OPW Interview - Together Dating/The Right One co-CEO Paul Falzone

OPW INTERVIEW -- Aug 18, 2006 -- Paul Falzone is co-CEO of Together Dating/The Right One, one of the countries top offline dating agencies. They also run e-love.com.

How were Together Dating and  The Right One started?
Together Dating started in 1974 by Chester Chase in upstate New York. As time went on the assets of that service were sold to another gentleman who grew the company. In 1989, I personally got involved in the industry and ran some of the offices. In 1997, it was a very large, built out organization with about 150 locations worldwide…with a less than sterling reputation. It was a huge mistake of the old franchise not to address PR and customer service issues. Anyway, as time went on, I broke away from the chain.  I had 14 locations in the Midwest and New England and I founded The Right One on September 4th, 1997,  and started to franchise the company. I invented the company from the ground up and put everything on the line. 

In November 1997, the CEO of the Together Dating organization, the old franchiser, threw the company into bankruptcy. He had so many complaints, and issues with his franchisees. The creditors eventually (January 1999) awarded the assets of the reorganization to my business partner, Brad Megahan, and his business partner. They got on the phone with me and said, “How would you like to merge with us? We need you.” Any good franchise needs an infrastructure and I didn’t have much of an infrastructure with 14 locations. Brad was a friend and mentor, as one of the most successful franchisees in the chain. He knew how to run a good operation, ethically. Brad and I are now 50/50 partners on Together Dating/The Right One and e-love.com, which is the most recent acquisition that we made. 

How many owners are there?
Two owners represent half of all our franchises and there’s a dozen franchisees total. Brad and I know it takes a certain type of person to run a business like this and franchising really isn’t the best way to go.  We kept the strongest people in our chain and pruned the rest to make it a stronger organization. We stopped selling franchises and started opening company stores or taking back under-performing franchises. That has proven to be a very smart move because of the strategies we have in place for the future. 

How large is The Right One and Together Dating now?
The Right One and Together will do about $45 million gross sales in 2006. We’re at 60 locations. We feel it’s very important and critical to grow slowly with the right management in place. We used to primarily market by direct mail but we’ve switched over, in the last 18 months, to Internet marketing. We have vendors who are doing online marketing for us. We generate leads at $5 to $25 each. Our average direct mail lead cost was around $250 after 9/11. People were afraid to open envelopes because of the anthrax scares.
 
Just our own corporate stores are generating 15,000 leads a month and we used to get maybe a tenth of that when we were doing direct mail. So we’ve really increased our lead flow. We’ve got three good sized telemarketing facilities in the country now.

How much are memberships?
I can’t dictate what my franchisees charge but everybody is basically in the same ballpark. Smaller towns in the Midwest may not charge as much, but the programs start at around $2,000 to $3,000 and go up to $6,000 to $7,000.

What is e-love?
We recently acquired a company called e-love, which was the old Perfect Match product, out of a bankruptcy. We acquired some great technology. We’re the dinosaurs in the (dating) business, remember. We’ve been around for over 20 years and technology…, no it’s not our strong suit, but I strongly feel that if some of these online dating experts sat with us, and we could take what was in our heads and give it to them, and they took what they were strong in and gave it to us, it would be very dangerous. 

I think they need to reach out and touch their clients more than just emailing them. We call potential clients, set an appointment and have them come into our office and spend about 90 minutes with them, going over all the details of what they want in a relationship. We’ll do a criminal background check, verify their identity and, if they’re divorced, check the divorce decree, and then once we feel that they’re going to be great for the membership, we plug them into the system. 

The difference with e-love is that the consumer can go home, log in, and type in all the preferences they’re looking for in a person. Up pops nine people per screen and they can click on each person and look at their picture, that we took. It’s not a 20 year old picture. It’s something we just took. They can also click on an icon and check out their video. About 80% of all our members are choosing to do add video.  hey can look at all the different aspects of the personality profile that they took with the company and see two bar graphs, one with each persons responses. They can see a visual of how the personalities match up. Users can hear a person, and see what things they have in common with that person. It’s very powerful. So that’s e-love.   

What are your plans for 2006 through 2007?
We’ll continue to run a profitable and successful service. We’ll focus on giving great high-touch service, and get even more efficient at converting our online leads into members. You said it well when you gave your keynote speech in February at the Internet Dating Convention, Mark. You said, the offline people have the quality, we have the high-touch service. The online dating companies have the quantity. If only there was a way that offline and online companies could find common ground and grow together.

