Posted by Traci/CA on 8/30/04 1:56pm
Msg #7023
Negotiating Fees
Here is a question from a semi-newbie...
How does a newbie still negotiate her fee while gaining experience?
I have done about a dozen signings. I am getting regular business from a $50 company with signings close to home. I have also done a couple signings for two other signing companies who have paid more. I don't quite understand the art of negotiating the fee. I would appreciate some feedback as to how some of you would handle the negotiating process especially when you are still trying to gain experience.
It was my assumption that if you are inexperienced and need to gain experience you should take all work as long as it is for a reasonable fee and if the company was a $50 company the fee was not negotiable. My negotiating skills need some work. I don't know if my area is saturated and if there is someone out there willing to take any fee and I don't want to lose my regular business while I am learning.
Thank you in advance.
| Reply by Bob-Chicago on 8/30/04 3:55pm
Msg #7024
I am a major "oldbie" having been around longer than dirt
As to saturation go to NR home page, click "find a notary" and punch in your zip code with desired mile radius. .Nmes an quantity of Premier and regular NR members will come up
If you are not a Premier Member, I recommend tha you become one.
The more signing that you do well, the easier they will become and the more jobs you will be offered. The signing companies talk to each other just as we do. If asked if they have a rellable NSA in a certain area, they will frequently share that info.
When you are new and dealing with a $50 ss you are pretty much stuck with that number
Remember that as you build up volume, you can combine two or more signings on one trip
I frequently get six or more on one trip so that I am not driving back and forth to my home base. This , obviously, increases your hourly income. You will find as you go along that some closings will be real quick and easy, and some will take longer than normal. Some will pay more and some less. When you spread it over a lot of singnings , it all seems to even out. Also, I have sometimes taken a signing a bit furher than I normally go or a bit cheaper than I normaly charge. Many times it will get a call shortly therafter for another singning on the way , or in the same area. That way I am doing multiple signing on one trip. If I had turned down the firse one, I might have ended up kicking myself when the second call came in.
Aslo when asked "how much do you charge" respond, that is about xx miles, how much do you usually pay. Let them make the first offer. You can try to increase their price, but once you quote a price, you are stuck with it.
Early in the month when I am not too busy I will accept a bit less so as to keep busy and becasue they lenders/title cos/ss and not a desperate. At the end of the month, I can demand more of non-regulars. It is a case of supply and demand.
Keep an eye on the boards as to who the non-payers are , but take that info with a grain of salt. If you turn down a signing because you are not sure if you will be paid, then you are guaranteed not to be paid for the singning that you turned down. Evey busines that grants credit has a certian amount of bad debts, The trick is to keep that amount to a minimum. I do some work for some companies with less than perfect reps, and have never had much of a collection problem. I attribute that to my keen judgment, sharp nose for BS, but primarily to blind luck.
Good luck.
| Reply by BrendaTX on 8/30/04 4:32pm
Msg #7025
Bob states: "I am a major "oldbie" having been around longer than dirt."
Not entirely. Don't let him fool you. He might be an oldbie notary, but he's only 28, very buff, and looks exactly like Brad Pit does in the movie 'Meet Joe Black.'
| Reply by Bob-CHicago on 8/30/04 4:47pm
Msg #7026
Some say it's more like Walther Mattheau in Grumpy Old Men. Those that met me in Philly are free to comment as they wish.
Actually wasn't Joe Black a dead guy?
I better get back to work before someone trashes me for going off-topic. At least I didn't say anything political. Hugh will need to chime in here with a "Bush Bash" , unless, of couse, he is all out of ammunition.
| Reply by HisHughness on 8/30/04 5:54pm
Msg #7029
Bob snickered:
***Hugh will need to chime in here with a "Bush Bash" , unless, of couse, he is all out of ammunition.***
One of the genuinely nice things about being a Democrat, Bob-Chicago, Chicago, as you surely must know, is that you don't ever have to create or even search for ammunition. The Republicans keep handing it to you and painting targets on their butts.
| Reply by Sandi_CA on 8/30/04 6:03pm
Msg #7031
Oh please.....keep the political nonsense off this board. We are not all Democrats, you know. I personally think that the likes of Ted Kennedy and Bill Clinton are not ones I would wish to associate myself with....but you can think as you wish. The tidbits just don't belong here. You, Hugh, are an intelligent man in most respects. Lets stick to the notary details, please.
| Reply by HisHughness on 8/30/04 7:25pm
Msg #7034
Sandi_CA complained:
***Oh please.....keep the political nonsense off this board. We are not all Democrats, you know. I personally think that the likes of Ted Kennedy and Bill Clinton are not ones I would wish to associate myself with....but you can think as you wish. The tidbits just don't belong here. You, Hugh, are an intelligent man in most respects. Lets stick to the notary details, please.***
Please note the message below, previously posted at #6943. It sets out my view on political posts. Thank you for judging me intelligent. Could I interest you in perhaps expressing that view of me to my wife and daughter, who have occasionally voiced some doubts about that?
