OPW INTERVIEW — Sep 6 — Internet Dating sites charge $15-$50 a month. But we’re leaving money on the table it seems. Matchmakers charge $3k on up. Way up. Up to $500k in the case of Janis Spindel? How so? Service! Matchmakers get people on dates, and help with the follow up. A wonderful luxury if you have the money. Here’s our interview with Janis Spindel, a Serious Matchmaker who works all across North America. – Mark Brooks
What is the founding story of Janis Spindel Serious Matchmaking, Inc.?
I’ve been a people person my entire life and I was always introducing friends, and 14 couples that I introduced, all ended up getting married in less then six months. That was 16 years ago, 809 couples later and that was when I looked at my husband and the phone and knew that a matchmaker was born.
What makes you stand out in the matchmaking world?
I would really believe it’s because of who I am. They basically made me and threw away the mold. I will leave no stone unturned until I introduce my clients (who are men only) to the perfect wife.
What process do you use?
The target market, that I’ve chosen to represent, is a very well educated, well groomed, upscale professional preferably non-smoking, athletically inclined, financially secure, powerful picky man who outsources people to do the editing for him. I deal with men all over the country. My youngest client is 27 and my oldest client, believe it or not, is 77. He’s probably one of the easiest people to introduce. And they’re all looking for the perfect package.
They want the beauty, the brains, the body and the balance and they just don’t know where to meet the type of woman that they’re looking for and so they outsource someone to do the editing for them. Obviously that’s where I come in.
What areas do you operate in?
I handle the entire country as well as Canada and the surrounding areas. I have clients in every major hub city. I have multiple men in Boston, Los Angeles, Southeast Florida, Las Vegas, Albany, North Carolina, Atlanta, Aspen, of course the Tri-State area, Washington DC, Seattle, Vancouver, Montreal, Toronto.
How many men do you have in your subscriber base?
I don’t bite off more then I can chew. I like to consider myself extremely boutiquey. I’m very selective on who I pick and choose as a client to work with. If I don’t feel that I can deliver what they’re asking for or I feel they are delusional in their expectations of what they’re looking for, then I walk away. So it would be safe to say that I deal with maybe one hundred men a year.
How much do you charge?
The fees vary depending on the program they choose. I have three different programs – basic, preferred and elite. It really depends on how much work and time is involved. If I have in my existing membership pool what the guy is looking for, its a lot less expensive than if I have to work with my entire staff across the country and do the ‘bachelorette search’.
The lowest basic fee is $25,000 up front and the success fee is on the back end. The most expensive is a half a million dollars.
How do you think that the Internet dating and matchmaking industries can work together for the good of their users and clients?
To be honest, I don’t think they can. I think that the whole Internet dating has probably quadrupled my business. It’s proven statistically that 30% of the men online are married, women lie about their age and their weight and men lie about their age and their height.
The men, that I deal with, are too public and too powerful so they would never put their pictures on the Internet. The privacy and confidentiality reasoning is why they come to me. I deal with a lot of celebrities, I deal with a lot of politicians and a lot of the Forbes and Fortune 500, and they’re not exactly going to put themselves on Match.com.
TIME – Aug 2 – In this economy, it seems unthinkable that people would pay up to six figures just to find a mate. And yet expensive matchmakers are reporting that business is up these days. Janis Spindel, who charges clients between $50,000 and $500,000 a year to find the "woman of their dreams," says membership jumped 41% in 2009 from the year before and is up 46% so far this year. Premier Match, a New York City–based agency where annual membership costs a min of $5,500, logged $1.5M in sales last year, a 30% increase from the previous year. Matchmaking agencies advertise different strengths to attract high-end clients. Barbie Adler, CEO of Selective Search, worked in executive recruitment before she started her agency in Chicago 10 years ago. "My experience has been crucial to looking beyond a résumé to make a good match," she says. Indeed, clients are willing to part with a minimum of $15,000 for Adler to work with them. Other firms take a scientific approach. The British firm Seventy Thirty, which charges its clients a min of $15,000, has a team made up exclusively of psychologists.
