Overcoming the "Commodity" Mindset

Are you tired of being treated like just another number in a long list of service providers? In this episode, Eddie Montes Travis and Marylyn Lee Trotter explore how to shift away from the commodity mindset that keeps your fees low and your professional value undervalued. We look at how to position yourself as a premium expert rather than a generic utility that clients choose based solely on the lowest price.

• Value Proposition: Learn how to identify the unique skills and reliability you bring to the table that sets you apart from the cheapest options in the market.
• Customer Experience: Discover why the way you handle a signing can turn a one-time transaction into a long-term business relationship that prioritizes quality over cost.
• Specialization: Explore how focusing on niche markets or specific document types allows you to command higher rates because you are seen as an essential authority.
• Pricing Strategy: Understand the psychological shift needed to stop competing on price alone and start charging for the peace of mind and accuracy you provide to your clients.

Breaking free from the race to the bottom is the only way to build a sustainable and profitable business. By focusing on your unique strengths and professional standards, you can change how the world views your services. Please subscribe and like the podcast to stay updated on more tips for growing your business.

Show Notes:
• Defining the commodity trap and why it limits business growth.
• Strategies for building a personal brand that attracts premium clients.
• How specialized knowledge increases your market value.
• The importance of soft skills in elevating the professional client experience.

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Executive Producer Derrick Spruill
Writers Marylyn Lee Trotter and Eddie Montes Travis
Graphics & Illustrations by Eddie Montes Travis
Music by Thomas Bynum
This Show is Produced by Magnificent Workz
Business Solutions

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:06

To obtain more notary knowledge, explore the full collection of books by Derek Spruel and find the perfect book for your notary business. Visit any online bookstore, Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble Bookstore, Booksofmillion.com, Bookshop.org, Mobile Notary by DerekSproel.com, or download from Kindle to obtain your essential notary book to help with all your notarization starting today.

SPEAKER_02 0:32

Welcome to Notary Knowledge. I am Marilyn.

SPEAKER_00 0:34

And I'm Eddie.

SPEAKER_02 0:35

And today we are jumping straight into our source material to tackle a really massive issue for experienced professionals. We are talking about overcoming the commodity mindset.

SPEAKER_01 0:48

Yeah, it is something we see constantly. People treating their business like well, like they're just a paperclip.

SPEAKER_02 0:54

Exactly. Like you are completely interchangeable. You go to the office supply store, buy a paperclip, and it does the exact same job as the one right next to it.

SPEAKER_01 1:03

Right. Or in this industry, people think they are just a rubber stamp, a molded piece of rubber with some ink.

SPEAKER_02 1:09

But if you've listened to our prior shows, you know we do not sugarcoat things. We are looking at high-level strategy today because when you walk into a high-stakes real estate closing or, you know, a hospital room for an end-of-life document, that stamp is the only thing standing between a family and total chaos in probate court.

SPEAKER_01 1:27

It is the absolute definition of a high-stakes environment. But before we get into the psychology and the frameworks we pulled from the sources, we have a quick reminder for you.

SPEAKER_02 1:35

Oh, right. You definitely need to grab the notary knowledge books by Derek Sproull. Just head over to the Notary Knowledge website and check those out. They are essential.

SPEAKER_01 1:44

Highly recommend them. And please take a second to rate the show, subscribe, and share it with other professionals. It really helps us out.

SPEAKER_02 1:51

It really does. Okay, so let's talk about this commodity trap. Professor Stefan Michel actually calls commoditization a bad word in our sources.

SPEAKER_01 2:00

It is a bad word. Yeah. I mean, he frames it as a deliberate weapon. It's this psychological tool used by procurement officers and signing services to just drive your prices into the ground.

SPEAKER_02 2:11

Right. They want to strip away all your unique value and reduce you to just a single row on a spreadsheet price.

SPEAKER_01 2:17

Exactly. And in the notary world, this trap just snaps shut the second you view your identity strictly through a regulatory lens.

