The Top of Mind Method: Thirteen Opportunities to Create Lifetime Customers

As customers flow into our Notary business, we're faced with many different ways to represent our brand and demonstrate our expertise. These opportunities, when optimized, help deepify relationships, clearing the path for something that can last beyond one single transaction. Because, if your customer needed a Notary once, they'll need one again. Or, at the very least, they'll know someone who does. Through years of experience, Bill has built the framework for the Top of Mind Method, and the 13 Opportunities you have to connect deeper and provide even more value to your ideal customers.

Episode Highlights:

3:22 The challenge is that when things are going good and your phone is ringing off the hook, it's real easy to push aside all the fundamental business practices that help businesses succeed in the long run.

6:49 Results don't lie. They can be harsh sometimes, but they're true.

12:42 The top of mind method is basically 13 opportunities we have from the first time we interact with a client until they are in our database. And it can be a perpetual cycle of connection and adding value.

--- Full Raw Transcription Below ---

Bill Soroka (01:04):
Hi, everyone. Welcome to the Sign And Thrive Podcast for notaries. We're going to do things a little bit differently today. Instead of having a guest, I am going to speak to you directly. I'm going to share my top of mind method in these 13 opportunities that I have discovered down the path of, a customer takes when working with us that can bring more revenue, bring more joy and really cultivate relationships or customers for, for life. And so this is how to create lifetime customers. You know I absolutely love this business. I think that's become clear if you followed me anywhere, whether it was just on YouTube or through the Sign And Thrive book or the Sign And Thrive course or now Notary Business Builder. This business has absolutely changed my life. And I love to share it with people like you that are excited about the opportunities, the ability to serve our clientele and the ability to create a life of freedom and financial independence.

Bill Soroka (02:17):
There are three tenets to this business that still make it very attractive to me. It gives us our schedule back so we can reclaim our agenda, work towards the dream life we've always wanted, it gives us a chance to earn unlimited income and we get to do it in a business that we can be proud of. It's a legitimate business providing a legitimate service to a clientele. And how many other businesses out there require or have like a requirement that people use our services at some point in their life. I think there's a lot of opportunity here. I also know that things are changing right now. It's a scary time in the business. And we're going to talk a little bit about that. We're going to talk about some of the regrets I've had in this business and how I can, or I've used these different opportunities to turn that around. This business, as much as I've loved, it has been an emotional and a financial roller coaster.

Bill Soroka (03:22):
You know, it's up and down sometimes. Over the last couple of years, it's always been up. It feels like it's always been up with the interest rate, boom, but this business existed well beyond the pandemic. You can still build a business with this, even if it is up and down. The challenge is that when things are going good and your phone is ringing and dinging off the hook, it's real easy to push aside all the fundamental business practices that help businesses succeed in the long run. So you might be you fully aware of what you should be doing, but when you're busy and money's coming in and checks are in the mail it's real easy to push those things aside a little bit until the phones stop ringing. And then you think, oh crap, I never thought this would happen. I thought this would last just a little bit longer.

Bill Soroka (04:22):
And I've been through this cycle many times in this business. And here's what happens when the phone stops ringing. And I start going through the different regrets. I've definitely had a few of these and I've been on this cycle for many, many times throughout this business. And even the businesses before it, where I say, I should have been reaching out to new escrow clients, even when I was busy. So I always would have this constant stream of appointments. I should have embraced special notary, specialty notary work a long time ago. So my phone would keep ringing no matter what mortgage interest rates were. I should have implemented my Search Engine Optimization years ago so anytime my prospects needed a notary near me, they'd Google and find my website or my Google My Business. I should have kept track of my client's contact information. I mean, we hit it off so well, we had this incredible dynamic, even for just 45 minutes for a signing.

Bill Soroka (05:26):
I should have kept their information. So then I could stay in touch because I should have stayed in touch with my clients. Then it wasn't, it wouldn't be so weird. When I finally did reach out and asked them for business, I need to keep needed to keep myself top of mind. And then I should have cultivated relationships with my notary peers so we could share ideas, networks, resources, and even customers. I could have established a referral network, and then I should have found more ways to diversify my offerings and my revenue so I didn't sound so desperate as I quickly added all these different things to my menu of services when the phone stops ringing. See, I was literally "shoulding" all over myself. And as I was contemplating why I didn't do the things I knew I should have been doing, I mapped it out. And the way I map things out is I literally get giant sticky paper.

