Personal Matchmaking – The Secrets of Success

10 things a Personal Matchmaker can promise you and 5 that we never could!

As a Dating Agency, The County Register has been around a long time, 40 years next year in 2023. As it was way back in 1983 when two young mum’s Heather Heber Percy and Geraldine Turner, began chatting about loneliness and the need to do something about it, outside the school gates as they waited for their children to re-join them after a day in class.

I believe it is a great testament to our agency and our philosophies over the years that although we have now lost Geraldine to retirement, that Heather is still going strong and is still a big part of The County Register set up and the success that we enjoy and has become probably the UK’s best known Personal Matchmaker over the years. She still leads and guides our team today.

Heather’s early experiences and patience as a nurse and then as a volunteer for the Samaritans gave rise to the skills that were needed within the dating industry and to be able to make a huge success of what we are doing. This has led to us developing one of the most exclusive, enduring and successful dating brands in the UK and one that is still going strong almost 40 years down the track, with thousands of successful matches down the years to boot.

We don’t always get it right as we can’t create chemistry or love if a spark isn’t there initially and we certainly can’t force people to say yes to others – it simply wouldn’t be right and most people understand that we can recruit very high calibre members, we can interview them and carefully vet them but we cannot force people to like each other and to a large extent that is down to individual members. We wouldn’t want it to be any different to that or false in any way.

So for the avoidance of doubt , we took an in depth look at the service that we offer and the way we work in bringing like minded people together and put together 10 things that we can do to help but also 5 things that we can’t.

10 things we can always promise as Personal Matchmakers: 

1. That clients will work with the services of an experienced and time served professional matchmaker and that they will provide a bespoke, personal, kindly service that will always be hugely more time consuming than online dating or a dating app and will always therefore be more costly. But that we believe is great value for money in most instances.

2. Opportunities to meet carefully checked and vetted people. Therefore, usually achieving better quality matches than could usually be expected through online dating or via a dating app. These are usually people that we have got to know really well over the length of their membership and can vouch for and endorse wholeheartedly.

3. We only offer matches where the people involved have been personally interviewed and checked for ‘genuineness’ and that we know are real, truthful about their circumstances and where they live and are also free from criminal convictions. Which gives us a database of the highest quality.

4. We can offer safer dating; we subscribe to the Dating Agency Association’s ‘Dating Safely Campaign’ and do whatever we can to keep our clients as safe as possible and well away from scamming and cat fishing. We get to know our members as thoroughly as we can, we know them as a real person rather than a username or number and know they are 100% real and who they say they are.

5. In every instance we create a professional profile for each and every client and photographs that portray people at their best, they are taken in our own office studio if needs be and can make an incredible difference to the success achieved. But also they are up to date, realistic and portray the person as they are today, not a decade ago, or in some instances even 2.

6. Every client has an in-depth interview, either face to face, in their own home or at our offices, or via video or telephone if preferred. But we see everybody and get to know them in a professional and comprehensive way, we never cut corners.  

7. We offer only long-term’s of between 6 months and lifetime, with proper ‘one at a time’ recommendations being put forward and a hold facility on every contract so that those they are matched with can be given a chance and each one properly evaluated. It’s not in anyway a rushed situation for our members.

8. In all cases and with all levels of membership we offer a high degree of confidentiality with a guarantee that there will never ever in any circumstances be an online or public profile or photographs of a client. Even with Cameo – our entry level of membership.  

9. We will always give a guaranteed and agreed level of introductions or recommendations that we NEVER fail to deliver on and often exceed by a considerable margin, as we really do try hard to please our clients. 

10. We are members of the Dating Agency Association and receive an endorsement by the DAA, now the premier dating organisation in the UK with more members than the it’s rival the ABIA.

5 things that we can never promise……(and beware if others do)

1. Absolute guarantees of success – it simply doesn’t work in that way.

2. Chemistry of any sort – we cannot create it falsely.

3. That members will always say yes to dates and exchanges – we can’t force them or coerce them into going on dates and accepting matches. 

4. Perfect people – clients cannot come into a showroom and point at the ‘blue one with the alloys and cream leather interior’. We don’t manufacture people. 