SPEAKER_02 2:25

Like if you wake up and think, my entire professional value is just applying this official seal, you immediately relegate yourself to general notary work.

SPEAKER_01 2:32

Yeah. GNW, which is just a highly substitutable buyer's market. If if you define yourself as a stamp, the client has absolutely zero incentive to do anything but look for the cheapest stamp out there.

SPEAKER_02 2:43

Aaron Powell And the structural realities of the industry actually force this hyper competition, don't they?

SPEAKER_01 2:48

Oh, absolutely. The National Notary Association is legally bound by federal entertrust laws. Those laws strictly prohibit any form of collective rate setting.

SPEAKER_02 2:57

Aaron Powell So there are no minimum fee schedules.

SPEAKER_01 2:59

None. Professional associations have to remain entirely neutral to avoid price fixing allegations.

SPEAKER_02 3:04

Aaron Powell Which leaves you, the individual business owner, completely exposed. There is no guild setting a floor on your pricing.

SPEAKER_01 3:11

Aaron Ross Powell The burden of escaping this commodity trap falls entirely on your shoulders. And man, looking through the industry forms we sourced, that burden is crushing people.

SPEAKER_02 3:20

Aaron Powell The frustration is just visceral. You read these posts from new practitioners who clearly fell for some like six-figure marketing indoctrination. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

SPEAKER_01 3:28

Right, promising incredibly easy money.

SPEAKER_02 3:31

Yeah. They set up shop, dramatically underfunded, and end up operating on what one user brilliantly called a faith-based system of payment.

SPEAKER_01 3:41

That phrase is so accurate. They do all the heavy lifting up front, they drive across town, use their own toner to print hundreds of pages, do the signing, and then, well, they just cross their fingers and pray the invoice gets paid 30 days later.

SPEAKER_02 3:53

Aaron Powell And they end up chasing these measly $65 checks from aggressive commercial signing services.

SPEAKER_01 4:00

Aaron Powell Another forum user described those services perfectly. They act like absolute lambs when they desperately need a rush job done on a Friday afternoon.

SPEAKER_02 4:07

But the second you ask to be paid the overdue invoice.

SPEAKER_01 4:10

They turn into lions. It's a brutal environment.

SPEAKER_02 4:13

It really is. Think about a doctor's prescription pad. The true value isn't the ink on the paper, right? It's the 10 years of medical school and the diagnosis behind it.

SPEAKER_01 4:22

Exactly.

SPEAKER_02 4:23

But if antitrust laws prevent collective reach setting, how do you even begin to fight back? How do you force the market to recognize the diagnosis rather than just the ink?

SPEAKER_01 4:32

Well, you have to completely abandon the game they are trying to make you play. You cannot win a raise to the bottom, so you stop running it.

SPEAKER_02 4:40

Which means dismantling that employee mindset.

SPEAKER_01 4:42

Precisely. You have to intentionally install an entrepreneurial mindset. When someone leaves corporate life, they carry years of employee conditioning with them.

SPEAKER_02 4:51

Right. And that mindset is inherently passive and scarcity-oriented. It relies on input-based pricing.

SPEAKER_01 4:57

Yeah, you charge by the hour or the mile or the keystroke. You are basically just waiting for a superior or signing service to assign you a task and tell you what your time is worth.

SPEAKER_02 5:08

Liz from Luminary Leadership actually frames this perfectly in the sources. She calls it the trap of white-knuckling your business.

SPEAKER_01 5:15

Oh, I love that term.

SPEAKER_02 5:16

Right. You are in perpetual survival mode, constantly waiting for the other shoe to drop, and treating money with this exhausting low-level anxiety.

SPEAKER_01 5:23

And she points out that a massive manifestation of that anxiety is hiding your rates on your website. Hiding prices is the ultimate symptom of a scarcity mindset.