Bill Soroka (06:31):
I stick it on the wall and I, I dive deep, like what's going on? Why am I not doing the things I know I should be doing? If I didn't tell people that I am an entrepreneur or I'm a mobile notary and loan signing agent or a multiple six figure earner? Why wasn't I doing the things I knew I needed to be doing to keep that going? What was the deal? And what it boiled down to was a lack of appreciation of the lifetime value of my customer relationships. And how did I know that? Because results don't lie. They can be harsh sometimes, but they're true. And the reality is if I valued my customer relationships, I would do those things I should have been doing.

Bill Soroka (07:27):
So again, I found I was the common denominator in why this wasn't working. And I had to turn that around. So I started mapping out, looking at exactly what is the customer relationship? What is it that I need to be valuing here? And it came down to two categories. There's an extrinsic value. The one that we often see the most, that's your revenue that you generate. It's the profit you might have after that revenue is generated. And then you get a status and prestige of being a successful business person. Those are extrinsic things, things that you can see. Almost tangible. And then if you take that down the line with the value of your customer, you can say, all right, well, this appointment was worth $45. And then six months later, they did a living trust. So that was $150 more. And then they referred me to their neighbor for their refinance, and that was $150 more.

Bill Soroka (08:27):
And then they bought a vacation home and that was $150 more. And then so on and so forth, that is the extrinsic lifetime value of a customer. Very important, because if they needed a notary, once they're going to need a notary again, or at the very least, they're going to know someone who does. Again, extrinsic value, super important. But for me, there was more to this business than simply revenue and prestige and a status, right? I mean, that was important. It helps boost the confidence. I want to leave an impact and a legacy here, and I do choose to do that through my business, but there's something more to this as well. And that's the intrinsic value. The intrinsic value are those things that you can't necessarily see, but they are equally, if not more so important. These are connection, joy, meaning, and purpose like who, the connection I have when I'm at those appointments, the joy, it brings me to be of service and tying this into my ultimate meaning and purpose on earth.

Bill Soroka (09:41):
Again, that legacy that I want to leave behind. And as I started evaluating that, and I got super clear like, oh yeah, this is really great. For me. Another realization hit me is that this is actually a two-way street. You know, it's great that I get revenue, profit, prestige, connection, joy, meaning, and purpose. But guess what? The customer has the opportunity for that same level of connection, joy, meaning, and purpose. Meaning I can bring that to the table, literally to the closing table. I can be that beacon of love and light in their life too. I don't have to be just a notary just there to facilitate a signing and say goodbye. This can be bigger than that. And they have extrinsic value in this too, because usually the customer has a problem. They need a document notarized. They need a stack of documents, notarized or signatures gathered so they can get some sort of revenue, profit or status as well.

Bill Soroka (10:48):
That might be a refinance cash out refinance. So they can invest in more properties, turn their backyard into a Oasis for their family. Maybe they're going to start a new business who knows what those opportunities are, but they have value in this too. So who am I to take that away from them? And as I got really clear on that, then I realized that by not staying in touch by not doing those things that I should have been doing, I'm actually doing a huge disservice to my clients, my past and previous clients. Also my future clients, because even with four and a half million notaries in the country, you can never find one when you need one. Think about what a customer has to go through to find you very oftentimes when I answer the phone, the client will say, oh my gosh, thank you. You're the only one. You're the 10th notary I've called in your, oh, the only one who's answering or you're the only one who answered politely and friendly. I hear this all the time. And even in my own signing company, when we're looking for a notary in a particular area, if I don't have NBB members or Sign And Thrive members in the area, we have to go through sometimes 20 notaries in the databases to find someone who answers the phone or has a professional email that suggests that they want more business.

Bill Soroka (12:29):
So why put your customer through that? That's where I went. And that's how eventually I started implementing different ways to stay in touch and keep myself top of mind. And ultimately it's what created the top of mind method. The top of mind method is basically 13 opportunities we have from the first time we interact with a client until they are in our database, and it can be a perpetual cycle of connection and adding value. So let's take a look at that a little bit deeper. First, picture your business like a funnel. I call it the notary funnel. And this will lead you to discovering so much value in your business because as a mobile notary and loan signing agent you're are, you are introduced to new people every single day, especially when you're in the hustle of your work.

