How do you get title companies to call you first?

I didn't win my best title clients by marketing to them. I won them because someone else talked about me. Most of the time it was an attorney. They'd sit through a closing with me, then call the title agency afterward and say something like, "I want to use that closer going forward."

That one call did more than any flyer or cold email could. The agency didn't have to wonder about me anymore. Someone they trusted had already vouched.

What do title agencies look for before they call a notary?

When a title agency decides who to call first, five things matter more than anything on your website:

1. Reliability. When you say yes, it's done. You show up on time, every time. If you truly have to back out, you tell them early enough to recover. A late cancellation can knock over a whole closing, and agencies never forget who caused it.
2. Communication. Confirm the order fast. Confirm with the signer. Text when you arrive and when you're done. If something in the package looks off, say so right away.
3. Accuracy. Review the package before you leave the house. Before you leave the table, go back through every signature, initial, and date. A missed page can cost a borrower their rate lock and cost you the client.
4. Presence. Dress like it matters, because it does. Be calm, warm, and patient, even when the room isn't. Explain what each document is without explaining what it means legally.
5. Ease. Answer the phone. Keep your availability honest. Don't make the coordinator work harder to use you than to use someone else.

Why is every signing an audition?

You might think you're being judged on whether the papers got signed. You're being judged on a lot more than that. The title coordinator is watching how fast you confirmed. The attorney is watching how you handled the borrower's questions. The borrower is deciding how they feel about the whole closing. Every one of them can say your name to someone else.

At the table, you're the last person the borrower sees before weeks of work close. I put it this way: you're there to be a fragrance, not an odor. Both linger after you leave. Only one makes people glad you came.

One more thing. You represent the title agency's experience at that table, but you don't represent anyone in the transaction. Your job is to stay impartial: verify identity, witness signatures, and complete the notarial acts the right way. When a borrower has a question about their loan or their rights, point them to the lender, the title agency, or their attorney.

How do you make it easy for people to remember you?

When an attorney wants to tell the agency "use that closer again," they need your name. Introduce yourself clearly. Leave a card if it's appropriate. Use the same name everywhere you work. A great signing nobody can attach to you is a missed chance.

How does a client become a partner?

I can tell you the moment my best agency stopped being a client and became a partner. It was when I knew I would do anything for them, and I knew they would do anything for me. It built up over years: hard files we worked through together, late nights on the phone, trips I made to help with problems that weren't mine.

Then referrals started showing up from people I'd never worked with. A lender here. An attorney there. Another agency across the state. When I asked where they'd heard about me, the answer kept coming back to the same office.

A few things build that kind of relationship:

• Show up when it isn't your problem. Stay on the phone when a file goes bad. Make the trip when a signing needs to be redone.
• Learn the people, not just the orders. Know the coordinators' names. Remember what they told you last time.
• Help them win too. If you meet a lender, attorney, or real estate agent who needs a good title agency, send them to yours.

What is the title coordinator thinking while you drive to the signing?

She's juggling a dozen other files: lender deadlines, funding cutoffs, a manager asking for updates. When you go quiet, she's refreshing her email, wondering whether the signing happened. When you confirm fast and check in without being asked, you take one worry off her plate. Do that enough times, and you stop being one of her notaries. You become the one she trusts.

This is Chapters 1 and 8 of the notary side of Closed Together. The title agent side shows how agencies choose notaries, from their desk.

This article shares general practices and personal experience from real signings. It isn't legal advice. Notary laws, fees, and requirements vary by state, and lenders and title agencies set their own instructions, so check the current rules where you work.