How to Use Your Shopping Skills to Get a Man

Getting a Man is in the bag with...

Table of Contents & Overview CHAPTER  1     Cleaning Out Your Closet The author, whose style is humorous and conversational, immediately creates a bond of friendship in the first chapter as she challenges women to take on Step One, the dreaded task of—what else—cleaning out their closet! While being advised to get rid of old, worn out, out of style, size-too-small-to-mention garments, she reminds readers that until they clean out their closet of past relationships, old wish lists, and the habit of settling for whatever was on sale (less then they deserves), they will never have room for their perfect garment in their closet. CHAPTER  2     The Shopping List Lynn sympathizes with her readers, who begin to notice that their cleaned-out closet looks too big and feels as empty as they do emotionally. She tells them not to worry, that she is going to take them on a shopping spree to update their wardrobe with spectacular designer one-of-a-kind garments—but not before they learn how to make a shopping list of what they need (not want) in a healthy relationship.           The author gives her words of wisdom in Step Two: “If you go grocery shopping on an empty stomach and without a shopping list, you’re going to fill your cart with junk food and impulsive buys. The same holds true in shopping for a man.  If you go shopping when you’re starving for affection, without a shopping list, you are going to make an impulsive decision and take home junk.” CHAPTER  3      Window Shopping On to Step Three, where Lynn advises readers to look, don’t touch for a while.  She directs readers to the places to go window shopping for a man and acknowledges that the choices can be overwhelming. Why, just in your hometown alone, she bets there are hundreds, if not thousands, of places to choose from. She raises the question, “If I were to ask you to list a dozen or so places you could consider visiting with me, to use your shopping list to get a man, would you get stumped, or come up with a list that is comprised of the same places you have been window shopping for years?”  Then she gives numerous ideas of places she knows readers have never gone shopping for a man before.  And off they go with Lynn on the shopping trip of a lifetime! CHAPTER  4      Your Personal Shopper Readers are coached to take a good, long look at their reflection in the store window as they window shop.  Step Four--changing their reflection and how they feel about their appearance, thus building self-confidence—is emphasized as the most important step in the book.  Lynn tells her readers that it’s time to change everything:    “I know only two things that like change, a wet diaper and a slot machine…and soon you!  If you haven’t changed your hairstyle in a year or your makeup once a quarter, when the new colors and trends are released in department stores, then you’re living in the past, back in the closet…way back.  Think about it.  If your reflection in the mirror still looks like your high school photo, you are stuck in a time warp.   If you look the same as you did years ago, aren’t you going to attract the same type of man you did back then?  The same ones we just cleaned out of your closet?” Lynn provides a suggested list of staples and tools readers can buy for themselves to improve their self-image and get a man. CHAPTER  5      The Marketing Plan “If you build it they will come.”  The author refers to this line from the movie Field of Dreams that she writes had viewers acting like parrots, repeating that one line verbatim in the corporate world of retail.  She tells her readers that she believes another line must have been cut and left on the editing floor, which read, “After you build it, a funny thing happens if you do not advertise.  Nothing!”  In Step Five, readers are given an in-depth lesson on how a product goes from inception to consumption and the importance of a marketing plan/ad campaign.  They begin to grasp the concept that they themselves have become a new product that is about to hit the marketplace. This chapter ends on a high note of encouragement and Lynn’s promise in her closing statement that reads, “Ever wonder how a product becomes an overnight success?  One minute it doesn’t exist, and the next it is in such demand that stores have it on back order for months on end!  This could happen to you!  You can be an overnight success in shopping for the love of your life if you have a good marketing plan.  And I promise you will if you follow each step in this chapter.” CHAPTER  6      Buyer Beware The author raises the questions, “What if men had labels on them?  What if we could reach into the back of their neck, pull out that tag into plain view, and read everything we need to know about them?  What if the tag indicated that the garment is high maintenance; couldn’t we just put it back on the rack without hesitation?”  Then she lets the cat out of the bag by revealing that men do have labels and she is going show you where to find them. Women are directed to become educated consumers and to remember that just because it looks like silk and feels like silk, it doesn’t actually mean it’s silk.  She closes this chapter by urging women to read every label and tag, front-to-back, inside and outside the garment before buying a thing.  Women are warned to not fall in love with any merchandise (men) before reading all the fine print on all the little labels sewn in the seams. CHAPTER 7      The Fitting Room “Sometimes what we see on a hanger looks so different when we try it on,” Lynn explains as she takes her readers into the fitting room.   Her message in this chapter couldn’t come across any more clearly: Don’t fall in love with the merchandise and rush to the check-out line with charge card in hand (and in the bag it goes!) without trying it on to see if it’s the perfect fit and will work in every social occasion possible. CHAPTER  8      Shopping Online You’ve Got Male!  The author did some serious homework for her readers to take all the guesswork out of where to go shopping online to get a man.  She refers to shopping for a man online as going to the biggest mall in the world.  She states the importance of entering with the shopping list and marketing plan readers developed early on in the book.   Lynn is quick to point out her favorite store on the web for her readers who seek a long-term relationship, which is the very basis for her book—not to find a perfect man, but to find the perfect man for the individual woman.  An interview with the CEO of perfectmatch.com, her favorite online men’s store, tops off this chapter, along with an added value of a one-month membership for readers who visit perfectmatchgetaman.com online. CHAPTER  9      Going Out of Business Everything Must Go!  Below manufacturer's cost!  Buy one get two free!  Don’t believe everything you read warns this author as she cautions women “if the price seems too good to be true and the store offers so many extras and giveaways, you will pay for it in the end.”  Carry your shopping list with you to protect you from the glaring neon signs that read “Best Prices in town, get one while they last, we’ll make you an offer you can’t refuse.”  Lynn asks her readers, "How much are you willing to pay for the extra baggage... the freebies that come with him?  His family, the child, the buddies, the ex-wife, the pet, the creditors.... CHAPTER 10     Alterations Lynn offers a simple, yet profound message in Step Ten. She gives the example of a woman who takes a jogging suit to the best tailor in town and asks him to make the alterations necessary to turn it into a tuxedo.  The tailor replies, “It is what it is.  Couldn’t you see that when you bought it? Maybe you should take it back for a refund.”  “They have a No Refund policy,” the woman states.  “That is why I’ve brought it to you for alterations.  I though you could turn it into something I liked!”  Readers will be enlightened by what changes to expect after learning how to live together—and what not to expect. CHAPTER 11     Cash or Charge? On a serious note, the author poses a few financial questions: “How many credit cards do you own and what is your credit score?  What is your financial situation and what are you buying into?”  She discusses why it is important to get all of your finances in line and on the table before committing to a serious relationship.  A worksheet is provided to help give a snapshot of the reader’s financial future. CHAPTER 12     The Final Purchase It’s a keeper, and in the bag it goes!  Lynn escorts her readers down the aisle to make their final purchases as she reminds them of the store’s No Returns policy.  She ends her readers’ shopping tour with advice on how to live and be happy with their final “perfect match.”