5. Film star lookalikes – in our experience they rarely exist. 

So we have enjoyed a successful ‘half lifetime’ in dating and a created a wonderful succession of quality matches over many years, because our attention to detail and meticulous approach to each individual we have ever dealt with, has paid off and been a winning formula in terms of getting results.

We always ask people to enter into their memberships positively and to be open minded as much as they can, as sometimes chemistry comes when least expected and from people being diverse rather than from commonality as people often expect.

We ask you to be open with regards to distance – after all, looking very locally might not have worked so far and also we recommend people being open on height. We recently had someone reject a potential partner who was an excellent match in most other respects ‘because he didn’t look 6ft in his photos’, even though we knew him personally and knew he was that tall.

So please do work with us and also trust your Personal Matchmaker to provide the right advice – they have usually had thousands of successes over they years and can often help more than you’d ever realise. They are committed people, who really do want you to succeed and have a successful outcome – maybe even more than you do, believe it or not.

We do have a very good team, with Heather Heber Percy, still overseeing all that we do and is still dealing with clients on a day to day basis. Following the retirement of Geraldine Turner, the General Manager role is filled by Kim Shaw, who is vastly experienced in the dating industry, having previously been Matchmaking Team Manager at Dating Options. Kim is joined by Executive Matchmaker Karen Hyde and Senior Matchmaker Liz Payne and the Senior Membership Adviser, is Tracey Cater, who handle all of the initial enquiries, to advise potential new members on which of our choice of memberships would be right for your circumstances and location, dependent on what you would like to achieve and what budget is available.

We recently asked Tracey about her role and why she has been so successful in helping so many people over the years. Her response was as follows: “I am in an extremely fortunate position in my advisory role for The County Register, as I have the opportunity to help others find future happiness within a new and loving relationship. However, beginning the journey with right mindset and attitude is not to be under estimated. My advice to potential members would be to always be open minded to future possibilities, to try to have a fresh outlook and not revert back to past experiences, possibly putting invisible obstructions in place from the outset”.

She continues: “Love is patient, love is kind”…… Try to see to best in others and don’t be too hasty to pass an initial judgement. Everyone is a little nervous at first, allow for this, ask questions, show genuine interest in the other person, it will reap rewards. Most will agree that as humans, we prosper emotionally with the love and support of a partner, we are not islands, so we have to be open to giving before we can receive. Those who experience the most successful relationships recognise that they are able to enhance the life of the other and vice versa”. Wise words indeed from Tracey and experience and knowledge that has been built up since she began working in the Personal Matchmaking industry back in 2007.

Executive Matchmaker, Karen Hyde, was also asked about what she feels makes for a successful membership. Says Karen “I feel very privileged to be get to know my clients on a such a personal level and be part of a stage in their life, which can potentially, be life changing. My advice to anyone taking that step is to be open minded, put some trust in your matchmaker and always know that you are not in this alone and someone is always there to help and guide you along the way or just to listen. The world is full of surprises and there will always be a reason that a profile has been sent to you and you may well be surprised too”.   

Quite rightly the final word goes to our founder Heather Heber Percy, who has devoted her life to Matchmaking and bringing people together since way back in 1983 and has simply become the very best known name in Personal Introductions over that time. Say’s Heather “ I am very proud of my achievements over the years and the success that The County Register has enjoyed. I have learned an awful lot though by trying things and through my experiences with clients. In almost 40 years I have met some pretty amazing people that have become part of my life for at least a short time. Some for longer however, as it’s surprising how people stay in touch or come back to me a little while later or in some instances years down the track but the important thing is they DO come back and that is a testament to the service that we have provided to them previously. Always working in a quality way and putting members first’.

Heather continues: “But we are dealing with fragile people in some instances and people who have had bad experiences within relationships. So I never pretend that I can help everyone and on occasions people can be quick to criticise if they are in an emotional state and have had to endure rejection. Over the years I got quite skilled at spotting them at the application stage, but it does take years of practice. We also try to be welcoming and do our best to help people – I believe there aren’t any safer hands than our team at The County Register”.

Want to know more? Tracey Cater, our Senior Membership Adviser, is always happy to talk through how The County Register works and how we have achieved so much success over the years. You can speak to Tracey most days on 0800 644 4110 or why not complete your details below and we’d be happy to call you at your convenience?

We’d love to talk you through more secrets as to why we have been able to bring happiness to thousands over the years.