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July 3, 2017

Snapdocs’ Business Model Doesn’t Add Up

Filed under: Advertising,Popular on Facebook (very),Popular on Linked In — Tags: , — admin @ 9:15 am

SNAPDOCS’ BUSINESS MODEL DOESN’T ADD UP

It was the best of times, and the worst of times. SnapDocs has the best technology but the worst notaries. Their business model should last as long as the careers of the accountants who gave Warren Beatty the wrong envelope. A chain of Notaries is as good as its weakest link. Just ask the crummiest McDonalds about that. So in the long run, how good can SnapDocs’ service be?

Two out of three notaries interviewed can’t stand them. And these weren’t SNAP decisions! Will SnapDocs’ ship come in, or did it never leave the docks? Hold on – I’m getting a text. Let’s see… thirty dollars for a signing a hundred miles away, with two hundred pages and 120 fax backs… no thanks! Four out of five notaries surveyed agree that one out of five notaries… is an idiot! And recommend sugarless gum for the borrowers who step in it on their way to a signing.

On the other hand (apologies to the amputees) one out of three notaries (and I was never great at fractions) really like the convenience and quantity of work they get from SnapDocs. And the signing companies love the technology and the convenience. But the love won’t last any longer than the rescission period if they don’t maintain critical mass. The question is… with such a small number of notaries who like them, can this business model last over the long haul? Another factor to consider is that out of SnapDocs’ roughly 6000 notaries, only about 800 of them have logged in in the last thirty days. SnapDocs’ technology can text dozens of nearby notaries, but if each area averages only 7 notaries that actually log in, how effective can this technology be if a critical mass of notaries aren’t cooperating with it?

We also notice SnapDocs’ web stats were down 70% in December, while 123notary was only down 25%.How long before their business model SNAPS?

Whoops, I’m getting another text. Can’t you see I’m driving??

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You might also like:

If everyone complains about Snapdocs, why do they continue to grow?
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=19034

The Uber principle at Snapdocs — new blood
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=18868

When did Notary Cafe become decaffeinated?
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=20770

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June 9, 2017

Black Notaries vs. White Notaries: Are you black or white ee-nuff?

Filed under: Humorous Posts,Popular on Facebook (A little),Popular on Linked In — Tags: — admin @ 8:42 am

Black Notaries vs. White Notaries: Are you black or white ee-nuff?

We got a very disrespectful comment about my rebuttal to comments on Black Notaries vs. White Notaries Comedy Edition. This was the most popular comedy post we have written in years, yet the comments were hateful. I guess Americans have nothing constructive to say about race relations. There is either an imposed silence reflecting a social restriction on freedom of speech — or, there is downright hatred — but, very little in between.

So, this commenter claimed that Chris Rock reflected black Notaries poorly because I depicted him as having bad grammer. My rebuttal to his comment on my rebuttal is — Chris Rock is far more talented than any Notary on 123notary: black or white. The post in question was not supposed to be realistic of real Notaries as real Notaries are rarely funny, and would not be good characters in a blog article unless they are brilliant or outrageous. Let satire be satire and don’t try to overanalyze it. So, to appease the aforementioned commenter, we will make an equally erudite man named Sedric Watkins who happens to be black as the star of this blog.

TOMMY: So, why did you become a Notary?

SEDRIC (Black Notary): I became a Notary to supplement my bustling Real Estate management career.

TOMMY: But, isn’t being a Notary a low paying side job?

SEDRIC: I assure you that it is as high or low paying as you make it. I set my minimum at $90 because I have other things of value to do that compete for my limited time resources. Like reading Shakespeare. Or inventing a vaccine that can cure Bill O’Reilly.

—–

SAM (White Notary): (ring ring) Hello?

ABC SIGNING SERVICE: Hi, this is Samantha from ABC signing service. We have a job in Compton where you will need to print out two sets of documents 300 pages each, do 65 fax backs, and notarize twelve signatures for a family of six. Can you do the job for $45?

SAM: I’d love to do the job for $45, but I’m afraid of going to Compton.

ABC SIGNING SERVICE: Figures… Hmmm. We need to find someone who isn’t afraid of going to the hood.

(ring ring)

SEDRIC: Punctilious Signing Services, this is Sedric.

ABC SIGNING SERVICE: Hi Sedric, let’s cut to the chase. And that wasn’t a dated reference to OJ. We need a Notary to go to the hood. We’ve tried twenty other Notaries, but they are all chicken. Mmm, chicken! Can you do the job?

