Posted by Veronica_CA on 6/22/04 11:49am
Msg #3321

Marketing Ideas

I'm new to this business and I was trying to figure out the best way to market myself. I made a flyer and I was thinking of going around to the local title/escrow/realtors/banks and offering my services that way. Has anyone had any success marketing themselves this way?

Any suggestions are appreciated. ☼Ü☼

Reply by HisHughness on 6/22/04 5:13pm
Msg #3343

I have another small home-based company called "In a Word Creations," which does newsletters, brochures, news releases, speeches, etc. I also did all the marketing for the non-profit associations I ran (sometimes, Signing Agents of Austin comes periously close to being one of those associations). Which is to say, I know at least a smidgen about marketing. One of the best things I have found is National Pen Corp. I buy their products all the time: They're quite cheap, well made, and perfect for mailing or dropping off personally with a card.

Right now I have in my inventory three different types of ball-point pens, five refrigerator magnets, and two small Swiss Army knife key chains. Every time I do a closing for a new company or a new scheduling agent, I send a letter of appreciation to the individual with an accompanying promotial piece. When I overnight a package back, if I have the name of an individual to whom the dox are going, I drop in a token. Many, of course, go to people who will never have any role in sending me a new closing. On the other hand, I never know when one of those people might influence someone who >>will<< send me business, or might help me cover my ass if I foul up. It never hurts to have your name out in as many venues as possible.

I mention National Pen Corp. (check out their web site) because they run 2-for-1 specials frequently, and because their products are so inexpensive. I have been extremely satisfied with everything I have gotten from them. It is well worth it to invest 40 cents to a dollar an item to promote yourself.

The only other advice I would have is to get the best product you reasonably can afford. The only people who probably make less than the beginning signing agent are some of the 18-year-old schedulers. A nice promotional item in their mail box will endear you to them.

Reply by BrendaTX on 6/24/04 6:37am
Msg #3446

Thanks, Hugh. I looked at the pen site and it is all that you indicated it is. Now I have a question about something totally different so if anyone is reading this that hates a question squirming around uncomfortably in the wrong thread, please stop reading--now. (It is so hot out that people are getting really cranky on the forums, and I'll admit that also includes me . We do not want to cause more friction than Harry's server can manage!)

Hughness - Since you are the Vocabulary Dude of NotaryRotary I want to ask you if there is a word that describes when, for instance, a contractual agreement is written to be so biased to one party that it has no considerations, or terms, that protect the rights of the other party. It seems to me that in one of my earliers lives I have been aware of a "contract" being dismissed in a local county court because it was _____ whatever the word --- Or am I having a flashback to the Armadillo Headquarters and Austin in the 1970's?

Seriously, I have been trying to remember if there was a term -- null or invalid is not quite doing it for me and there are not any legal dictionaries laying around my place these days...
Thank you, brenda

Reply by HisHughness on 6/24/04 1:36pm
Msg #3460

Unilateral contracts

If I remember my contracts class correctly, an "adhesion" contract is one which is unilateral. However, for a contract to be an adhesion contract, there may also be another element required: That no other reasonable source of the goods or services exists. That's what makes an adhesion contract unpalatable. If other means of satisfying the need exists, then there is no need to buckle to the unreasonable demands of the unilateral contract.

That'll be $350, please.

Reply by Art_MD on 6/26/04 12:56pm
Msg #3555

Re: Unilateral contracts

Sounds like your descrivbing the language in a "deed of Trust" or a note