The Process of Cloning

You may be wondering what does cloning have to do with running a process service business.  What does cloning have to do with any business at all other than the world of ... well ... making organisms in test tubes and petri dishes?

Well, I assure once you get started in the process serving industry, and then you start growing even a small book of regular clients, you will become intimately involved in the process of cloning.  And it won't be about trying to figure out how to make viable, living, breathing little sheep, either.  No, the creature you will be cloning will be "you".

Here's how it all happens.  You start blowing and going with the business.  You're serving papers, making clients happy, they refer more clients, you're serving more papers, they refer even more clients, until suddenly you find yourself -- little ol' you -- out there night and day dropping paper because you are doing a great job.  Your clients love you and they are referring more and more clients to you, until the book of clients has grown so large that it turns into a chaotic maelstrom of activity with you are the center of it all. 

At first, it's great.  You're busy, you're making money, and everyone is happy.  But over time, you start to find that you have no downtime.  So forget the family or the vacations, or Monday Night Football.  Then you also start to find that despite your best efforts at organizing and planning your day and the route you will take that your level of performance and the speed at which you typically can work starts to slow.  It isn't just because you are becoming mentally and physically drained (you are), but there is simply too much volume for you to serve the papers as quickly as you first did when starting out.  It's a good problem to have, but if you don't resolve it, the problem will linger, fester, and then it will re-solve itself in a negative way through the loss of clients.

That's where cloning comes in.  If you want to keep up with demand, continue to grow, and keep from burning out, then you must begin the painful process of cloning yourself -- as in hire or subcontract some of the work out to others. 

Now, there are a number of objections to doing this.  I have heard them all, and most from myself.  But in the end if you want to grow while maintaining your sanity, cloning is essential.  Now you could do it by hiring other servers, and paying them a percentage of the unit cost for the service done, or you could hire other people to do other types of business functions within the business while you continue doing all the serving yourself.  After all, when you run a process serving business, you still have to balance the books, market and advertise for new clients, pay the bills, file the affidavits of service, run to this law firm and that court house, etc. 

So, make a choice and/or do all of the above.  Start bringing on an extra server to take overflown.  I don't mean give him the assignment and also all the money for doing the assignment for one of your clients.  No way.  After all, you put in the sweat equity to obtain that precious client.  So, find an extra server who will do the assignment the way you would like it done, pay him/her a percentage and keep enough to be profitable.  And, oh, by the way, you be the point of contact on those assignments with the client, not the extra server (that alleviates the objection from those who would argue that once you start giving overflow work that your extra server might try to take your client away from you).

The other thing you can do as an alternative is to contract out all those ancillary, supporting tasks that are required to run a business.  Find someone who can just sit there and do the paperwork to get an assignment generated and ready to go out to be served.  It doesn't have to be a full-time employee, either, especially if you don't need one full-time.  Find a temp or someone who is willing to work on a freelance basis.  Contract out the accounting, and the courier runs to the court house and the law firms.  Contract out the skip trace/relocate work to someone who specializes in that sort of thing.  There are plenty of skip tracers who can offer affordable rates to take that out of your hair if you are getting too busy to do it yourself.

But no one can do all of these things as perfect as me.  That is the biggest objection to cloning (it was certainly one of mine).  And that may be true.  Perhaps you are a super-being incapable of making mistakes and able to bend the laws of physics and twist the space-time continuum to your own ends.  But if you could do that, you certainly wouldn't need to be running a process service company, would you?  Sure, other people that you might hire or subcontract to do various tasks might not do things the way you like them, they might not do them perfectly, and they might even make mistakes (heaven forbid).  But that is just part of being human.  Mistakes and imperfection exist and they become exponential in their prevalence the more clones you have, but it is certainly better to have a few problems here and there, while your business grows, than to have multiple problems and a lot of disappointed clients because you couldn't let go.  In fact, you might find your clones may be better at certain tasks then you could ever imagine to be yourself, despite the occasional hiccup.

In the end, and I have experienced this in my own business, what you will find is that the turnaround time on your assignments increases to probably even faster than what you were able to do in the beginning on your own, your downtime is greater, allowing you to be tanned and rested, there is more free time for you to do more marketing, and more advertising, and then the revenue of the company grows exponentially thereby allowing you to have enough funds available to pay for the extra server, the freelance book keeper, the subcontracted courier, and the full time office clerk to keep the paperwork flowing properly through your business.

Sure, it may not be perfect.  Nothing is.  Clones are merely carbon copies of you.  But which would you prefer, ten different people doing a hundred different things all at once, or just one person (you) doing a hundred things one thing at a time?


Coming Soon!  "The Business End of Process Serving" by Bob Hill.  Soon to be available on Amazon.com and Kindle.

Did You Know There Are Three "I"s in Marketing?