SEDRIC: Why certainly. Ah yes, I remember the days of my impetuous youth when South Central used to be a black neighborhood.

ABC SIGNING SERVICE: Oh, it still is, where we’re sending you. The signing is for a higher up in the Crips who started a business. It’s 300 pages, 65 fax backs, and twelve signatures per person for a family of six. Can you do it for $45?

SEDRIC: Yes — $45… per signer with a $90 minimum for single document signings and $150 minimum for loan signings.

ABC SIGNING SERVICE: Hmm. So, you’re asking for $270.

SEDRIC: My time is in limited supply, and with six signers, if even one doesn’t show up, the whole signing is delayed.

ABC SIGNING SERVICE: Oh, so you’ve done this before…

SEDRIC: Of my 2500 signings, seven were for multiple signers and those were prolonged to say the least.

ABC SIGNING SERVICE: How about $150

SEDRIC: You’re paying for experience and a flawless track record.

ABC SIGNING SERVICE: You folks do have quite a record when it comes to track.

SEDRIC: How patronizing of you.

ABC SIGNING SERVICE: Thank you. Okay, $155

SEDRIC: $200 paid in advance via Paypal. I agree to stay there up to 75 minutes just in case a signer doesn’t show up or doesn’t have ID.

ABC SIGNING SERVICE: Done…

SEDRIC: (ring ring) Hello, this is Sedric from Punctilious Signing Services. I will be seeing your party today at 3pm for a signing. Please have appropriate and current identification.

CRIPS BOSS: You got it. Oh … and one more thing. Wear light blue.

SEDRIC: I’m wearing a black suit today, but I’ll wear a blue tie to show solidarity with your movement.

(In the hood — Sedric parks his car in a busy commercial area to go up to the office.)

PASSERBY: Hey man, what-chu doing in our hood dressed like that? Are you going to a funeral or something?

SEDRIC: No, I happen to be a businessman.

PASSERBY: So, what is it with this uppity lingo you’re using. Are you sure you’re even black?

SEDRIC: “Uppity” is code I don’t appreciate. I assure you that I am black. Must we speak in this dialect?

PASSERBY: You’re the one with the dialect my brother. So, what’s up with you?

SEDRIC: To put it in your vernacular, I’m a “high brow brotha!”

PASSERBY: I heard that. But, you ain’t black ee-nough.

SEDRIC: What prey tell do you mean by black ee-nuff? I’m sure that your definition comprises using incorrect grammar, being opposed to the powers that be, failing out of high school, having an addiction and being a minimum of two months behind on your alimony. You just described a white acquaintance of mine, but I digress. I pay no heed to your juvenile and grievously preposterous sense of cultural sensibilities.

PASSERBY: You got it all wrong man. I never finished junior high school, and they couldn’t find my legal address to make me pay any alimony because I don’t have one — so the joke’s on you! Basicaly what I’m saying, is that there ain’t nothing black about you. Can you dig it?

SEDRIC: My definition of blackness is based purely on genetic lineages tracing back to West Africa. my dear friend. Culture is not a well-defined science you see and therefore not a logical characteristic for racial classification.

PASSERBY: Well you seem like an Uncle Tom.

SEDRIC: Thank you. My Uncle Thomas, much like myself, drives a Ferrari, studies karate, and has a fine lady friend. Here’s a photo of my lady.

PASSERBY: Damn!!!! She got it going on!!! Honeylicious!

SEDRIC: And my mother likes her too, because in addition to being visually appealing, she is a nice person.

PASSERBY: Nice honey, but you’re a mamma’s boy.

SEDRIC: If your mamma looked like Halle Barry, you would be too. Be that as it may, I’m a very well paid mamma’s boy.

PASSERBY: Well, yo mamma’s an auntie Thomassina! A female uncle Tom!

SEDRIC: What did you say about my mamma? (kick, crash, bash, crunch, smash, chop, knock, clash.)

PASSERBY: That wasn’t karate. That was jujitsu — Okanawan style. When I said there was nothing black about you, I take that back. There is something black about you — but only one. You don’t like it when nobody says nothing about yo mamma. Can you tell me… ummm..

SEDRIC: The GPS coordinates of the nearest hospital so that you can heal the damage that I just did to you? I would, but I have an appointment to go to. Oh, and one more thing. Your Theory about Uncle Tom’s cabin has a hole in it — in the roof!!!

CRIPS BOSS: Here’s our man… We have our ID’s ready and we’re ready.