SPEAKER_02 5:32

Because service providers convince themselves they have to obscure their rates to get the prospect on a live phone call.

SPEAKER_01 5:38

Exactly. They think they need to handle objections and aggressively pitch their value before revealing the cost because they're terrified the number alone will scare the client away.

SPEAKER_02 5:48

Now I have to push back on that a little because conventional sales wisdom has preached that exact strategy for decades. You know, get them on the phone, build rapport, and then drop the price so they don't get sticker shock.

SPEAKER_01 6:00

Sure. That's the old school way.

SPEAKER_02 6:02

So are the sources actually saying that slapping a premium, like $250 price tag right on your homepage is actually better for generating business?

SPEAKER_01 6:12

Yeah. Behavioral research completely flips that conventional wisdom on its head. Yeah. Absolute pricing transparency doesn't scare away good clients. It functions as a highly effective premium brand filter.

SPEAKER_02 6:25

Oh, wow. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 6:26

When you hide your prices, you introduce cognitive friction. You signal professional insecurity. The buyer subconsciously thinks, well, if they're hiding the price, they're probably going to try to squeeze me based on what they think I can pay.

SPEAKER_02 6:36

It feels like a used car lot.

SPEAKER_01 6:38

Precisely. But displaying clear premium pricing immediately increases your perceived value. It signals unwavering confidence.

SPEAKER_02 6:49

Right. It establishes mutual respect before you even speak.

SPEAKER_01 6:52

Exactly. By the time a prospect actually dials your number, they are already pre-qualified. They know the investment, and they've decided you might be worth it. You eliminate the exhaustion of wasting 45 minutes on the phone with a bargain hunter.

SPEAKER_02 7:07

That makes so much sense. We actually need to take a quick pause for commercials here, but when we come back, we'll get into the exact mechanics of how to display those premium packages.

SPEAKER_01 7:15

Stick around.

SPEAKER_02 7:15

And we are back. So before the break, we were talking about filtering out bargain hunters. If your website is acting as a bouncer, how do you structure the numbers those premium clients are looking at?

SPEAKER_01 7:26

This brings us to the behavioral economics of pricing architecture. Professor Michel talks about shifting the price carrier.

SPEAKER_02 7:33

The price carrier, that's exactly what the customer believes they are buying, right?

SPEAKER_01 7:38

Right. In the commodity model, the price tag is literally pinned to the statutory signature. But state laws usually cap that fee at something like $10 or $15.

SPEAKER_02 7:47

And you definitely cannot build a sustainable business on $15 transactions.

SPEAKER_01 7:52

No way. So you have to legally untether your revenue from the cap stamp. You shift the price carrier entirely away from the signature.

SPEAKER_02 8:00

So in a premium concierge model, the signature is just a tiny incidental part of the package.

SPEAKER_01 8:06

Exactly. You place the actual price tag on the mobile delivery logistics, the after hours accessibility, and your rigorous error prevention protocols. The client pays for flawless execution inconvenience.

SPEAKER_02 8:17

Okay, so you shift the psychological weight. But how do you actually display those packages on your site so the buyer naturally chooses the most profitable option?

SPEAKER_01 8:26

You leverage high-end clustering. It is built on a psychological phenomenon called the compromise effect, along with strategic price anchoring.

SPEAKER_02 8:33

Okay, break that down for us.

SPEAKER_01 8:35

Let's say you offer three tiers of service. If you space them evenly pricing them at $100, $200, and $300, most buyers will naturally gravitate to the $200 middle option.

SPEAKER_02 8:48

Because human beings suffer from extremeness aversion. We don't want to feel cheap, but we also fear overspending, so we just compromise right in the middle.

SPEAKER_01 8:57

Exactly. But you can manipulate that aversion.

SPEAKER_02 9:00

Oh, this is like buying popcorn at a movie theater.

SPEAKER_01 9:02

Yes, the perfect analogy.

