How to Build a Notary Enterprise With Lifetime Customers

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We work so hard to fill our pipeline with appointments. Think about all the energy, money, and effort we put into:

• Cultivating referral relationships
• Building websites
• Having social media pages
• Adding more directory listings
• Signing up with hiring companies
• Creating a Google Business Profile
• Networking meetings and events
• Creating and distributing content
• Training (so we’re good at what we do)

All this work to get our phone to ring and ding, and then what? 

Most notaries finish an appointment and then just hop right back on the hamster wheel again and start all over, hustling for their next customer-another new customer. 

Now, there’s nothing wrong with new customers, don’t get me wrong. But they're expensive to acquire. The Harvard Business Review suggests that it is 5-25 times more expensive to acquire a new customer than to sell your services to an existing client. 

Your database of previous notary clients is a gold mine. 

Nearly every other service-based business out there recognizes that fact, and makes some attempt to stay in touch with their customers. Look at your inbox. It’s likely full of emails from your carpet cleaning service, the car wash you like to use, or the skincare company that makes that one lotion you just love (and get 10% off because you subscribe to their emails). 

There’s a reason they all do that. Staying in touch works. 

Companies would go out of business if all they did was spend time & money on new customer acquisition. It’s not scalable. It’s not smart business. 

So they spend time cultivating deeper relationships with their current customers-those who have already trusted them enough to make at least one purchase. They create customer-centric processes that demonstrate expertise and professionalism so it won’t even occur to their clients to go anywhere else for the type of services they’re offering. 

These businesses sell or upsell additional services to their existing customer base. They make the most of every single appointment by using them to create a customer for life.

Businesses like this move from a simple service, to a full-on enterprise, by staying in touch and top of mind. 

Now I know what you’re thinking. “Bill, this won’t work for the notary business. People only need a notary when they need a notary.”

Here’s what I’ve learned in this business: In most cases, if they needed a notary once, they’ll need one again or know someone who does. That notary with the courage and value enough to stay in touch and keep themselves top of mind, is the notary that gets the worm. 

And remember what they say about results-they don’t lie. The notaries that stay top of mind get the appointments and referrals. Staying in touch is exactly how I built a multiple six figure mobile notary and loan signing business too. I even call it the Top of Mind Method. Using the 13 opportunities within the Top of Mind Method gave more of my prospects the chance to get to know me, like me, and trust me with their needs. 

One of the coolest things about our business, as mobile notaries and loan signing agents, are the people we get to meet at our appointments and in the course of our work. If we really care about our clients, and want them to have a professional experience, with a notary of integrity that truly knows what they’re doing, then isn’t it a disservice to not to stay in touch? 

What happens when they need us again? Sure, you may have a few unicorns that remember you, or add you as a contact to their phone. But that’s a fraction of what you can get when you stay top of mind. When you don’t stay in touch, there’s no real way to calculate the amount of business you didn’t get, but I bet it’s a lot. 

Results, while often harsh, are always true. 

Here’s the 13 Opportunities of the Top of Mind Method

1. Response and Close
2. Expert Delivery of Your Services
3. Lay the Foundation for a Relationship That Can Last
4. Ask Permission to Stay in Touch
5. Button Up Your Appointment
6. Use Email to Stay in Touch Occasionally
7. Broadcast More Value
8. Engage with Content
9. Reach Out to Your Network
10. Send a Handwritten Note
11. Be a Resource to Your Network
12. Expand Your Peer Network
13. Attend Client-Getting Events

To learn more on the Top of Mind Method and get daily challenges to help build systems and mindset to implement the 13 opportunities, check out the Notary Business Building Challenge book here.

Bill Soroka is the founder of Notary Business Builder, an elite community of professional Notary entrepreneurs that are committed to building a successful business in any economy by leveraging authentic sharing technology and cultivating deeper relationships.  He is also the best selling author of three books (and counting) designed to help notaries build their dream lbusiness.