You might only see one letter "I" in the word "marketing", but I see three.  "I"ntroduce, "I"nvolve, and then "I"ncrease.

This is all about growing sideways through your client base.  Once you do have a client, a good way to get more business is to, firstly, do a great job for them, and then, secondly, keep them in the loop and engaged in the process (no pun intended), including educating them a little on what you are doing for them, and then, thirdly, increase the amount of work you do for them by introducing them to new, additional services.  Same client, just offer a different service.  It’s what McDonald’s does everyday.

It works like this at McDonald’s.  You come in and ask for a hamburger.  The attendant asks if you want cheese on it.  It wasn't something you were thinking about, but it sounds like a great idea, so you say, yes.  Then the attendant asks if you want fries.  Again, you were just thinking a hamburger, but fries sound like a great idea, so you say, yes.  Then the attendant asks if you want a large order of fries.  You say, yes.  Then the attendant asks if you want something to drink.  And you say, yes.  Get the point.

In fact, the whole process with ordering something at McDonalds has become so routine, that most people now walk into their restaurants and before the attendant can even ask if you want a hamburger with cheese and a large order of fries with a drink, the customer already knows what they are going to be asked, and they just spew it all out at once as the customer has been trained into these responses over time through exposure to the various products McDonalds puts forth.

You can do the same thing in process service.  How do you do that when all you are doing is serving a paper.  Here’s an easy example.  Your client contacts you to serve a subpoena.  And you respond by telling them that you can do that, and then you ask, do you want us to place a rush on that.  And they say, yes.  Or, you ask them, do you want me to prepare the subpoena (which under certain circumstances you can legally do), and they say, yes.

Here’s another example.  You may already know how to serve court documents, but you also know how to locate people who need to be served.  This is called skip tracing.  This is an additional service you can provide.  Or perhaps you can offer to do courier service for the client, or act as a notary public for sworn documents.  If you are qualified and licensed, you can also offer the client to do private investigations.  Plenty of attorneys have a need for investigative services.  If you are already working on their process service, it is easier to give you the investigations, seeing as they already know you, than for them to locate an investigator, get quotes, vet them, retain them, etc. 

So, in that way you "introduce" the client to a new service, you "involve" them in the new service by providing quality customer service and education into the process, and then you "increase" the level of services by introducing yet another new or additional service.  It could become an endless cycle if you could find an endless number of services to provide.  You could start serving court documents for one client, but before too long, you could be serving the court documents, running investigations, locating witnesses, notarizing documents, completing courier deliveries, retrieving court records, researching court files, preparing subpoenas, and on and on and on.

What would be easier from a marketing standpoint; provide eight different services for one client, or find eight different clients to provide just one service?  Even better -- eight different services for eight different clients.  Now that's a lot of cheeseburgers on the grill!

Service With A Smile

Customer Service

Although you might not think so, customer service is a part of, or at least a close cousin to marketing.  After all, the key purpose of a business is not just to make money, but to obtain and keep a client.  So customer service is critical, even when you are having a bad day.  Remember, you are there to help the client achieve success in their own endeavors.  You are there to provide good service and keep them out of trouble.  You are there to solve problems and provide solutions.  You are not there to create more, so do an excellent job and do it as quick as possible. 

Customer service starts with communication.  You must have strong communication skills and abilities if you desire even modest success.  Now that does not mean that you need to be eloquent (although that would help), or have a vast vocabulary.  No, communication requires, first, the ability to truly listen to the client.  Don’t just hear what they are saying, but really listen.  And that requires your undivided attention with both ears.  I heard it once said that you have two ears and one mouth.  So wouldn’t it be smart to listen twice as hard to your client’s needs?  And then provide a succinct solution for them.  Take the problems they may be having, and are the reasons they are contacting you, and resolve them.  Do it correctly, do it efficiently, and do it cost-effectively.  But remember the key point here is not that you spoke, but rather that you listened.

Secondly, smile when you dial.  Literally, try it.  When you pick up the phone, actually smile.  It will come across the phone conversation in your tone of voice and the client will intuit this.  The reverse is also true.  If you are having a bad day, trust me, they will know it, and that isn’t always best for the relationship.  And when you communicate through correspondence or email, be succinct, be grammatically correct, be polite, and be certain that you choose words that sound friendly, warm, and most importantly, that you are receptive to whatever it is they require of you as if you were chatting with a good friend.

Which brings up another issue.  In the beginning I used to treat my clients just like that – a client.  I was all business and very much to the point.  But over time I learned that the best approach was not to exist in a vendor-client status, but rather to build rapport with the client and thereby create a relationship.  Take the time to find out what their personalities are like and what hobbies they enjoy.  Become familiar with aspects of their personal life if they are willing to share.  And trust me, they will if you are open and friendly and share with them those things about you that make you unique.  When the time permits take yourself out of the professional mode with the client (while still maintaining a professional demeanor) and establish something lasting as if you were developing a friendship.  Because, in fact, that is exactly what you will be doing.  I do not even refer to my clients as clients when I correspond with them.  I call them my friends, and that is very much how I feel about them.

