Updated 6-30-23. Once you've got your Notary business off the ground and running, there comes a point when you're ready to take it to the "next level." Here are some strategies that Notaries have successfully used to get more clients, expand coverage areas and offer new services for customers.
1. Grow your client base by targeting different industries
Getting more clients is always a top priority, so marketing your services to a variety of industries is common sense.
Texas Notary Tonie Boaman, owner of Dash Notary and an NNA Notary of the Year Honoree, suggests approaching human resources departments in major corporations. They often need documents notarized as well as other non-notarial tasks, such as I-9 verifications (in states that allow you to perform them). Becoming a company’s "go-to" Notary and document authority can provide ample repeat business.
Washington Notary Sandra St. Claire, owner of NotaryOnCall, recommends reaching out to medical offices and memory care units as places in constant need of quality Notaries.
These successful mobile Notaries also say that becoming an expert with the forms these industries use, such as living trusts or powers of attorney, can make you an asset to the hiring company by readily meeting their needs.
2. Expand your service area
“New Notaries need to decide their true range,” says Boaman, which means being realistic when determining where you are willing to travel for assignments. Instead of servicing too large a segment of her home state, Boaman chose to serve several Texas counties within her vicinity, which she clearly lists on her website.
Once you have established and become comfortable with your initial service area, you might decide to add coverage into surrounding zip codes, or make special travel exceptions to those outside of your range.
If you do decide to expand, make sure you have the resources to do so and that you reliably calculate additional travel expenses in order to set the right fees.
3. Offer additional client services
Many highly successful Notary entrepreneurs increase their income by finding new services — both Notary and non-notarial — to provide to their clients.
"I’ve had clients say to me, 'If I need something, I call Tonie,'" says Boaman, who markets herself as the "Universal Resource Queen."
In addition to her wide range of notarial services, Boaman performs hundreds of I-9 verifications a year, and is also a handwriting analyst, property inspector and wedding officiant. Becoming a "resource" to people in her community has helped Boaman secure a loyal client base and continue to build her business.
Like Boaman, St. Claire offers several non-notarial services, including mobile fingerprinting and wedding officiating.
"We are not just Notaries," says Sandra St. Claire. "We can take the skills we have as Notaries and apply them to a number of other things."
Early in her Notary career, St. Claire realized how easily clients could see the information she recorded about previous signers in her Notary journal. Seeing the potential for fraud, St. Claire designed, patented, and now sells the Notary Privacy Guard, a product designed to protect customer information entered in one’s journal. By identifying a problem and finding a solution, she found a unique niche within the Notary industry.
When preparing to add an additional service, make sure you have the time and resources to take on the new assignments.
No matter what strategies you choose to grow your business, be adaptable, and "always choose to move forward," advises Boaman.
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