Author: The Process Server Center | PROServerCENTER is a legal professional organization whose mission is to set a national standard for the process service industry in the United States.
Summary: A key role in learning how to apply FBI techniques while serving legal documents is developing our emotional intelligence. By doing that, we learn a crucial secret about de-escalating any difficult situation or calm an angry person in seconds. That secret consists of two simple things:
Process servers face many challenges while attempting to locate a person, to obtain more information that could help find the person to be served, to build rapport with a stranger, to alleviate an escalating situation. Most of these challenges can be resolved by observing and communicating. Observation plays a key role in identifying and gathering additional information that could prove helpful in ruling out an address. It helps a process server discover more about the residence, rule out if anyone actually lives at the given address or not; or confirm that a person may not reside here if his/her name is not on the mailbox.
Along with observation, communication helps a process server gather valuable information before and during an attempt to deliver process and may ultimately help with locating the person being served or overcome a difficult situation of avoiding. Using FBI techniques and tools process servers can successfully build rapport, diffuse a difficult situation, gather valuable information and ultimately complete the service of process right the first time.
A key role in learning how to apply FBI techniques while serving legal documents is developing our emotional intelligence. By doing that, we learn a crucial secret about de-escalating any difficult situation or calm an angry person in seconds. That secret consists of two simple things:
Experience shows that underneath anger and fear, people are often experiencing deep unresolved grief. Many people also experience abandonment and feel deeply unloved. These are added to the list because they arise often.
The physical aspect of emotion is what we commonly call feeling. When a person you are trying to serve gets frustrated, his/her face may turn deep red which is caused by blood rushing into his capillaries. In addition, some people have a difficult time labeling their emotional experience. A person you are trying to communicate with while attempting to deliver legal documents, may experience the affect of anger, for example, but not be able to communicate his experience. He will just want to go out and hit something because he has no way to express to himself or others what is going on inside him. Another person may be able to categorize his emotional experience as anger, and communicate in a rough way that he/she is angry. People who are able to not only categorize their emotional experience, but can also provide details about it, tend to have higher emotional intelligence, have better self-control, and are able to make better choices under the fire of emotion. People with lesser ability to name and detail their emotions have less emotional intelligence, less self-control, and a harder time making good choices when upset. Here is an illustration showing the degrees of emotional distress:
As a process server your communication skills and ability to detect emotions in others help you identify situations that may spiral out of control. Equipped with the right set of tools and techniques, a process server can learn to de-escalate a tough situation or calm an angry person in 90 seconds or less. It is important to be aware of the words you use, the way you phrase things. Do you phrase things always as either/ or? Are the word choices you choose always negative? Are you compassionate with how you describe the purpose of you knocking on someone's door? Do you use language that lifts up or pulls others down?
Mindfulness is one of the most effective behavioral tools you will ever have as a process server for dealing with rising anxiety, stress, sadness, and myriad other emotions. Process service is often a difficult job where both process servers and the people they are trying to serve experience negative emotions. Therefore, process servers must be equally mindful of their own emotions as they are to the emotions of the people they encounter in their daily routes to serve process. Internal mindfulness, which pays attention to our own inner self-talk, watches for any negative patters in behavior or perceptions. It takes some practice because you have to break through the distortion of what you think versus what is true. Next time you are out attempting to deliver legal documents, be mindful about what is real and what is distorted. Watch out for your own negative thoughts as they can influence how you approach the next person on whose door you are going to knock. Always take a step back and take control of your own emotions before you carry them with you and onto the next person you are going to try and deliver legal documents to. Developing your emotional intelligence as a process server is just one of several tools and techniques that top FBI agents use to de-escalate and calm an angry person. To find out more about the other tools that FBI agents use on a daily basis, consider enrolling in the program "How To Serve Like an FBI Agent". Handle difficult to serve people, learn to deal with confrontation, and cut time spent per service with tactics and strategies specifically developed for the process service industry based on the experience and knowledge of FBI agents and law enforcement officers.
Author: The Process Server Center | PROServerCENTER is a legal professional organization whose mission is to set a national standard for the process service industry in the United States.
