(6) Marketing Archives - Page 8 of 26 - Notary Blog - Signing Tips, Marketing Tips, General Notary Advice

October 28, 2020

He took Jeremy’s advice and got new title companies

Filed under: Marketing Articles — admin @ 2:44 am

I am always pleased when I get positive feedback. A Notary in Northern California had a long pep talk and review session with me two years ago. After the pep talk he started studying a lot. He studied about 15 hours. I made him retake his certification test. I was tired of people who passed long time ago who were not sharp on their information any more. He failed his original recert test, but after the long period of studying got an A on the retake. He also redid his notes and started putting in some work to get reviews.

The result is that for the first time in years he started getting a lot of title company work. All of his extra consciousness, conscientiousness, and newly polished skills attracted more work on a tangible and also metaphysical basis. His old clients dried up for the most part due to the sluggishness in the industry. Without that new work, he would have been out of business. Thank God I believed in him and gave him a generous chunk of my time.

What do I have to do to get the rest of you to do some serious studying. Most of you think that studying is a joke, and that you don’t need to do it. But, to do well in this business you need to be serious and to be serious you need to study. Yes, you can learn on the job, but there are certain things you only learn from written materials in courses. Our certification keeps getting more and more cleaned up to the point that people are valuing it more and more. If you put some work in, you can benefit from having it. It is a lot of effort but worth it if you plan on being in business for the long run.

You might also like:

Your number of loans just went down?
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=21236

Do you invest in your notary business?
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=22129

Comments (0)

October 22, 2020

10 reasons to get a high placed listing on 123notary

Filed under: Advertising — admin @ 9:30 am

Many Notaries go for top listings on 123notary despite the high price because they know it generates jobs. However, many Notaries prefer the free listings because they don’t want to pay for performance. Here are some reasons that might sway your opinion on paying for a higher spot on 123notary.

1. Title companies prefer the top several notaries on 123notary.
Title assumes that the top several notaries are better quality on 123notary. This might have to do with the fact that we use an algorithm to filter out those with low overall scores from being high on the list. Title is picking up on that fact, and that has been the case for years. Title companies that pay well rarely look far down the list for Notaries.

2. Get seen
People higher on the list get seen more than those down the list. People shopping for price might go all the way down the list to look for a notary, but those who pay well do not generally have to look far. Paying a few hundred to be high on the list can pay off fast especially when business is good.

3. Get paid more per signing
Those listed higher on the list generally get paid more per signing. People who low-ball often hire from lower on the list or go to SnapDocs, or NotaryRotary.

4. Get more clicks and overall calls.
If you are high on the list, you will get many more clicks and calls than those down the list. You will get more jobs than with an identical listing down the list. Being high on the list doesn’t guarantee jobs, but it makes you in people’s face and impossible to miss.

5. Don’t get overlooked
Most people who use 123notary start at the top and keep calling until they find someone who can do the job for a reasonable price. If you are at the bottom of the list, you might never get called except for jobs that are late at night, far away, or don’t pay well. Although you never know.

6. Get respect
People assume you are a better quality notary when you are at the top of 123notary.com. Our site has a reputation for having good notaries, especially at the top of the list.

7. Get high placement in neighboring counties
Only a high spot on 123notary will get you higher placement (above the free listings at least) in adjascent counties at no extra cost. Some Notaries get heavy call volume from neighboring areas as well as from their home area.

8. Have a guarantee of where you will show up on the list.
Regular, preferential and free listings do not guarantee you where you will show up. They are just levels. Preferential means you are above regular, and regular means you are above free. It doesn’t guarantee a particular placement. Being a p20 guaranatees you top placement on your county page. We cannot guarantee zip results due to the unpredictable overlap, but overlap only happens if someone is near you, but on the other side of a county line.

9. Have a guarantee you won’t be removed
Free listings do not get always get reminders to login and can be removed on a whim by 123notary staff. High placed paid listings get reminders to login and you will not be removed unless you ignore a lot of reminders to login by email and phone. In fact, with most top placements, I login for them (shhh, don’t tell anyone.)

10. Get customer service
If you are a free listing, you get minimal if any customer service from us. But, high placed listings get not only password assistance, but get help with their notes section, marketing advice, and lots of hand holding from Jeremy and Carmen. If you want to be cared for and get high quality help from people who have been in the business for 22 years, a top listing is a cost efficient way to get that.

NOTE
High placed listings perform well if they have a few reviews from satisfied clients as well as a thorough and well written notes section. If you leave your listing stripped down, you might not get your money’s worth. 123notary is in the business of getting renewals and repeat business, so we strongly suggest that you ask for our help and suggestions as to how to make the most of your listing. That way you will get more work and be very likely to renew with us which is what we depend on for our long term survival. Getting 123notary certification is another strong plus for your listing and you can email us to learn more about that.