Bill Soroka (13:37):
And if you add any additional revenue streams, or if you have strategic partnerships or referral partners, you're establishing this level of trust and you can be a resource that can generate income and prosperity or however, you decide to measure that for years, even a lifetime, cause that's what this is about. We work so hard to bring customers in to our notary funnel. Think about that. Picture a wide open funnel and you're looking for ways to get customers to pour in there. What are some of the ways you generate prospects or potential customers right now? Think about all the effort you put into this.

Bill Soroka (14:27):
Maybe you're doing Search Engine Optimization. Maybe you're creating content that drives people to your website. Maybe you're going to networking meetings, cultivating relationships with escrow officers. Maybe you're connecting with signers. Maybe you have a website, a LinkedIn page, a a profile. Think of the different platforms you work on signing agent, signing order, snap docs. Think of all the notary directories you're on; notary cafe or 1, 2, 3 notary, notary rotary, notary reviews, notary stars, reverse notary. Think of all those, all that effort you put in cultivating relationships with signing companies. That's a lot of effort and here's the way this works.

Bill Soroka (15:32):
You work so hard to get a new customer into your business. And sometimes they say, yes, you get the order or no, you don't get the order. But when you do get the order or when a customer calls you up and says, Hey, I've got these trust documents, you provide a service, thank them and they send you on your way. And that customer just falls straight through your funnel. Very short funnel without systems in place. It's very short and they just fall into this vat of despair. If you maintain any of their information, like a name or even an email address, it's probably just in the journal. And there's probably this little part of you that says, yeah, some someday I'm going to go back. I'm going to reach out to those customers. But trust me guys, that doesn't happen. We need more systems. So then you go right back into the cycle of working super hard to find another new customer, to bring into your business and then another. And it just repeats the cycle and it makes this business a lot harder than it needs to be.

Bill Soroka (16:52):
What if I told you that you probably have already met the one person that could change everything in your business. And that person is just sitting in your peripheral network, in your contacts stagnant. And if it's not the one person that can change anything, it's one person that can introduce you to the person who can, that's why it's so important to keep these 13 opportunities in mind. As people enter your business, your notary funnel, you take care of them. You stay in contact with them. You authentically connect to deepify those relationships and you be a resource and your business starts getting wings faster than you've ever known before. So let's go through those 13 opportunities.

Bill Soroka (18:03):
First opportunity. Picture in this giant funnel we've been talking about there's this little latch key down at the bottom of that funnel before it drops into the, the tube of your funnel. And that little latch key is opportunity number one. This is your response and close. What's that mean? This is number one do you answer the phone? Do you have a system in place when you can't answer the phone? And if you can answer the phone, how are you answering the phone? How's your tone of voice? Does it sound like you want to help someone? Does it sound like you want more business or does it sound like somebody's inter, interrupting this week's episode of Yellowstone and you're a very inconvenienced or do you sound jaded? Like, oh, here's somebody else who wants a free notarization? Oh, here's another low ball signing company calling me. You have that chip on your shoulder right now? That's what you got to look at. And beyond the response, how is your call flow? Do you have this mapped out and structured?

Bill Soroka (19:30):
Are you using a customer intake form that will guide you through asking the right questions, especially for specialty or general, notary work. Guys, this is su, super important. Those calls can be so intimidating, especially if you're not used to taking those kinds of appointments. We get so excited to get the call in the first place. And then we get so excited that it might be something that we actually know and understand that we forget to ask some deeper questions to set expectations and to demonstrate our expertise. I know that usually the first question out of a customer's mouth, when they call for specialty notary work or general notary work is how much is this or where are you located? Your ability to switch and take that gentle control about price, overcome that price objection. It's very oftentimes not about price. Sometimes it is, but it's usually not. They just don't know what question to ask. So they ask how much is this? Flip that, ask the probing questions, demonstrate your expertise. When you have an idea of the full scope of the job, quote it back, map it out, quote the scope of the work, stack your value. What I'm hearing is this, and it sounds like you need this and you're going to need me to come here. And this is going to require this and this, and this is probably what we'll need.

Bill Soroka (21:14):
And then you quote your price and close the deal. That's the second part, your response and close. You've got to be able to set the appointment. Every single phone call that you get, that you've worked so hard to get. You're pumping energy, sometimes even money into getting customers into your funnel, right? Getting those you're pumping it into technology. You're pumping it into people and relationships. You're spending all that energy to get this phone call, put some time into planning out how those phone calls need to go. So you can seal a deal. You can set that appointment.