What's In A Name?

 

It may not seem important to some, but having a business name can be crucial.  Not only does it give you legitimacy, as opposed to calling your business, “Joe Smith, Process Server,” it can give you brand recognition and a marketing hook.

Don’t get me wrong, just going out there with business cards that say Joe Smith, Process Server, may be fine.  Especially, if you want to be identified as just a regular “Joe” who serves papers.  There’s really nothing wrong with it.  And depending on the type of clients you might want to attract, that might be perfect. 

But that is also the point I am making.  How you name the business will identify the type of business you have and it will shape the psychology that the name inevitably employs upon you, any future employees, your clients’ perceptions of the type of business or service you are providing, and whether you or the company will grow up, out, or sideways.

 And that’s what you should think about when coming up with a name.  If you’re focus is to be a process serving company that is very professional, then a name like Professional Process might be better.  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 on your competition.  

Quality Versus Quantity

Proper pricing of your services is critical.  Yet, to the newcomer (and also some of the more experienced), this can be a difficult thing to consider.  Some would think the obvious thing to do when starting out is to be the cheapest.  But is it really the smart thing to do?  Let me point out two rules of capitalist economics.  First, charge what you can afford.  Second, charge based on demand. 

For the first rule, don’t set your price so low that your expenses eat up all your profit (hence you have no profit).  As with the fuel costs and other expenses of running a business, if you decide to price things so low in an attempt to undercut your competitors, you may find yourself out of business and possibly in foreclosure or bankruptcy while your competitors are still running strong.  Secondly, and this will play upon the second rule to a degree.  If you do price yourself too low, you might find yourself so busy that you cannot perform quality service, and eventually this leads to mistakes, missed deadlines on court appearances for your clients, and then the eventual exodus of your entire book of clients.

Which leads to the second rule that the charge should be what the market demands.  If the typical going rate for service of one court document in your market is $60.00, and you charge $55.00 the price will lead to demand for your service based on the lower price.  But if you get too busy because you are cheaper, then you will get overloaded with assignments and provide poor service.  That, and you will also work yourself to an early grave.  But, if you keep your price competitive at $60.00 or even a little higher, you will gain a share of the market amongst your local competitors, considering everyone is charging the same relative price, or you might be working less if you charge $65.00, but end up making the same amount of money as your competitors or perhaps even more. 
So what you would rather do?  Work harder for less money per assignment?  Or would you prefer to work less for the same amount of money, be tanned and rested, and then therefore not be overloaded with too many assignments, and be able to provide superior service to your current book of clients, who then tout your good name and superior performance to others who might have a need for your services?  In other words, do you want to do quantity or do you want to quality of work? Think about it.

The Right Tools for the Right Job

There is very little you can do without the right equipment these days.  Now, if you have all the modern “toys”, such as smart phones or a laptop and a wireless printer, that would be the optimum way to go if you are starting on your own without an office, or any employees, as once you start getting a book of clients, you will most likely be on the road throughout most of the day, and the wireless technology that is top of the line is the best way to go.

I have even heard of some servers who operate using a motorcycle, a notebook computer, a wireless printer, and a cell phone.  They are completely mobile, can go anywhere cheaply and don’t have to stop anywhere to pick up their assignments in most instances.  You could receive contact from a client who already has the court documents in their office, and you can tell them to scan and email the court documents to you.  You print out the court documents, and then go right away to serve them.  Now, that doesn’t mean that’s all you need to have a fully functioning business, as at some point you might have someone who still needs to fax something to you, or you may need to copy some documents, or you may need to scan documents yourself.  So, having this additional equipment may be necessary at some point.  But still, as the technology advances, and it is advancing at a rapid pace, it is becoming increasingly easy to quickly and efficiently execute process throughout the country.  So, always remember, if you can afford it, technology is our friend.  Repeat this mantra, “technology is our friend.”

Of course, it is not necessary to have everything up front when first starting out.  Our company began with a single desktop computer, a printer, a fax machine, a cellular phone, a traditional phone, and a functioning automobile.  That was it in the beginning.  But some people think it is necessary to buy every new toy out there and to get the latest and greatest technology.  And I agree, as I have learned that technology is our friend.  There’s nothing wrong with all the “bells and whistles” if you can afford it.  In fact, the most up-to-date computer technology would be wise to invest in as given the rapid pace at which computers become obsolete (usually within three years or less), buying the newest thing is the best thing to do. 

