How to Build a Relationship with Local UPS Stores and Banks, so that They Send you the Notary Clients They aren’t able to accommodate

Many people out there who need a notarization will remember having gone to a bank or a UPS store to get one 5 or 10 years ago that last time they needed one. Now a lot of notary publics that we work with through our Google Ads Management program have told us a similar thing regarding the UPS stores and the banks. They tell us that notaries at the UPS store aren’t willing to notarize many different types of documents. There may be a few common documents that they may be willing to notarize, but there is a long list of documents that they won’t notarize. In fact, our notary clients will often get a phone call off of their Google ads from a caller who is saying that they just went to the UPS store and were turned away. The caller’s first instinct as soon as they exit the UPS store is to do a Google search and click on the first result, which could very easily be your Google Ad if it’s set up the right way. However, if you don’t have Google Ads running, or one of the most reviewed Google My Business Pages in your area, there’s another way you can capture these customers. 

What you do is visit the UPS store, and ask to speak to the person in charge of notarizations. Ask them if they notarize every type of document out there, or if they only offer notarization services for a select number of documents. They will most likely tell you that they don’t notarize every type of document. Then, explain to them that you can help them with the notarizations that they can’t handle. Leave them with a stack of business cards that they can give away to people who come to the UPS store with a document type that the UPS store won’t notarize. Now, you’re going to get all the runoff from the appointments that the notaries at the UPS store can’t handle. As soon as you get your first one, go back and visit to say thank you and express your gratitude in person, a box of thank you donuts doesn’t hurt either. In fact, a box of thank-you donuts is something you might consider bringing to any of the previous facilities or offices mentioned in the previous blog. That way you’re setting yourself up for the second referral just like discussed in the previous blog. 

Not only are UPS stores unable to accommodate all the people who come in looking for a notarization, but most banks are also unable to accommodate all the people who come in as well. In fact, many banks have flat-out stopped offering notarization services. This is what our notary clients on our Google Ads Management Program tell us. We specifically have one customer in Tampa, FL who gets 3-5 appointments a day from the Chase bank that’s near his house. He’s the one who first told me about the bank strategy. So what you do is you go visit all your local banks in person. You ask them if they offer notarization services. If they do offer notarization services, follow the same line of questions laid out in the previous paragraph about whether they are able to accommodate all types of documents or not. If they flat out do not offer notarization services, ask them if people still come in all the time asking for notarization services. They will most likely say yes. A lot of older folks are just used to going to banks for notarizations because it was a much more widely offered service in the past. Then you go into your spiel about them being able to refer those people your way which ends with you leaving them a stack of business cards. 

We have multiple notary clients from our Google Ad Management service who tell us that they get a good number of leads coming in through both the UPS store as well as the bank. We have no doubt that you can too. The only con is that they do tend to be a bit stingier as customers in regard to a travel fee. This is obvious as they were usually driving all the way to the bank or the UPS store to avoid a travel fee. However, once they’ve been turned away by the bank or the UPS store, they will be somewhat willing to pay a travel fee for you to come to them just to get their document notarized and done with. They will usually want to talk you down to a smaller travel fee, but hey, cheap customers are better than no customers, and remember the more important thing for you early on is to build up your Google My Business reviews. So make sure to turn the appointment into a review if you are going lower than usual on your travel fee.