SPEAKER_02 9:04

They price the small at $5, the medium at $8.50, and the large, which is basically a trash can full of popcorn, is strategically priced at $9.

SPEAKER_01 9:13

They aren't trying to sell you the medium. They intentionally cluster the high-end prices. So the jump from medium to large is only 50 cents. It completely distorts your perception of value.

SPEAKER_02 9:23

So if you use high-end clustering for your services, you deliberately change the spacing. Instead of an even spread, you price your tiers at $100, $280, and $300.

SPEAKER_01 9:34

Right. That $300 premium package is your anchor. When the buyer looks at the options, their brain immediately compares the 280 middle tier to the 300 anchor.

SPEAKER_02 9:45

And that minor $20 step up makes the middle option feel like an almost irrational bargain.

SPEAKER_01 9:51

You have predictably pushed your buyer to a highly profitable tier without ever having to aggressively sell it.

SPEAKER_02 9:56

That is brilliant. You also have to consider how you package those tiers to reduce the pain of paying. There is a concept from the sources called completion bias.

SPEAKER_01 10:05

Oh, the Hermes example. This is fascinating.

SPEAKER_02 10:08

Yeah. If you go to a high-end auction house, a complete Hermes, bundle a bag, the original orange box, the receipt, and the dust bag commands a 25 to 40% premium over buying those exact items individually.

SPEAKER_01 10:22

Our brains just crave a fully realized, cohesive solution. An incomplete set creates cognitive dissonance.

SPEAKER_02 10:29

So applying that to our professionals, you absolutely cannot itemize your invoice. You do not charge 15 for the signature, line item 30 for travel, 10 for printing, and 20 for witness coordination.

SPEAKER_01 10:39

No, because every time the buyer reads a new line item, they experience a fresh spike of psychological friction. It's death by a thousand cuts. You bundle the entire experience into one seamless transaction.

SPEAKER_02 10:50

Right. One single comprehensive price for end-to-end convenience. The buyer isn't analyzing the cost of your printer toner. They are buying peace of mind.

SPEAKER_01 11:00

And when you offer discounts on those bundles, you should use the rule of 100. Our brains are lazy with math, so we rely on perceived size.

SPEAKER_02 11:09

Oh, I love this heuristic. If the discount is under $100, always use a percentage. Saying 20% off a $50 service sounds significantly more generous than saying $10 off.

SPEAKER_01 11:20

Simply because the number 20 is larger than $10. But if the service is over $100, you switch to absolute dollars.

SPEAKER_02 11:28

So $50 savings on a $250 package is psychologically much more compelling than 20% off, even though the math is identical.

SPEAKER_01 11:36

Exactly. It's entirely about manipulating the perception of value so the client feels they're winning.

SPEAKER_02 11:41

Okay, so we have restructured our mindset. We have our prices clustered, bundled, and transparently displayed. The website has filtered out the bargain hunters. Now the phone actually rings.

SPEAKER_01 11:53

The person on the other end already knows they are looking at a $250 fee.

SPEAKER_02 11:57

Right. So how does that change the actual sales conversation?

SPEAKER_01 12:01

It forces you to completely abandon traditional product pitching because they already know the price. Rattling off a list of features is useless. You must transition to consultative selling.

SPEAKER_02 12:12

Megan Cashigan has a great insight here. She says the biggest hurdle for new entrepreneurs is realizing you do not have to prove your worth to anyone. You adopt the doctor analogy.

SPEAKER_01 12:23

Think about the power dynamics of a medical specialist. A doctor doesn't walk into a room, nervously shake your hand, and immediately start pitching the sharpness of their surgical tools.

SPEAKER_02 12:32

Or justifying their hourly rate. It would be absurd. It would destroy their authority.

SPEAKER_01 12:37

A specialist sits down and diagnoses. They ask highly specific, open-ended questions to uncover the root cause of the patient's pain. A premium service provider has to command that exact same authority.

