Are you a mobile Notary? Do you want to expand your business? It’s hard to get a lot of Notary business, especially in this economy. However, if you play your cards right, you can do amazingly well. Here are some of our best marketing articles for the new or veteran Notary to get ahead.
.
ACTIVE MARKETING
Please consider that you need ACTIVE marketing as well as PASSIVE marketing. Active marketing involves contacting signing and title companies one by one in addition to Attorneys, hospitals, and anyone else you wish to work for. Active marketing will be more labor intensive in the beginning of your career as you do not start out by being on any organization’s list. However, once you are on the lists of at least 200 companies, then you will most likely be spending more of your time working and less of your time looking for work.
Also Read: How to start a successful mobile notary business from scratch
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=13340
Getting on board with Title & Signing Companies
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=14851
Dormant Contacts
Even after you are on the list of a company, you still need to contact them from time to time to just let them know you exist and want to work. We suggest that when Notary business is slow in the beginning of the month you schedule time to call your contacts who are dormant in hopes that they might actually use you one day.
Requirements for work
* Certain big title companies like Chicago Title require 500,000 E&O Insurance
* Other title companies want 100,000 E&O
* Some Notaries show off by having a million in E&O which is expensive and makes you a target for lawsuits.
* Others want a current background check from a reputable vendor such as the NNA or Sterling, but not necessarily from the other vendors.
* Some want vast experience as a Notary while others prefer beginners who will work for cheap. If you work for companies that hire beginners they will micromanage you. If you are tired of being micromanaged, try to work directly for companies that hire experienced and reliable Notaries.
Is an NNA background check really necessary to get work?
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=10385
Certifications
Many companies like it when Notaries are certified. But, there are many vendors offering certification and which one is the best? NNA certification is the most widespread and widely recognized in the industry. But, on 123notary, people looking to hire Notaries pick 123notary certified members more then twice as often as they pick Notaries who aren’t. My suggestion is to be certified by three or more agencies — that way you’ve covered all of the bases and will make quite an impression.
Printers
As a Notary, you should have a fast and reliable printer and perhaps a backup printer. Dual tray laser printers are the standard tool of seasoned Notaries. Single tray printers might be okay if you have software to figure out what size paper is for which document. Some Notaries print everything on legal although some Lenders might not appreciate that.
Professional Dress
Business casual is the official dress code for Notaries. No shorts, flip flops, tank tops, jeans or torn clothing please.
Low-Ball Offers
As a Notary, you will receive a lot of low-ball offers. Notaries complain endlessly about this. If you are not an experienced Notary, low-ball offers might be your ticket to getting experience. Personally, I feel that new Notaries do not merit high paying Notary jobs and should work for low fees. However, once you have educated yourself in the “art of the signing” and have paid your dues by accumulating an experience of more than 2000 loans, you should get paid at least an average of $110 per signing otherwise something is very wrong. The economy does change over time and wages change too, so be flexible and work for whatever people will pay you.
Related Content: Low-Ball Signing Companies? How to get biz directly from Title
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=14950
Cattle Call Notary Offers
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=9841
Setting Prices
Notaries need to be flexible and realistic about what they charge. Some Notaries are too snobby to take low paying jobs and end up starving. Other Notaries take too many low paying jobs and miss out on the good jobs because they are too busy working for peanuts and then spending their profits on gas, toner, paper, and other expenses. You need a sophisticated model for pricing that incorporates the time of the month (month-end is busier and should be more expensive) distance, timing, traffic, and how many pages the job will be.
* Base your prices on how long you estimate a job to take including traffic.
* Lower your prices at the beginning of the month when business is slow
* Expect to be paid poorly until you have at least 1000 loans signed
* To get paid well, you need a constant supply of regular clients who pay well which you accumulate over time
* You need to advertise heavily to get a constant supply of new clients in hopes that some will become regulars.
* You need to be on time, be nice, not make mistakes and get docs back on time to get rehired.
* Base job time on the name lf the Lender as packages from particular banks are normally a particular (+/-) number of pages and then factor in traffic on the route you’ll take at that particular time of the day, night or weekend.
.
