Since I'm still new to the game, I've been practicing my openers and approaches in everyday situations, and as well as the spike in social status I'm feeling from it, I've been getting a good run of number closes. My problem is converting a number close to a Day 2. For example, the young HB9 waitress whose number I got on Xmas eve, I just texted her on Boxing Day (the day after Xmas) but I'm not exactly holding my breath waiting for a reply.

If the encounter was brief and I only got her number after less than about five minutes of chat, then I don't worry too much about it. But I've come to the following conclusions.

1 - The days are gone when people answer phones because of caller ID. People, especially women, only speak to who they want to speak to and everyone else, especially aspiring PUAs, are consigned to voice mail.

2 - The time bridge from # close to first telephone contact that I use is 48 hours from the exact moment of number close. Does anyone agree that this is a good balance between neediness and blatant don't-give-a-shitness?

3 - It's all about the art of leaving a good voice message. But what is a good message?

So what is the trick in getting a HB to call back? At first I called back within 24 hours, which I now know to be pretty AFC.

Then I was leaving generic "hi how are you, I'd love to hang out, call me back or I'll try later" AFC-style messages.

Then I decided that the messages had to be wittier, so I injected a bit of humour into them based on negs that I had used during the sarge.

I'm still not getting a good rate of return on callbacks though. I think that the amount of time spent during the sarge is going to determine how likely a HB is to call me back. A two-minute encounter followed by a rushed # close in the laundrette is hardly going to set the world alight.

Anyone got any other thoughts on this? Comments on the length of time bridge, content of message, and duration of sarge would be appreciated.

Anyone?