Learn all about our Matchmaker Beth.
At The Professional Matchmaker, because of our company name and branding, there can be no corner cutting when it comes to our matchmakers, we need to go for the absolute best and in Beth, we most definitely achieve that goal.
Beth comes from an academic background as a graduate with a first-class degree in Integrative Psychotherapy, and she is now doing a masters in Relational Behavioural Integrative Psychotherapy.
So, she is highly qualified for her role as a matchmaker. She is a trained therapist also, which provides complimentary skills and knowledge within the matchmaking role. She has recently embarked on a master's degree also. So, it is wonderful that being a matchmaker is her chosen career path – we are privileged to have her as part of our team.
Her secret is to build very strong relationships with her clients, through listening carefully and understanding exactly the type of partner they are looking for, along with their hopes and aspirations for the future. This has helped her achieve some extraordinary successes in her career to date and some excellent matches, she says: “I love building relationships with my clients and try to do that right from the start in our welcome call. I have many lovely relationships and when I can achieve that with a client and I am able to go on and find someone special for them, it’s an incredibly rewarding experience for me too”.
Beth regularly challenges at the very top of our leaderboard in our Matchmaker of the Week and Month awards, although she is also a strong team player and has a very strong relationship with her colleagues. Says Beth: “My colleagues feel like friends to me, they are very important, we are kind, supportive and affectionate with each other and that contributes to our very strong team spirit. So, I like to help out as much as I can, to ensure we are all being as successful as possible”.
1. What do you enjoy most about your role?
I like building relationships with the clients and seeing positive results, when you have a nice relationship with a client and can find them someone special it really is very rewarding.
2. What do you find most challenging?
Letting clients down, if my client has said yes and the other person has said no it is always hard to have to tell them that person has declined after they have their hopes up, but honesty is the best policy, and we are always honest as over time that makes for a more successful membership.
3. Do you have a preference for dealing with male or female clients?
I have lovely relationships with some of my female clients, they often confide in me and speak more openly so our relationship is closer, and this really helps the whole process as I have a better understanding of them.
4. Do you have a different strategy for each?
Yes, I find female clients tend to read more into the profile and details so I try to provide as much as that up front as possible, but often with male clients the less they know the better and are more open minded about the unknown.
5. What has been your biggest challenge to date?
I have a client who is only interested in appearance and location, this very much goes against the ethos of matchmaking as we want to find a long-lasting partnership built on shared values and interests, I find that hard as it stops me working in the way I like to.
6. What has been your greatest success story?
I have a client who has rejoined after a while away from the agency and was very nervous and doubtful of how this would work, we built a lovely relationship and because of this I have been able to find her someone who is exactly what she is looking for, he’s kind to her and very reassuring managing her doubts. They are still together now and she sends me regular updates.
7. How do you handle difficult conversations when matches haven’t worked as you would have wished?
I am a trained therapist, so I know when someone is upset the best thing to do is listen and make sure they feel heard, I reassure them that it only takes one person for this process to work but I use a lot of empathy to manage the disappointment.
8. Do you have a preference for working with a particular age group?
I prefer ladies between 50 and 70, often they have already had children or are comfortable in their situation and they want a partner for love and fun rather than stressful expectation, it relaxes the process and often increases the success as they are more open-minded.
9. How do you interact with your colleagues within the team?
My colleagues feel like friends, we are all very kind and affectionate and I like to help out as much as I can.
10. How do you handle your welcome calls to new clients?
I try to be very positive and uplifting whilst also managing expectations. I take the opportunity to be really clear about the process and take my time answering any questions in the hopes of relieving any potential anxiety as I understand embarking on the matchmaking journey can be very scary.
11. What piece or pieces of advice would you give to a new member?
Keep an open mind, speak to everyone, and don’t judge a book by its cover – so often I hear that attraction is there once they’ve met in person when it isn’t from just a photo.
12. Would you have any words of wisdom for a new matchmaker joining our team?
Ask the colleagues for help and trust your intuition, sometimes a match might not make sense on paper but trust that feeling, we know our clients far beyond their interview notes so if we feel like a match could work just go for.
Would you like to know more? Beth’s time is usually devoted to her existing clients but our Membership Advisers Sarah, Jenny and Alex are always happy to answer questions that you may have about becoming a member, how our service works and the reasons that we are often changing 50+ lives each and every week though our successful matches. Call us for free on 0800 644 4180 and we would be happy to talk our winning formula through with you.