How To Handle A Scheduling Conflict

So you're a mobile notary with a nice little (or maybe not so little) notary job all lined up for later today, when you receive a call from a client who's up against a deadline and needs your services during the same time that you'll be performing your already-scheduled job. What do you do? What do you tell the client? You don't want to lose his/her business, but you have an existing obligation that you must keep. Here's one good way to handle this sort of situation:

Get to know two or three other good mobile notaries in your area. Make sure they're competent, reliable people who you can recommend with confidence. Then, when you receive more than one job for the same time slot, refer the client to these other notaries. Let the client know that you're familiar with their work, and that you would not recommend them if you weren't confident in their abilities. Provide the client with the name and phone number of each notary. (The client is usually very pleased that you're so willing to go out of your way to help him/her!)

Wait about 15 minutes, then call the notaries to find out whether the client contacted them and to make sure one of them was able to take the job. And call the client to make sure he/she found someone to do the job. The result: happy client, happy notary who got the job referral from you, and happy you, because not only did you help out the client-in-need and the other notary, you also get high marks from the client, who is likely to remember you the next time he/she needs a notary in your area!

(And be sure that if you're referring business to other notaries, they're doing the same for you. If they don't appreciate what you're doing for them, and if they're not returning the favor, you might want to find other good notaries with whom to share overflow business.)

Joel
http://www.drivenotary.com
http://www.sundancenotary.com