Bill Soroka (21:58):
All right, opportunity number two and opportunity number three are the two most important things to keep in mind when you're cultivating relationships. Opportunity number two is expert delivery of your services. People are hiring you for a particular reason. Your job, when you show up to that appointment is to deliver those services that you've been hired for at an expert level. That means that you are going above and beyond in your education, in your studies, in, and you know, this is part of integrity, you know what you can do and what you can't do, or you at the very least know where to find the answers. This is huge; no, being resourceful, being like MacGyver. One of my favorite ways of setting myself up for success with this was creating a hierarchy of support because, and with that, I could just look at the inside cover of my journal and say, okay, here's the situation.

Bill Soroka (23:12):
Here's what I can, who I can contact to get the answers. I usually start with my state handbook. In Arizona, we're actually blessed with a very good handbook so that worked out really well. Then you might have the NNA hotline. You might have a mentor. You might have another training guide or a group that you've created or become a part of that you can trust. That's your hierarchy of support. And that's part of being an expert. You don't have to know all the answers, but you need to know where to find them. That will also tie into the tools and the systems that you have in place to actually perform these duties. What's in your notary bag? Are you prepared at these appointments? Do you know who to call at the appointment if something goes wrong, you know, the escrow officer, the closing agent, the attorney, whoever it might be?

Bill Soroka (24:13):
And this will tie in directly to opportunity number three. Opportunity number three is lay the foundation for a relationship that has the potential to last beyond this one, single transaction. Keep the bigger picture in mind, guys. This business introduces you to amazing people. And if we adopt the belief that you're going to meet, or you've met the one person that could change everything for you, then you've got to show up 100% present to every single appointment. And part of that will be your emotional intelligence called EI. And this will be oh, a level, it requires a level of self-awareness, awareness of your emotional wake, like how people feel when you leave a conversation or you walk out of the room. This is one of the best ways to remember this is to make eye contact and be interested in other people. And then also be interesting. So if they ask you questions, you've got something interesting going on.

Bill Soroka (25:31):
You can talk about the books you're reading. You can talk about the passion that you have for your business, your clients, your life. So it allows for something bigger to happen. It gives almost that freedom and permission for a relationship to grow from that one meeting. Now, speaking of that, it brings us to opportunity number four. Get permission to stay in touch. This is huge. Think about all the amazing people that we meet in this business at our appointments, I would say probably 95 to 98% of the clients I've met are awesome. And there's been some, and of course that I wouldn't want to stay in touch with, even if you paid me and that's okay, there's going to be a few of those that get through there. But most people are super cool and think about if you're like in a loan signing, you're there for maybe an hour, sometimes an hour and a half, but that connection that you have, you're oftentimes laughing together.

Bill Soroka (26:35):
They're sharing information about their life and you are sharing about yours. It's a cool environment. In fact, they usually would like to stay in touch with you, but they don't know what the, what what's socially acceptable or what's normal. Can we do that or not? It's your job to open the door? Yeah, this is normal. We can do this. And one of my favorite ways to get permission, is to say something along the lines of, thank you so much for making this fun or enjoyable for me as well. It's been a pleasure to be of service. I love to stay in touch. Do you mind if I send you a thank you card and an occasional email? That's a 100% success rate. Everybody I've asked that has said yes. Why? Because I only ask people that we have a connection with, right? I'm not asking the jerks. I'm not asking the people who clearly are not interested in a relationship. You can pick up that vibe relatively quickly in this business. I'm asking the people that we are con, I'm connecting with. Like, yeah, I want to stay in touch. I want to send you a thank you card, who doesn't love getting a thank you card and an occasional email. I love staying in touch, delivering value via email too.

Bill Soroka (28:00):
So let's talk about the next clump of opportunities and how we can fortify this value value. All right. In opportunity number five, it's called button it up. This is your post appointment ritual. These are a few things that you do after every single appointment to set yourself up for success. Some ideas for this would be like, send the invoice, send upload documents, or upload IDs. If it's required with your clients complete your bookkeeping, do it right then right after the appointment, I do my post appointment ritual like in the car before I pull away, I build it into my logistical schedule each day. So I'm not rushing off if at all possible, I'm not rushing off to the next appointment. So it doesn't build up. Because if you tell yourself, you're just going to wait till the end of the day to do invoicing or wait till the end of the day to send thank you cards.