SPEAKER_02 12:49

So instead of jumping to the price tag, you ask diagnostic questions. Tell me a little more about the timeline for this execution.

SPEAKER_01 12:56

That diagnoses their urgency.

SPEAKER_02 12:58

Right. Or what specific challenges have you faced trying to get this handled so far? That uncovers past pain points.

SPEAKER_01 13:05

By asking those questions, you are no longer just giving a quote, you are providing a tailored operational prescription.

SPEAKER_02 13:12

But there is a deeply counterintuitive tactic mentioned in the sources regarding these consultations. There is a script where a professional says to a prospect, I just want to make sure I'm getting the full picture, even if the right solution isn't me.

SPEAKER_01 13:26

Yeah, risking sending a client to a competitor when you are a new business trying to keep the lights on feels terrifying.

SPEAKER_02 13:32

It feels like professional suicide.

SPEAKER_01 13:34

But it is the ultimate display of professional abundance. When you genuinely tell a prospect, I might not be the right fit for this, but let's figure out what you need, you instantly neutralize their defensive sales resistance.

SPEAKER_02 13:46

You transition in their mind from a vendor trying to extract money into a trusted advisor trying to protect them. And ironically, that honesty makes them want to hire you even more.

SPEAKER_01 13:56

Regardless of the price.

SPEAKER_02 13:57

So assuming you've secured that premium fee, you eventually have to deliver the actual service. And in this concierge model, we are stepping far outside of retail coffee shop notarizations and into specialty notary work, SNW.

SPEAKER_01 14:10

This is where the premium value proposition is truly tested. We are talking about responding to sudden medical emergencies or executing complex end-of-life documents in intensive care units.

SPEAKER_02 14:21

The emotional weight of walking into an ICU where a family is preparing for the end of a life must just be staggering.

SPEAKER_01 14:28

It is heavy. And the legal consequences of getting it wrong are severe. Documents that transfer wealth are prime targets for manipulation by family members.

SPEAKER_02 14:36

So the professional's primary duty is not just to witness a signature, but to assess cognitive awareness. You have to ensure they are free from undue influence or coercion.

SPEAKER_01 14:46

There are very specific red flags to watch for.

SPEAKER_02 15:49

Right. If a high value estate is contested in probate court years later, your journal is the contemporaneous evidence. You aren't just logging a name. You detail the signer's demeanor, the specific questions you asked, and exactly who was asked to leave the room.

SPEAKER_01 16:04

That exhaustive detail proves to a judge that you exercised the absolute highest standard of care, which is exactly why you charge $250 instead of 15.

SPEAKER_02 16:15

You are selling legal armor. Okay, before we get to our final point about who actually buys this legal armor, it is time for our segment. Good question. What would you do?

SPEAKER_01 16:24

I love this segment. Let's run through these scenarios from the listeners.

SPEAKER_02 16:28

First up, we have Pete in Utah asking about his GMB, Google My Business Privacy. He wants to know if he should list his home address.

SPEAKER_01 16:36

Pete, if you are mobile, absolutely hide that home address. Just list your service areas so you don't get random people showing up at your front door.

SPEAKER_02 16:42

Good advice. Next is Ursula in Maine asking about getting a fancy logo designed.

SPEAKER_01 16:48

Ursula, do not get bogged down here. Just use a clean, professional text-based logo. You are selling trust and reliability, not graphic design. Keep it simple.

SPEAKER_02 16:57

Yep. Pat in Oregon asks if he can use an inkjet printer for his documents.

SPEAKER_01 17:02

Oh man, Pat, no, absolutely not. You need a dual-tray laser printer for this kind of high-level work. Inkjet will smear and ruin legal documents.

SPEAKER_02 17:11

A total disaster waiting to happen. Rachel from Rhode Island is asking if she really needs to keep all her piny business receipts.

SPEAKER_01 17:17

Save them all, Rachel. Track every single expense. This ties right back to treating this like a real entrepreneurial venture, not a hobby.