Our services are all about making people happy. Giving people the relationships they deserve. We have had, over the last 32 years, a profound, a very profound effect on many, many singles across this country and internationally. This company has helped a lot of people over the years and that’s where I really enjoy doing my job. Getting an email from somebody saying, you know, I’ve been divorced for five years and I finally got the guts to join your service. Thank you. 

Comments

[Fernando Ardenghi]

"The difference with e-love is ..... can look at all the different aspects of the personality profile that they took with the company and see two bar graphs, one with each persons responses. They can see a visual of how the personalities match up. "

" ... the offline people have the quality ... The online dating companies have the quantity. If only there was a way that offline and online companies could find common ground and grow together. "

Many persons are interested in serious dating, but they cannot afford a USD1,500 to USD3,000 fee!
They need lower prices with high quality.
My bet: Only with a high precision personality matching method as a main core, that endeavor will be achieved!!!

Kindest Regards,

Fernando Ardenghi.
Buenos Aires.
Argentina.
[email protected]

[Sam Moorcroft, ChristianCafe.com]

Hey Fernando, you don't have 60 locations and gross $45M/year if what you do doesn't work for your clients.

Sure, $2,000-$7,000 is no chump change, but clearly a lot of people (around 10,000/year, assuming an average cost of $4,500 each) are willing to plunk down their hard-earned money to have this service help them find their soulmate.

And, I don't buy that many people can't afford that kind of money. Perhaps this is a lot to those living outside N. America, but it isn't for those who live here.

If you have a a half-decent job, own a car, and other assorted material possessions, you can come up with the cash. People drop 000's of $$ on computers and plasma TV's and stereos and what-not - why not something that really matters? It is all about priorities.

Good for you Paul - sounds like you provide a much needed (not to mention excellent) service.

[Robert Fisher]

Sam is right, if people didn't want what offlines have to offer we would not have been in business 30 years. Paul and Brad are a class act with a class organization. Great interview Paul.
Sam, thanks for always keeping an open mind.

[Sam Moorcroft, ChristianCafe.com]

Actually, to be fair to Fernando, he is coming at this from a different angle than most of the rest of us.

I judge success based on the financial numbers, whereas Fernando is judging this from a sociological point of view.

Both are valid, of course, but for those of us who make our living doing this, the financial angle is the more important. We can discuss the sociological angle all day, but that doesn't pay my rent.

[Denise]

The service provided by The Right One in Newton, MA was fantastic, I married my fifth referral. Obviously, not all the men I met through The Right One were a good match but I continued to work with the matchmakers until they found the right one for me. Today I’m married with two beautiful children and continue to send my matchmaker referrals of single people I meet. My matchmaker’s name was Brenan and I think she has over 500 marriages. Advice for The Right One…do a TV commercial of all your married members. Feel free to contact me be email.

[Kevin]

Hey Denise,
It doesn't always take five referrals to meet someone special. I'm currently on "hold" with my first referral. Can you believe it, the very first woman they introduce me to I fell in love with. What's more amazing, she feels the same way (I was her nineth referral). I joined the Providence, Rhode Island office...hey count me in on that commericial.

[wlhooooo]

I came to this site because a person I referred to The Right One does a lot of blogging and saw this. I wanted to post a comment.
I joined The Right One (Denver office) in Aug. 06, and may have been one of the toughest sells they've ever had. I am skeptical of MOST things. I did NOT join on the spot but did research on Business Better Bureau and other review articles. NOT BLOGS because I don't just believe anything I read in a blog and prefer less "subjective" commentary, like reviews in magazines, newspapers, etc. After my research and finding positive reviews, I became a member for 20 matches. I had two nice matches and after each gave the counselors at The Right One some insight as to what was right/wrong with that particular match. My 3rd match was/IS magic!! He is truly one of the all-time great guys and I NEVER would have met him without this kind of service. (NOTE: I was only his SECOND match, and we both think we are tough to match, very picky, etc.) He is educated, extremely bright, atractive, funny, fit, WELL employed, polished, NICE -- I could go on and on. I have very tender feelings about nature and animals and he is also compassionate in that way. I have told the Denver office that ANYONE who needs a personal testimony can get in touch with me. I more than got my money's worth and am SOOOOOOOO glad I did it. I recommend the service to anyone I meet who is looking.
I think the key to good matchmaking is the member's ability to describe specific things they like or do not like. I run across people all the time who have difficult "exchanges" in their business relationships, and usually those individuals bring on the difficulties themselves. I'm pleasant in my business interactions, and in turn people are nice back to me.
I HIGHLY recommend The Right One if you're "matchable." :-)

