Covers a wide variety of topics. Make sure you read them all to get all the information.
by Victoria Ring---Bio
Dear Victoria: Hello! How are you? I enjoyed the Tuesday evening teleconference. By the way, if you haven't heard of or seen the following article already, would you please review it then get back to me with your opinion of same? Does this article have merit? Thanks! An avid fan (Sean)
Ref Article: Click here.
Dear Sean: I looked over the article you sent to me regarding marketing tips. I found that many of the suggestions are the same marketing techniques that 50 State Notary uses. For instance, the article talks about giving away valuable information to bring more visitors to the website. I already do this with the free training courses available at both the notary and bankruptcy websites.
I would think if you would study the 50 State Notary website (which contains almost 1,800 pages) you would be able to educate yourself in marketing without spending any money. Also, read all the past articles. Many issues contain insider marketing secrets from my own personal experience. All of this information is free.
Although I believe we all need to learn marketing strategies from a variety of different resources (not just me), many people overlook the free education I provide on both the 50StateNotary.Com and 713Training.Com websites. Right there in front of you is a wealth of marketing education. You can learn a great deal of marketing techniques simply by studying how someone has structured their website or responded to an email or designed a brochure or even a classified ad. The time to invest money into advancing your knowledge is after you have taken advantage of the free information already available around you on a daily basis. Then you will be in a better position to know how to spend your money wisely and not be spending a lot of money for products that you never do anything with.
Follow-Up From Sean: Also, I wanted to point out that the last article on this page, titled Fidelity National Financial Division Completes Pilot for Web-Based Closing Solution and Launches Nationwide is very informative. The third paragraph says it all, especially at the end of the first sentence where it clearly states: eliminating the need to coordinate third party providers.
We (notary signing agents) are the third party providers this article is referring to. LSIs Closing Stream is a web based loan processing system that will allow the loan applicant to complete most of their documents online. The one or two pages they do need notarized can be done at a bank. And signing companies are not going to pay NSAs more than $25-$35 to notarize 1 or 2 pages, including traveling fee. The article even states that the loan applicant can mail back the 1-2 notarized pages themselves, further eliminating the need for NSAs. Not only that, the major lobbying power held by national lenders will enable them to put the financial squeeze on any fees we can legally collect for such minuscule work following implementation of Closing Stream industry wide. As the articles I referred you to clearly indicate, lenders are finding new, creative ways to eliminate all third party vendors from the closing process. This includes NSAs. The author of the article clearly explains this forthcoming challenge to NSAs. It is clear from his explanation that he, too, understands well this dilemma.
Dear Sean: I do not personally believe that the notary signing agent business will ever be eliminated. I agree that it may slow down and experience peaks and valleys, but at this time, the notary signing agent business will continue to exist and people will continue to make money. There are 1,000s of companies that are busy developing software and other technologies to help eliminate fraud and make document processing faster and more efficient. We are going to hear about many of these in the months and years to come. But even if this particular company referenced in the article were successful in implementing a system to limit or eliminate the need for notary signing agents it would take years for mortgage and title companies to restructure their businesses to handle these new procedures. Besides, even if new technology is available to the general public, it takes time for them to make a change from their habits also. Mass change takes time and one company developing a loan processing system is not something that should be used to invoke fear. It should only be viewed as another new technology being developed. One day, in the future, we will all see the technology that finally emerges from the development of all these new technologies and then we will have a clear direction as to the future of the notary signing agent.
Additionally, if tomorrow morning the need for notary signing agents suddenly became non-existent, it doesn't mean the individual notary signing agent is out of business. Notarizing documents for a mortgage closing is only the tip of the iceberg. The real estate industry is vast and extremely huge. There are literally millions of ways a notary signing agent can make money within this industry. But if a NSA only limits their services to notarizing mortgage documents, they have boxed themselves into a corner. No business should be structured around one particular service. Service businesses offer a variety of RELATED services in order to keep a continuous income flow for growing their business. (Example: The hair salon down the street cuts your hair but they also sell hair products. The pizza shop sells pizza but they also sell soda pop, hot wings and salads.) So never put all your eggs in one basket if you want to build a business. Instead, have one main service, but several other services that compliment the main one. This gives you an opportunity to make money from a variety of sources while still working within your field.
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Dear Victoria: I cannot find any notaries that are bi-lingual, i.e. English/Spanish speaking in the Commonwealth of Virginia. My question: Can I interpret a document in Spanish, translate it into English and notarize it? I think I can but would like confirmation. I need training as I am new at this and my former employer did not provide any training. All I have is the Virginia notary handbook. I plan to receive instruction within the next few months particularly in the area of immigration and need to know if there will be any workshops held in the Richmond or Commonwealth of Virginia this year, 2006? (Ayleen)
Dear Ayleen: I would recommend going to the Virginia notary website to get the answer on being bi-lingual, translating and such. Click here. Each state varies in what is or is not authorized for a notary to do.
As far as notary training seminars in the state of Virginia, go to a search engine like http://www.google.com and type in the search words NOTARY SEMINARS. Start doing a little research on your own. Once you find a few seminars, if they are not in your area, you could always send them an email and ask them to direct you to any classes they know in the Virginia area.
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Dear Victoria: It has been a pleasure being a part of the best organization that keeps the notary right on the breaking edge of new technology and information regarding the notary profession. I truly appreciate you so much. More Success to 50 State Notary! (Chris)
Dear Chris: Thanks for your feedback. Glad I could help.
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Dear Victoria: I am in the process of launching my company and need some guidance in writing a marketing letter to introduce my company to Title Companies, Mortgage Companies, Lenders etc. I have looked for some samples in books and cannot find anything, can you help me and let me know where I can find some letter samples? Thank you. (Juana)
Dear Juana:Writing marketing letters is something that writers charge $1,000s of dollars for, so I doubt you are going to find them published on the internet for all to see and copy to their heart's content. However, every letter that someone paid $1,000s of dollars to have written by an expert marketer are easy to find because they appear in print ads, infomercials and on websites. You just have to look for them.
However, marketing to mortgage and title companies would not require any type of marketing sales letter anyway. What I would do is network with other notaries and find people who worked for mortgage companies. Then I would ask them what they did. But I would not take the first idea I found. I would talk to 30 or 40 different people and get a wide range of ideas. Then I would choose the method that was best for me.
Juana - one of the purposes of me hosting the weekly teleconferences is to put people like you in touch with successful people within the industry. How much easier could I make it? Just call in a telephone number and listen to the conversation. You'll learn a lot, plus you will be put in touch with people who are more than willing to help you. But before you ask for help, you must first make the effort to help yourself. Click here for information on joining the Notary Teleconference Club. We have covered this topic many times and the information is there for you to listen to and learn from.