Bill Soroka (28:59):
It's not going to happen. That's how you fall behind. That's why tax day is so stressful on April 14th, because we've, it's just this accumulation of putting it off, putting it off, putting it off. It stresses us out. It takes up mind space. We want to do whatever we can do to clear our heads so we can focus on two major things. First, if you're in business, you're client-getting activities. You don't want to be wasting a bunch of time catching up on bookkeeping when what you should be doing or could be doing is building relationships with customers that are going to bring you more business. Because if you don't have customers or revenue, then you don't have a business. So give yourself this gift of staying on top of things. And this post appointment ritual can do that for you. What are some other things you can do after every single appointment?

Bill Soroka (29:56):
Another is send out the handwritten thank you card. You just got permission to do so write it out right there. Have a note writing kit in your car. It does not have to be expensive. Yes, you can use technology like send out cards. I love send out cards. That was a game changer for me. But if you have even a tighter budget and you just want basic note cards and basic envelopes, just writing out, it was such a pleasure to meet you. Good luck on the new kitchen sign, Bill, the notary, put it in an envelope, put a stamp on it and drop it off of the post box. They will get that in seven to 10 days. And then you might even send a thank you email right then. So it's instantaneous.

Bill Soroka (30:46):
You might even send a request for your Google reviews or your Yelp reviews, whatever you've chosen to do. This is the time to do that. Take a minute and build out your post appointment ritual. And that brings us to opportunity number six. And opportunity number six, you want to stay in touch via email, just occasionally check in with your customers, whether by adding some sort of value or just a, a standard check in, Hey, thinking about you, what's new. Anything I can support you on. It can be that easy. And if you really want to go next level with this automate those emails into what's called a campaign or a drip sequence. So as soon as they go into your CRM, which by the way is another great thing to do for your post appointment ritual is add your customers to your CRM. A CRM is a Customer Relationship Management Tool.

Bill Soroka (32:01):
If you're in Notary Business Builder, you have TOM, that's our smartphone app that has a built in CRM feature. So you can add that right in to your account information. It makes sending this information like the Google link, the link to do the Google review super easy. Or if you have a post appointment video, you want to send to people you can absolutely do that makes it super easy. But when you have a CRM, it's really easy to set up these automated emails, campaigns, too. It doesn't have to be hard. It just needs to be consistent and authentic.

Bill Soroka (32:41):
Speaking of which that will bring us right into opportunity number seven, which is where you broadcast value. So what this is is basically like our Get Known Strategy. If you haven't heard of our Get Known Strategy, notary business builders, you have access to that full strategy, but essentially guys, all this is, is creating a blog or a vlog, a video blog, right? So you're going to either write it or you're going to speak it in front of a camera, post it on YouTube and then use email and social media to distribute that content on a regular basis. So if you create a blog on Monday, you send it out via email to your entire network because it brings value to them. It's going to be helpful to them. And then you periodically schedule for the next week, 10 days, 30 days, whatever you want to do, short little clips or short little blips about what that blog article is. You do that on social media.

Bill Soroka (33:47):
Believe it or not. It's easier to do than you might think. Especially if you have the support of NBB in courses like the Get Known Strategy, but this, guys, this strategy alone can help double, triple, or even quadruple your audience participation. It'll help, help you capture email addresses, which is extremely important. No matter what business you're in. Think about that for a second. Think about all the businesses, the service based businesses, the carpet cleaners, the windshield companies, the insurance companies, all these companies capture your email address, check your inbox. You can see it gets a little overwhelming, of course, but they do it for a reason, guys. They don't do that email marketing because it doesn't work. They do it because it does work. In fact, broadcast value via email and social media, true value that really helps people is one of the strongest ways that you can give your audience an opportunity to get to know you, like you and trust you. Guys, we're in the trust business. We're notaries. This is extremely important. People work with who they know, like and trust.

Bill Soroka (35:10):
This is your opportunity, an opportunity 5, 6, 7, and 8 to really allow them to get to see your personality a little bit. They get to see you demonstrate your expertise, that you know what you're talking about, and they get a feel for your philosophy for life. Cause you're sending information that is going to help them. And guess what, many of your customers probably own their own business, their own brand, or they represent companies where they have their own brand and they're probably posting content of their own. So opportunity number eight is to engage with other people's content, get in their orbit, like and follow them on LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter, Instagram, whatever you're on, get in their orbit and then thoughtfully engage with what they're posting. They've got their own dreams. Just like you. There's a reason that you're out on the web working so hard to make a difference and to draw customers into your business because you know that you are going to service those customers better than anyone else.

