Posted by Brian Edwards on 8/27/08 3:56pm
Msg #262050

Calls vs. Web

Would you rather get a call from a coordinator to assign you the work, or would you rather log in to a website to grab work that is available in your area and manage the order yourself online? I am sure many of you take work both ways and just wanted to get your opinion on which is better.

Reply by MW/VA on 8/27/08 4:01pm
Msg #262052

I still prefer a call. We negotiate in this business, available time & fees. I've heard of sites that you go on to "bid" for work--I'm not interested in that sort of thing.

Reply by Sandra Clark on 8/27/08 4:01pm
Msg #262053

Direct calls - not interested in fighting for jobs over the web JMHO

Reply by Brian Edwards on 8/27/08 4:06pm
Msg #262054

Ok let me clarify. This is not a bidding war. You would need a certain level of experience, quality score and fee to participate and those that participate will get first pick over of orders in their local area. This would allow the agent to gain more work if they are motivated and efficient. Hope this helps clarify.

Reply by docs1954CA on 8/27/08 4:09pm
Msg #262056

Brian, are you a signing service? sounds like you are trying to "feel us out" here.Why is this important to you.Not trying to be nasty...but lately we've seen some strang questions here along these same lines, so inquiring minds want to know......

Reply by Brian Edwards on 8/27/08 4:15pm
Msg #262059

I work at LSI. If you are not familiar we are a national title company that manages our own network of agents, and I am looking into revamping our assignment process. Just wanted to get a feel what the NSAs thought about it since I know many of them work with companies that make assignments both ways.

Reply by Charles_Ca on 8/27/08 4:26pm
Msg #262061

I get my e-mails on my phone so timeliness is not an issue

for me but I still prefer to get a phone call. I like the phone call because I like additional information about the signing usually before Imake a commitment. Of course we are talking LSI here and I for one, would have no interest in doing business with your company.

Reply by MW/VA on 8/27/08 4:28pm
Msg #262063

Thanks for letting us know who you are researching for. Many companies are trying to get away from hiring employees to make the calls. Since we are mobile, we are not always at the computer, and many don't use blackberries. I hope you're not going to "rank" your database according to the ones that will accept the lowest fees. There are some "major" companies who operate just that way. They may have thousands of notaries in their database, but I won't be among them.

Reply by PAW on 8/27/08 5:22pm
Msg #262077

I don't have "mobile" email or internet service

I don't sit in front of my computer all day either. So, it is imperative that I get a call for an assignment. I always answer the phone so an immediate response can be provided. I may not get to an email or be able to visit a website for hours.

Reply by Haynes Mobile Notary - Kathleen on 8/27/08 7:31pm
Msg #262099

Re: I don't have "mobile" email or internet service

Telephone call seems to be the winning vote amongst us and I have to agree- we are not making so much money out there these days to spend a drop of it signing up to receive work. We are each great notaries, we are on here -this site/forum while the others don't both simply because we are devoted to our mission to network and to run an elite type of service. We should never be asked or expected to pay any fees to be a part of your or anyones system. You should sign up all notaryrotary members for free especially us since we gave you our honest feed back. You just really need to weed out the bad ones and forget ranking the lowest bidders. I have to say it is discouraging as many companies have gone belly up and whomever is left it seems is looking to low ball us on signings and notaries are frustrated with waiting to get paid and chasing for their dollars from what I read on here. Keep smiling gang I am feeling it too with you on this journey we have to work even harder right now to survive and this too shall pass.

Reply by Lee/AR on 8/27/08 8:36pm
Msg #262119

Nothing was said by orig. poster about a fee...

Altho' I know that 'some' (translates to 'greedy') co's do--and that is soooooo wrong.

