My first appointment today is a man, mid 50’s, divorced, highly educated, a corporate executive, one grown child, and his long term goal is marriage. He said “I have many friends and family members who have been divorced two, and even three times. I have seen what it has done to them emotionally and financially. They were sure they were marrying the right person and would never be divorced again. As much as I would love to be married again, I would hate to be divorced again.” One of his friends who is married a second time, and happy for over ten years, met his wife through a professional matchmaker, me. His friend now lives out of state but went online to see if there were any matchmakers in Colorado Springs. He was surprised I was still in business and he forwarded my website to him. He then asked me a question that I hear often, “Why would the type of woman I am looking for go to a dating service?” I said “You’re here.” He said “It won’t work if I am not attracted to her, no matter how compatible we are, or how much we have in common.” I said “I know that, but what I do at Perfectly Matched is opposite of what you do on your own. I start with the things that matter and add the mutual physical attraction. When a couple meets and they are attracted to each other there is much more potential for success because their compatibility, similar long term goals, shared interests and activities, smoking, drinking, kids, pets, education, income and intellectual compatibility has been matched.” When I asked him his age preference I was pleasantly surprised. He said “late 40’s to late 50’s, ladies under 45 often still have children at home and I prefer someone whose children are grown.” I told him that thought often does not occur to older men who prefer to date younger women until they are already dating them and it has become a problem. He enjoys golf, light hiking, concerts, music, travel, sporting events and has season tickets to the Broncos. It has been awhile since I have had a “bonus” guy but I had a feeling he was going to offer a bonus and he did. He said “If you find me a lady I marry, I will double your fee.” I said “Just double?” He said “OK, triple.” I told him about my experiences when people offer me a bonus, that it somehow never happens even when I have accomplished my part, and today I get it in writing. I was mostly kidding, but he put it in writing and signed it with OXOX. Sweet.
My second appointment today is a lady, late 40’s, a nurse, divorced, grown children and her long term goal is marriage. She is actually a good match for the man I interviewed before her but I rarely match two new clients with each other. I want at least one of them to have the experience of already meeting someone and I prefer to match new clients with a client I know better from having matched them at least a couple of times. She has seen and heard my ads for years and finally decided to check it out. She told me when she booked the appointment she was not going to make a decision today, that she was exploring her options. I said “You are welcome to come in for the interview and get back to me with your decision.” Before she met with me she met with another dating service in Denver and it was not a good meeting. First of all, she could not believe their prices, from $2500 to $8500. Secondly, she did not appreciate their hard sell and she was exhausted by the time she left the three hour interview. They called her the next day and offered her a much lower price and that was the icing on the cake. She said “I told the lady all this tells me is if I had succumbed to your hard sell tactics, I would have paid $1000 more than you are asking me to pay now.” She was impressed with the men I think are good matches for her and she was amazed that I could pull up men whose scores were very compatible with her. She said “How do you do that off the top of your head, with no computer?” I said “I just know the scores, to me they are like your name.” She said it never occurred to her to ask the other service how many matches they had for her and they did not talk to her specifically about any men. Comparatively speaking, my prices are much more reasonable and when she said she would get back to me in a couple of days I said “Good, I hope we end up working together.” She got up as though she was leaving then she sat back down and said “Let’s do this now.” She is very sharp and pretty. I will have no trouble matching her. I love it when they go to Denver first.
To be continued…………………………