Matchmakers In San Francisco

SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE -- Mar 2 -- People in one of the most wired regions of the country are turning to an age-old method to find partners: professional matchmaking. Marsha Winer runs 'Introductions by Marsha', a 24-year-old matchmaking company. She has matched 1,500+ people. Members pay $2k/year for six introductions. Melinda Maximova is the founder of Perfect Search, a firm that helps high-earning men find serious relationships and charges $5,500 a year. While traditional matchmakers tend to pair paying clients with each other, with Perfect Search, only the men pay a fee. Jill and Amber Kelleher run 'Kelleher and Associates'. Packages start at $6,500 for a year. $25k buys membership to the dozen branches, and $45k, a nationwide search. At $100k, members work personally with a co-owner and get 40% of their money back if they are unsatisfied. And for $150k, the co-owners will conduct an international search. Carole Shattil founded Check Mates Inc 16 years ago. Prices start at $2,500 for a trial membership, $5k for 18 months of local introductions and $10k for two years of local and Los Angeles pairings. FULL ARTICLE @ SF GATE

Mark Brooks: The internet dating industry is leaving money on the table! Here's the best way for your dating service to make money from matchmakers... Create a special 'matchmakers membership'. Bands get a special membership on MySpace. Headhunters get a special membership on Monster.com. Matchmakers should get a special membership on dating sites. Charge matchmakers $2k a year to set up their clients profiles, access your database, see who is 'really' active and likely to respond, and send priority messages to them. Let me know if you do this.

Comments

[Mark E Berry]

You make a brilliant comment, Mark!

As a love coach, I am always ready to help my clients use someone's dating site, but as a married man, there's no good way for me to learn about the site. If I want to know more, I have to fake being single, or worse, pay for a membership. It's too much hassle, because there is no opportunity or invitation sent out the dating experts to explore the site.

If I had a partnership with successful dating sites, I'd be much more likely to get my client base and fan base more actively involved with the online dating sites that courted me.
Expanding services is an idea only embraced (so far) by a few larger dating sites, and even then, not to its fullest potential. That's a lot of money left on the table.

Great post!!
Mark Berry
www.lovekungfu.com

[Mike Fitzgerald - Bone Fish Limited]

Any matchmakers interested in discussing this as idea please contact me.

[Ross Williams]

Ditto for us - we're working with a matchmaking company that will be going live in July - happy to chat to other matchmakers who would like access to our online membership for matchmaking.

[Greg]

Hi Mike:

Please contact me. I think I may be able to help on this.

-Greg