SEDRIC: I’ll be here for 75 minutes. I just hope that that statistical probabability of one of the six of you getting arrested in the next 75 minutes is low so I don’t disappoint my new client.

CRIPS BOSS: Here are our six ID’s. I’ll just lay them out on the table Vegas style — like a fan. Oh, and don’t worry, we alerted the police to your presence, so they won’t bother you.

SEDRIC: You make it so easy.

CRIPS BOSS: What happened to the side of both of your hands?

SEDRIC: I had to take care of some business on the way over here.

CRIPS BOSS: Another appointment on such short notice. I sure like the way you do business. You know something. You should join our operation.

SEDRIC: Not in this lifetime. But, call me if you need a Notary Public, Real Estate Manager, or Okinawan Jujitsu teacher.

CRIPS BOSS: I know you claim to be Okinawan… but, are you Okinawan eee-nuff?

SEDRIC: It’s not me… it’s the Jujitsu that is Okinawan… never mind…

(ring ring)

SAM (White Notary) I just got this job in Beverly Hills. They have good Chinese food here too if you can find a parking spot.

SEDRIC: Good for you. I hope you charged them enough or should I say, “ee-nuff.”

SAM: Oh, I charged them $100. I’m learning from you. But, you’ll never guess what the job is about. There’s a guy from the hood in the Beverly Hills hospital who says he got beaten up by some uppity Notary who thought he was too good for the brotha’s.

SEDRIC: Did he have a huge bruise on his upper right temple?

SAM: Why yes.

SEDRIC: Never seen him before in my life! Just out of curiosity, after you told him about the Chinese food, did he tell you that you weren’t “white ee-nuff”?

SAM: I think he only says stuff like that to you. But, after your little interlude, perhaps from now on he’ll make his flip remarks to people like me.

SEDRIC: It’s a distinct possibility.

.

You might also like:

Black Notaries vs. White Notaries — the notary manual
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=19322

Black Notaries vs. White Notaries – comedy edition
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=17455

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May 23, 2017

How to negotiate signing fees like a pro!

Filed under: Business Tips,Comprehensive Guides,Popular on Facebook (very) — admin @ 10:43 pm

There are several ground rules when it comes to negotiations.

1. The first offer rule
The person who makes the first offer will never get an optimal price. If you start the bidding first with a high price, you might just get declined without being given a chance. If you ask too little, you will miss out on more pay. If you let the other person make the offer, you will end up with more on average.

2. Whining ruins your image
Notaries are notorious for whining. “You only pay $70….. OHHHHHHH, why can’t you pay more?” Who needs this behavior? If you are such a great notary, you would have plenty of people offering you $125 to $150, and you would just hang up on these low-balling fools. But, if you whine like a baby, nobody will want to work with you even if you accept their pathetic offer. Most notaries are so bad, they are probably not even worth what the low-ballers offer them. Most notaries refuse to study to become fastidious professionals.

3. Take it or leave it
Sure, nobody likes fax backs, but don’t complain. You either accept the job or you don’t. If the signing has 300 pages per set of documents, don’t complain. You either say yes or no. When I do my billing, people always ask me, “What did I pay last year?”. My comment is that it doesn’t matter because last year is over, and that doesn’t effect what this year’s price will be. They want to waste my time looking something up for their emotional gratification which affects nothing. What a time waster. Don’t behave like this. If someone makes you an offer, you take it, leave it, or negotiate. If someone wants to politely negotiate with me instead of whining, they will get a lot farther. First of all I will value them more as a long term client. Second, I will know that they will behave professionally with the people who use my site — and I value that much more than how they treat me. Third, it is not a headache to deal with them. If I ask for $200, and you want to offer a polite counter offer, then go ahead. $100 would be rude because it is out of the ballpark. But, what about $150? Try it. I will probably say no, since my prices were computer generated using six inter-connected formulas. But, it doesn’t hurt to ask.

4. Getting companies to up their fee by $35 is possible
But, I know some very fancy notaries who are at the top of their game who get $50 companies to pay $85. These smooth operators get close-by jobs for $85 that are only a few minutes away. They have fast printers that print 45 pages per minute, so the double set of documents takes less than 10 minutes. They buy their toner or ink wholesale. They don’t whine — they PLAN, and they negotiate! So, in a little more than one hour, these seasoned Ninja Notaries get the call, print the documents, go to the job, get it signed, and get back home, and send the invoice. After expenses they probably made almost $70 per hour. Not bad! So, how do they do it?

