What Did Sue Do Wrong in Marketing Her Notary Business?

by   Victoria Ring---Bio-

Let me tell you a little story.  Sue was an experienced notary signing agent and she wanted to start approaching mortgage and title companies to secure steadier work than she was obtaining with the signing companies.  Plus, the signing companies only paid her $125 each and it was killing her physically to make a decent income to keep her head above water.  Sue started by looking in her local telephone directory and locating mortgage companies in her area.  She spent several days calling them, getting in touch with the right people, faxing her marketing letter and following up to schedule an appointment so she could come into the office and meet the title officer face-to-face.

Sue did everything right!  In fact, she landed four appointments with some very well known mortgage companies.  Sue was sure she was going to finally make some money, so she dressed up very professionally and met with the title officers.

During the meeting, everything seemed to go fine.  Sue left every meeting with the title officer feeling confident – knowing she would get a call from one of them any minute.  But one week later – nothing had happened.

What could Sue have possibly done wrong?  The piece of the puzzle we are missing from this story is “what” happened during the meeting.  One common error I see many new business owners make when they go into an office to discuss business is that they make the mistake of treating the meeting like a job interview.

This error is easy to make and many people do not realize they are making it.  I didn't.  I remember many times when I approached company owners who I wanted to do business with and I also treated the meeting like a job interview.  So don't be embarrassed if you have made or do make this mistake.  It is just a natural reaction from the many years most of us have worked for an employer.

So what do you do instead?  You treat the meeting on a business-to-business level.  You are the owner of your company.  The person you are talking to is on the same level you are (from a marketing perspective).  They are just as much concerned about their profit as you are about making money so that your business survives.  Therefore, the best approach when you schedule a meeting with a business is to talk business.  How do you do that?  You spend time the day before your appointment making a list of the ways your service can save that company money.  Then you take this list with you, sit down, open up your portfolio case and start out by saying something like: “I did some calculations last night and I have found a way that I can make your company over $7,000 per month.  I understand you are presently losing about 18% of your customer base because you do not have a notary to perform mortgage document closings after hours and on the weekends.  And if you were to have the notary on staff do them, you would be paying them overtime if they did them.  However, I specialize in providing odd and off-hour appointments and I do not charge any overtime.”

Of course there are millions of different ways the conversation could go from this point, and as you learn to sell your services, you will learn the body language, eye movement and other telltale signs that allow you to accomplish your goal – and that is to get the company to try out and use your services.

But doesn't it take a lot of work to research and get this information before going to the initial meeting?  You bet it does!  But I guarantee if you will do your homework properly and put in the effort – you will get business.  You will also impress people with your attention to detail and it won't be long before you will be making money!  Just be sure and remember – to ALWAYS put your potential customer at the center of attention and look for ways that YOU can save him or her money.  And when you find ways you can do that, and you tell them about it – you'll get the job!