Reply by Maureen_nh on 8/27/08 6:58pm
Msg #262091

A phone call is definately preferable. and I believe more adventagious to your schedulers.
Believe it or not, most of us take those phones with us everyplace but in the shower. (Waterproof phones anyone?) We have to--that's the name of the game.
The only good relationship I have had with a web based schedule was an e-mail directed to me directly from a title co.
Right now, in this market, maybe you do have people that hit their computer on a steady basis but when the upturn happens, and God willing it will, we are on the road where we belong.
Plus, and this might seem strange, but it is one of the reasons these message boards exist, a little human contact is good for the soul,is good for better communication and is good for business relationships .
I hope that is what we have, a business relationship and not a meat market.

Reply by Jcobb on 8/28/08 12:06am
Msg #262144

Brian: Please keep your schedulers calling. I'm sure that others who are as active as I am in the business, are not sitting in front of the computer waiting for an email or watching online for a potential job. I've worked with LSI for 6 years or so, I like the personal touch and professionalism of the schedulers. When I receive a call, I tell them immediately if I can do the job or not according to my schedule. Like clockwork the order comes and I confirm the time/place/date with the borrower. If I'm on the road I'll get the name/phone of the borrower an pull over to confirm. Your schedulers know that I follow thru and will do so with the professionalism you would expect. The team work is what makes success in this business all the way around.

Reply by MistarellaFL on 8/27/08 4:14pm
Msg #262057

I prefer a courtesy call.

I can't sit at a computer waiting for a potential assignment email.

Reply by ZeeCA on 8/27/08 4:35pm
Msg #262067

I SMELL A SS TRYING TO BLEED US FOR HIS MARKETING n/m

Reply by LKT/CA on 8/27/08 4:14pm
Msg #262058

I would prefer a phone call. Not always on the computer.....network could be down at the moment...I still like interacting with a human being.

Reply by Cam/CA on 8/27/08 4:19pm
Msg #262060

Re:Phone call n/m

Reply by Julie/IL on 8/27/08 4:27pm
Msg #262062

This sounds very similar to what FASS does when you are a "White glove notary." We used to do that with them for many years. It was a pain in the butt, quite literally. I don't have time anymore to just sit around and wait for an appointment to pop up. Now a days, we prefer phone calls as well.

Reply by Linda_H/FL on 8/27/08 4:29pm
Msg #262065

Telephone call...I can't sit and monitor my e-mail all day

on the off chance that an assignment will be posted....

Reply by Teresa/FL on 8/27/08 4:29pm
Msg #262066

I prefer a phone call since it gives the opportunity to ask

questions regarding the assignment. I have been caught off-guard with AIF signings and other details not disclosed upfront and appreciate the chance to ask questions regarding the scope of each assignment. I want to make sure I allow adequate time to perform the assignment.

There is still a chance all the details will not be communicated, but I feel the chance is lessened when speaking to a live person versus communicating via a web posting or an email exchange.

Reply by Brian Edwards on 8/27/08 4:35pm
Msg #262068

Re: I prefer a phone call since it gives the opportunity to ask

I appreciate the feedback. Please keep the posts coming.

Reply by Therese on 8/27/08 4:54pm
Msg #262072

Re: Phone Call n/m

Reply by John_NorCal on 8/27/08 5:02pm
Msg #262073

I think ZEE is correct, sheesh! n/m

Reply by Lee/AR on 8/27/08 4:41pm
Msg #262069

Think you'll find most experienced notaries want a Call.

If you're looking for good, efficient, professional notaries (and you are), they are also too busy to be watching a computer. I can (& frequently DO) accept an order from you folks in under 30 seconds. Doing it via e-mail & computer takes longer & just doesn't feel 'right'. Or I'm in my car...no computer there, but my cell is always with me. The people who can sit at a computer watching are not the notaries that I know LSI prefers.

Also---and this is just some insight into the life of a mobile notary--we are but one person, no lunch hours with peers, no water cooler, no human contact, driving alone and except for the Signers, there is no human contact. It's nice to answer the phone and hear (making up the names to protect the innocent) "Hi Lee, this is Julia at LSI & we've got a CW Refi in Podunk Junction at 2 tomorrow, edocs." "OK, standard fee, send the CO...and thanks, Julia." How long did that take? It's positive, I spoke to a real live person who is going to send me a CO and, if, by some odd chance, it doesn't come, I only have to check my Cell or CID to call & find out what's happening.