5. How to impress the client
A seasoned notary will explain calmly how they are famous for doing clean-up jobs after notaries who didn’t know what they were doing ruined a loan. Why not start with a pro and get it done right the first time? How much did you say you offered again? $60? I understand that you are on a tight budget, but my minimum is $100. I can help you out for $85 today though, since I have a little more extra time than I normally do. Wouldn’t it be worth it to you to hire someone who has signed 4000 loans, and who is meticulous? I have state of the art machinery such as an HP 250,000 printer with quadruple trays, and I can explain all of the documents. Would you like to drill me and ask me a sampling of your hardest loan signing questions to see if I am up to your highest standards?

6. Ask them to ask you their toughest question
Most signing companies don’t ask notaries questions. They should. If you ask notaries questions, 90% fall on their face because they don’t have a clue what they are doing. So, if you do know what you are doing, tell the signing company to shop around, but to ask each of the notaries they talk to how they would explain the APR to a non-borrowing spouse. If you don’t get a good answer after 45 minutes, then call me back! No notary with fewer than 5000 signings can do a graceful job of answering this question even though it is ridiculously simple. It requires study, and most notaries are opposed to that idea!

7. Don’t say anything that sounds phony
Please notice that all of the points I made sound real. None of this, “I’m professional and accurate and do error-free signings.” That sounds phony. Make real selling points because you are selling yourself to people who have been in this business for years and have dealt with thousands of notaries — most of them bad ones at that. Figure out what to say that proves that you are the logical choice to hire, even at an inflated rate. After all, the extra pay translates into less aggravation after the fact. How much aggravation and potential re-drawing fees is the $20 savings worth to you anyway, you tell me?

8. Having a pricing formula sounds impressive
If you don’t like to negotiate, but like to use pricing formulas, that will make you look good. People who understand distances, time involved and other expenses are true professionals who know their business inside out. You might not always get the highest possible fee with formulas, but you will get respect and repeat business.

9. Negotiation points summarized:
I do clean-ups for other notaries who make mistakes; 5000 loans signed; ask me your hardest loan signing question and then ask the other notaries who you are calling; I have an HP (name) printer that prints 45 pages per minute. I have a mobile office — beat that. I’m ready now — let’s do this! All work guaranteed or your money back!

A comprehensive guide to Notary pricing
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=16504

Can you negotiate prices with SnapDocs?
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=16236

Negotiating with aggressive callers
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=16278

Notary Marketing 102 – Negotiating Fees (a thorough guide)
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=19784

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May 9, 2017

When do you cut clients?

Filed under: Best Practices,Popular on Facebook (some) — admin @ 7:35 am

Most Notaries either want to get more clients, or don’t want to bother with marketing because they have “enough” clients. Some Notaries have too much work and don’t have time to sleep. All three scenarios are classic cases of mismanagement. Being a Mobile Notary is like having a hotel. Hotels have rooms, you have hours. Both are in limited supply and you never know what type of last minute requests will come in.

Discounts for early booking.
If you have a pricing formula (few Notaries have formulas, but all should) you might consider charging less for people who book in advance and don’t cancel. That way you can plan your day effectively. Waiting for last minute calls is hectic and unpredictable which means you would make less average money in a 24 hour period.

When to cut clients?
If you don’t have enough clients, you are stuck with whomever hires you. If you don’t have enough experience, reviews, or didn’t pass the critical certification exams that people want you to, you won’t get as much business. It is your fault if your business is slow due to your own deficiencies, so do something about it. Cutting clients comes when you are at 80-100% of capacity. A Notary or hotel cannot book at over 100% capacity. If you work 60 hours a week, then your 100% is having all 60 hours booked (and having your notary conference hour/room booked.)

Who to cut?
Instead of refusing service to particular companies, it usually makes more sense to raise their rate. That way you make it worth your while to put up with their nonsense. Companies that are:

1. Inconsiderate — jack their rate up 10%
2. Pay Late — make them pay in advance with paypal (weeds many out)
3. Cancel more than 20% — jack up their rate 20% or have them paypal a non-refundable deposit for part of the costs.
4. Have really long packages — jack up their rate 10%; Long won’t kill you as much as the other problems.
5. Didn’t explain the loan to the borrower enough — jack up 25% (results in long phone calls while you twiddle your thumbs.)
6. Don’t pay enough — jack up according to your formula
7. Fax Backs — charge based on time and resources spent.

Ideally, to have a happy mobile notary service, you need to develop a large enough clientele that you can pick and choose. That way you can get rid of the annoying clients and still have enough left over. Most business these days is low-ball. However, experienced Notaries have been telling me that they have more than enough business paying a reasonable amount.

