As a human being who inhabits the earth, I am sure you know how an in-person greeting goes. To make a good impression, you’ve got to follow a certain formula. You start with some eye contact, a smile, a handshake, and some rendition of, “it’s nice to meet you.” It’s something we are very familiar with. But what happens when you’ve got to make a first impression over the phone? Well, that’s the issue that chat lines impose. Coupled with the fact that chat lines are dating platforms, it can really feel challenging to make a great impression on a potential match. But, there is ample opportunity to show a chat line match what you’re made of. Most, if not all, chat line platforms offer the chance to record a greeting!

Crafting the perfect chat line greeting can be tricky, to say the least. What should you say? How do you hook in that phone dating cutie? Well, the first thing you’ll want to try and figure out is what you are actually looking for when you call into a phone dating service. People use chat lines for all sorts of reasons. Here are just some of the reasons why someone would call into a chat line:

• To find a soulmate
• To get over an ex
• To make local friends
• To find someone to have an erotic chat with
• To see if there are likeminded individuals nearby
• To find a one-night-stand
• To get something off of his/her chest
• To see if they can find a partner
• To cure their boredom
• To put themselves out there in a unique way
• To date from home

The list goes on and on. No matter what you are calling for, there’s a chat line for you that’s going to make it worthwhile. So, choosing the right chat line (whether it’s a Latin chat line, a party line, a gay chat line, etc.) is really your first step in this process. Whichever type of chat line you choose is going to inform how you should craft your greeting. Then, you’ll want to decide what you end goal is. Are you looking for a relationship, or something short-term? It’s ok if you don’t know, or if you’re somewhere in between. Let’s put a pin in that. We’ll get back to why you’re calling in a bit.

At first, you’re obviously going to want to introduce yourself. This is the easy part. Essentially, you want to state who you are and some important things about you. For example, you can start by saying, “Hello! My name is Jim and I am a man in my mid-40s with an athletic build.” The amount of information that you provide is up to you, but you want the intro of your greeting to be very clear and paint a picture of who you are. Make sure to not give out any super personal information (like your last name, address, etc.). Safety always comes first when engaging in phone dating. If you don’t feel comfortable stating your age or what you look like, there are a number of other details you can share:

• Your hobbies
• Your occupation
• What you do for fun
• If you are a homebody
• If you have a pet
• If you enjoy the beach
• What kind of person you are (ex: loud, homebody, life-of-the-party, intellectual)

Once you introduce yourself, you’re going to want to get into detail about what you are looking for. Remember when we told you to put a pin in that above? Now it’s time to think about it! What you want out of your phone dating match is going to inform the way you go about the 2nd half of your greeting. For example, if you want something flirtatious, you can add a proverbial wink to your greeting. For example, “Hello! My name is Jim and I am a man in my mid-40s with an athletic build. I am looking for someone who wants to get down and dirty with me on the phone tonight.” When other chat line daters hear that and match with you, you’ll know that they are down for some naughty erotic chat! But, if you are looking for something more serious and potentially long-term, you might not want to be that raunchy right off the bat. For those of you using chat lines to find your soulmate, your greeting might sound more like this: “Hello! My name is Jim and I am a man in my mid-40s with an athletic build. I am looking for someone who is interested in a serious relationship.” Being clear in your greeting is going to help you weed out matches that aren’t for you! If you are somewhere in between those two examples, that’s fine too! State what you are looking for and the right match will come to you. That’s the beauty in the chat line greeting!

One thing that is true for pretty much all greeting across the board is to sound casual and fun. Even if you are looking for something serious, keeping your greeting lighthearted is important. People call chat lines to have a good time, not coach someone through therapy or be quizzed like they are at a job interview. Stating what you are looking for openly and honestly, with a slight nonchalance is your best bet at finding someone who is perfectly fit for your needs!