April 2003
Personal Business
Local matchmaking guru Susan Fox has been playing cupid since 1992 at her local personal ad agency, Personals Work! . Using flowery language and celebrity comparisons (while staying within the realm of honesty), she and her staffers create personal ads for those in need. Then they help clients find a suitable publication for. their ad- for $125 an hour (not including the price of the ad). Fox answered a few questions about her unusual career.
IB: How did you get started in the business?
SF: I met my husband through a personal ad, which I wrote, and I was helping place personals for other people. We figured out that we were on to something.
IB: How many clients do you have?
SF: Hundreds. We get referrals from people's friends, hairdressers, personal trainers.
IB: What's your success rate?
SF: More than 50 percent of our clients meet with success, which is defined as meeting their goals: marriage or a serious long-term relationship.
IB: What's the typical Boston client?
SF: Most of our clients are women-about 70 percent. They range in age from pretty young to up into their 70s. We think it's fun to work with the older ones because when we started, women over 40 were being told that there was no chance for them.
IB: How does the process work?
SF: If they're out of state, we require a photograph. If it's someone we meet with face-to-face, we give them homework. We poll their friends, children and mothers to really get a consensus about them. They give us phrases
that people who know them would use to describe them. We also ask them to tell us what their real strengths are that they bring to a relationship.IB: What is the most common celebrity that people try to describe themselves as?
SF: For one woman we said "Winona Ryder without the kleptomania."
I've had people who say they think they look like Gwyneth Paltrow, and I'm like, "In your dreams, honey!" Maybe she has the long blond hair, but that's about it.IB: How much do you have to exaggerate?
SF: It's really about putting the best foot forward. It is advertising-that's why they're called personal ads. You gotta sell the sizzle, not just the steak. We try to be really evocative. We have a client who looks like Edie Falco. Now, maybe not everyone wants to look like her but it brings an image to people's minds, so we'd say "Edie Falco on a good day."
Personals Work! (617-859-0720). Sfox@latoile.com.-Jessica lredale