The Rapid Response Notary
We frequently see the flashing lights and hear the wailing siren. It could be a fire truck, police car or an ambulance. They know the value of a rapid response, often minutes, sometimes seconds will make the difference between being –on time- or being late. Their systems have evolved to, in many ways; shave seconds wherever possible. They use short radio codes in lieu of lengthy verbiage. Often they send a signal to the traffic light to turn green for them. The classic image of sliding down the pole to the fire truck, so much faster than stairs; is known to all.
While our clients rarely have life threatening situations, they too desire a rapid response. Most of use endeavor to avoid our incoming calls going to voicemail; a good start. True, we make lots of calls ourselves, tying up that very important incoming line. Simple solution: use two phones; they are certainly cheap enough. One should be dedicated to incoming calls, and nothing else. The other is for outgoing calls, and those critically important email and text functions.
You just completed the signing, time to send “signed with no issues” to your client. Soon after you have just dropped off the edocs with FedEx. Being a good communicator you send a second status of “package is with FedEx, scanned, and now trackable”. But, that’s not worth setting up an external keyboard, so you “thumb” it into the tiny phone keyboard. However there is a better way. Install on your phone(s) a macro facility that can generate the standard messages, and many others. I use the “signature” facility in ProfiMail (my email program), to select the appropriate message. It took a while to setup; but now those routine messages can be sent with little effort. More importantly: they are sent moments after the event.
Possibly on your business card you list both your home and cell numbers. When you are out on an assignment and a call goes to your home phone will it be forwarded to your cell? Most phone providers allow this, and if you configure it to forward on the 5th ring, you will have plenty of time to answer the phone when home. The objective is to not have clients connect to voicemail.
I assume you use a Bluetooth hands free device with your phone. Just holding a phone while driving will qualify you for a traffic citation, and possibly a fatal accident. You have the phone mounted where it can be seen and reached easily, great. Another problem, the caller wants to give you some detailed information to write down. Most of the time I request the caller to send me the information via email, and offer my email address. But, they are driving too, or unable to text or email. That is when I ask permission to start the voice recorder in my cell phone. A quick tap of a widget on the home screen starts the recording function in Dictomate.
I prefer a separate GPS device and rarely use the one in the cell phone. At a critical turn, a “pop up” for an incoming call can be annoying. No GPS? – you become a “Delayed Response Notary” while you struggle to ask at gas stations which way to your destination. It’s a good idea to go to the right house the first time. But, the GPS does not indicate which it is in a “cluster”. That’s the time to use a powerful flashlight to find the house number; avoiding the neighbor’s guard dog!
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And Drop Off The Package
And Drop Off The Package
You did “almost” everything right. The call was logged and scheduled. You confirmed with the borrower. The signing went smoothly in every respect. All required “pick ups” were included. When you printed the docs you also printed a separate PDF with the FedEx airbill. You slip the airbill into the pouch, seal the envelope and, well prior to pickup time, the package is dropped off. Mission accomplished, check to follow.
Perhaps not, considering the rather outspoken title person making your cell phone’s speaker vibrate violently. “We got our delivery, it was not delivered; where did you leave it – at a local bar?” That’s certainly not the case. It was only yesterday afternoon; you clearly recall bringing it to the local FedEx office – NOT a street side drop box. There was a long line for the sole representative on duty at the time. Usually you hand it over the counter and ask for a “drop off receipt”. But, as this was so very routine, and the wait would be long – you slipped it into the drop box IN the FedEx office. You have done this dozens of time before, never a problem.
Without a drop off receipt to scan and email, you have no proof of drop off. So, you make the trip (as demanded by title) to the FedEx office. It’s a long wait, but eventually you get to speak to the office manager and explain the situation. “I have good news for you”, sayeth the manager, “I have the package, let me get it and return it to you!” Not really good news, but better than no news. Soon the manager returns and hands you the envelope. “Why did you not ship it? – it has a prepaid airbill”.
“That may look like an airbill to you but it is totally illegible! My staff was not able to read the account that would be paying; also the scanner could not read the bar code. We were hoping you would return to claim it”. Groan. You know that if you had waited for the drop off receipt, it would have failed the scan – while you still had time to do something. Now it’s the next day and the title people are having fits. Of course the blame will be on you. They will claim that you did not print the PDF properly. They will ask why you shipped an illegible airbill.
It kinda sounds like a 60 yard touchdown run, only to trip over one’s untied shoelace at the one yard line. The call to title yields the expected results – colorfully. They insist that you, while at the FedEx office – FAX the entire package immediately. You must also rent some PC time to print a replacement airbill so it can be shipped while you are there. This time they explicitly ask for a FAX of the drop off receipt. They consider you a klutz that needs micromanagement.
With demands accommodated, you return home to reprint that PDF with the airbill. Just as you suspected it was sent as garbage – nothing you could do would make it print correctly. However, if you had given it a glance at “doc print time” you would have noticed the problem. At that time you would have been able to call the sender and get a replacement PDF, or, at least the proper charge code to use on a hand written replacement airbill. But you did not catch THEIR error.
When I was a kid we used to play Tug of War. A long thick rope, us kids holding on each end with a gigantic mud puddle in the middle. The team captain would be at the end of the rope, with the rope tied around the captain’s waist. The losing team kids would let go prior to the mud puddle. Being last in the chain, like a signing agent; the team captain was dragged into the mud.