[mm]

hi, guys. i work for Together/The Right One, and i know what really goes on.

first of all, i wanna say that i am only a simple appointment setter. i am no ones assistant, not a manager, nothing special. just an appointment setter. so i have absolutely no reason to lie or make up anything to make us look good. i could say whatever the hell i wanted to and it wouldnt matter - id still have my job.

but i can tell you that the majority of all this being said is the money issue. people are pissedoff because of the money. these people sound like they were planning on sueing when they paid to begin with!!

so much of what these people are saying arent even promises the company makes. what the hell is a "monthly match"??? and its true, if we give you a match that you APPROVE, obviously it DID match your criteria, and they dont approve of YOU!! and dont want to talk to YOU again?? then YOU werent what they were hoping you were, were you?? they didnt like YOU. and you cant put everything down on a piece of paper, no. thats why we cant (and NOBODY can) guarantee that sparks fly. but we CAN match the things you tell us about.

i dont understand the customers. we tell them, THIS is how it works. THIS is how many matches youre paying for. its not that hard. and then when they dont work out or dont like you, what then?? its us?? of course it is. because you think you can make a whole lot of money off us. thats just not fair.

i listen ALL DAY LONG to the girls up front calling the members with thier matches. they have the papers/profiles in front of them, and as soon as one member approves it, they call the member the profile was about, and tell them that they were approved and that he will call them. how on earth does the idea that theyre *just giving out old bad numbers* make sense then?? they speak to them right when they are approved!!! and if a member doesnt let us know that they are on hold, how are we supposed to know?? lots of times a member finds the one theyre finally happy with for life, but doesnt let us know how it went. then answers the phone when we let them know we have another match for them, and then they tell us, "oh im on hold, please". we do apologize for the inconvenience, but something to sue over??

and when and where on earth in business have you heard of anything making the idea that if you went out on dates with these matches, and decided you didnt like them, that they all of a sudden shouldnt count as a match we provided you with anymore, become realistic??? thats cheating US. thats unfair to the service itself in ANY business. thats why you purchase a certain number of matches. because no one can guarantee chemistry. if there was none, were sorry. but that counted as a match. and thats fair.

look ive only been there half a year, but i know what goes on here. the managers say whatever they feel like saying around everyone, when theyre mad theyre mad, when theyre excited theyre excited. but we are a successful company and we get called all the time with people crying and thanking us for our services. i myself have talked to several people in our area and in the denver, colorado area who are thanking ME profusely for what weve done for them. im PROUD to work at Together/The Right One.

and for those of you who have been treated rudely by particular people, then yes that is that persons fault and they should be dealt with, because i am always sure to be polite and curteous with every customer, and put myself in thier shoes. but when it comes to the way we do our matching, and our services, etc., we explain everything very clearly. its not that hard to understand, and if you wanted to add to it in your own head and make it more than what it is, so be it. but thats not the company's mistake. we tell you youre going to get a certain number of matches and you will. the term "monthly matches" is not even in our vocabulary. its simple. its awesome. its new. its refreshing.

dont want to take part in it? suite yourself. dont think a few thousand is worth meeting the love of your life? so be it.

i still am proud and happy to be a part of the happiness The Right One brings to the members that are in it for real.

<3 -mmmmssss.

[Francesca]

Without The Right One, I would have never had the opportunity to meet my husband.

We got married a year ago. It took me 2.5 years in the dating service, but hey, all you need is one. I had almost given up, when I got the call that said, "you really should meet this one. I have a good one for you." If you are patient, the system really works.

It is lovely to find someone at this age. At 50, you are pretty confident of who you are. I was divorced for a long, long time and raised a daughter on my own. It is wonderful and I feel lucky. I know he is happy in this marriage.

It is because of The Right One that I met this man. Our social and career circles are totally different. Yet, they realized from our profiles that this would actually work.