Notary Gift

Last week I announced that I would not be updating Notary Gift any longer. But, it seems there is in interested party that wants to pick up where I left off. I’ll certainly think about it. I’ll let you know when the descision has been made.

In the meantime, if anyone is in the market for a great little loan doc laser printer, I’m selling mine here

You’ll notice some new things going on in the left side bar, a plethora of loan doc signing videos. I created them to give you and new loan signing agents a little help in understanding what each document actually does. Some go into depth, some just give you the gist. My whole goal with Notary Gift was to create a free resource for signing agents so that they wouldn’t have to pay large sums of money to take classes. I think it’s worked out quite well. Hope it helps.

Secondly, I’m afraid Notary Gift has run its course. I’ve completed every goal I had with the site and I will no longer be updating it. However, Notary Gift will remain online to help those new to our industry.

I just wanted to take a second to say that I appreciate every one of you who have taken the time to read Notary Gift. It would’ve been nothing without you. I applaud you. Thanks so much.

As for me, I’ve hung up the stamp and am now writing for Fuzznut.net and Twitter plus I’m creating several web applications for Facebook, Twitter, Jaiku, and Pownce. Wish me luck.

Google maps by a landslide.

You know me, I’m always on the hunt for new ways to market a loan signing service. Hell, it’s my job. Out of everything I’ve tried, this option has me the most excited. What you do is go to Google maps, here’s your link. Click “create new map” on the left side of the map shown. Then it’ll give you a field to fill out as to what to call your new map. I named mine “loan signings”. Click “save”. After you do this, you’ll notice a few icons that show up on the map. One is a blue tack. Go ahead and enter in any address for signings you’ve done. When the maps finds that area, click and drag the blue tack to the location on the map. Then it lets you enter in a title and text. Repeat for every signing you ever do. Then click “link to this page” to the right, above the map. This let’s you put the link in any emails you send out, or on any web sites or notary profiles you have. When anyone clicks that link, it takes them to you signing map.

Why?

A picture is worth a thousand words. You could write all about how good and unique your signing service is. But why do that when you can show them? If I wanted to know more about a loan signer I was thinking of hiring, and I clicked on a link that lead to map like this filled with blue tacks with info on each signing, I’d be well impressed. In fact, that would probably be all I would need. I’d hire you.

You’ve shown me in the simplest way possible that you’re experienced and have a lot of signings under your belt. Just starting out? No problem. Stick a blue tack on every location you ever do a signing at and they will add up in no time.

I’ve created a test page which you can view below. Just click on the blue tacks for more info.

Notary Gift’s Google Maps Signing locations

I’m finding a lot of ways on the internet to help me break through all the noise and network with more loan professionals. And as you know, networking is the surest way to get more clients.

One such community I’ve found is called Active Rain. In a nutshell:

We are a free online community for real estate professionals designed to help them promote and grow their business.

From the looks of it, you get your own page to promote your signing service, and you also get to write articles for their community blogs if you want to. I think that’s a great idea. Most people don’t have a blog’s-worth of articles in them. Some might just have one thing to say, one thing to add and that’s it. That’s perfectly normal. Active Rain has been thoughtful enough to have addressed that.

I think the real potential, for you at least, is to add what you can to the community, but really focus on networking with other members. Look at these numbers: of the 37,974 members only 255 of them are notaries. The rest make up real estate agents, title and escrow officers, loan/mortgage brokers and so forth. Umm, aren’t those the exact people you want to target? I’d say the odds are in your favor.

Why this could work

Joining a community like this is far different than doing some of the marketing your used to doing. For one, they’ll be more apt to hear what you have to say because your part of THEIR community. Big difference. Half the battle is already won. You have someting in common with them. So my game plan would be to sign up for free, write a few quality articles about being a signing agent, get my free page set up, and comment on other members’ articles. Get people used to seeing my name on a lot of stuff in the community. I’d do whatever I could to add quality content and insightful comments. The idea here is to make it easier for them to come to you with signings.

What’s the worst that can happen?

Active Rain: Real Estate Network

The question this time was:

Let’s say you lost your usual signing agent and had to find someone else to do an important signing for you the next day. How would you go about finding one if you had to?

Today’s answer comes from Tegan Powell of Homestead Escrow in Laguna Niguel, Ca.

I would contact fellow Escrow Officers and/or Loan Officers to see if they have any they like to use and if that turns up empty, I would search the internet for a reputable-looking website for a notary/signing company. Oddly enough, I was forced to do this 6 months ago and found an excellent company that is local, reliable and professional.