Bill Soroka (36:27):
That's why it's so important. And they feel the same about what they do. And if you can engage with that content and help them succeed by liking their stuff, if it's applicable, you can thoughtfully comment on it and continue the conversation, right? You can comment about what it is that you like about what they posted or what they wrote or what they shared. Continue the conversation in the comments, or you can share their content with your network. And when you share that content, you don't just share it blindly like just click share. And then it goes to your LinkedIn audience. And nobody knows what they're talking about. You want to do this thoughtfully click share and then write to your audience to the people who follow you and say, Hey guys, this is why I think you might enjoy this. This is what I liked about it. What do you think? And click share.

Bill Soroka (37:30):
That's how you can thoughtfully engage with other people's content. And it's a real nice and passive way to tickle your audience, to stay connected to them because they get a notification every single time you do that. So as your relationship grows and we move into the final section of these 13 opportunities, you're going to have a solid foundation for staying in touch and deepifing your relationships. So that's the last five of these 13 opportunities is to deepify relationships. And opportunity number nine, it's real easy. Once your customers come through, they're slowly winding through your funnel. They're getting an occasional email from you. They got that initial thank you card. They maybe posted a review for you. You're staying in touch. And then maybe once a month or once a week, whatever you decide to you release a blog that helps them navigate maybe the mortgage process or the real ID process.

Bill Soroka (38:42):
And they're just really getting to know you. They're starting to like you. And they're certainly going to start trusting you because you're clearly a professional and an expert in your field. So then they're in your reservoir of potentiality here, right? Opportunity number nine is reaching out. Every now and then do a personal connection. Just simply reach out and say, Hey, it's Bill the notary, thinking about you would love to catch up sometime, what's your schedule like. Or just, Hey, it's Bill. What's new? Would love to catch up sometime. Got time for a call, a coffee, a zoom, a cocktail? Whatever you want to talk about. Super easy. When you do that, sometimes a conversation happens. Sometimes it doesn't and that's totally okay. You're not going to hit home runs every time some people aren't into that. They just they're grateful for the connection. And they're good with that.

Bill Soroka (39:51):
Just the quick text message that's okay. Just don't stop. If you reach out every single day to somebody in your network, your life and business will change. Guaranteed. Along those same lines, opportunity number 10, every single day send a handwritten note to somebody in your network. To somebody already in your network; Friends, family, cousins, business, associates, colleagues, everybody counts. Pick somebody and just send them a note. And it could say the exact same thing you would've said in the text message, but it makes 10 times the impact when you do it with a handwritten note.

Bill Soroka (40:32):
Hi, I was just thinking about you. Hope all is well, would love to connect soon, Bill. And if it's a previous client that might need a little prompting to remember who you are. That's okay too. Don't let that stop you. Just write, Bill the notary, include your phone number on it. I encourage you on opportunity nine and 10, not to do any selling. So when you send your handwritten notes, don't send a business card. That just turns it into an advertising piece and advertising pieces have their place, but that's not what we're doing here. We're authentically connecting with people. So leave the business card out. If they need the prompting, go ahead and write Bill the notary, leave your phone number, but then that's it. Don't do a branded card. Just a nice handwritten note. It can be totally plain. You can make these yourself. It does not have to cost anything but the stamp and the cost of paper.

Bill Soroka (41:42):
Do that every single day. And if you have a hard time wondering what to say, start with, thank you cards, send a thank you card to people from your, your long past your recent past, whatever, and just say, Hey, thanks for the, the leg up that time when you helped me start my business or thanks for sharing my article I wrote or that video I made on YouTube, it made all the difference. This is the new endeavor for me, something along those lines that allows you to be a little bit vulnerable and connect and just show some gratitude. That's how easy it can be.

Bill Soroka (42:20):
And number 11, opportunity number 11 is to be a resource to your network. If you haven't done so already, you need a referral list. These are your favorite things. Your favorite people, services, products, places, whatever you love in your own community, in your own city or state, start making a list for this and then start looking for opportunities to share that information with your network. Guys, we're surrounded by it. When you start looking for opportunities, you're going to start finding them. Think about when you're on social media. People very often use ISO which means in search of, I just recently learned that. ISO great breakfast place. ISO I think venue for me, ISO, whatever it might be. And if you have that person, that place, that product, that person in your network, on your favorites list, share it, share it with them, make an introduction to the person.