Reply by JinCA on 8/27/08 4:47pm
Msg #262071

Phone call, Please.

I am too busy to sit at the computer all day, looking for assignments.

Reply by Linda Juenger on 8/27/08 5:10pm
Msg #262074

Phone call or a Text Msg works also. n/m

Reply by PA_Notary_II on 8/27/08 5:21pm
Msg #262076

Phone call...absolutely...

I've done many assignments for LSI through all the years and previous owners. Thanks, Brian for the business and the good people who work at LSI. Reasonable fees and timely payment have been your hallmark. Having said that, let me ask you if you would be conducive to surfing the net to get deals from your lenders? Whichever TC gets there first gets the business. See how it works in reverse?

Reply by Dave_CA on 8/27/08 5:31pm
Msg #262079

Re: Phone call...absolutely...

I could accept a text message but would strongly prefer a call.
Monitoring the web is not practical for me.

Reply by Cody Doty on 8/27/08 10:16pm
Msg #262132

Re: Phone call...absolutely...

give me a chance to find out more about the assignment, and of course my cell is always on me so you will get an automatic response. If it is EOM and every NSA in that area is busy (like we would all like to be) you will not get a response because no one will be sitting at their computer. You will get a quicker response with a phone call....not to mention it is more professional anyway.

Reply by RickinVA on 8/27/08 5:49pm
Msg #262080

Re: Phone call or a Text Msg works also.

Sorry, text message doesn't get it. If I am home, I answer the phone. If I am out, I answer the cell. I forward my calls from the "official" phone to the cell. I specifically have text messages turned off, otherwise I may be inundated with text messages and I'm at home waiting? for a call. Call me! I probably am available! You will appreciate the service.

Rick

Reply by RickinVA on 8/27/08 5:56pm
Msg #262081

Re:Sorry>> Phone call only! n/m

Reply by FlBrit on 8/27/08 6:01pm
Msg #262082

Re: Phone call n/m

Reply by BrendaTx on 8/27/08 6:18pm
Msg #262083

Brian, that is an excellent way to reach the people who

aren't busy, have time to watch the computer screen... constantly refreshing the screen in hopes of an appointment to appear...and who will naturally, take a lower fee.

Perhaps you should suggest that LSI go ahead and send signing appointment schedulers/website updaters and/or the LSI signing service management over to outsourcing in India. That would be another great way to get things done efficiently and without having to pay more than a few coins per hour.

Perhaps they could even replace you with less skilled, starving workers.

Hate to be that way, but how insulting is it to let notaries know how little experience is valued by LSI?

Putting it on a website is like those jobs on contracting sites picked up by Indian programmers who'll design and program an entire site for $75 where a more reasonable American programmer cost would be $500 to $1500.

Call it Karma...call it doing unto others...call it what goes around comes around...this kind of cheapening of skill and work product will eventually find its way to the perpetrators of it.

Reply by pan/nd on 8/27/08 9:26pm
Msg #262129

Re: Brian, that is an excellent way to reach the people who

Given the way things are happening in this industry...I predict the following:

1. Despite answers on this board..Brian will recommend AGAINST phone calls and LSI will agree.

2. Brian, based on this board, will recommend FOR phone calls and LSI will go the other way.

BOTTOM LINE...It may not make any difference what Brian thinks (or how this board reacts)...LSI has already made up its mind.

By floating the trial balloon...it gives one a clue what LSI is thinking..and it ain"t good.

Reply by LynnNC on 8/27/08 7:10pm
Msg #262094

Hopefully, we are out closing loans, rather than sitting home at the computer. A phone call is the only way.

Reply by jba/fl on 8/27/08 7:12pm
Msg #262096

Phone call only, no texting. n/m

Reply by davidK/CA on 8/27/08 7:37pm
Msg #262101

Brenda is sooooo right!

Why should we even have domestic based SS having to pay their schedulers something like a decent wage (even if it comes out of the Notary's fee) when with little effort that phone call could come from India or China at virtually no cost (in US dollars)?