***Folks, I share the concern about this being turned into a political forum; I don't think that is its purpose. I make a distinction, however, between this type of banter, which I enjoy occasionally, and expounding on the issues, candidates or partisanship. I promise you I won't do the latter unless someone goes there first, which is what happened on the one occasion I remember that I got heavily involved in political sniping. I probably won't let that sort of posting pass unremarked.
I enjoy getting skewered with a bon mot in partisan repartee as much as I enjoy skewering. So, please, don't take it personally. And if it appears to me to distract from the function of the board, I won't do it. ***
| Reply by JimTX on 8/30/04 8:33pm
Msg #7036
Re: Negotiating Fees-HisHughness
It DOES so knock it off.
| Reply by mimi_NJ on 8/30/04 6:19pm
Msg #7032
And Hugh said:
One of the genuinely nice things about being a Democrat, Bob-Chicago, Chicago, as you surely must know, is that you don't ever have to create or even search for ammunition. The Republicans keep handing it to you and painting targets on their butts.
Amen!
Mimi
| Reply by Paul_IL on 8/31/04 1:41am
Msg #7048
True,
Republicans paint targets on their backsides cause they Do things. Democrats always say we can do this better but just never manage to reveal their mystery plans on how they are gonna do it! Just as Zel Miller! Life long Democrat and supporter of President Bush!
| Reply by HisHughness on 8/31/04 8:25am
Msg #7057
Paul_IL contended:
***Just as Zel Miller! Life long Democrat and supporter of President Bush!***
A backwoods Georgian, which Zell Miller is, is a Democrat in the same way that a hooker is a representative of a service industry. You can call a pig a higher mammalian vertebrate, but it's still just a pig.
I have to concede, though, that I am enjoying the GOP convention. It is a welcome relief from more taxing intellectual exercises, such as watching reruns of "Three's Company" and "Green Acres."
Semper fratres,
His Royal Hughness
| Reply by Jon on 8/31/04 2:23pm
Msg #7069
Hugh clarified:
***I have to concede...taxing intellectual exercises, such as watching reruns of "Three's Company" and "Green Acres."***
Thank you Hugh, for clearly demonstrating that we need a Republican in the White House. I mean, if watching "Three's Company" and "Green Acres" are "taxing intellectual exercises" for a Democrat, imagine the horror if one of them has to try to figure out something of substance like foreign policy!!
| Reply by HisHughness on 8/31/04 4:01pm
Msg #7072
Jon, you just might want to go back and read my previous post a liiiiiittle more carefully. I think you missed something.
On another topic that is not nearly so much fun, this has been the worst month for me since that time my ex-wife told me her mother was moving in with us. My telephone has been as useless as teats on a boar hog. I guess if I was going to have a slow month, though, August was the one, since I had a couple of consulting jobs, was out of town, and also sick for a spell, all of which would have prevented me from doing closings. Maybe everybody else had a great 31 days; if so, I'm gonna hate you for it.
| Reply by Traci/CA on 8/31/04 10:47am
Msg #7059
Thank you Bob! I really appreciate the wealth of information you were willing to share.
It really helps when you get a veteran that will actually answer your question. I have learned so much by reading the boards. Most of the times when I have posted I haven't been very successful with getting my questions answered. Thanks again to the major "oldbie".
| Reply by Bob-Chicago on 8/31/04 8:19pm
Msg #7089
Happy to help
Good luck to you
If you want the folks on the board to love you and jump in to help you, post a lot of off-topic, paritisan, political stuff, strongly critical of one canditate or the other and be sure to poke fun at and insult those with opposing views (JUST KIDDING)
| Reply by Tess/ME on 8/31/04 8:29pm
Msg #7092
Re: Happy to help Bob you better watch it...or
| Reply by Tess/ME on 8/31/04 8:31pm
Msg #7093
Re: Happy to help Bob you better watch it...or(didn't finish
HisHughness will get jealous...you are "too funny"
| Reply by Jim-TX on 9/1/04 12:35am
Msg #7109
Re: Happy to help
Thanks Bob. You are right on
| Reply by Traci/CA on 9/1/04 6:47pm
Msg #7171
Negotiating fees
I was under the assumption that this was a board to help each other
not state political views and go so far off subject that it doesn't do anyone
any good. I am sure there are plenty of places to talk about political views.
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