How to get more matchmaking clients beyond referrals and swaps

By Zach Schleien

Learn how to get matchmaking clients by building a funnel, running webinars, and following up with old leads instead of just relying on referrals and swaps.

To get more matchmaking clients, start with the people who already inquired and never signed, then add a steady source of new ones: a funnel that books consultations, webinars, events and partnerships. Most matchmakers rely on referrals and swaps with other matchmakers, which got them started but won't get them much further.

I've built and run matchmaking businesses, including a matchmaking division across seven dating brands, and I've helped matchmakers like Simone Grossman go from no business to $160K in about five months. Here's where new clients actually come from, and how to close more of the ones you already have.

Run a matchmaking business? I build the offer, funnel and sales system that turn your audience into high-ticket clients. Simone did $130K in her first three months. Book a matchmaking call.

Key takeaways

• Your cheapest new clients are people who already inquired and never signed. Follow up with them first.
• A simple funnel with a video and a booked consultation brings in clients who don't know you yet.
• Webinars work because people often need to see you more than once before they buy.
• Events and partnerships grow your database of singles, which makes every package easier to sell.
• More leads won't help if your calls don't close. Fix the offer and the script alongside the marketing.

Why referrals and swaps stop working

Referrals are great clients, but you can't control when they come. Swaps with other matchmakers widen your pool of singles, but they don't bring in paying clients. If most of your new business comes from these two, your income goes up and down with luck.

The fix is a source of new clients you can turn up when you need it.

1. Start with the people who already inquired

If you've been matchmaking for a while, you already own an asset most businesses would pay for: a database of singles and a list of people who asked about your service and never signed. They already know you, so they're the cheapest clients you'll ever get.

Reach out to them with a reason to talk now, like a new offer or a new package. And use more than one channel. Some people answer email, some answer texts and some only pick up the phone. I call it marketing love languages: reach each person where they actually pay attention. For timing and what to say in each follow-up, see Cold email follow up: when to send it, what to say, and when to stop.

I've seen how much money sits in an old list. A personal trainer I worked with had about 55 old leads he had never texted. After we built his offers and coached him on what to say, he texted them, and 4 became clients in one day.

2. Build a funnel that books consultations

To reach people who don't know you, you need a path from "I saw this" to "I booked a call." Keep it simple:

1. A landing page with a clear headline about who you help, a short video of you, and testimonials.
2. A few questions before the booking, so you know who's coming.
3. A booked consultation on your calendar.
4. Reminders by email and text so they show up.

Leave your premium prices off the page and talk price on the call. Our matchmaking landing page started at a 15% conversion rate, and adding logos, testimonials and a video above the fold helped lift it. Then you can point ads, posts and press at that page.

3. Run webinars on a schedule

It's not unheard of for someone to show up to your webinar 2, 3 or even 4 times before they buy. That makes your schedule part of your sales cycle. If a buyer needs four touches and you run one a month, that's four months. Run one every other week and it's two.

Before each webinar, I send around 10 value-based emails across the 7 days before it, a text that says "we're starting in five minutes," and a voicemail drop the day before, with a 48-hour replay page after. Pick topics by testing them as short clips first. The clip that gets the most response is your next webinar topic.

4. Use events to grow your database

Events bring singles into your world in person, and every single in your database makes your service more valuable to a paying client. At Filteroff, we ran in-person events in New York twice a week, with free venues from community partners, and hosted 18,000 video speed dating events across 150 countries.

Events can also be a cheap source of new people. We listed virtual speed dating events on Eventbrite so they ranked on Google, and it brought in thousands of new users per month at $0 acquisition cost, while paid ads cost $12 to $15 per install. People who came through events also stuck around at twice the rate of paid users.

5. Partner with people who already have singles

Events companies have rooms full of singles, and dating apps have members who want something more serious than swiping. Both are natural partners. You offer a high-ticket service their audience wants. They offer reach you'd otherwise have to buy.

6. Close more of the clients you already get

More leads won't fix a call that doesn't close. Write a call structure that finds out what the person wants, digs into what hasn't worked, explains how you work and asks for the sale. The line Simone still uses: "Are you opposed to moving forward today?" High ticket sales: what it is, how it works, and how to close walks through the full call.

Practice it with mock calls. When I coached sales reps by reviewing their recorded calls, close rates went from 20% to 40%. And make the follow-up calls. Simone was scared to make one. I told her: "If you don't make this call, your business will fail and you'll go back to your 9-to-5." She made the call, shaking while she did it, and got the sale.

Add smaller offers underneath your main package too. Someone who isn't ready for your top package on the first call can still say yes to something.

What this looks like when it works

Simone had nine years of matchmaking skill and a $130K job, but no business of her own yet. We built her site and funnel, built the offer and pricing together, added offers underneath her high-ticket package, wrote the sales script, ran mock calls and worked on her follow-up. She did $22K in her first three weeks, a $60K month and $130K in her first three months. She's now at $160K in about five months.