Free Web Sites Free Email Free e-Business
|
Free Web Sites Free Email Free e-Business
|
HOW TO START AND OPERATE A DATING AND ESCORT SERVICEStarting and operating a successful Dating and Escort Service can bring in $100,000 or more per year for the sharp, aggressive, imaginative business person. The secret to success with this type of business is an advertising campaign that presents your services with a "show business" flair while maintaining a reputation as a business with legitimate goals and good taste. Most successful Escort Services are natural expansions of businesses begun originally as Introduction and Dating Services. ADVERTISING FOR SUCCESS Advertising is the key to your success with this project. A small classified ad run for about a week in the Personals column of your area newspaper should start the ball rolling for you. Some ideas for pulling inquiries from men might read like these: Career woman, new to area, Young blond, recent divorcee TO attract inquiries from women sample ads can resemble these: Economically secure business Active and ambitious young At the time you have an ad of this type running you'll want to place bulletin board ads and notices on all the college campuses, and in as many company newspapers as you are able, and wherever single people are most likely to take notice. This ad should be a straight advertisement inviting people to "Get out of the Rat Race" of the singles game by joining your organization. You'll of course emphasize confidentiality, respectability, and the fact you deal only with people who are really serious about meeting new friends and forming lasting relationships. Your ads soliciting new members should tell readers you'll help them meet new friends and enjoy dates with people especially matched to their own likes and dislikes. Convey a sense of fun and excitement, yet stress honesty, respectability and trust. You cannot use flashy headlines or pictures of models that give a connotation of an invitation into the bedroom. Write your ads from the prospect's point of view. Build from what you believe to be their special wants, and visualize their thinking. Put yourself in the place of a prospective new member, and understand that it takes a great deal of nerve, even courage, to ask for dating help. It is generally easier to just let things slide along, remaining in the same old lonesome rut rather than ask for help and risk disappointment. OFFICE LOCATION AND LAYOUT The building in which you locate should be a store-front office, situated in a prominent location in a better part of the business district in your city. Try to select a site that is upbeat and attractive without being too avant-garde -- one that would appeal to the more conservative or mature as well as younger professionals. A large percentage of your clients are going to be older, settled professionals, many in their mid-forties or older. Members of this segment of society have become established in their careers and are now searching for a person to share that success with in the ensuing years. Your service will become a vital link in the chain of their search. Thus, the area in which you locate should reflect a modern outlook on life, but with solid and more traditional values. The reception area of your office should be large and comfortable with as expensive a look as you can manage. Your receptionist is very important, one of your most important assets. If a young woman, she should be attractive with a vivacious and outgoing personality. If a gentleman is hired for this position, he should be the type whose charm quickly puts people at ease, and his approach should not be too brusque or overpowering. Both male and female employees should be dressed as tastefully and appealing as possible, and be able to quickly win the clients' trust. The receptionist's job is designed to make the clients feel that belonging to your group is going to be the beginning of happier times, fun, and lasting friendships. You should have at least two expensive looking picture scrapbooks on the coffee table in your reception room. These you can fill with portrait or candid shots of your members and clients. These pictures can pose a problem for you while you are in the beginning stages, so don't hesitate to gather pictures of various relatives, friends who are not necessarily located in your area, or even photographs taken at a nearby campus of their best looking young men and women. You will need to get a release signed by each model you photograph, simply explaining that you are putting together a picture display book of terrific looking people in the area for the promotion of your business, and that their names and any other information will not be publicized or released. Check with your local library for samples of model release forms. APPLICATION DESIGN To get started, you will also need a striking and impressive application form. Research into a number of successful operations indicates that a four-page application works best. This should be typeset with an attractive letterhead or company masthead on 11 by 17 inch paper and folded in half to give the impression of a personnel file. Your best paper colors are either pale blue or ivory. The better grade of paper you can afford, the more impressive your application will be, creating an aura of credibility around your business and setting the mind of the prospective client at rest as to your reliability. In addition to the usual questions such as name, address, telephone number, marital status, place of employment, hobbies, likes and dislikes, etc., include within your application a short personality test obtained with a bit of research at your public library. For ideas, sample tests, and even tests you can use intact, check some of the modern men's and women's magazines. (Before using a published test, make sure you check with the copyright holder to gain permission). Don't discount the idea of registering at an already established business of this type or asking to review their application form without