To have your cake and eat it too, having high paying, easy to work with companies, you need to be the best. So, I encourage you to pay your dues, get more experience, get reviews, certifications, have an amazing notes section, and you will do better. The most important bottom line is that advertising is the seed of business. Once you have developed loyal clients over the years, you will rely less on advertising and more on connections. It takes time and quality work to develop connections who rely on you. So, be patient and keep giving this business your all.

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April 24, 2017

If everyone complains about Snapdocs, why do they continue to grow?

Filed under: Advertising,Popular on Facebook (A little),Popular on Linked In — Tags: — admin @ 7:07 am

Despite constant bickering on the part of Notaries, Snapdocs continues to grow. Perhaps it is the convenience. You can send a message to twenty people simultaneously. But, it’s not convenient for the Notaries, and they don’t get paid well either.

Should Notaries continue to be signed up on Snapdocs? If they are desperate! It just seems like a huge headache. But, if you thrive on quantity of low paying and annoying jobs, it sounds like low-ball heaven.

The fact is that Snapdocs grew all year. They had a slow month in August or September according to some webstats I saw. I have no idea why. Perhaps some technical issues? Or perhaps their competitors (me) did something good!

How long will Notaries put up with cattle calls, low fees, fax backs and micromanaging? And how much will Snapdocs continue to grow?

123notary is going to have to compete a little harder and add some new high-tech features to regain some of the market share lost to Snapdocs. But, what type of features will we use? Find out!

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You might also like:

Snapdocs is a bigger operation than what I thought
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=19192

I felt like I was being used (Snapdocs assignment)
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=18852

The Uber principle at Snapdocs — new blood
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=18868

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April 5, 2017

Do you know your Federal holidays?

Filed under: Loan Signing 101 — admin @ 8:08 am

Many Notaries are a little rusty on Federal holidays. Plus, a few of the Federal holidays are a little bit complicated to understand. Here are the 2017 holiday schedules. There are ten Federal holidays in all.

Jan 1 — New Year’s Day
Jan 16 — Martin Luther King, Jr.
Feb 20 — Washington’s Birthday
May 29 — Memorial Day
July 4 — Independence Day

Sept 4 — Labor Day
Oct 9 — Columbus Day
Nov 10 — Veterans Day
Nov 23 — Thanksgiving Day
Dec 25 — Christmas Day

New Year’s Day When we ask people to name a holiday in January, most people omit to answer New Year’s Day as it feels like it is celebrated more in the end of December — but, that is New Year’s eve which is not a Federal holiday.

Martin Luther King Day Then we have MLK day. If we celebrated holidays in chronological order, Columbus Day would come before MLK day. We would have a day commemorating when slavory in the new world was originated, when it ended, and when civil rights began to be recognized. But, we have our holidays in inverse chronological order with MLK day, then Lincoln’s Birthday and then finally Columbus Day. Martin Luther King, Jr. was the most famous civil rights activist in America. He had a dream about people finally treating each other fairly for once. The Twitter MLK had a dream where people would be judged each other by the content of their 140 characters, and not the color of their link(s). I had a dream too, and then my alarm clock went off.

Washington’s Birthday is the most misunderstood of holidays. The reason being that it is also informally called President’s day. The holiday is based on a merging of Washington’s and Lincoln’s birthdays as celebrating both was just too much. Incidentally, Washington’s birthday is an optimal day to get a discount on a Sealy mattress. If your mattress is more than eight years old — it’s time to replace! Without George Washington or someone like him, we might still be a colony and have to pay a 3% tax to the British without having any representation.

Memorial Day: The holiday I always forget is Memorial Day. Perhaps, we should call it forgetial day. Independence Day is always fun, but it feels more like Afghanistan with all of the fireworks going off and car alarms. I guess that is what the revolution felt like — but, our flag (and my hubcaps) was still there, and that is the main thing.

Labor Day (pronounced “Lay-bDay” in Boston) must be popular with the union folks, but Notaries don’t get enough credit for their labor, especially with all of the micromanaging and fax backs. If Notaries were in charge, we would have Fax Back day, where we burn fax backs in a parade and then stomp on the embers. Sounds like something they would do in Iraq.

Columbus Day (not popular in the Lakota reservation) is the day we celebrate how — in 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue and Italians named our country! Vikings discovered America in the 1100’s, but didn’t get much if any credit in history books while Siberians “discovered” American accidentally while hunting caribou in 28,000 BC. and appropriately named it, “The sheet of ice to the East.”

