.

The trouble with functional openers, though, is that they often make transitioning more difficult. Blokes who have success with functional openers tend to move to another opener type immediately afterwards; they are very difficult to succeed with on their own. That said, if you’re too shy to start a conversation with girls you don’t know, you can use functional openers as a platform to start building up your confidence.

Opinion Openers - as the name suggests, an opinion opener is used to ask someone about something. You can start by thinking of a subject that has happened to you or somebody you know and then ask for an opinion. When you want to use opinion openers, make sure they don’t have an obvious answer. It’s important that the topic has enough depth that anybody answering the question would want to further explain their answer.

Opinion openers should be neutral too, meaning the opener doesn’t imply whether or not you like the girl you’re talking to, nor is your question designed to get her to like or dislike you.

On a whole, we all love opinion openers. Their ability to initiate a conversation without having to communicate interest is priceless, particularly when meeting really fit girls. They can also help reduce approach anxiety as they’re scripted and neutral.

That said, opinion openers do have their disadvantages. As they tend to be quite long, they’re harder to use in nightclubs. You also need quite a good transition to move from the opener to a normal conversation.

Situational Openers - simply put, a situational opener relates to the environment in which you and a girl find yourselves e.g. “What drink is that?” “I love this tune” etc.

Most men with no access to the type of material we’ve got here use situational openers. That’s why most fit girls have heard them hundreds of times. Furthermore, there ain’t that many conversational subjects that can arise in standard places to meet girls. Your chances of coming up with something new she ain’t heard before are therefore pretty slim.

The major advantage of using a situational opener over an opinion opener is that your transition to a normal conversation will be relatively easier. A spontaneous and appropriate situational opener will get your much closer to a normal conversation than a pretext situational opener. Situational openers are ideal if you’re good at improvisation otherwise just use the other, more prepared openers.