Bill Soroka (43:31):
There's a good way to do introductions in a ineffective way to do introductions. So make sure you go above and beyond, really reach out and make the connection. If it's just a breakfast burrito place, which I love breakfast burrito. So I've got a few places in mind. I answer this question all the time. Best martini in Phoenix. I know where to send you. I'm constantly sharing private messaging. I I'll get text messages. Hey, I'm taking my dad out for birthday night. Where should I go? He loves a good stake. Well, I've got some suggestions. That keeps you top of mind. It might not be just for business, right? But it certainly works that way. You're calling me for a stake, you're probably going to call me for a notarization. Funny how it works, but it actually does. In opportunity number 12, this is where you get a chance to deepen relationships with your notary peers and your own education. So this is where you want to connect with those notaries that are putting on events, show up to those events, continue your training, but also connect with other notaries. If they're writing books, if they're starting courses, do what you can right now to support those people.

Bill Soroka (44:57):
If they're just starting out and you've got some wisdom to share, share it. Cultivate these networks. Find the rising stars and the gleaming stars, the ones that are out there, they're doing things they're helping other people get in there, orbit, see how you can support them. One of my favorite questions is what can I do to support you in your business right now? The beautiful thing about that is people sometimes don't know how to answer, but they're grateful that you did, that you asked the question, but oftentimes times the ask you. What can I do to support you? So think about that for a minute. What kinda support do you need in your business? Are there introductions that you would appreciate? Is there an accountability system that you would appreciate? Book suggestions, book, clubs, what is it? How can people support you. Be among the 1% and know how to answer that question?

Bill Soroka (46:08):
One of the exercises I really suggest people do for opportunity number 12 is to get really clear on who or what events you want to attend in the next year. Pick five of them, five notary, peer events that you'd like to attend. And sure, this can be online. This can be live and in person, whatever you want to do, write those down on a list and start planning for them. Some of them are free. Some of them are going to be an investment, but you've got the NNA Conference you've got Notary Symposium this year featuring Hal Elrod, the author of the Miracle Morning. I'm so excited about that. So if you want to attend that, book your ticket, grab your seat and then optimize these events. Optimize them so you get the most out of it. Events like this aren't always about the content. I love it when the content's on fleet, but it's not always about that.

Bill Soroka (47:14):
Sometimes you just meet one person. You won't learn one new thing that can change everything from your business. So when you're at these events, use them to connect with your notary peers. There are people doing some crazy big stuff in this industry. And I will tell you the more successful that a person is, the more open their heart is these are the people who are reaching back. They're shining a light behind them and saying, Hey, look out for that rock or look at this path I found for success here. That's what you're looking for. And this industry is full of people like that. Now, as you're mapping out your notary peer events, it's really important that you don't forget your client. This brings us to opportunity number 13; attend five client-getting events every single year. What is a client-getting event? Well, this is going to be different things for different people.

Bill Soroka (48:23):
So let's add a little bit of homework to this. You first need to know who your client is, makes it a lot easier to book events. So think about who your ideal customer is. And to get clear on that, think about the appointments that you just love to facilitate that bring you joy or bring you revenue. So for some of us, you know, that might be loan signings. We love doing new home purchases because of the energy around them. If you want to diversify a little bit in the specialty notary work realm, maybe that is doing estate planning appointments like living trust because you love being a part of that piece of mind process for people, maybe it's doing car title transfers, maybe you just like things short and fast, and you just love those quick appointments. So you build up an entire business just doing that.

Bill Soroka (49:35):
Maybe it's as an, apostille agent. Maybe you got your training from Judy Lawrence and your apostille agent and this is what you want to focus on, or fingerprinting or the wedding officiant. Drill down to who your ideal customer is. What's their attitude like what's the connection like at the appointment? Is everybody warm and friendly? Are we getting along? Is it that kind of appointment? Think about what would bring you energy every day. And we know not every single appointment is going to be filled with your ideal customers necessarily, especially at the beginning, it's not about weeding people out necessarily. It's about attracting your ideal customers in. Because when you know who your ideal customer in is, then you could start using language in your Search Engine Optimization, your content, your website, your emails, that draws that kind of person in. Here's the beautiful thing, with clarity comes customers. So spend some time on that. And as you identify who your ideal customers are, I guarantee you you'll see a theme and they congregate somewhere. In all likelihood your ideal customer has an association with it where they do an annual event, a convention, they do some training. There's an industry somewhere that is tapped into marketing to those people. Get in their orbit, see what events they are, how are they attracting these customers? Get there. You want to be surrounded by your ideal customer so they can get to know you, like you and trust you.