Columbus committed acts of genocide on native peoples and forced many indiginous peple into slavery not to mention forced conversions to Christianity. Personally, I think that Columbus Day should more accurately be called, “The White Man Day.” Columbus had many goals such as the pursuit of gold, and geographical knowledge that would lead to the subjugation of the Americas for economic gain through colonialism, a trade route for African slaves, sugar, and tobacco. How progressive!

GINO: “Hey, we a named a your country — capiche?”

JOHN: “Oh, cool. What did you name it?”

GINO: “A- MER-ica!!!!!”

JOHN: “Oh, I didn’t know that.”

Veteran’s Day is a day we remember Veterans, but they very rarely have the opportunity to sign a VA loan on their own holiday.

Thanksgiving is a much nicer holiday. We gave thanks to the American Indians in Massachusetts for teaching us how to plant corn and survive in a cold and unfamiliar ecosystem. Subsequently, 96% of East Coast Native Americans died of diseases courtesy of European immigrants. What about the remaining 4%?

Black Friday is thought of by Notaries as a holiday because nobody works on Black Friday. However, it is officially a working day according to the government. HOWEVER, it is up to the Lender if they include Black Friday as a day to rescind or not. Half of Lenders do not county Black Friday in the three day period and treat it more like a Sunday.White Saturday is the day when people eat leftovers (generally white breast meat) and should be renamed, “Leftover day.”

Christmas, the most commercial holiday of the year is a day that hardly anyone works and is an official Federal Holiday. People normally take the 24th off as well, although it is technically a working day. If you call Notaries on the 24th, they will turn down work on account that they are baking cookies or spending time with the grandchildren.

If the Lakota Nation could name a holiday, they would call it “Broken Treaty Day” where broken treaties that the USA and native people’s made were systematically broken on a whim. What’s the point of having a treaty if you don’t abide by it?

Anyway, now we know our ABC’s, how America was discovered, the kinds of unfriendly behavior the early colonialists engaged in, how we thanked the Indians, how people got their civil rights, how we eat leftover turkey, and how we bake cookies in rememberance of our savior and lord from Nazereth while declining Notary calls. The end!

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October 18, 2016

FASS has a brand new app

Filed under: Business Tips,Popular on Twitter,Popular Overall — Tags: , , , , , , — admin @ 10:46 pm

FASS has a new Faxing App you can download. This app is so important since so much faxing is required. I don’t know how the app is used since I don’t do faxing anymore. But, the following banks below require fax backs on many of their documents. See the list.

Ditech Financial, LLC Investment, Second-Home, and Non-Rescindable properties or when notated in special Instructions, 100% of the entire package MUST BE scanned/faxed back immediately and you would need to plan your schedule accordingly.

Freedom Mortgage- certain critical documents on all Freedom signings must be scanned/faxed back immediately.

Bank of America- certain documents on all Bank of America signings must be scanned/faxed back immediately and you would need to plan your schedule accordingly.

Wells Fargo- CRITICAL DOCS on all Wells Fargo signings MUST be scanned/faxed back immediately and you would need to plan your schedule accordingly.

All other lenders: Some lenders might require critical or all documents to be faxed back on case by case bases.
***Please be sure to review the Signing Agent Checklist for faxback requirements. Documents should be scanned/faxed back within 4hrs of completion of signing.
*** You must upload all documents to the order prior to closing/completing out order. If you complete the order prior to uploading the documents, the upload feature will not be available and a traditional faxback would be required at that time. (Quality issues will not be voided.

Will this app change your life? Has anyone used it?

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You might also like?

Apps that Notaries have never heard of that could change your life!
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=16311

Are notaries becoming unsnapped?
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=21244

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September 19, 2016

Do you negotiate fees correctly over the phone?

Filed under: Marketing Articles,Popular on Facebook (A little),Popular on Linked In — Tags: , , — admin @ 8:54 pm

Most Notaries study from loan signing classes, but never study the art of negotiation. Negotiating is not hard, but it is an art. Turks, Persians and Indians seem to excel at this while Americans haven’t a clue. In negotiating Notary fees, the secret is to make sure the other person makes an offer first. If you offer first, it might be too low in which case you’ll lose money. Or it might be too high in which case they’ll think you are too expensive and might not want to bargain. If they offer first, you can raise the price by $15 or $20 and still be in their ballpark or just agree if they are being reasonable.