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October 13, 2020

10 rules for negotiating Notary fees

Filed under: Comprehensive Guides,Marketing Articles,Popular on Linked In,Popular Overall — admin @ 10:29 am

Originally published in Nov 06, 2017

Many Notaries complain about how little they get paid. And then I complain about how little they know. The two tend to go together and the pay is not going to go up before the knowledge does. However, there are negotiating techniques that can help.

1. Let them name their price first
In a bargaining game, it is better to let the other person bid first. You can always raise your ask price if they don’t offer enough. But, if they offer far too much, you would never get it if you asked first and asked too low.

2. Start with a high ask price
If you ask for $125, you can always go down on your price, especially if the job is close or fast. You can ask how many pages, fax backs, and notarizations are in the package. If it is quick, then give them a quick price.

3. Never whine
If you whine about the condition of the industry or how low the fee was, people will think you are a low life. Professionals don’t whine. Professionals operate! So, if you are offered $60, ask for $85 and see what happens.

4. Decline the low-ball offers
If you spend all day working for peanuts, then when the good jobs come, you won’t have time. Decline bad offers so you are free for good offers.

5. Answer your phone
If you only offer when you are not in a signing and not driving or cooking or thinking, you will miss 80% of your calls. How can you negotiate a good fee if you don’t take the call in the first place?

6. Act professional
Try to impress them without trying to impress them. Most Notaries try to do a snow job and brag about how great they are. Seasoned operators don’t do this. Smart professionals will engage you in an intelligent conversation about the job, the industry and the state of the union. Ask them questions about the job, where it is, who it is for, what type of loan it is, and about their career and industry working in title or escrow. But, whatever you do, don’t talk about your zero percent error rate and how reliable and experienced you are — nobody can verify your claims and nobody wants to hear it.

7. Never say hello
Unless you work for an aloe vera companies, don’t answer the phone saying “aloe?” Answer stating your company name and personal name. It sounds professional. If you have screaming kids in the background that sounds horribly unprofessional. Have a quiet place to answer the phone and if you are in a noisy place, try to go to a quieter place and apologize about the noise. Just because you don’t mind noise doesn’t mean the title company enjoys barking dog and screaming three year old.

8. Talk about real life
Sometimes I talk to Notaries who tell the Title company that you can call me to clean up the mess after you hire one of those $50 signers. Over half my work is clean up work. That sounds real to title companies unlike all the nonsense about how experienced and knowledgeable you are which just sounds like fluff. Tell real stories about how you handled complicated situations that others might have goofed. Mention that split signing where you did some complicated manouver on the Acknowledgment certificate and how you went out to sign the wife at 3am because she could only see you at that time due to her busy schedule as a nurse. This is impressive and much better than fluff.

9. Negotiate timing
You can offer a better rate if they get you late after rush hour. They might prefer to just offer you more and get the job booked.

10. Double book and get a bad review
Yes, you’ll get bad reviews from this, but double booking makes sense. People cancel jobs all the time when they hire you, so why can’t you cancel a few jobs. If you book jobs tightly, the other person will cancel 20% of the time — at least. So, if you book a job for $60 and someone else offers you $150, you can ditch the first job and take the other. You will probably get a bad review that will last for three years, but you will have $90 extra in your pocket. It’s a dirty technique. Not recommended, but food for thought and great blog material.

11. Never let them see you sweat.
Appearing calm and collected are the way to go. If you seem flustered, that is bad. Oops, that was eleven rules and I promised ten. Okay, disregard point eleven and just use antiperspirant.

You might also like:

How to negotiate fees like a pro
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=19198

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

Notary Marketing 102 – Negotiating Fees
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=19784

A complete guide to getting paid
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=19794

Comments (9)

October 9, 2020

123notary changed its business model a little bit

Filed under: Marketing Articles,Popular on Facebook (some) — admin @ 9:42 am

This year due to the change in the type of demand there is for Notaries, we changed our algorithm at 123notary. We used to emphasize quality of the Notaries. However, we reduced the size of the site down to 5300 and lost so much market share compared to Notary Rotary that I decided that my former business strategy no longer applied as the market changed. So, I proceeded to add many more notaries to the site and put a greater value on click averages.

The quality based algorithm (still a major factor in our overall algorithm but toned down a bit) was based on how Jeremy (that’s me) felt about the quality of the notaries. That algorithm helped for many years, but lost its effectiveness recently. So, now I am basing placement of free listings and discounts for high placed listings more on click averages. Click averages are an indication of how popular you are with the users. Since my goal is to attract users, I decided to give preference to those that they liked rather than to those that I liked although I still give some points to those who are pleasing to me on the basis of phone manners and notary knowledge.

Now we have 7600 Notaries on the site and a modified algorithm. The new system has attracted 20% more clicks and a lot of new high placed sign ups.

Comments (4)

August 23, 2020

August 17, 2020

How is 123notary RON friendly?

