Why haven’t we ever told of a very, very successful matchmaking business?
Have you been to matchmaking event before?
“well my friend wanted to go, but she wants me to go along, so I did”
Yeh la yeh la yeh la..
So how did it go?
“It was okay.. I mean.. there were some freaky dudes..”
“so did you find someone interesting?”
“well.. I guess it was a waste of time..”
“so where did you two first meet?”
“well you know, in friend’s gathering, we just bump into each other, so ..”
“you mean in that matchmaking event?”
“eh.. yeh, totally unexpected, I was even expecting anyone interesting there..”
“so you didn’t find him interesting back in the event?”
“no, I mean, yeah, he was okay..”
“so would you like to go to that event again and share your story?”
“nooo.. we just started, and it is still umm.. you know…”
“sounds like you haven’t been participating any event organized by them since then?
“well not anymore.. why would I..?”
Does it sound all too familiar?
If we look at customer behavior, two metrics:
- Satisfaction: is the event goer enjoying the event?
- Hit rate: was the event successful actually matching people for long lasting relationships?
So what kind of people you will bump into a matchmaking event? Either a first timer, or a repeated guest. The repeated guest probably enjoyed the last event, otherwise he or she wouldn’t be returning. However, the last event was probably a miss, otherwise he or she wouldn’t be returning. So, the repeated guest is either a lemon, or.. a playmate.
Ah ha, no wonder everyone would call themselves a first-timer in the event.
Successful Matchmaking business owners couldn’t become more successful because satisfied and successful customers would not return! Nor would they become an advocate. As the business grows, it’s either churning new-joiners, or turning one into a lemon.
So the way out? Plan A, pay for quality guests, rather than getting paid. How long can this last, however?
Plan B, don’t call yourself a Matchmaker, even if you are one. There are many event organizers dressing themselves up as cooking classes, wine tasting glasses, dance classes, reading group, or volunteer group.. you name it, anything but Matchmaker.
Plan C, turn a Matchmaking event into a show, and capture revenue not from the event goer, but from the audience. Yes it is fun to watch a matchmaking event. Let’s say you are a restaurant owner, who took a booking of a couple tables by a matchmaking event organizer. You put them in the middle of the dining hall, and you start auctioning out the tables around them…
Jokes aside, plan A is marketing. Plan B is branding, widely used in cosmetics sales. Plan C is technically called externality effect, widely used in property development.
