Name Branding for Process Service

Record Time Retrieval & Investigations evolved from Record Time Retrieval. Record Time Retrieval was descriptive of the initial service offered of being a business that served subpoenas to obtain business and medical records. It was simple; we retrieved records in record time. Our name aptly described what we did while giving us an identity that our target market could identify with. It was important; however, to be sure we backed our branding by actually providing record time service.

Over time I realized that I was more inclined to work on process service befitting my previous law enforcement background; so the quick turnaround on assignment completions that process service entails was a much better fit for me as owner/employee of the company. As the business evolved we changed the type of service we wanted to provide from records retrieval to process service, eventually adding private investigations. Although we occasionally still do records retrieval, we predominately provide the services of process service and private investigations. Changing the type of service to coincide with my passions and my personality meant that Record Time was no longer as appropriate as it once was. It meant making an adjustment in the name of the company that was more befitting of the services offered.

Here is where we became somewhat stuck. We already had clients, business cards, a website, stationary, etc.  Changing all of that would have confused existing clients and cost the company money.  It was decided that we would change the name of the company from Record Time Retrieval to Record Time Retrieval & Investigations. As you can see, just from my own experience (or lack thereof) the importance of a company name, especially if you change out your services. We actually lucked out in being able to just lengthen the name.

So think carefully when coming up with a name for your business. If your focus is to be a process serving company that is very professional, then a name like Professional Process might work.  If it is important to have your family name on your “shingle”, then by all means, call it Thompson’s Civil Process.  Just remember, the name says it all, and it gives your company a distinct identity as well as (especially, if it has a recognizable, catchy name) a marketable slant that perhaps gives you an edge over your competition.  Think hard and long on it, and what you want the company to represent because you do not want to go through the contortions my company went through when we changed services, but then struggled with how we wanted to represent that change later on down the road.

Like what you've read? Check out my books; available on Amazon.com "The Business End of Process Service, Running a Process Service Company From the Ground Up". or “CounterSpy”. As always, I appreciate your feedback. 

Process Service Online

Is an online presence really necessary? That depends. Do you have all the clients you want? Do you know that in performing a simple search of the internet for “Texas Process Servers” using Google, one of the primary search engines, there were more than 2,000,000 (that’s two million) results. Not all of those are going to be exclusive of one another, but if you expect to get even a small portion of the business, the need for an online presence is pretty much a given.

So, what do you need for an online presence? For starters consider social media. But I’m a process server, not a techie, you moan. What do I know about social media? Do you have opinions about your industry? Do you have helpful advice to offer? Do you have fun or interesting information to share? Then you can do social media. There are many different avenues for social media; some are geared more toward business than others, so you will need to do some research to figure out which will work best for you, your style and your business.  The most important thing to remember for social media is to be consistent. You don’t have to post something every day. But, whether you post daily, a few times a week or a few times a month, be consistent so that your followers will know when to look for your next helpful, fun, or educational share.

Next, you want to consider the importance of a website for process servers. What do you need in a website? Websites can range from relatively inexpensive and simple, self-produced, generally template based, one page informational, no interaction-type of sites to an expensive, custom-designed multi-page, interactive site with all the bells-and-whistles.   So how do you choose which is right for you?  First let me say, not all template sites are inexpensive, nor are all custom-designed websites expensive; but the wrong type of site without proper SEO (search engine optimization – which helps you to be located in the sea of internet information) can be very costly. The other thing you need regardless of how simple or extensive your website may be is that it is “responsive”.  Responsive means that it can be viewed on any mobile device. If it can’t, you might as well not even have one.

www/rtr-i.com

To begin with, the type of website you select will probably come down to what your budget can afford at the time. Like all business tools, the budget should look at not just the initial cash outlay but cost over time and ROI.  Remember, as your business grows your “tools” can always be updated in line with the growth of your business. Feel free to take a look at my site. www.rtr-i.com.

You may think that the first step to building your website is to purchase a domain name (generally your business name or some variation thereof) aligning with your branding, followed by a hosting service. A hosting service is the business that stores the data for you. In reality, the first steps are to know your target market and then develop a plan as to what message you are trying to convey to that market. Classes are held all the time to help small businesses with website planning and design. Once you know who your target market is and what message you are trying to get across, determine your domain name and then get your hosting service. Now you are ready to begin building a site.

