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THE TOP INDEPENDENT MATCHMAKERS
The Women's Center >>
How Matchmakers Operate
This
is the most labor-intensive,
personal matchmaking model that
exists, and the highest-priced. Very
few have websites, advertising
instead via the Yellow Pages,
classified ads, religious
newspapers, networking, attending
charity balls, parties, and giving
continuing education courses.
Matchmakers operate on a very local
basis and rely on word-of-mouth
referrals. They do use legal
contracts, and their services are
usually based on an up-front fee for
a set number of matches and length
of time. They don’t like to provide
more than one match per month, for
example. They command fees ranging
from $500 to $10,000. These are
usually one or two-person
operations.
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The
basic problem is that the founders
of many small dating services are
frequently single women that are
looking for a mate themselves. They
have always been “informal”
matchmakers in their personal lives
and figure that they can set up the
business to find “Mr. Right” for
themselves, while making some money
at the same time working for
others. However, when they do find
Mr. Right, they often dump all their
clients and move on with their
life—their main goal accomplished.
Unfortunately, this is the typical
modus operandi for the creation of
many one-person, sole proprietorship
matchmaking services. Larger
companies usually have policies in
place that limit this behavior.
Matchmakers have relentlessly
targeted an upscale clientele. This
marketing strategy also allows them
to charge lofty prices, usually
starting at around $1,000 for a
basic membership and rising to
$5,000.
Some services are known to charge
upwards of $100,000 for special
personal search memberships.
How
Many Are There In The U.S.?
No
one has really accurate data
regarding the number of professional
matchmakers operating in the United
States. The best estimate anyone can
come up with, based on Marketdata’s
phone interviews with matchmakers,
competitors, the media, and
professionals who had at one time
attempted to form industry trade
groups is roughly 1,000 people.
These matchmakers, in general, earn
very comfortable livings and most
incur few expenses and generate very
high profit margins. Profit margins
can be substantial, but there are
some expenses, such as renting an
office, advertising, travel, and the
salaries of assistants.
It is estimated that most full-time
matchmakers earn upwards of $100,000
per year, and the “average”
matchmaker (taking into account the
very high profile ones) earns closer
to $200,000.
This segment of the market is
hardly affected by economic
recessions and bad economic
cycles, since most of the
clients of professional
matchmakers are upper income
executives, entertainers, and
people that have “made it”
already, and can well afford the
$5,000, $10,000 and higher fees.
Based on the high profile of all
dating services currently, along
with the opinions of some of the
nation’s top matchmakers we
interviewed, Marketdata analysts
believe that the number of
matchmakers has risen to
pre-recession levels – about
1,300. We’ve heard that more
matchmakers have entered the
market during the past two
years, lured by the low start-up
cost, no barriers to entry, and
the potentially high revenues
and profit margins.
Beyond 2003, we think that we’ll
see a net addition of at least
100 new matchmakers, through
2008.
This implies that there will be
400 more matchmakers operating
by 2008, for a total of 1,700 in
the nation.
A Matchmaking Trade Association?
This is NOT a new concept. It has
been tried before, by Patricia Moore
in 1998 (a matchmaker herself). She
formed a group named ISIS
(International Society of
Introduction Services). This
association did collect some useful
research but never really got going
in terms of membership. It was a
one-person operation that was later
disbanded.
Ms. Kailen Rosenberg (Global Love
Mergers, Minnesota) had also planned
to launch an industry trade
association called The National
Association of Ethical and
Professional Matchmakers (NAEPM)
.
She has been in
contact with various state attorney
generals” offices around the
country. Ms. Rosenberg is
also working with another
high-profile matchmaker, Barbie
Adler, of Selective Search Inc.
(Chicago). Ms. Adler feels that one
of the problems with the matchmaking
profession is the lack of standards
and benchmarks. That’s one reason
why she is working with Kailen
Rosenberg to form a new trade
association.
See
www.globallovemergers.com for
more details on this association.
Some
Major Market Trends
-
New matchmakers are entering the
field, due to the lure of “easy
money and no barriers to entry.
-
Most matchmakers are still
one-person operations who
perform the matchmaking function
themselves. They may have
several assistants.
-
Competing dating websites have
been a mixed bag. They have hurt
the revenues of many
matchmakers, but they have also
helped in other ways. For
example, the online dating
services have actually created a
pool of singles that did NOT
have a good experience online
and now seek a more personalized
service such as a matchmaker.
-
The last recession had little
impact on the matchmaking
business.
-
Matchmakers are offering more
ancillary services today, such
as personal coaching, makeovers,
wardrobe and personal grooming,
hair and skin care consulting,
etc. They are offering more
“preparation” services to make
you more marketable and
attractive—for a fee.
-
Most independent matchmakers do
not yet have their own websites.
The exceptions are the larger
and higher profile operations
such as the services profiled in
this chapter. These larger
operations also use paid
advertising much more
frequently.
-
Most matchmakers do NOT have
good business or marketing
backgrounds.
The Matchmaking Institute
This is a unique and fairly new
organization. The Institute, based
in New York City and founded by Lisa
Clampitt in 2003, seeks to be an
educational institute that will
supply the tools to get started in a
matchmaker career. It operates a
website and has a network of
“certified” Matchmakers, those who
have paid a $1,500 fee to attend a
22-hour weekend course on
matchmaking.
The Institute also publishes
newsletters and wants to build a
network of certified matchmakers
(now numbering about 40 – one can
view detailed profiles of these
matchmakers on the website, and
contact them if they wish.)
The Matchmaking Institute claims to
be the first and only school
providing formal training and
certification in matchmaking, and
the only organization referring
singles to professional matchmakers.
Singles can get listed in the
Matchmakers Multiple Listing
Service, which is used by
professional matchmakers worldwide.
You post your profile and could be
matched to one of these matchmakers’
clients. The cost is $250 per year,
and your personal information is
held confidential, not made public.
Currently, this seems to be the only
organization operating whose goal is
to legitimize and clean up the
field, in terms of matchmakers’
ethics. For this, the Institute
should be applauded. However, others
argue that matchmaking is more of an
art than a science that can be
learned in a weekend course. Many
already in the field feel that you
are either born with the ability to
find matches for people or you are
not. Nevertheless, the website does
provide useful information,
contacts, and discriminating singles
looking for a higher level service
than dating websites may find the
$250 multiple listing service
referral fee to be well worth it.
Definitely worth checking out.
Following is the address, phone, and
website of the Institute:
Matchmaking Institute Inc.
89 5th Ave., Suite 602
New York, NY 10003
1-877-232-8743
www.matchmakinginstitute.com
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