See, told you these answers would be along the same lines.

I’ve been quietly releasing the video tutorials as I finish them up. Did a little search to see how Google was indexing them. Wow! they’re everywhere. Even AOL have picked them up. Here’s a few places…

Youtube
Zango
AOL

In the last series, we got some great answers from mortgage brokers about how ineffective email and postcards are at getting new business.

The question this time was:

Let’s say you lost your usual signing agent and had to find someone else to do an important signing for you the next day. How would you go about finding one if you had to?

Here’s an answer from Kwinsee Tran, a Mortgage Broker with Caliber Capital Funding in Irvine, Ca.:

I would most likely ask around from my circle of loan officers and ask for their referrals. If for any reason I still cannot find one then I would go online and search for one with a good presentation, flexibility and can sound competent in their services.

Your going to see a variation of this answer from most everyone. Faced with trying to find a loan signer, most will always ask fellow brokers if they can refer someone. More proof that providing the best possible service you can to your existing clients is the best marketing you can do.

My main focus here is to help you stand out from every other loan signer out there. I think I may have found an unconventional way to do that with twitter.

I resisted using twitter for the longest time. In fact, I was determined not to ever, no matter what, sign up to use the service.

For those of you who have no idea what I’m on about, twitter is basically your own web page that you update as much as you like. It wants you to answer the question “what are you doing?” So when it first came online, users were posting stuff to their page like “walking the dog”, or “doing dishes”, or maybe “picking up dad from the ‘home’, taking him out to ice cream”. I know, how utterly useless, eh? Why would anyone take the time to post mindless drivel such as that.

But…

The hallmark of any great site is that it allows you to make what you will of it; to use it to serve your own purposes.

This is what I propose

I think you should make twitter your main loan signing service web site if you don’t already have one. If you do, you should add this tool to complement the site you already have.

But, instead of using it to post mindless thoughts and actions, you post every signing you do. Input where it was, who your client was, what you got paid , etc. That’s the minimum. To add to that, you might even add little andecdotes and comments about the signing (such as how it went, what questions they had, how you handled it, and even “boy, their house smelled like wet dog!” Perhaps add a few kind words that borrowers say about you.) But you have to keep it short or at least spread it out over a few posts. Twitter only allows 100 or so charachters per post. Still, it’s easy to do.

Is it as professional as having web site dedicated to your signing service? A few years ago I would have said no. It looks a little cheap. But, it’s not about looks any longer. It’s about connecting with people.

I think most signing agents get caught up with projecting a “professional” image. When you focus on doing that though, all the things you use to get more business ends up becoming boring, or even worse, indistinguishable from everyone else trying to do the same. The idea then, is to do whatever you can to make yourself more human and more approachable. Make yourself the kind of person others like doing business with. If I was a loan broker looking for a new loan signer, I’d much rather be directed to your twitter page, full of all the signings you’ve done, full of your personality. That would speak volumes about you to me. A stale old web page I’ve seen a thousand times before, wouldn’t.

See, you can still strive to come off as a professional, but you can do it in a way that also makes you inviting and interesting.

How hard is it to use?

If you can send a text message from your phone, you’ll have no problem with twitter. After you sign up (free service!), you’ll get your own page and URL (like twitter.com/yoursigningservice). It gives you room for a short bio, and a link to another of your web pages if you have one. Then just type in short posts and press enter. Done.

You can view my twitter page here. I use it to write short music reviews.
With a little imagination, I think twitter can be a huge selling tool for your signing service.

[Alert: Twitter is a free service, I get nothing out of sending you over to them]

Twitter

Coming up: How to use Google maps as a review of your loan signing service.

Oh, you’ve got to read the post this link leads to. Talk about interesting marketing ideas…

Rochambeau the Front Line [via Seth Godin]

Yep, Notary Gift turns 1 today. The site has seen almost 33,000 unique visitors. That’s a lot of notaries!

What the future holds

I really have but one goal for this year and that is to turn Notary Gift into a completely free loan signing training site. Nothing makes my blood boil more than the nickel-and-diming that goes on in the industry. You’re made to pay for every little class and course than can help you get ahead. Not to mention the money most new signing agents pay to learn how to do this and to get “certified”.

I’ll continue to produce the training videos, plus I have some superb articles in the works; really great ideas on how to move your service up a few notches. When it’s all said and done, I’ll switch from a blog format, into one of a resource based one to make all the posts, ideas, and videos more accessible to everyone.

Thanks for making this year so interesting. Couldn’t have done it without you.