PASSIVE MARKETING
Passive marketing involves advertising on directories. Once your ad is out there, companies can find you. However, not all advertisements attract the same amount of business, and not all Notary directories are equal. Online yellow pages are yet another way to advertise as well as Google local, however we do not know much about the results of such advertising. Passive marketing is very powerful as you get motivated buyers calling you when they really need something done. However, most Notaries are neglectful in the creation and maintenance of their advertisements and do not get the full potential of their investment. A good Notary profile has reviews from satisfied clients, certifications, and a powerful and well organized notes section. You need to do everything right to maximize your results.
Where to advertise
123notary, Notary Rotary, Notary Cafe, and Signingagent.com are the four most powerful players in the Notary advertising business — in that order. You should advertise on all four with a paid listing. 123notary offers high placed listings. We suggest that you pass our certification before investing in a high placed listing. High placed listings get you more business as well as better quality (and better paying) Title company jobs — and it means that you will be seen first before people start scrolling deep and shopping around.
How to create an amazing notes section
We have written many articles on this overlooked topic which you should read and study. If you want to get ahead, become an expert at the art of the notes section. Companies read what you have to say about yourself, and if you have very little to say, or just a bunch of fluff, you are not likely to get hired. Notaries who do well have thorough and factual information about themselves that is neatly organized into paragraphs. They cover their areas of expertise, certifications, professional memberships, equipment, notes about what is unique about how they handle business, segments on their professional history before they were a Notary particularly if it has some sort of business or Mortgage related relevance, and more.
Everything you need to know about writing a good notes section
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=16074
2014 excerpts from great notes sections
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=13613
Being 24 hours helps a lot
If you want to get more business, offer service to more counties, and during more hours. It is just common sense — do the math. Some Notaries only want to service their home county during their “flexible” hours of 9-5 while others are 24 hours and cover eighteen counties. If you need to sleep, then limit your hours from 6am to midnight, but the more flexible you are, the more business you can accumulate.
Reviews are essential
We have written many blog entries on reviews and are publishing a comprehensive guide to reviews as well around the same time I publish this article. The important concepts to remember are:
* Six reviews will double your new business from our site
* After you have six reviews you will get a small marginal benefit from each additional review
* Well written reviews count more
* Don’t get multiple reviews the same day or it looks like you wrote them yourself
* Reviews that are three or more years old do not benefit you much, so always get new reviews.
* You might need to ask ten people to get a single review, but it’s worth it.
* Signing & Title companies are horrible about writing reviews since everybody bugs them to do it
* Individuals are easier to get reviews from, so do some jobs for individuals
* Ask for a review when someone compliments you on your work otherwise don’t ask.
* Email requests for reviews in addition to asking in person. Email them a LINK to your review page. That will take the work out of trying to find the page which I assure you people don’t have the time or patience to do.
Related Reading: A comprehensive guide to reviews
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=16290
Company Names
It will help you to have a company name in the long run. But, think long and hard about what you name your Notary business. Names with geographical significance are recommended. Names with notorial or Mortgage significance might be good. General business names that are not relevant to this industry might not be ideal.
Choosing a name for your business license
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=7103
Keep your information up to date
Many Notaries create a listing and forget about it. Your listing is like a plant — it needs to be watered and trimmed from time to time otherwise it will wither. Login to your listing every few months, we require it, and it is good for the popularity of your listing. Browsers can see the date you last logged in. If you login more regularly you’ll attract browsers that care about how well you maintain your listing. After all, if you neglect your listing, you might neglect their loan! Update your # of signings and touch up your notes section regularly with anything new that you learned or any new way you have of expressing yourself. You can also email us for free help with your notes section — and yes, we do free notary notes makeovers.
.
ADDITIONAL READING
General Marketing
Long term marketing plans
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=15793
I signed up with 200 companies only to get work twice
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=15445
Notary Advertising
Unique notary notes phrases from the Ninja course
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=14690
7 ways to use Facebook to market your notary services
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=5396
Pricing & Income
$40 for a signing 72 miles away?
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=14959
What is the difference between getting 16 clicks per day & 100+?
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=13185
How much more does a 123notary certified signer make?
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=15392
Here is another way to make $4000 more per year
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=14162
Is $75 enough to print 2 sets of docs & do faxbacks?
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=10369
He made $35,000 a month his first year in business
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=3894
Other
Which tasks can you do which are worth $1000 per minute?
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=4113
123notary behind the scenes
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=2499
.
