Date published: 01.09.08 - not release date

USING THE PROFESSIONALS TO FIND LOVE

Most of us wouldn’t buy or sell a property without professional help, so why not consider it when looking for love? After all it is a life changing decision too…

Many of us use professionals for specialist help and advice when we make important life decisions, like financial planning, setting up a business or buying a house, so why not when we want to find a partner?

Take buying a house for example, Estate Agents offer a range of advice and services including market valuations, property selections, house viewings and financial advice to help us complete the process with confidence. In many ways buying and selling property is similar to finding a new partner – and some may say equally as daunting!

Often we have a set of requirements; we would like to know what’s available and how we can find out more details. Which is where experts can be invaluable.

There are a lot of single people out there, as there are properties – but do we always know where to start or what we really want? Often we are clear what we don’t want, but not sure how to find what we do.

Professional help and advice is at hand to help those looking for the ideal partner. This comes in the form of Introduction Agencies. The geographical areas covered and the services provided can vary between agencies. The Association of British Introduction Agencies can help you find members and the specific services they offer. Just some of the services available are:

•Personality profiling to find suitable matches,
•Personally selected introductions,
•Regular social events, creating opportunities to meet new people and go to new places,
•Life coaching,
•Image consultants,
•Dating workshops, to give new skills to those needing confidence to date again.

Just as house viewings can be accompanied, so too can introductions or organised social events by Dating Advisers. The type of services you can receive will depend on the membership type chosen to meet your needs and budget.

Many single people have busy careers or commitments which prevents the luxury of time as well as the opportunities to meet the right person. Many would say this has been through chance or luck in the past, sometimes resulting in disappointment when you find out it isn’t the match you had initially thought, perhaps because we were looking in the wrong places? Such decisions don’t have to be left to chance when there's help at hand.

The matching process is key to success, so you need to have confidence in the professionals to ensure they understand you and your needs, to take out some of the guesswork. You want them to do the filtering, so you only have details of the properties - or in the case of Personal Introductions, single people who match your requirements. Having said that, just as when buying a house, the narrower and more demanding your requirements, the shorter your shortlist will be.

Time is a precious commodity which no-one likes wasting. Imagine an Estate Agent who takes you to see a fabulous property without bothering to match it against your criteria. Then you fall in love with it before you find out you can’t afford it! This equally applies to an unsuitable introduction through poor matching which can be a very off-putting experience. Both situations can waste everyone’s time and dent confidence to continue the search.

Personal expertise in their field is invaluable to make the connections and help you to make the best choices to find happiness either in a new home or with a new partner.

One such Introduction Agency, with over 50 years combined experience in this field, is RSVP Introductions. Open to single people of all ages, they offer a personal service - conducting face to face interviews to ensure profiles are accurate. They host over 50 events each month – from pub lunches to activity days and most things in between.

Anne Stringer, who runs RSVP with her husband and team of dating experts, says “many people use specialist services in various aspects of their work and personal lives. RSVP provides a professional service to help single people find the right partner. We use a unique mixture of technology and hand matchmaking, as well as offering personal development workshops, life coaching and more to meet the needs of our members. Our philosophy is simple – if you’re happy, we are happy”.

Further details can be found on the RSVP website or by contacting Anne and her team on 0800 542 7262.

What to look for when using Introduction Agencies:

1. Make sure you know what service you are getting for your membership.
2. Ensure your needs are understood and matched accordingly.
3. You are offered regular introductions (subject to your membership option).
4. All members’ information is verified to ensure it is accurate and that all members are genuinely single.
5. They are ABIA members (Association of British Introduction Agencies) so you have some recourse should you be unhappy with the service.

Jayna Makwana
Atom Media and PR
Tel: 01353 860999
Email: jayna@atommpr.com