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How do?

As a three time GW Till Monkey (last time in 2010. I got better and got a proper career ) a decent chunk of my success was knowing how to sell stuff.

Now, someone like you? You were a doddle. You came in as a gamer, so separating you from your dough was an absolute piece of cake.

But, newcomers? Bit trickier. Sure, kids that were dragging their parents in for a nose around were enthusiastic enough (think back to your early days...), but being kids it wasn't them I had to sell to. It was their Walking Wallets. They were the ones who'd not only be coughing up for the starter set, but the ongoing costs involved, not to mention running the produce of their loins to and from gaming locations.

And I want to see how you'd do that. And it's not just GW games - only used that as an example of my background.

So pick a game, have a think, and then sell, sell, sell!

I'd choose a game based on the persons' interests- if they're an avid sports fan I'd suggest Blood Bowl, Guild Ball or um...the one mantic does? Deadball/Dreadball? Out of those though, I'd go with Blood Bowl. Sure, it's GW, a bit pricey, and blah blah blah but: It's your dudes. Your orc team in BB is ruleswise the same as any other orc team, BUT! Your orcs might be the Border Prince Beaters and Joe Blow's orcs are the Swaggerin' Scrappaz. I'd sell the models, not the rules of the system. It's why I can't escape GW games despite playing/owning minis for other systems- the "Your Dudes" factor.

Speaking of, I need to get into BB, haha . So many cool things, not enough time or money.

I know its not quite what you were asking, but I have never really been able to get anyone that was not previously interested, into wargaming with me, and I have really tried too over the years.
Apart from a BB tournament here and there, my gaming circle has been the same since I was a lad.

My attempts at getting new people to play with me has nearly always ended up with them collecting and painting models and miniatures instead of wanting to actually play.
That is not a bad thing, but it doesnt really help me when it comes to getting games.

The LOTR stuff attracted a few people I know that would not be normally interested in this sort of stuff also, Star wars armada too was a draw to some, but rather than play the games, as usual they just wanted to buy and collect the stuff, mainly to display it.

Anyways, sorry for going off on a tangent, I will be watching this thread to see if I can get any pointers or ideas on how to expand my tiny little pool of perspective players !

Selling to parents is a piece of cake.

Rule 1: Be smart, polite, personable and a half decent person. That's all they want their offspring to become at the end of the day.

Rule 2: Explain that the hobby will promote numeracy, literacy, artistic and creative skills, hand eye coordination, budgeting organisational skills, discipline and social interaction. Plus they might get some peace and quiet.

Rule 3: Flirt with the mums.

Rule 4: Swim in your money like Scrooge McDuck.

When I was in high school I got some other kids into the game just by doing demo games, and playing up the fluff, their parents where there. Two kids got 2k pts in 40k and then decided it wasn't for them and sold their armies really cheap. Told them what they needed for what army for the most bargain, and they continually bought more and more.

I paid for my army by not eating lunch at school and bought 2nd hand or off ebay. My Parents bought me a Dreadnought and some 1st ed Grey Knight termies for Christmas, but got suckered into some other crap by the saleman at the GW store.

First off I would intro the kids to MTG or Pokémon card game get them hooked on that cash cow. Soon Dad will be withdrawing from his 401k retirement to feed his child's addiction to opening packs of cards......

In order to sell someone on war gaming I'd first put it in context, ask them if they ever played with little green army men on the living room floor, if they enjoyed putting together Lego or model airplanes. I'd say that war gaming combines the two. I'd then introduce them to skirmish games (an easier sell) tell them they only needed 10 or so figures to play. Next thing you know they are 2500 points deep into an army and asking about what airbrush they should buy.

 Alex Kolodotschko wrote:
Selling to parents is a piece of cake.

Rule 1: Be smart, polite, personable and a half decent person. That's all they want their offspring to become at the end of the day.

Rule 2: Explain that the hobby will promote numeracy, literacy, artistic and creative skills, hand eye coordination, budgeting organisational skills, discipline and social interaction. Plus they might get some piece and quiet.

Rule 3: Flirt with the mums.

Rule 4: Swim in your money like Scrooge McDuck.

This sums it up, and a clean an well managed store never hurts either.

 Alex Kolodotschko wrote:
Selling to parents is a piece of cake.

Rule 1: Be smart, polite, personable and a half decent person. That's all they want their offspring to become at the end of the day.

Rule 2: Explain that the hobby will promote numeracy, literacy, artistic and creative skills, hand eye coordination, budgeting organisational skills, discipline and social interaction. Plus they might get some piece and quiet.

Rule 3: Flirt with the mums.

Rule 4: Swim in your money like Scrooge McDuck.

Couldnt have said it better myself. Exalted!

"Do you like to waste money and huge amounts of time doing menial work? Do you want to start a project that you have no concept of how much work it'll be and probably give up in 6 months? If so, wargaming might just be for you!"

I haven't really won anyone over to wargaming since I was a kid

I'd simply show them Star Wars Armada. Hey dad? You and your son wanna roll some dice and make pew-pew sounds to act out Star Wars space battles - with 8" long models of Star Destroyers?

Sells itself.