SPEAKER_02 17:24

Right. And finally, Bob in Kentucky asks about handling his taxes.

SPEAKER_01 17:28

Bob, please get a CPA. The self-employment tax will completely sneak up on you if you're not doing your quarterly estimates correctly.

SPEAKER_02 17:35

Great rapid fire advice. So let's wrap up our main topic. If you establish that legal armor we talked about, who was actually buying it on a regular basis, to escape the low-ticket retail market, you have to build B2B alliances.

SPEAKER_01 17:47

The data shows that the absolute gold mine here isn't real estate agents, it's escrow officers.

SPEAKER_02 17:54

Because they are salaried employees who handle massive, relentless volume, right? Like 28 to 30 complex closings a month.

SPEAKER_01 18:02

Exactly. They do not care about saving $20 by hiring the cheapest person. They care about flawless execution because a single missed signature can delay a million dollar funding and get them fired.

SPEAKER_02 18:15

So if you partner directly with just three or four Ethereum officers, you completely bypass those commercial signing services. You bump your revenue from a frustrating $70 up to $125 or even $200 per appointment.

SPEAKER_01 18:28

And the second major B2B pipeline is estate planning attorneys. Trust packages often require four to ten signatures to become legally binding.

SPEAKER_02 18:37

And there is a highly specialized credential for this in the sources, the certified notary trust delivery agent or CNTDA.

SPEAKER_01 18:44

Earning that credential fundamentally changes your market positioning. You become a seamless extension of the law firm itself. And that elevated positioning allows you to routinely command up to $250 per trust execution.

SPEAKER_02 18:57

For anyone listening to this who feels stuck in the relentless grind of the gig economy, this right here is the blueprint. This is how you transition from an interchangeable gig worker into an indispensable B2B partner.

SPEAKER_01 19:08

It all cycles back to that initial cognitive shift. Commoditization isn't some unstoppable force. It is simply a strategic failure to articulate your value.

SPEAKER_02 19:18

Let's bring all of this together. Escaping the commodity trap requires three pillars. First, ditch the passive employee mindset for proactive entrepreneurship. Second, utilize behavioral pricing, clustering, bundling, and consultative selling.

SPEAKER_01 19:33

And third, target B2B alliances. Build direct pipelines with escrow officers and attorneys who value flawless execution over cheap rates.

SPEAKER_02 19:41

You take absolute control of your professional worth. We want to leave you with the final thought to mull over. If shifting the price carrier from the core product to the logistics works so brilliantly here, what everyday commodities in your own life are you currently overpaying for simply because the logistics were bundled beautifully?

SPEAKER_01 19:58

It makes you think.

SPEAKER_02 19:59

It really does. And looking at your own work, how can you bundle the hidden logistics of your career to make yourself entirely uncommoditized? Think about what it takes to turn your simple rubber stamp into a shield.

SPEAKER_01 20:12

Well said.

SPEAKER_02 20:13

Make sure to email your questions to Derek at dereksproul.com. We will try to answer as soon as possible at the end of our shows.

SPEAKER_01 20:20

Time for the credits. Executive producer Derek Spruell, lead writer Marilyn Leetrotter.

SPEAKER_02 20:26

Graphics by Eddie Montez Travis. Music by Thomas Spinum, produced by Magnificent Works Business Solutions.

SPEAKER_01 20:31

Remember, do not just be listeners of the knowledge, be doers of the knowledge.

SPEAKER_02 20:36

This is notary knowledge. Until next time.

SPEAKER_00 20:39

To obtain more notary knowledge, explore the full collection of books by Derek Spruel and find the perfect book for your notary business. Visit any online bookstore, Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble Bookstore, Bookofmillion.com, Bookshop.org, Mobile Notary by DerekSproel.com, or download from Kindle to obtain your essential notary book to help with all your notarization starting today.