What would your business be like if you were the process server who came to mind every time someone said they need a process server in your area? We bet your inbox would be full of requests or orders to serve legal documents from qualified legal professionals. All of us at the Process Server Center want this for you! We want you to be the Go-To Process Server in Your Area! We want you to be successful in growing your process service business! And we are excited to be a part of this journey with you! Becoming the Go-To person in your industry takes consistent, laser-focused and clear direction and effort. As a process server you must be bold in your beliefs and confident in your knowledge in order to be seen as a resource in your industry. Does it sound difficult? Perhaps it does, but remember Steve Jobs' words that "perseverance is the main determinant of a success". Most people easily get discouraged or even give up but we are convinced that "about half of what separates the successful entrepreneurs from the non-successful ones is pure perseverance", Steve Jobs added. So who are the Go-To process servers that attorneys, paralegals and other legal professionals turn to when they need that service done right the first time? The Go-To process servers are the fixers who step up and do the actual work. Under pressure, other process servers turn to them to identify and implement solutions. They get the legal documents served every time on time. They are the ones who know how to find that person who is avoiding to get served. They are the ones who know people, know how to talk to people and know how to calm down an angry person. The Go-To process servers possess that knack for making process service seem so easy. How can you become a Go-To process server in your area? Here are nine ways to achieve that:
As they prepare and train, Go-To process servers imagine the day when it all comes down to the wire. They visualize different scenarios when they knock on that door, and physically, mentally and intellectually prepare themselves. Alone, they study the strengths, flaws, and tendencies of their competition. They learn from the best in the process service industry and never tire to learn. There is nothing supernatural about it. As hockey great Wayne Gretzky explains, "I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been." The same is true for the Go-To process servers. They just prepare more and process faster. As a result, their reactions become unconsciously instinctive and the end result is a proper service of process done right every time.
The Go-To process servers are more afraid of missing out than making mistakes. More than anything they want to own the outcome. Go-To process servers take responsibility and assert themselves when others shrink back. They learn from challenges when serving legal documents and they embrace opportunity to step in and take this difficult service of process that no one else wants.
Winners know that the distance between winning and losing is often a matter of inches. Go-To process servers are humbled by the knowledge that they can always fall short no matter how far they came. Despite any setbacks, successful process servers don't dwell on the moment or feel sorry for themselves that they lost that contract or missed that client. Go-To process servers know that learning entails a lot of losing. It may be losing a contract. It may be not charging enough for that hard service. But they never lose their stamina, confidence or will.
What separates them from other process servers is accountability. Go-To process servers do not make excuses or blame someone else. They don't play the victim or wallow in anger. They realize that they set the standard. Top professional process servers get back on their feet and lift their heads high.
Go-To process servers forge relationships. To succeed, everyone must believe in each other. Top process servers build connections with others, whether they are clients or peers. They look for ways to keep everyone involved, helping and finding ways too constantly become better at what they do.
There is one trait that unites top process servers and that is grace under pressure. They have mastered their emotions. Clients have confidence in them and are relaxed because top process servers stay calm themselves, even when the deadline is short. It is exactly what earns them the respect and loyalty of both legal professional clients and their peers. Do you have the perseverance to be the Go-To Process Server in your area? The Process Server Center is here to help you every step of the way in your journey to the Top! Do you feel you have what it takes to become a Go-To Top professional process server?
Author: Brani Andreev, MBA, expert in nationwide management of process service, consultant, speaker, and developer of the breakthrough Management Model of the 4Ps™ that ensures the consistent quality of process service.
Personal service of process has been the hallmark for initialing litigation for nearly 100 years primarily because it guarantees actual notice to a defendant of a legal action against him or her.
The author further argues that for the reasons set forth above, while electronic service of process may hold promise for the future, and until adequate technological measures are engineered that (1) satisfy constitutional Due Process requirements for the parties in a manner substantially identical to those provided by physical service of process, (2) more closely approximate the reliability of physical service of process and maintain a presumption of validity generally free from wanton and frivolous challenge, and (3) ensure that the security profiles, retention and validation capabilities of any such proposed system are engineered with true longevity in mind, personal service of process remains the most effective, reliable, and trustworthy method for providing notice of a pending lawsuit and an opportunity to be heard.
To learn more about how this process has worked with real cases and to see if it really was that simple, we inquired about service by Facebook with the team at Statewide Process Servers out of West Jordan, Utah, who affirmed that: “...We have had it happen 3-4 times in the last few months. They are divorce/custody cases in which they either do not have an address for the respondent or we are unable to serve the respondent at the addresses they have. Our client will file a motion for alternative service with the court in which they ask to serve the person through their confirmed Facebook page. Once the Judge signs the order granting it they send it to us. I then create image files of the documents and send them to the person through Facebook messaging. I take a screenshot of each image being sent through the Facebook messaging app and include them with an Affidavit of Service indicating that I served them via Facebook Messaging per the judge's order to do so.”
Author: The Process Server Center | PROServerCENTER is a legal professional organization whose mission is to set a national standard for the process service industry in the United States.
Most people turn to the internet when they need a product or a service. Government agencies and law firms are no exception when trying to find the best, most professional and reliable process server. They search the local area for any business listings or tap into online directories like NAPPS, Serve-Now or the Process Server Center. The task to find a process server who you trust to do the work can be daunting, and most times it may lead to a few times of trial and error in order to find the most professional process server. Whether you are a government agency seeking to deliver support collection documents or a law firm having to serve a number of subpoenas in several states or a pro se client with a family law case, how do you find a reliable process server? What are some of the qualities to look for when you are trying to choose a process server? Is there a way to find the best process server in any zip code without the trial and error?
Next time you need to find a process server, eliminate the hassle of finding the best professional process server by joining PROServerLIST - the Exclusive Directory of Pre-Screened and Certified Process Servers at the Process Server Center.
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