A day in the life of Matchmaker Debbie Barber
Meet Debbie Barber, our Matchmaker and one of the the mainstays of our matchmaking team. Debbie joined us in 2022 and has taken to life as a matchmaker unbelievably well so far. Winning our ‘Matchmaker of the Week’ award now on many occasions and we are now happy to report that Debbie has now been confirmed as the Dating Options ‘Matchmaker of the Year 2023’ – a quite incredible achievement in her first full year from a team of 11. So many congratulations to Debbie on what is a very prestigious award and one that is fully deserved.
Debbie’s great strength is her ability to listen to her clients and to get to know them very well, their hopes, wants and aspirations for the future and especially what they are specifically looking for in a partner. Debbie’s main aim when meeting new clients is to form a strong bond and relationship with them, the highlight of her role is being able to create that special match for someone and setting them on their way to a special relationship over the long term.
On average our team of matchmakers produces around 150 matches per week and we are happy to say that usually more than a third of them go ‘into exchange’ with both parties wanting to proceed and exchange contact details, which is something again we are very proud of and Debbie is right at the forefront of these statistics with more matches and more exchanges than anyone else in 2023. So our claim of ‘changing more than 50 lives a week’ is a strong one and one that Debbie is extremely proud of, as that is something that a smaller agency might achieve in a whole year.
Becoming a friend is an important part of Debbie’s day to day strategy with her clients, gaining their trust by always being upbeat and jolly in how she handles their interaction and letting them know that we understand that this is a potentially life changing opportunity for them, as bringing a new, high quality life partner into their lives is always our focus and is what drives us on day by day – we are a results oriented business and that is how we measure our success.
We asked Debbie what piece of advice she gives to a new member just starting out on their journey and that was something that she uses all of the time with her new clients “I tell them to be open minded and realise that this is for real from day 1, it’s not a dress rehearsal. Put your faith in your matchmaker as she will always be on your side, communicate openly with her, give feedback and say yes to as many profiles that we put your way as you can. As we find you will never know when chemistry is going to happen and often it may be with someone who you may not have expected it with at first, so be flexible over travel distances and physical attributes such as height and give it a go, that way you will go on to have a great membership.”
The other great secret of Debbie’s success is having a great team of colleagues around her which she greatly values. She highlights them as a source of inspiration. Says Debbie “We support each other so well; we look out for each other and make sure that everyone is included. Having such wonderful colleagues and being part of a great team is one of the very best features of working as a matchmaker and it enables us all to take a team approach to the role, which is a massive advantage. It could be lonely and isolated working alone or for one of the many smaller agencies.”
It was a great opportunity to meet Debbie and introduce her to new potential members on the website – after all it’s not everyday that we get to chat to the newly crowned ‘Matchmaker of the Year 2023’. It was a fascinating insight her role and what she has put into it to make her so successful. We wished her every success for the current year. Having spoken to her, we wouldn’t rule out her making it a double success year on year.
Matchmaker of the Year 2023 Debbie Barber (in purple)