If you are just starting out, a basic website set up by yourself or others might not draw in a lot of work without any “search engine optimization” or all that fancy computer “stuff” (as I call it), but get it started. You won't be found as easily without the optimization, but you will at least be online.  Over time, as your company begins to bring in steady revenue, you can always get the right service to upgrade and enhance the website so that customers can find it whenever they conduct a search on the internet for a process server. What little I do know, as I am not an expert in website design, the best thing one can do is to optimize the website so that search engines can easily pick it up.  This requires the ability to understand “key words” and to be able to know how to submit your website to the various search engines, like Google, Yahoo, etc.  I rely on a website hosting service to handle this for our company.  There are also businesses, who are not hosting companies, who specialize in search engine optimization (SEO).

Another way to draw traffic to the website is to consider exchanging links with other businesses as this is known to draw traffic toward your website.  But first and foremost, get the site up and running at the very least.  Then, if you have the funds, hire a “qualified” web professional who knows how to submit your website to the search engines and knows how to push traffic towards your website.  And what I mean by qualified, in my opinion, is ask someone who already has a website where the website is getting traffic on it.  The last thing you want to do is spend a lot of money to have someone set up a website for you and they promise to get the internet traffic to it, too, and then you find out that person or company doesn’t know what they are doing and they are just taking you for a ride on the information superhighway at your expense.  Research the purchase of this tool as you would any vital tool for your business.

If you've read my book “The Business End of Process, Running a Process Service Company From the Ground Up” I'd appreciate a review in the comments below or where it is available on Amazon.com. If you haven't read it yet, it's an easy read with what I consider to be some handy tips for running a process service business.  http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=%22The+Business+End+of+Process%22&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3A%22The+Business+End+of+Process%22&ajr=0.

Marketing Your Process Service Business is a Daily Must

I continually remind myself that getting clients and keeping them is what I must do every day; it’s what keeps the doors of Record Time Retrieval & Investigations open. Should I forget to remind myself, I could receive a not so pleasant sign within a very short period in the form of a drop in business. With that drop comes a decrease in accounts receivable.  Even with a client base like ours that repeats, attorneys’ filing lawsuits, if you fail to give good customer service, face-to-face time and/or excellent service, there is someone else out there who will leaving you out in the cold. There are also things out of your control that shrink a client base -- clients going out of business, moving, retiring and/or (heaven forbid) passing through the pearly gates. So if you want to maintain your process service business you have to market your business. If you want to grow your process service business you have to market your business even more and market it with consistency. Market like a shark swims – constantly – or your business, like the non-swimming shark, may die.

Whether you’ve been in business for decades or you are just starting out, it is important to keep a fresh perspective on how you market your business. What may have worked for you one, five or even ten years ago may not work as well for you in today’s market. And nowhere in time is this more evident than today. And tomorrow. Technology is changing at an unprecedented pace modifying, updating, improving; and did I mention changing? With that comes a change in how your clients locate you and even perceive how you do business.

This is one area you don’t want to be a secret agent. Do you know what your on-line presence looks like? Have you checked lately? If not, you should. What’s being posted online could have a big impact on your traffic, both internet traffic and client traffic. Is all your information current? I maintain a website presence and write a blog. I participate in some of the various social media networks. Social Media networks include Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+, Google Hangout, Twitter, and more. I’m also listed 30+ times with specific links to Record Time Retrieval & Investigations. In writing this, I noticed a few of those need to have some slight updates. If you don’t have time to do it, consider outsourcing. Just make sure you have a solid online presence.

A strong online presence will help your business to be located. In our business location is a big thing. Local is important. Being listed where you can be easily found is important. Not just on a computer search, but on everything mobile, phones, tablets, notebooks, etc. Where do your clients look for you? That is where you want to be prominently recorded.

Other areas to be found that I’ve suggested in previous blogs include:

1.     Advertise in your local bar association newsletter.

2.     Yellow pages and business pages – particularly online

3.     Business cards – hand them out to all clients and potential clients. In particular, make sure your court clerks have at least two of your cards.

4.     Market to a list of the members of your local bar association.

5.     Associations – be a member; NAPPS, local, state bar associations.

           

The important thing to remember is find out where your clients “hang out” or seek your services and market there. Market consistently and continuously.

Next time – servicing your customer.

If you enjoy reading my posts, please leave me a comment. I always welcome feedback. If you haven’t yet taken a look at my book, check out “The Business End of Process Service: Running a Process Service Company from the Ground Up”. I think you’ll find a lot of helpful information for working on and growing your business. Thanks. http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=%22The+Business+End+of+Process%22&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3A%22The+Business+End+of+Process%22&ajr=0. 

