How to Get Notary Signing Agent Business At Networking Events! Should You Sponsor or Be an Attendee?

So this is kind of marketing season. If you were associated with the Realtors, they have a lot of inaugural balls, a lot of things going on. This is my question to you. Could you share, say I were a new notary or somebody who's been around for about a year if I start going to these marketing events, we do get a lot of requests for sponsorship and affiliates. I personally have found that some events I'd rather just be there and walk around talking to people as opposed to having a blanket what's your experience? What do you find more beneficial to be a sponsor and to really get your name out there where people can see you on the flyer and all that stuff, or to be able to walk around and schmooze and get to know people because you're going to meet people either way. But what do you think is more beneficial for a newer notary that could really help boost their business?

Okay, great question. What I love you said though, Kel, is it's marketing season, right? It's marketing season for everybody, right? The market is correcting so everyone's going to back out there. They're networking, they're holding events. So to your point, it's a great time for notaries to go start attaching themselves to these events. Now the question you asked me, is it better to sponsor or be a better as an attendee? And the answer is, I don't know. I think every event's a little bit different is my point. If you want me to ask it very macro, my answer would be if it is a escrow event I would sponsor. If it's a realtor event, I wouldn't sponsor. Now Realtors don't really know they have the power. So if you're going to sit there in the back as a notary, public, loan signing agent, notary, they're going to almost be like why are you here? Whereas if you're an escrow or title event, there's an obvious connection, right? So from a very macro level, I would say any title or escrow events that you could sponsor do. By the way, I do that with my signing service. If it's a realtor or lender event, they don't really realize that they have the power to pick the notary. That's where education comes in play and that's where working the room and having those one on one education moments becomes much more powerful because you'll get very few foot traffic through your table at an event where people don't really put those pieces together. Does that make sense? So I Think on a macro level. I would say any title or escrow events, I would sponsor. I sponsor escrow events all the time. Anything that's realtor or lender events, I would say working the room is a better move. Now that's a very macro answer. What I'd say the more micro answer is, you know, it depends the flow of the traffic, right? My point is, if you've been to some events, like no one visits booths and it's literally the biggest waste of money. So you should either have an idea through YouTube videos or some other research or maybe attending them yourself and to see which one does so. As a newer notary, I never recommend throwing money against the wall. I recommend going to the events first, figuring out does the layout really equal more money. Like, if you're going to sponsor the loan signing system conference, I purposely put you in traffic line. So is the event doing that for you? Is my point. Does that make sense? So anyone looking to sponsor events, one thing you should be doing is what's the flow of traffic? Is it just one big room? When I'm shoved in the back of the room, I say, that's not so hot. If they walk you through the traffic, I think that's great. Does that make sense? So I think at the end of the day, the micro answer is, even if it was a title event, but they shove you in the corner, probably not best use of your money. Does that make sense? So maybe understanding and asking them a how was the flow of traffic? What is the visibility of your sponsors? Are really good questions. And by the way, if you're paying Money, you should 100 ask questions like this, what does the traffic look like? What kind of visibility do you guarantee your sponsors? On average, how many people go through? If you've been to a loan signing system conference, we have that passport game where we encourage everyone to stop by the booth. So my question is, ask them, how are you driving traffic to my booth? And these are very appropriate questions. If you're spending money on sponsorship, does that make sense, everybody? So don't be afraid to ask, if I give you $500, what's my return on investment? I know you can't guarantee me X amount of people are going to buy my product or use my service, but what kind of traffic can you guarantee me? What kind of interactions can you guarantee me? And if they're like, we guarantee you none, I would probably not spend my money. So that's why I asked you to always depend. And so again, as a newer notary, I would Also say going to some events prior to sponsoring also makes sense so you can get a lay of the land. You can see what we know about. If there's going to be seven other notaries there, I don't know if that's the event I'd be sponsoring. So again, sometimes going in and asking how many other people are going to be like for instance at my conference, notarized asked how many other wrong platforms are going to be there at the time I said none. They're like sign me up asking questions like this, like how many are the signing services are going to be there? How many notaries are currently signed up? All appropriate questions. Now what I would tell you Kelly, or anybody is take, take the answers to these questions with a grain of salt because they're in sales, they're trying to sell you something. So you know they could be like, oh, right now we have no notaries on board, but yet they know they have conversations with five other notary. So just remember that they're also in business and you're in business too. So that's why I usually say for new notaries it's better to walk a few events to get the idea versus just spending your money. If you're making a few bucks like you, Kelly, throwing money against the wall isn't the worst idea. There's a tax write off. Right? So my. That's why I told you it depends, you know what I mean? So I hope I answered the question good.

You did. Thank you, Mark. I just want to put that out there because I'm getting more than one question. People asking me this question because I always post that. I go to marketing events encouraging people to do that. And I know that comes up quite often. You go to these events, get excited and they have things coming up and you're meeting people and that's just something I just wanted you to.

Well, I'll end with Kel because Kelly is the loan signing system ambassador for the state of Illinois. So what I ask a couple more qualifying questions, Kel, and I want everybody to hear this because this might be hard to hear is sometimes people want the easiest way to point A to point B. So I'm going to sponsor so they can hide behind a table. So ask them, are you really trying to sponsor because you want traffic or you want to sponsor because you don't want to push through your nerves and you feel like this is an easy way to tippy toe. You see what I'm saying everybody? Because sometimes people sponsor just because they quote unquote want the easy way, right? Like walking. Hide behind a table. Traffic is going to come to me. And traffic never comes to you. You've been to conferences and you don't go to every single sponsors table. So ask those qualifying questions like are you asking a sponsor because you don't want to get out there and mingle? Because if that's the answer, my thing to do is go out there and mingle because you can't get good at mingling until you start mingling. So I hope that help everybody watching. Great question, Cal. I'll see you soon, girl. Bye. Oh my gosh. I thought that was a great conversation. By the way, I'm a very big pro sponsor. If you have the money. If you don't have money, because then sometimes the ROI is in branding, not an actual signups. So I'd hate for you to spend $350 and not get a signing out of that. For me, it's worth 500 bucks and just get my signing service branded. So a lot of times when you walk into these networking events or sponsorship opportunities, you have to ask yourself, what do I want in return for my money? If you want a signing out of it, sometimes it's not the best use of money. If you want a branding opportunity, it's usually a pretty good opportunity. So it's always asking yourself, what do you want out of these sponsorship opportunities? But I'm a fan of going to every single networking because that is where the money is made.