On the other hand, if you want a reputation of charging fair fees for solid work, you can have a pricing formula based on time spent or even have fixed fees, or mileage fees. If you charge $110 per signing, that seems reasonable. They can always bargain you down to $85, and if it’s not too far, you might say yes and make some fast money.

I remember talking to a sub teacher who made $90 per day. Making $85 in two hours including driving and printing is better than $90 in a day. So, you are making more than teachers who are supposed to be the pillars of education in society today.

The other thing to remember is that you have to get your facts and terms straight before you quote a realistic price. If you don’t know how many pages, fax backs, signers, and notarizations there are, you might not give a true price. If you don’t know if the company is fibbing about the # of pages you’re in trouble too. If you don’t know if you get paid if the loan doesn’t fund, you’re in trouble too. Terms are as important as price or anything else. You can negotiate a $500 price, but if the loan doesn’t fund, you might get zilch.

So, put all the cards on the table before you quote your rate. You can quote first, or wait for them to make an offer. Additionally, most Notaries prefer phone offers to emails or texts because they can bargain more easily. You can bargain in any medium. Just state your rate and state your terms by text, email or phone. It is the same — just more delays in feedback.

You might also like:

A comprehensive guide to Notary pricing
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=16504

Can you negotiate prices with SnapDocs?
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=16236

Negotiating with aggressive callers
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=16278

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September 5, 2016

Experienced signers are being weeded out of the industry

Filed under: Marketing Articles,Popular on Facebook (comments),Popular on Facebook (some) — Tags: , , , — admin @ 9:37 am

In the old days, Notaries would make so much money. People could make $150 per signing if they had experience. $125 was a standard fee for Title companies. Unfortunately, even Title companies have lowered their fees to poverty level and hire beginners who fax back tons of pages so the Title company can quality check them. This is a sad state of affairs. But, honestly there is a shortage of qualified Notaries who can be trusted without all of the fax backs.

The problem is that for the few Notaries that are worth paying extra for, there is not enough business. You also cannot make your business model on hiring top notch Notaries since there are so few of them. A top notch Notary on 123notary merits about $110 to $125 per signing and are getting that in real life. There are about 2000 Notaries who are 123notary certified which demonstrates basic knowledge. There are about 250 who are Elite Certified which proves superior Notary skills and understanding. The elite certified Notaries are making the money, but the volume isn’t there. And as a result, many Notaries have dropped out of the profession. It is sad that some of the best Notaries dropped out and even sadder that they dropped out due to price competition.

So, inexperienced Notaries who work for $40 are being phased in while experts are leaving the field. I hope one day that this will change. Let’s pray!

On the other hand, Notaries with experience are weeding themselves off of the SnapDocs database. More and more Notaries are sick of the low-balling and cattle calls that go on over there. They are relying more on their long-term contacts, and other directories as a source of work.

(Added 1-01-2017)
With interest rates on the rise, business is likely to be slow in 2017. Goldman Sachs predicts a slow and steady rise in interest rates over the next year with a tenth of a percent average rise per quarter. This will be very bad for the Notary industry and I pray that we don’t lose our best members.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/here-are-goldmans-2017-forecasts-for-stocks-oil-and-more-in-one-chart-2016-11-18?link=sfmw_tw

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You might also like:

Organizing the table for efficiency
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=22245

Best blog articles for advanced Notaries
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=14736

My interpretation of how the Notary industry went South
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=16500

See our string of Snapdocs articles
http://blog.123notary.com/?tag=snapdocs

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August 20, 2016

10 ways to “deal” with SnapDocs

Filed under: Marketing Articles,Popular on Facebook (comments),Popular on Facebook (some),Popular on Linked In — Tags: , , , , , — admin @ 10:57 am

A guide to high survival in a low-ball world.

These days, so many Notaries are complaining more and more about SnapDocs. In fact, the drama is so intense, that posts about SnapDocs are the most popular articles on our blog these days. SnapDocs is not bad, they just have a system which you haven’t mastered yet, Grasshopper! SnapDocs caters to companies who care about price, but don’t care about experience. Those who want top-notch seasoned Notaries come to 123notary as we focus on having the highest caliber of Notaries at the top of the list. So, read this and you’ll learn the secrets of high survival in a low-ball world.

(1) CALCULATE TIME
Calculate how many minutes you’ll need to fulfill the request.
Some Notaries complain if the fee is too low without looking at the time involved. $40 is not bad if the job is within ten minutes and there are no fax backs and very few pages. For a ten page signing ten minutes away, you might be there and back again in less than an hour. How many people do you know who complain about making $40 per hour? Read the text and see where the address is and how many pages are involved.

