Many notaries only focus on the notary journal. In many states keeping a record of journal entries is required so a notary journal is necessary. However, have you considered using a notary appointment book as well? Although an appointment book is not required, it can be a useful tool. There are many benefits of using a notary appointment book. Now don’t get the appointment book confused with the notary journal. A notary journal is for recording notarizations. A notary appointment book is for scheduling your appointments. Scheduling appointments in a book will help you stay organized but there are other beneficial reasons for using a notary appointment book. Here are some other benefits of using a notary appointment book.
Mileage Tracking
The first benefit of using a notary appointment book pertains to mileage. A notary appointment book is great for keeping track of mileage. If you aren’t the best at keeping track of your mileage as you go, then the appointment book allows you to go back and check the addresses and note the mileage at a later time. Even if you don’t know how many miles you travelled between appointments, you can always go back and look up miles between places using the addresses you went to for that day, week, or month.
Dual Purpose Tool
For notaries that live in states where keeping a notary journal isn’t required you may want to use an appointment book for dual purposes. The obvious reason for an appointment book is for keeping track of appointments. But you can also use the appointment book to keep track of notarial acts. You’ll be able to book clients on the go and keep information about the notarial act for those clients in one place.
Invoice Tracking
In appointment books notaries can also keep tracking of invoicing clients. Then note who has paid and who hasn’t. And here’s a tip-staple receipts to every page completed. Doing so is a good way to stay organized come tax time.
Client Notes
The appointment book allows notaries to keep track of past, current, and future clients all in one place. Include notes about the client. For instance, noting a client who is good about sending you referrals often, or one who gives you repeat business is a good way to build a solid client database. These will be your core clients who you can build relationships with and keep in touch with for business. Be sure to put their email address in the appointment book for building your email list. Marketing to those clients will be important for building your business as well. You want to keep you and your business on your clients minds so that anytime they or anyone else they know needs notary services you are the first person they think of.
Software Referencing
Having a notary appointment book with detailed information will make it easier to transfer that data into software later. There are a few good software platforms for notaries out there. Referencing data to enter information in software will be a breeze when used in conjunction with an appointment book.
So, as you can see, an appointment book can be quite useful and serve multi-purposes and not just the obvious one of scheduling appointments. These are some benefits of using a notary appointment book. Maximizing your resources for a greater return on your investment is part of what makes a successful entrepreneur.
Happy Notarizing!