Have you ever needed motivation to learn how to do ridiculous crafting projects?

Buy this $150.00 box of little plastic toy men. You roll die and make them fight, but then you're gonna wanna built stuff for them to walk around on and murder each other.

And look, this daemon has tiddies.

Step one to selling a wargame is letting all the awesome little models appeal to the kid deep down inside all adults. Face it, awesome models are the #1 reason to devote time to a wargame, not the rules.

Welcome to wargaming, like computer gaming there is a gross overgeneralisation of "nerds" being unhygienic, poorly mannered and generally unpleasant people!

But don't worry! not all of them are like this! most will just quibble over bad English like they are oxford educated experts on the subject matter!

But it gets better! You can buy your models/toys/action figures and paint them in a very specific way or others will tell you how to do your own hobby! add to this people who will laugh while crushing you at the poison of your choice! while screaming LTP Bro!

Sarcasometre off hahaha

Do you want a divorce, but don't want to initiate it and pay the lawyer to draft up the papers?

Start buying these little plastic men and overpriced books. It'll all sort itself out in a few months.

Agree the Star Wars games are very seeker friendly. They are pre painted and have a background nearly everyone has some knowledge of and if they are old enough a little nostalgia for.

GW is a harder sell. The worlds are complicated and the miniatures take a lot of patience, some small amount of skill and considerable available free time to prepare to a game ready level.

I'm a farmer and as any farmer will tell you you gotta really love the job to do it. Long hours, dirty exhausting work, reliant on the weather and some years poor returns.GW is in my mind somewhat similar you gotta love it or you wouldn't do it. Expensive, time consuming and at times frustrating. So I would stick white dwarf in as many outlets as I could and wait for the suckers to bite!

My wife was a geek when I met her. She role-played with me- but she knew better than to start spending loads of money on pewter minis.

One of our friends taught her to play Warmachine, but she wasn't sold because she knew that painting was involved.

So I taught her to paint, and after that she was all in (she told me that she expected to be bad at it, and/or simply not to like painting, and that the experience was supposed to dissuade her from buying a Cryx force).

Full disclosure- I didn't marry her until after these events transpired.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Trondheim wrote:

...and a clean an well managed store never hurts either.

Some friends of mine who run a family friendly store have opened my eyes to a lot of how these games are advertised. Basically, the games whose posters get on the walls aren't the ultra dark blacker than the blackest black type settings (definitely no GW or Wyrd- and they definitely won't be stocking Kingdom Death).

 Knockagh wrote:
Agree the Star Wars games are very seeker friendly. They are pre painted and have a background nearly everyone has some knowledge of and if they are old enough a little nostalgia for.

I guess I've never really considered the Star Wars games "wargames" but more like expandable board games without a board.

Board games are typically something easier to get folks in to what I consider to be wargames.

You know, it is pretty hard to distinguish between a board game without a board and a wargame.



Barrier to entry has clearly been at the forefront of a lot of wargames designers. That would be why so many of them have rulebooks posted for free and feature small scale skirmishes.

Hey, you worried about your children doing drugs and having pre-marital hanky-panky? Well, get them hooked on these babies and they won't be!

 odinsgrandson wrote:
You know, it is pretty hard to distinguish between a board game without a board and a wargame..

Yea I thought that too. Just wasn't sure if there was some difference I wasn't getting...

Certainly small scale would work. I do thInk the modelling and painting is a big barrier. I say that as someone who enjoys modelling and painting but i know it's hard to do what you need for games, particularly lots of troops. That's me who has been at this for 20 plus years. Someone new in today's world will struggle to get engaged enough. Personally I think Star Wars has shown there is a place for pre painted models. Me, I think that place is Epic Scale 40k and Necrumunda gang/ Inquisitor type games in large 32mm scale and above.

Buy two forces and make sure the other guy wins and does something awesome. Show him how to do awesome things.

I've never had issues getting someone to start. Had a guy cautiously interested in starting 40k w/Chaos. I showed him the book, told him what stuff works well, made suggestions on what would be competitive, told him what bits came and what he could do with them. He bought every box on the shelf and ordered three more.

The BEST thing you can do is be knowledgeable!! Many stores expect the product to sell itself. It doesn't, unless the person is already hooked. If you aren't willing to do the legwork to get people started, don't own a store. Learn what you sell!!

1. Start conversation with open ended questions.

2. Use answers to understand what they value

3. Sell how the features line up with what they value

4. Ask for the sale

5. Overcome any objections


Basic sales 101.

 timetowaste85 wrote:
I've never had issues getting someone to start

I'd be more interested to know of the number of people that "start" how many were adults who actually continue to the point of painting and playing with a full army. I largely gave up because it seems most adults who start just abandon it after a while and I feel like I contributed to wasting their time and money, most the people in the local gaming groups have been gaming since they were teenagers if not earlier.

Wargaming isn't appealing to everyone, showing what makes you excited is likely to get the interest of anyone who is inclined to pick it up.

Tell the parent their kids will never have money for drugs if they start wargaming.

Assure the girls that they're welcome in the hobby, too. I hesitated for about 15 years because it seemed like a No Girls Allowed club from the outside.