Posted by Harry [NR] on 6/29/06 11:39pm
Msg #129805
Intolerable Behavior - Part I
This is an FYI.
We are here to support your respective signing agent businesses and to be a general resource for notaries public nationwide. We are committed to generating revenue for you in exchange for your membership and patronage. We spend more money to advertise YOU than you, collectively, pay US. In that sense, we are LOSING money so that you can MAKE money.
This is fine, for the most part, because the money we lose is offset by product sales and what remains is enough to pay the bills. (We are a small company with extremely low overhead, so it doesn't take much.) We also have every intention of adding significantly to our revenue with the introduction of new products and a more concentrated focus on additional markets. Still, your continued patronage is not only appreciated, but critical to our success.
Getting to the point... While I have covered this before, I will reiterate for those who missed it or have forgotten or misunderstood:
WE CONSIDER IT A GREAT INSULT WHEN YOU ADVERTISE COMPETING PRODUCTS AND SERVICES ON OUR FORUM.
Let me give you an example...
Nancy Notary gets her first notary commission in 2004 and becomes a signing agent. One of our staff members spends time on the phone with her discussing the industry and what it takes to get started. Nancy's Notary Rotary listing and her own perseverance begin to generate phone calls. As Nancy becomes more experienced, her participation on our board increases. In 2006, Nancy decides she wants her own notary community, so she adds a dba to her for-profit Limited Liability Company and calls it a notary "association."
As she continues to participate on our board - including the offering of off-line help and redirection to her profile and new venture - her association association is questioned. She responds by stating that she can't disclose her relationship to it (which is a matter of public record). Nancy continues by posting requests for notaries in her state and other regional states to contact her off-line. All the while, curiously, Nancy's site does not contain a single obvious link to Notary Rotary (if any at all), despite the fact that we have advertised heavily for her AND that her Notary Rotary profile has been viewed over 1600 times.
There really isn't an excuse for Nancy's parasitic behavior, which is only magnified by the lack of reciprocity. Whether using our site as an advertising platform for competing products and services is done overtly, covertly, inadvertently, knowingly or unknowingly, we do not consider it acceptable. On one end of the spectrum is "clueless" and on the other end is "unscrupulous" and, in all cases, these are people we do not want as patrons.
Nancy, and others like her, will have their accounts disabled (usually abruptly and generally after we have given them the benefit of the doubt) and will be left to their own devices to generate leads.
Harry
Notary Rotary, Inc.
P.S. My apologies to the 99.98% of you to which this message does not apply.
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Reply by Laura Upton on 6/30/06 7:13am
Msg #129909
thank you Harry. I see your point and while i read the other messages regarding an above scenario, i didnt understand what was going on to begin with so i ignored it. However, as you put it into something that i can understand, i get it. thanks. Laura
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