But, even though technology is our friend, if you are just starting out, have a limited amount of finances, or if you have bad credit (something I suggest you repair if you are going operate a business), then just start with the bare minimum and take what you can get just to be able to function.  Then later, when you begin to achieve a level of revenue from the company that allows you to upgrade, or you are required because of the volume of work being received, then that’s when you should assess the need to acquire better systems (management software) and equipment to operate the business.

            If you have no funds to start with, then work with what you have.  And process serving is one of those professions where you could get along without all the “bells and whistles”.  Although it would be difficult, you could probably operate as a process server, without any equipment whatsoever, actually, with the exception of a functioning phone and a moving motor vehicle.  Yes, if you cannot afford even a computer, you could operate a process serving business … at least in the beginning.  It would be difficult and you would not be very competitive, but you could get moving and start obtaining clients, start serving papers, and start making money.  So, there are no excuses.

            Now, provided you have some funds, here is the suggested bare minimum equipment items you should have if you want to have a business in process serving that will bring in clients, look professional, operate competitively, and complete assignments efficiently:

Any computer with internet access

A printer – preferably laser black and white

Fax machine

Cell phone

Desktop copier

A functioning, preferably fuel efficient, vehicle

Basic office supplies – paper, envelopes, staples/stapler, paperclips, pens

Here’s the equipment you should have once you really get going and want to run with or ahead of the pack:

Wifi – to receive assignments or contact by email while you are on the road

Portable printers – to print assignments in your car as you go 

Cell phone - iPhones/Blackberry/smart phone

Copier

A functioning, very fuel efficient, vehicle

Conventional phone line or even an internet phone

A seriously big desk space

Fax machine

Postage meter

Business Cards

Office supplies - paper, envelopes, paperclips, staples, staplers, toner, folders, pens, mailing labels, whiteout, adhesive tape, etc.

High speed scanner

Forms to use for various office tasks – faxing, correspondence, field sheets, maps

Field equipment – binoculars, flashlight, clipboard, pens, note pad, water bottle, contact cards, vehicle phone charger

            There are many other articles and items of equipment and supplies that you might need at one time or another, and the above lists are certainly not all-inclusive, but this should be enough to get you up and running, keep you profitable and competitive, and start you on down the road to running a respectable process serving company.

Ten Basic Marketing Steps A Process Server Should Take to Become Successful

You can't serve court documents if you don't have them in your hand.  To that end, one of the first rules of business a process server has to learn is this.  If you don't have a job, then your job becomes finding a job.  More succinctly, you need to market your services.

Here are some very basic steps to take to get you moving, some of which require some capital while others require just a little of your time.

1.  Advertise in the classified section of the local bar association newsletter.

2.  Order some quality business cards and put them in the hands of every court clerk that will take them.  When someone comes into the courthouse to file a lawsuit, they may not already have a process server in mind, and if they ask the clerk, then your card is right there at their fingertips.

3.  Obtain from your local bar association the member mailing list.  This could or could not be a little pricey, but now you have the names and addresses of all the attorneys in town.  Start mailing postcards to those addresses by the hundreds.  Be patient with this, though.  On average it might take sending your postcard to the same attorneys up to five times before they finally contact you. 

4.  You need a website.  Even if it is nothing more than a very basic online brochure of your services, an online presence is critical in the 21st century.

5.  Social Media Networking.  This falls in line with your website.  You may not have a large budget for setting up and driving traffic to your website.  So, a good way to establish a web presence that may also drive traffic toward your website is through the various social media networks such as Facebook, Linked-In, MerchantCircle, and several others.  Make friends and connections anywhere and everywhere you can, but most especially with fellow process servers, private investigators, and attorneys.

6.  Become a member of an industry association.  Membership fees are generally inexpensive, but the networking possibilities for B2B exchange of work with other servers in other locations throughout the state and the nation are golden.

7.  Become a corporate member of a legal secretaries or paralegal's association.  These associations exist throughout the United States and are a perfect opportunity for you to interact one on one with your key client demographic - legal assistants/paralegals.

8.  Sponsor an event with the local bar association.  You'll get exposure as a vendor and you will be amazed at how inexpensive it is to be a sponsor of an event.

9.  If you already have a client or two (or three), nothing works better than word of mouth.  So, first thing, do a superior job for those clients.  Second, take your clients some goodies -- chocolate works very well with legal secretaries -- or take them to lunch.  Show a genuine interest in them, not just as a client, but as a friend.  Remember, you are building a relationship here that could, over the course of many years, develop into a sizable stream of income, as well as the many, many referrals to other potential clients that these one or two clients will provide where they tout your services for you.

10.  Door to door.  Difficult and sometimes daunting, this one does work, but it is truly a numbers game.  The key here is to know that most likely the law firm you are cold-calling or visiting probably already has a process server to whom they are quite loyal.  You're not there to attempt to take the business away from that process server, but to offer to be the "back-up" in case their guy is too busy, sick, or on vacation.