Bill Soroka (51:29):
Let's look at an example of that. Let's say you love doing estate planning. In particular, this is a a niche that I am working on in my business too. As our industry changes, I'm always thinking about how I can have additional streams of revenue or service and how I can help my notaries on my team or as part of the notary business builder. How can we adapt to what's going on? So I decided I love doing these living trust appointments. What I don't love is arguing or not necessarily arguing, but quibbling over 65, 85 or 100 dollar appointments. I don't want that. So I got really clear on what kind of client I would want to attract to get past that. So I said, okay, well, it's definitely going to be an estate planning attorney, but I want estate planning attorneys that cater to decca millionaires or more so it's high net worth clients that value their time over money.

Bill Soroka (52:41):
That's what was really important to me. And then I even got clear. I like, I love working with a team that is almost OCD in their attention to detail. Like I want the paperwork to be clean. I don't want it to be riddled with mistakes. I just want everything to run smooth. I want their office staff to talk warmly and professionally. I don't want, I don't want my stomach to turn when they call, I don't want anybody yelling or cussing. I just want things to run smooth. So I started mapping that out as my ideal customer for, as I pursue these estate planning attorneys and it's really working out interesting. I've said no to a lot more. And I've had some say no to me, but I've gathered already two new clients working on the third that specialize in this. And they value me.

Bill Soroka (53:35):
They love the value I bring to the table. They know that they can be proud to send me out to their clients. They're very high end clients, high net worth value clients. We have a great time. The clients are super warm and friendly. They're grateful. They're so glad they didn't have to fight traffic to sign their paperwork. And then the attorney is grateful too, cause I represent them well. That's how clear you want to get on your ideal customer. And now I know where these types of attorneys hang out. I know that they hang out oftentimes together, they do happy hours. They do networking. It's a little less formal networking environment, but they hang out together. They send referrals and that's how we're working on this third estate planning connection. So that's basically how that gets done guys. With clarity comes customers.

Bill Soroka (54:35):
All right. That is the 13 opportunities of the top of mind method. Now in the coming weeks, we'll still be doing interviews with incredible notaries, incredible speakers from around the country and even the world. And then I'll also be breaking down each one of these opportunities into a little more detail too. So you can tap in to the experience I've had in overcoming all the "shoulding" all over myself, the business failures, the shame cycle that we often have when we know we should have been doing something, but we didn't. And when the environment changes like it is right now that can spin us out of control and then we can quit when we're so close to success because we're here in this business for a reason, guys, we love it for a reason. So you got to stay tapped into your compelling. Why? Like, why did you start this business in the first place?

Bill Soroka (55:37):
Why did you love it so much? Yes things appear to have gotten harder, but this is almost like normal guys. When I first started in this business, it was very much like this environment right now. And now I would say there's even more opportunity because the education of the consumers has risen. It used to be like 90% of the population had no idea that mobile notaries were out there. Now more people know we exist. We're in the convenience economy. People want the convenience of a notary coming to them or even remote online notarization or in-person electronic notarization is rising right now. There are over a billion documents a year that get notarized. We have opportunity all around us. We just have to get it. Thank you for listening. Thank you for being here and we'll see you next week.

Bill Soroka (56:34):
Thank you so much for listening to this episode of the Sign And Thrive podcast for notaries brought to you by the notary E journal. I love hearing from notaries all over the country about what this electronic journal is doing for them. Listen to what Ryan has to say and is completely unprepared and spontaneous comment about the notary E journal.

Speaker 3 (56:56):
This is Ryan from California. I love using the notary E journal because it truly makes the journal process easier for us notaries. My clients love it because it's fast and seamless for them. And at the end of the day, I know how important my client's time is to them. And the notary E journal definitely helps. Overall it's a great tool for a notary to have at their disposal and is definitely something I would suggest all notaries to try out.

Bill Soroka (57:19):
Thanks, Ryan. You heard the man check out the notary E journal for just $1 at notarycoach.com/E Journal.

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Bill

This episode was produced and marketed by the Get Known Service
Intro music provided courtesy of Fan Fiqtion

This episode was produced and marketed by the Get Known Service

This episode was produced and marketed by the Get Known Service
Intro music provided courtesy of Fan Fiqtion