GLR Spotlight is an interview series featuring Matchmakers, Dating Coaches & Relationship Experts
Global Love Report – April 10th, 2024
Interviewed by Global Love Report
Global Love Spotlight was created to feature some of our industry peers as a way for our community to get to know one another. Learn from what has worked successfully, as well as gain different perspectives and insights into various business strategies. We hope to continuously grow as an industry together by sharing these best practices with everyone!
About Julie Ferman
Julie Ferman is a Legendary Matchmaker & Dating Coach based in Los Angeles. She has been providing personal matchmaking services to deservedly selective men & women in Southern California for 20 years.
Discover more about her captivating journey in the interview below!
Global Love Report Interview
Global Love Report (GLR): What was your career before entering the matchmaking industry?
Julie Ferman (JF): I was a hotel industry executive, a National Sales Manager for the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company.
GLR: Why did you decide to become a matchmaker?
JF: I was a very proactive dater – super sincere in my desire to be married and to have a family together. I stumbled into the Great Expectations Video Dating Service in my hometown, St. Louis.
The guy who signed me up was Gil Ferman. I asked him out two weeks later. We were quickly engaged, married, and pregnant. Solving this problem for others has always seemed to me like a natural payback.
GLR: What are some of the things that make being a matchmaker worthwhile in your opinion?
JF: I love having the chance to enrich the lives of the people we get to work with. I’ve built a company that enables me to serve people at all levels, from Free to VIP.
We get to take away a lot of the “yuk” of dating for our clients, and we’re able to bring more of the GOOD stuff to our clients. It’s been enormously gratifying and fulfilling to me, every day since 1990.
GLR: What are some of the challenges that you’ve had to face and how did you handle them?
JF: Managing expectations is always a challenge. My solution is to make my “deliverables” crystal clear, and accessible right on my website’s services page.
No smoke, no mirrors. I state what I can provide/promise and what I can’t. Building out a full menu of client services has been a beautiful business model. Because the focus is on service, not sales, clients trust me and consider my community to be the oasis in the dating desert.
GLR: Could you share with us some stories about your life as a matchmaker? For example, an achievement/award, your most memorable client, etc.
JF: Four-time winner of iDate’s Best Matchmaker award. NAWBO’s Trailblazer of the Year. The beautiful lavender butterfly that sits on my desk, given to me on the occasion of my Client, Maggy’s wedding – means more than any award could ever mean.
GLR: Do you have any words of advice for people who are new in the industry?
JF: The person who’s considering hiring you, to be their matchmaker – each time, ask yourself, “If this were my sister, if this were my brother, would I encourage them to make this investment with this particular matchmaker?
Would I say it’s a smart investment? If not, then don’t sign this client on for matchmaking. Find another way to serve that’s a better investment of their psychic energy and hard-earned dollars.
GLR: Could you share some of your “best practices” tips for the people who are just starting out in the industry?
JF: Strive to get profiles complete at the very first touch. Don’t wait til someone’s invested in high-level matchmaking to take the time to write up a great profile. Do that on the very first phone call. If you’re not doing the intake, hire people who can do a really good job building out the profile WHILE you’re vetting, on the very first phone call.
Take the time to polish up every profile you touch – so that when you want to match that person with a client later, you don’t have to chase them down to get a full, complete, beautiful profile. Build it every time you’re touching that client. Service first. It builds confidence, trust, loyalty, and better matches.
Read more Global Love Report Spotlight Interviews here.
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