Creating a Competitive Advantage

On my last blog I discussed setting a pricing strategy to acquire business and make a profit. Pricing, however, is not all inclusive to numbers. If you don’t provide a great service, it won’t matter where you have set your prices, you won’t remain in business.

That being said, I suggest you look at your competition. What are they doing to get and keep business? Look at their prices, response time and any other way that they reach out to and/or treat the clients.

Obviously, pricing is important and must be considered if you’re looking to have a competitive advantage. You don’t want to be the cheapest service, although an inexpensive service is good. Keep in mind that the difference between cheap and inexpensive is a matter of quality provided. And until you are well established, you probably don’t want to be the most expensive service provider.

Some process service companies feel they get the competitive advantage when they offer to not charge anything at all if the paper is not served. I strongly caution against this model as it is a double-edged sword.

Think about your pricing strategy. How will you cover your costs (there will be costs incurred) and just as important, how will you, if you don’t charge just because the papers could not be served?

But, you reply, by offering this bonus, word will get out and I can get a ton of business coming in quickly. That will make up for it and that’s good, right? Wrong!

If you get in too much work too quickly, your quality of service could suffer. But Bob, that’s not a problem; I’ll just hire more servers.

Say you do hire more; will you have the time to properly train them? What happens if they decide to “gutter serve” your papers. Gutter serving is what occurs when your server has said they served the paper, but they may not have. There have been instances where this has been known to happen. The server’s concern being that they will go to the time and expense (gas, parking, etc.) to attempt service and if it’s not served and you don’t charge, they won’t get paid because you’re not getting paid.

Say you decide to pay your server regardless. Did you factor this in with your pricing strategy?

The bottom line is, set a fair price using a pricing strategy that takes into consideration all the expense you will incur and what the marketplace will bear. Don’t be ruled by price alone. Be competitive, but focus on providing a worthwhile service in terms of service and quality and will be able to justify what you charge.

For more tips on running your process service business, check out "The Business End of Process, Running a Process Service Company from the Group Up". It's available on Amazon.com  http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=%22The+Business+End+of+Process%22&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3A%22The+Business+End+of+Process%22&ajr=0. 

One more note, I just want to thank you for reading my posts. I appreciate your interest and I welcome your feedback. 

Creating the Right Pricing Strategy

How should you determine what rates to charge? Traditionally, the local sheriff or constable’s office set the standard on how much to charge for serving a single instrument (one court document). This comes from the fact that the sheriff (the local shire reeves – original pronunciation for a sheriff from the old English dialect) were the ones that served civil process before private process servers came into being.

I don’t consider them the only factor, as the private process serving industry came about in large part due to the volume of work available. If you couple that with a need for quality and speed that cannot always be provided by the overworked understaffed sheriffs and constables, and you can understand the industry growth.

Whether you are creating a strategy to price a product or price a service the process, and the thought behind it, are similar. The primary difference being that with a product you easily know the cost at which you will purchase said product. Selling a service however, is not quite as cut and dried when figuring out the “cost”. You do, however, have more flexibility when pricing service than when pricing products.

Process – The popular Cost-Plus pricing formula says you should take the cost + overhead + desired profit margin to arrive at a price to the marketplace. To simplify we can include overhead in our cost calculations to determine what to charge.  Cost + Profit Margin = Price of Service

Determine your costs; i.e., how much does it cost you to provide the service? The cost of producing any service is made up of the following three parts, according to advisement of the US Small Business Administration.

• Materials cost – what goods do you use in providing service?
• Labor cost – what direct labor costs do you incur in providing service? Reimbursed expenses associated with labor costs should be considered such as gas, wherein you may want to factor in distance traveled. It has been said that for every dollar per gallon of gas, you should factor in a cost of $5.00 for the service. With today’s rising prices of gas hovering around $3.00 a gallon that equates to $15.00 for a cost of service. Should prices rise toward $4.00 per gallon your cost of service will rise accordingly, i.e., $20.00.
• Overhead cost – these costs are incurred whether or not you are selling, be it a product or service. What are your indirect costs, such as non-server labor (yourself or other administration or management personnel), rent, taxes (income tax, property tax, franchise tax, etc.), insurance, advertising, office supplies, office equipment, depreciation, utilities, mileage, etc.?  Figure in a reasonable amount of your overhead costs for each service provided on either an hourly or percentage based on your business model.

 As an example, if you have an overall price of $60.00 per court document served in your local market, $30.00 would be for the actual serving part of the assignment (i.e., to cover your time to go from your office to the service address. The remaining $30 would break down to $15.00 to cover fuel costs and the other $15.00 to cover overhead.