Filed under: Advertising — admin @ 8:47 am

We have a handful of RON Notaries now. We encourage people to know how to mention this in their profile. Please learn these easy rules about how 123notary works.

Your NOTES section is where you write about yourself, and special skills. I am not sure if people come to 123notary for RON Notaries or not, but if they do, put it at the top of your notes section.

The top of your notes section shows up in the search results. So, if the first thing you mention is that you do remote online notarizations, people will find that.

Let me know if you get RON jobs from 123notary. You might more and more as time goes on.

Personally, I think RON needs a female counterpart SALLY. But, that is just a passing idea.

Comments (5)

July 25, 2020

Daily habits vs. Reviews. They are more similar than you think.

Filed under: Reviews — admin @ 9:32 am

If you want to have a healthy listing, you need reviews. You should ask for reviews every day, or at least whenever someone tells you how much they like your work. But, many notaries claim they don’t have time.

You have time to brush your teeth daily right? And if you don’t brush them — you lose them. (gulp.)
You have time to wear your seat belt, right? And if you don’t you might die.
You have time to eat daily, right? And if you forget, you will die after a few days.
But, many of you don’t ask for reviews daily.

People who don’t have reviews get less than half the business that those who have reviews get. It is also important to write a thorough notes section (ask for help if you need any).

People also come up with lame excuses why not to ask for reviews. Some will not ask for reviews because they don’t get enough business. But, if they had reviews they might get enough business. Others say they don’t need reviews because they have too much business. But, if things slow down, you will once again need the reviews.

It’s kind of like not brushing your teeth because you don’t have any cavities — now… Brushing your teeth is for the long run and not for right now. So is asking for reviews.

It’s kind of like not wearing your seat belt because you haven’t had any accidents recently.

It’s kind of like not eating for a month because you are too fat anyway.

So, ask for a review today (and then floss.)

Comments (2)

July 9, 2020

Copying your notes will not get you clicks

Filed under: Your Notes Section — admin @ 9:22 am

I make welcome calls to all of our notaries. I often inform people that their notes section is blank. They say, “No problem, I’ll just copy my bio from such and such another site.” Or they say, “The bio should already be on there.” I am looking at a blank notes section on their listing and they are assuring me that it is not blank. I wonder which one of us is correct?

In any case, your notes section is one of the most critical parts of your listing. If you describe yourself well, you get more clicks and more jobs. If you leave it blank, write a one liner, or create a poorly organized notes section, you will get few clicks.

Copying your notes section is a problem simply because of the programming on 123notary.com. The top of your notes section shows up on the search results. If your copied notes say, “Hi, my name is Julia.” then that is what will show up on the search results when people see your listing along with the other local listings. Since they already know your name is Julia, you are wasting precious space telling them something redundant.

It is more effective to put your experience and selling features at the top. Mention what makes you stand out. Do you do jail signings, last minute signings, and what types of loans have you signed before?

Additionally, I have found that notes sections on 123notary.com perform better if they are in a particular format. Your copied notes will not be in that order or format. We have written countless blog articles in the category called, “Your notes section.”

So, try to read lots of our articles on notes sections and don’t copy and paste your notes. But, copying your notes is a lot better than leaving your notes blank. It is also good to touch up your notes a few times per year to keep them fresh.

Comments (1)

July 2, 2020

Reviews – are you ashamed to ask?

Filed under: Reviews — admin @ 8:30 am

So many Notaries don’t have reviews. Each time I talk to them I get different concerns, excuses and questions. It is common for people to not want to ask for a review because the signing company told them not to talk to the borrowers about any business other than the signing. But, not all signing companies tell Notaries this. Other times, many Notaries feel ashamed to ask for reviews.

I try to explain that getting reviews is a life or death issue. If you don’t get reviews, you don’t get much business and then you have no future in this industry. If you feel fear or shame, try to work your way through it otherwise you won’t survive. Asking for reviews is a habit. Once you get used to it, you will do it naturally.

Just try to do the best work you can. Then, when someone tells you how good your work is — that is your cue!

Comments (3)

June 19, 2020

Is your local notary market saturated?

Filed under: Marketing Articles — admin @ 10:16 pm

Recently I have been putting more notaries on 123notary.com. Our popularity went up as a result even though the quality of the notaries I added was not good. However, Notaries in very populated areas who were at the bottom of the list did not do well.

In counties (or subcounties in parts of California where we use that division) where we have 30 or more Notaries, those at the bottom of the list who were newly added hardly got any calls.

On the other hand, in other parts of the country where areas have zero to twenty Notaries, newly added Notaries were getting a generous quantity of clicks comparable to Notaries who have been with us for years.

If your market is saturated, that is not necessarily a problem. It just means you have to stand out and be listed higher on the list. We can help advise you on all of these matters. Remember – Notaries are plentiful, but Notaries who are experts at their game are rare and stand out.