PORTSMOUTH — Did Match leave you matchless? Maybe eHarmony struck a wrong chord, or for you, Plenty of Fish had plenty of duds?

Mom's fix-up with her dentist's second cousin didn't work out? Now, according to Wayne Kendrick, there's "dating for the rest of us" with his new dating program that might help you tap into your own "it factor," find someone who has "it"and who is "it" for you.

Kendrick came up with the idea for the IT Factor in September 2009. "IT" is a dating service with a system of personality evaluations, interviews to assess core values and interests, relationship counseling, professional photos and controlled, safe in-person dating encounters by tapping into his own inner "it" and dating experiences, Kendrick said.

"I was in sales and recruiting for 20 years and worked for a publishing company," Kendrick said. "I got laid off and I got tired of getting laid off. At the same time, I was dating, and I noticed the way these sites work, there's no personality, no substance. I knew there was a better way, and when this idea came to me, I sat down and wrote a business plan in 20 minutes."

That plan led to the opening of several IT Factor offices and Kendrick said he expects national franchising in the near future. Kendrick, who has been divorced for 14 years, said his own dating experiences led him to want a better way.

"I met someone who didn't match their profile, who didn't even look like their picture and there are many out there who are afraid to use online dating," he said. "I care about the people. So I got a group of people together — a women's group and a men's group and found out what they were looking for. I just thought about how I would like to see it."

The IT Factor has three levels at different prices but all include a one-on-one personal interview, professional portrait, computerized personality test and a background check as well as two mixer events, a chaperoned date and a guarantee of three dates. Level 2 adds more events, dating advice, introductions, post-date feedback, six dates per year and Level 3 goes on with periodic new photos, more events and lifetime membership among other benefits.

Kendrick said he used his sales and marketing experience, plus his own sense of being able to read people, to create the one-on-one interview.

"The questions cover a lot of things, but some are based around childhood experiences and your values growing up," he said. "There's politics, religion, even sex in there.

"I ask people about their bedroom — what was it like when you were a child? About family vacations, what your holidays were like growing up. A lot of the questions are really date related, they're what you would talk about on a first date, a second date. I'm getting your core values, your perspectives on children. But this is in-person, and there's a lot of body language we're looking at, too."

Questions are purposely light on financial preferences, only going as far as metaphorical champagne versus beer tastes and some speak to sexual interests, issues that might be deal breakers down the road that Kendrick said are best aired early on. IT Factor members also take an online personality survey to help staff to match them and create a "romantic resume" of basic information.

"We have a whole database and then a report," he said. "We go back and forth looking at who your matches are and there's a certain criteria. That's why I meet everyone."

Kendrick is also working with life and dating coaches who will further help members get ready to date with relationship seminars that cover not only how to get a relationship, but how to keep one.

"People are broken because of past patterns," he said. "We'll help break the patterns."

There is also chaperoned dating in the service.

"We have preferred vendors like the Portsmouth Gas Light and La Carreta and we'll bring in 10 couples to the restaurant for one-on-one dates we've matched up," Kendrick said. "When they decide the date is over, the women leave and the men will come up to us — we're in the restaurant — and we talk and give them feedback and get their feedback. The woman doesn't have to worry about being followed."

The service includes a professional photo that doesn't have to go online and a criminal background check.

"It's a background check for marital status and criminal background," Kendrick said. "We don't care about your financial status, but I've seen plenty of people online who turn out to be married.

"We want people who are serious about finding a relationship and we offer the way to do this at a good price. I don't want to rob someone for their happiness. We don't want to keep people in the system, we want to get them out."

Kendrick is looking to expand the IT Factor, which has offices in Manchester, Derry/Plaistow and the Seacoast. He has tentative plans for Natick and Worcester in Massachusetts and interest in Boston's South Shore, Hartford, Conn., and New York. "These are franchises," he said. "You get rights to the site, logos, trademarks, the trademarked database and the photo equipment. I hope to have 100 locations by the end of the year."

He also plans to launch separate services for gay and lesbian singles and another for those 60 and older.