Determine a fair profit margin. Profit margin is that amount added to the costs of doing business to ensure you are profitable. Take some time in determining your profit margin, as you don’t want to add so little that you find yourself shutting your doors from lack of profit, nor do you want to add so much that you find yourself shutting your doors because you priced yourself out of the market.

Check with me on my next post on Creating a Competitive Advantage. Have you checked out my book, “The Business End of Process, Running a Process Service Company From the Ground Up”? It’s available on Amazon.com.http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=%22The+Business+End+of+Process%22&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3A%22The+Business+End+of+Process%22&ajr=0. It won’t’ tell you how to server process, but rather provides the nuts and bolts about how the processes and procedures I use to run a successful process service business.

Marketing your Process Service Business to Legal Association Members

The beginning process server business person referred to in my last blog also requested some guidance on marketing to Bar Associations. “Do I just hand out flyers or business cards introducing myself to the people that are there letting them know I’m offering a service? Is it okay for me to be marketing or promoting my business to these people in the association?”

That's a very good question, and one you always want to ask before promoting to any group you belong to. Do not just assume that it will be okay.

With regard to bar associations, as long as you are allowed to attend meetings, by all means, go and work on building relationships with other attendees. The key words in that last statement are “building relationships”. Networking is critical in most businesses, and the process service business is no different.  Networking requires the building of relationships; as in getting to "know, like and trust" one another. While you may not get any work right away, over time potential clients will get to know you. By building rapport, when they are looking for a server, they will already know you thus making your chances of being selected far greater than someone they would just have to pick out of a list of server companies.

I find networking events invaluable and attend them as often as I can find them. Do not be anxious to drop your business cards right away. If you have ever entered a room and had a stranger thrust their business card into your hand with hardly so much as a hello, you can understand why.  Do, however, take business cards with you. When, and only when, someone asks for a card, give them three; one card for them to keep and, the other two cards for them to share.

Remember, networking is not about the “hard sell”. It is a soft sell process achieved through the building of relationships over time where you discuss business as well as personal topics. Over time, by building rapport and trust, the potential client becomes a friend, or at the very least a good acquaintance, who in turn becomes a client or referral partner.

I hope these points have been helpful. For more helpful information such as this, read through my past blog posts or check out my book, “The Business End of Process, Running a Process Service Company From the Ground Up” available on Amazon.com. http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=%22The+Business+End+of+Process%22&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3A%22The+Business+End+of+Process%22&ajr=0.

Direct Mail Marketing for your Process Service Business

I recently received an email from a process server who recently started his own process serving business. He had read my book, “The Business End of Process Service” and had a few questions about marketing his business. I felt it might be helpful to others to share my response.

His first question was about direct mail and whether it mattered where or how his post cards were sent as long as they made it to the law office. He also wanted to know if there was a way to consolidate post card sending and gear it toward a specific target to increase chances of it being seen.

When it comes to direct mailing, the key is to go high volume to a specific target group. In this case your direct mail piece (post cards) would be targeted to law firms. It does not matter if the post cards are addressed to the attorney because the legal secretary will generally be the one to sort through the mail as it comes in. Post cards, or for that matter most any direct mail,  operates strictly by the numbers; the more you send the better your chances that someone who is in need of a process server will find your card in their mail box.

Typically, most established law firms will already be working with a process server. Sometimes, however, the server they are using may not be providing good service and the law firm may already be on the lookout for a replacement. If you are sending out high volume, chances are the very day they are thinking of replacing their server is the day they receive your post card.

By high volume send outs, I am referring to sending anywhere from 100 to 1000 per week. Once you have sent post cards to every attorney on your list, resend them to the entire list again, and again, and again. This is known as a marketing campaign, where you market to the same target over and over. You can use the same card or you may want to vary it a little to see which style of card brings about the best results.

The reason for being redundant and repetitive is that usually, from a marketing standpoint, a customer may not pay much attention to you the first time your postcard arrives. After they have seen it 4-5 times you are then, on a subconscious level, “on their radar”. High volume is more likely to equal having your post card land on someone’s desk at just the right time.

Next post, I’ll share my thoughts on attending association events to market your business. More information on this and other relevant topics to running a process server business are available in my book “The Business End of Process, Running a Process Service Company From the Ground Up” available on Amazon.com. http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=%22The+Business+End+of+Process%22&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3A%22The+Business+End+of+Process%22&ajr=0.