Just imagine the profits the SS would have! Heck, they might even resume paying the Notary promptly instead of having to "wait" for the TC to pay them, which is basically total BS anyway.

The only wrinkle is that the NSA will have to learn another language to understand the scheduler.
But hey, maybe the XYZ will offer a new course: "Earn Big Money Translating Phone Calls in English!"

Reply by WDMD on 8/27/08 7:46pm
Msg #262104

Re: Brenda is sooooo right!

"The only wrinkle is that the NSA will have to learn another language to understand the scheduler."

FASS used to have a scheduler, I don't know if she's still there, that I couldn't understand a word she said. Didn't matter though, even though I couldn't understand her I knew they wouldn't meet my fee, so it was always a short conversation.

Reply by BrendaTx on 8/27/08 7:54pm
Msg #262106

Re: Brenda is sooooo right!

Didn't they turn their schedulings over to India?

I know they do use India as an outsource resource.
http://www.alta.org/indynews/news.cfm?newsID=2153

Reply by ZeeCA on 8/27/08 8:03pm
Msg #262110

heard FSS outsourced to one 'those countries' (India Phil?) n/m

Reply by BrendaTx on 8/28/08 5:47am
Msg #262155

Zee, once again the meaning of your shorthand escapes me.

What do you mean by India Phil?

Reply by Lee/AR on 8/28/08 6:55am
Msg #262163

India or Philippines... n/m

Reply by BrendaTx on 8/28/08 7:05am
Msg #262169

Thanks, Lee. Love Zee, but find her shorthand

unreadable/frustrating when it isn't obvious what she is talking about.

Reply by desktopfull on 8/27/08 8:34pm
Msg #262118

Same here n/m

Reply by MichiganAl on 8/27/08 10:53pm
Msg #262137

A local title co. set up their in-house schdl. thru the web

Jobs went into a queue, first come first serve. Wanna know what happened? The closers sat in front of their computers all day long hitting refresh every five seconds. What an efficient way to spend their days. It got so bad that it dragged down their computer system to a slow crawl. Gee, could've seen that coming.

Reply by Christine Maddox on 8/28/08 5:57pm
Msg #262370

A phone call is a little more personal.... n/m

Reply by CaliNotary on 8/28/08 1:48am
Msg #262151

Why is everyone treating this like an opinion based question

The nature of our jobs simply does not lend itself to getting assignments off of a website. That's a fact, not an opinion. There is a reason why we are called MOBILE notaries.

Any company that is stupid enough to set up a website based scheduling system is a company that I have zero desire to work for since that type of system shows that they have absolutely no loyalty or respect for their notaries, and that they are ONLY interested in hiring people based on price.

Reply by BobbiCT on 8/28/08 6:28am
Msg #262158

Telephone call ... not napping in front of screen

Like others, I prefer a call - and a message with City, Date & Time. This gives me enough information to call back (OK if you found someone already, at least you know I'm still in business) or not call because I am already booked or the distance is well beyond any company's price range.

If it is too "dangerous" to use a cell phone driving, what makes reading eMail or the internet while driving safer? If an NSA is in the middle of a signing for another company, is it less distracting that s/he has eMail and internet running and are watching the screen at the signing table rather than the documents being signed and paying attention to the customers at hand?

Reply by WDMD on 8/28/08 7:24am
Msg #262176

Re: Telephone call ... not napping in front of screen

" If an NSA is in the middle of a signing for another company, is it less distracting that s/he has eMail and internet running and are watching the screen at the signing table rather than the documents being signed and paying attention to the customers at hand?"

The impression I get from these recent postings on here is they could care less about anything else as long as you are not messing up their business.

Reply by Lee/AR on 8/28/08 7:33am
Msg #262178

Excellent points for why "No texting". Definitely-Call! n/m

Reply by Ilene C. Seidel on 8/28/08 7:55am
Msg #262181

Is Brian LSI?

Reply by Tish/CA on 8/28/08 2:25pm
Msg #262312

Definately a phone call! n/m