Posted by Frustrated Notary on 7/26/05 1:31pm
Msg #54790

Calling Signing companies as part of advertising

I have been a notary a little over a year. I live in somewhat of a small town just outside of San Jose CA. I have signed up with over 50 signing companies. I have joined Notary Rotary, Go Mobile.com, Nation Notary Assoc. 1-stop Notary. I have sent out advertising to all of these signing companies with bags of candy and pens. After all that if I get 6 to 8 signings a month, I'm lucky. The companies seem to try to keep me in my town or the next town over which is under 10 miles from my home, not a very large area, most of them overnight the docs and only pay $50.00 ( I advertise for 4 counties.)
When I took my Loan Signing Agent training the instructor said, to call the the signing companies and ask if they have any signings in my area that day. I called a few and felt like I got the cold shoulder or they would say,"if we have a signing in your area we will call you."
Any advise I can get on this matter, or if someone is willing to share their advertising secrets that have worked for them would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks so much in advance!

Reply by Melody on 7/26/05 2:00pm
Msg #54798

A few thoughts.....

You may be in an area that is highly saturated with notary signing agents.
You might ask other MD NSAs on this board for insight.

Keep signing up with companies until you hit 300. I did that when I started.

The instructor who told you to call SSs to ask for work was wrong. They don't want to be bothered.

Save the treats for when you get TCs that use you regularly.

Read message 33325 and the entire thread. Do everything recommended.

Good luck!

Reply by Frustrated Notary on 7/26/05 4:12pm
Msg #54837

Hi Melody,

My name is Georgia. Thank you so much for your imput and suggestions. I have a feeling you may be right about the saturation point. Twice this month the phone rang and I had to run for it but missed. By the time I got to the phone looked up the number in my caller ID and called back the job had been taken all of that took 3 to 4 minutes at most. I will keep on signig up with the signign companies.

Reply by Ali-IL on 7/26/05 4:46pm
Msg #54854

Don't call everyday like that. You don't have to waste money sending things to them.

Do write up a reminder letter and send to companies when not busy. I found that some of them write back saying I am not in their database and, I thought I was. One called and said that my commission was expired. Which it wasn't they had entered it wrong.

Sign up with every ss,title,lender that you can find.

There is a list on signingagent.com that you can start with

Reply by Sheila in San Jose CA on 7/26/05 2:57pm
Msg #54819

I am in San Jose, you are in a small city nearby? San Martin, maybe...? curious where you are...I have been fairly busy since I began doing this and although there are alot of SA, there seems to be enough work to go around. Maybe call some of your most recent assignments and ask them for feedback on your work, (make sure your work is the best it can be) are you advertising on the web? Are you registered with any other online directories such as this one? It all helps, a LARGE portion of my work comes from the internet.

Reply by Frustrated Notary on 7/26/05 4:05pm
Msg #54835

Re: Calling Signing Companies as part of advertising

Hi Sheila,

Thank you so much for your reply. My name is Georgia. I live in Morgan Hill. Nearly all my signings have been in Morgan Hill, San Martin or Gilroy. I will call about some recent signings as you suggested, but it seems that I would get some calls back to make corrections if I was doing poor work. I rarely get call backs and when I have it is simple things that I could correct without another trip to the borrowers home. I might even go overboard, if I see a doc that normally needs a jurat but does not have one built in, I will put an all purpose jurat with it with a note to shred if not needed. I have been been very careful to add Calif. Jurats to everything that needs them. I go through each page of the documents 5 times before I put it into and envelope to return to make sure every item is signed and/or dated. No I am not advertising on the web myself, but I have signed up with National Notary Assoc. and 1-stop notary. I do have several companies that call me often to do signings for them but always in the 3 cities I mentioned and most of them overnight the docs and pay $50.00 for the signing.
I will be having a web page made soon, thanks for the suggestions, they are most appreciated.

Reply by Anonymous on 7/26/05 4:47pm
Msg #54855

Re: Calling Signing Companies as part of advertising

*I rarely get call backs and when I have it is simple things that I could correct without another trip to the borrowers home.*

If they have to call you to fix anything you will probably never work with that company again - unless they are one of the cheap $50 services.

*if I see a doc that normally needs a jurat but does not have one built in, I will put an all purpose jurat with it with a note to shred if not needed.*

This practice could get you into very hot water for UPL.

Reply by Sylvia_FL on 7/26/05 5:32pm
Msg #54869

Georgia
You will find that most companies will keep you close to home. They always look for the nearest signing agent to the signing. Why would they want someone to travel a distance and have to pay more when there is someone closer to the borrowers?

Don't waste your money sending candy and pens to the signing companies, unless you have received a lot of work from them.

Reply by missy_socal on 7/26/05 5:50pm
Msg #54874

food/candy handouts

I just had to poke my nose in this post...

When I was first starting out, I visited a large SS that happened to be local to me. One of the receptionists took me around the office, and introduced me to the various schedulers (and there were a LOT of them).

Anyway, she informed me of the best way to get them to call me: regularly stop by with various treats for all the schedulers. She suggested that I bring Krispy Kreme's or candy...as those go over the best.
As I looked around the large, bustling room I noticed that EVERYONE was eating something!

Tearing my eyes away from all the munching mouths, I couldn't help but think: If I had a job that chained me to my desk for 8 hours...the last thing on earth that I would want would be mountains of doughnuts and candy!!

Anyway, as time went on, and I discovered this site...a quick search of the archives showed me that I was wise not to have turned into Willy Wonka for this SS--they didn't have the best/easiest reputation around.

I know that the Goodie Brigade is a super common mode of doing things in the lending/escrow business, but I had never had it spelled out so clearly before!

Reply by TitleGalCA on 7/26/05 6:03pm
Msg #54877

Re: food/candy handouts

It's kind of sad really - who'd have thunk it that you could buy business for a few boxes of stupid donuts?? Nowadays, I don't accept those kinds of gifts - unless of course its a $100 gift cert for Olive Garden and I can take my friends.

Oh!! gotta go, some sales rep just left 2 boxes of Krispy Kremes in the lunchroom! I'm on it.

Reply by missy_socal on 7/26/05 6:27pm
Msg #54893

Re: food/candy handouts

oh, don't get me wrong! I love Krispy Kreme donuts just as much as the next gal (and maybe more...that's the problem!).

Unfortunately, since I'm only 5'1" those delicious suckers only have so many places to go!

My sister in law is a mortgage broker, and she has resorted to begging the various reps to stop bringing that stuff around the office for the same reason.

Reply by TitleGalCA on 7/26/05 6:46pm
Msg #54902

Re: food/candy handouts

Missy, I've only got 1 inch on you...so we have the same problem! I get the 3 pm doldrums (sp) and just crave that suger boost.

I wish these reps would bring around some Metabolife or something instead....