I recently learned that Amazon will be implementing a fuel surcharge for their delivery services, effective this week. This development prompts me to consider implementing a similar surcharge for my mobile loan signing and general notary services. It is noteworthy that despite the widely acknowledged increase in fuel costs, many title and signing services continue to offer compensation rates that do not adequately reflect these rising expenses.
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I am countering every offer +25% at this time, highlighting rising fuel prices….I’m running about 50 % success rate right now and no slow down of offers….
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Signing Services are not going to offer more because of fuel costs or any other costs. They are stuck in the year 2015. That’s the year I started in this business, and the rates offered were the same then as they are now. Name one other business where this is the case. The truth is that if you want more money, you have to ask for it. Counter every offer that comes in, and you will get some of them. Ideal situation? Of course not, but that’s how it is. The offers we get will never increase as long as our contemporaries are accepting the low offers blasted out there by signing services.
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Do that and you’ll see less business. Well, at least that way you’ll be saving money. But making less as well. Isn’t this fun?
There are fundamentally two distinct mindsets at play in our industry: the “scarcity mindset” and the “abundance mindset.” The reason why title companies and signing services are able to exploit our industry, in my observation, stems from the fact that a significant majority of Loan Signing Agents operate from a place of “scarcity mindset.” This manifests as an unwillingness to establish and maintain professional standards that would enable them to fairly compensate themselves for their expertise and services, effectively allowing their true value to be undervalued. Conversely, I choose to approach my business from an “abundance mindset.” This involves setting my business standards with the goal of creating and maintaining an optimally profitable and sustainable business model, firmly refusing to permit any title or signing service to diminish the worth of the services I provide. It’s crucial to recognize that these companies are not immune to the same economic realities and pressures that we face; they are keenly aware of the escalating costs associated with both fixed and variable expenses within the current marketplace. However, the key vulnerability lies in the fact that if these companies can exploit the “psychology of fear of loss” that often accompanies a scarcity mindset among Loan Signing Agents, they will undoubtedly capitalize on that weakness.
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What you’re saying isn’t necessarily true. Yes, you’ll see less business if you counter every offer. However, some of the business that you take at the offer fee will actually LOSE you money, when time and expenses are figured in. If you think that your time is worth nothing, then that’s your privilege. I personally pick and choose the offers that I respond to, based on offer fee, time and location of the signing, type of signing, and even to some extent, lender and/or title company. Anything out of my “travel zone”, I pretty much ignore, no matter what the other details are. Of the offers that I respond to, I counter on almost all of them. I get some and don’t get others.
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I’m doing that and NOT making less money…I am however keeping up with rising costs….
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Not an issue. For example, It took me 30 minutes and cost me $16 to charge my Tesla from 19% to 80% at peak usage in Tejon Ranch yesterday on the way home from Fresno. My solar panels charged me back up this morning in my garage. (Note) The real issue was trying to stay awake while my car self drove me home (through LA) without touching the steering wheel or brakes.