Regardless of the specifications, calculate how much time you need to:
Print, Drive, Call, Sign, Fax, and Fedex.

(2) BACKGROUND CHECK
Background Check the reliability of the company making the assignment
Tired of screwball signing companies? Low-balling is not the worst thing. Not getting paid, or being held hostage for three hours waiting for edocuments while your other clients are waiting is. You can background check companies on www.123notary.com/s using your iphone. I just updated the “votes” on all of the signing companies on our list in May 2016.

(3) MAKE COUNTER OFFERS
If you get a job from SnapDocs that comes as a text, you’ll be alerted to the location, number of fax backs and other basics about the job. You can use that information to calculate the amount of time needed to fulfill the order. Based on the time involved, you can decide how much to charge. If you have a base rate for your time (make it more expensive during the last week of the month) then you’ll know exactly what to charge. You might discount your fees a little for SnapDocs clients as they clearly don’t want to pay much.

If you get an offer for $50 to do a Refinance for two signers with twenty pages of fax backs, you can make a counter offer of $85. Some Notaries bid $125 and never get called back. You have to price your bid within the market otherwise you might as well just not use SnapDocs at all.

If you bill your time at $30 per hour and a job will require 54 minutes, ask for $27. Or if you’ll need two hours, then ask for $60. This is a very reasonable way of quoting rates that is fair to you as well as the client.

(4) NEWBIES — GAIN EXPERIENCE!!!
If you are new in the Notary business, I advise not being too picky about what people pay, providing they pay within 45 days. You need to get at least 1500 loans under your belt to be taken seriously by the big guys such as prominent title companies. You should pass the 123notary & NNA certification test if you want to be taken seriously as well. If you want to get experience in a hurry, SnapDocs is one way to do it. You’ll get tons of jobs, and all you have to do is drive, fax, and sign. You might not get paid that much, but experience is worth its weight in gold, so consider that your payoff.

Our list of signing companies that hire new signers is another way for newbies to get started.
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=7059

(5) FILL IN YOUR EMPTY TIME
If your other customers book in advance, and your daily schedule has some holes, SnapDocs might be the perfect way to fill in those unused hours. Although you might not get paid that much, at least you will have something to do so you (and your printer) won’t get bored. If you make $200 a day average doing signings for your regulars and you can pick up another $60 from SnapDocs, that is not a bad daily average.

(6) WIN OVER NEW CLIENTS
What a new client will pay you is different from someone who knows and trusts you. Once you build up trust with a client over the course of a few jobs, or a few months, you might be able to charge more. If they have a written track record about your service and know that you won’t screw up, they might pay you $20 more than they would pay another guy even though they are low-balling. So, you can use SnapDocs to meet new clients, and then once you have them hooked, jack your rates up a bit — but, not too much of a bit as you are still dealing with low-ballers.

(7) THE FIRST 3 WEEKS OF THE MONTH
Business is normally sluggish during the 3rd to the 22nd. So, that might be a great time to augment your business by using SnapDocs! You might need to save time during the end of the month for your regulars, but when things are slow, you should be willing to work at a somewhat lower rate.

(8) LOOK FOR CLOSE JOBS
Working for cheap is not that bad if you can find close jobs. If you get twenty texts per day from SnapDocs, and one or two is really close, you can try to nab those close ones and make some fast money. The key is having something to do during the other seven hours of your work day. If you make $60 for a signing ten minutes away, you might be making $50 per hour when all is said, done, and faxed.

(9) GET PAID UP FRONT
Ken is on our forum all the time offering some old school common sense to our Notaries. The message is — you are not a bank, why do you offer credit to strangers with no collateral? You don’t know if or when those signing companies will pay you. So, why not get $85 up front via Paypal? If they really need you they will pay you!

(10) THE CARMEN METHOD — ABSTINENCE
Carmen thinks that Notaries just shouldn’t use SnapDocs as the fees offered are too low. You can use abstinance as a way of dealing with this situation. Seasoned signers will never get paid what they are worth on SnapDocs, your experience is just not valued enough. With all of the faxing back, they can double check a newbies work and get accurate work at half the price by micromanaging. So, if you are “all that,” then get Elite Certified by 123notary and stick with us as you’ll get paid more from leads from our site — and forget about the cattle callers!

A final note from Jeremy — “Why am I promoting my competitor?”

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You might also like:

May best signing company gossip
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=15417

My interpretation of how the Notary industry went South
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=16500

List of New Signing Companies Feed
http://blog.123notary.com/?cat=419

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