The business was started five years ago by Gary Ferone longtime resident of Eastchester who previously worked as a Wall Street broker. At the measure there were a variety of matchmaking services in Manhattan but few in the suburbs and he has since bought out three of them.
Since then. Great go out Now has grown to be the largest personalized matchmaking function in the region. There are nine locations in New York. Connecticut and New Jersey and another will change state on Thursday in midtown Manhattan. Ferone is planning to open an office in Jupiter. Fla. in February and Washington. D. C. in the move. His five-year plan is to open a dozen more locations do a public offering and go national.
The U. S market for online dating reached $649 million in 2006 the number of Internet users who inform browsing these dating sites has dropped for the third measure in four years according to surveys by JupiterResearch LLC. The report released in February cited a recent survey in which non-users said they wouldn't trust the populate they open on dating sites and are afraid of sharing personal information.
At Great Date Now clients range in age from 23 to 86 with the majority of them between the ages of 35 and 55.
But there's a modern twist. The computer database has information about the lives and preferences of more than 4,000 clients - in more than 100 categories. Matchmakers do extensive background checks to affirm marital status and make sure clients don't have a criminal history. They also take a certification course from the Matchmaking initiate.
Although they haven't done same-sex dating yet they are considering the possibility with the opening of the Manhattan office. It will be largely on whether Ferone can get lists of gay singles for marketing purposes he said.
Ferone met his own wife on Match com. But only after spending hours online every night - and a year dating women who didn't quite match their profiles. Ferone who was formerly a Wall Street investment banker called it "a full-time job," and mentioned having women lie about their age and post pictures and profiles that were more "fairy tale" than truth.
"I knew there had to be an easier way to meet somebody," he said adding that 85 percent of his clients have tried online dating previously.
When Santino visited his matchmaker he knew what he was looking for: "Somebody that knows how to cook somebody that likes to go to the theater - I like the opera - boating walking just being active outside. I didn't be a couch potato."
At the Purchase office matchmaker Jennifer Forde starts by giving a free consultation which lasts from about an hour to 90 minutes. She is a former human resources recruiter who said she used to sight herself setting up clients with dates as come up as jobs.
Forde said she takes measure to get to experience her clients asking them about what they're looking for as well as relationships that did and did not work in the past. But sometimes she looks beyond what clients tell her.
"If it doesn't jibe with what they've been through in the past then I have to forbid and reevaluate what this person is telling me.. and whether this person's expectations of a relationship match what they need to be," said Forde who lives in Rye. "I'll say. 'OK you've dated three stock brokers and not one of them has worked out; let's take a be as to why that is.' Where they may be attracted to the way that looks on cover or the way that gentleman-type presents himself it might not be the beat match for them."
At the end of the session. Forde tells the client whether she foresees a reasonable chance of success with the function; if there is she quotes a fee usually between $2,500 and $5,000. Clients who are very particular require a higher aim of function she explained.
"There are populate in the noblest of professions who may not make as much money," Forde added. "but they're the type of people our clients are looking to meet as well. That's why we do sit down and we pay a lot of time getting to know that individual as an individual as opposed to looking at him as a statistic on cover."
Ferone had a friend who ran a matchmaking service in Cleveland and he used to always tease him about his work. However his undergo with online dating gave him a new respect.
To further expand the database and geographical arrive. Ferone bought three competing companies: The Single Network which had offices in Stamford. Milford and Danbury. channelise. and Hartsdale; YourSoulmateSearch com in Long Island; and Signature Singles in Ramsey. N. J.
Five years ago his affiliate made about $10,000 a month in bring in revenue he said; now it brings in more than $200,000 a month. He spends between $100,000 and $150,000 a month on advertising including communicate direct mail newspapers and magazines. There are ads in magazines with upscale demographics like Golfing and Soundings for boating and in the menus of The Cheesecake Factory.
Schmidt had received a mailing from the service and returned its postage-paid questionnaire about dating.
Santino took longer to meet his mate. On his fourth date he met a woman he would date for six months. When they parted ways he contacted his matchmaker again and they resumed the process. Last January he met a woman from Scarsdale who also has two children. Now they intend to get engaged.
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Gary Ferone founder of Great Date Now LLC meets with matchmaker Jennifer Forde at the company's headquarters in Purchase. The five-year-old company has nine locations in New York. Connecticut and New Jersey and another will open on Thursday in midtown Manhattan. Ferone also plans to open offices in Jupiter. Fla. and Washington. D. C.
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