actually involving yourself any further. Inquire among friends and acquaintances who have registered with a dating or escort service about the application process they experienced. Near the end of the application include a short paragraph pointing up the fact that your organization, in addition to bringing people together as a dating service, also provides an escort service for out-of-town visitors and local non-members. Then pose the question, "Would you be interested in these kinds of dates, which include all expenses and a minimum fee of $25 for what usually amounts to a very delightful time with an interesting person? Your only obligation ever is to be your usual charming self, and seek an enjoyable evening in the company of someone new." Leave room for the applicant to respond 'Yes' or 'No'. Just before or above the blank for your applicant's signature include a legal disclaimer to any responsibilities or promises implied and/or not specifically stated within the application.You may wish to consult with your attorney in the wording of this disclaimer. MEETING AND HELPING THE CLIENTS When you receive an answer to your ads, quickly get the caller's name and phone number, ask a few questions, then set up an appointment for him or her to come by your office. After your prospective client has filled out an application, the next step is the personal interview. Your office should be cozy and comfortable, but business-like, and you should arrange for an uninterrupted time of complete privacy with each person. Use the interview to go over the application, answer any questions, and close the membership sale. When the interview begins, be bright and inviting, but factual and brief. Don't lose control of the conversation. Also use this time as the basis for estimating the kind of person most likely to match this client. Be empathetic with your clients. You will meet a lot of people who are tired of the "dating game" played out in singles bars and unproductive groups they have previously joined. Compile an interview script - a set of basic questions you'd like to review with the client. You should not be tied to the script word for word, but it should be available to help direct your discussion should the need arise. You might seek additional help in composing your interview script by writing for advertising material and brochures from similar services in other cities and adapting any techniques you like to your own interviewing process. After the interview has been completed and the prospect has joined your service by signing an application form and paying the appropriate fee (usually a sign-up fee accompanied by a monthly charge), you must begin to match up your client with prospective dates from your client pool. A short time after the client has joined, call him or her by telephone, asking them to come by the office and pick up a list of compatible prospects. When the client arrives, give them a list with names and telephone numbers of three to five other clients you feel would make a successful dating match. The list should be typed out on a high quality paper or run off on a laser printer from your computer's database. Always strive to make the best impression possible. This will serve to convince your clients of your integrity and reliability, and will encourage them to spread news of your service with their friends by word of mouth. Let the client make the call to his or her prospective dating match. Your job with this client is finished for the time being. Should he need help again next month, you can repeat the process. There are hundreds and thousands of prospective clients needing your help. You must continually advertise and spread the word that your service can help people meet Mr. or Ms. Right. Most dating services publish a monthly newsletter with tidbits of information and gossip about members. Information includes who's doing what, recent job changes, who's travelling where, plus a listing of upcoming club events and activities. Listing the names of new members is also a good idea, and include a section of quotes from members who are active and enjoying the service. Some of these newsletters feature Man and Woman of the Month" articles with lots of pictures -- Out on the town, involved in hobbies at home, pictures from the workplace, and candid shots from everyday life. Usually, the escort service itself will sponsor an "all membership" party about once every three months to introduce other members and project a sense of community and belonging. DEVELOPING AN ESCORT SERVICE When you're ready to expand with Escort Services get the word out to all the likely places where people wanting these services will see your ads or hear about you in friend-to-friend conversation. Have some interesting posters made up inviting people to call asking about your good-looking, friendly and charming escorts for every occasion: dinner dates, banquets, parties, theater dates, dancing, special occasions. Try to get these up on walls at airports, train and bus stations, and in the better hotel and motel lobbies in your area -- anywhere travelers are likely to notice them. Run a regular ad in your Thursday and Friday papers and in the yellow pages of your telephone directory. Pass out business cards to all the car rental agencies and the restaurants near the travel centers and to anyone and everyone having anything to do with convention or tourist arrangements in your area. You will have to experiment and test to determine the right fee to charge for providing an escort, but with most escort services, the minimum is $50, plus all expenses. This is a business that will provide pleasure and profit to a person who is outgoing,
fun-loving and gregarious, but who is also sensitive to the needs of others and enjoys
seeing people get a new start and the more reserved ones come out of their shells. It
takes more to get started in this business than it does for some other endeavors, but this
is one that can start small and grow, improve, and even spread to franchising size. |
