The bail industry can be very challenging to break into, but a properly managed agency can be very lucrative. There are a number of things that bail bondsmen must do to ensure professionalism and success.
1. Answer your phone.
At the risk of offending or being redundant, we are going to preach the obvious. Answer your phone. Making sure your calls get answered is the easiest and least expensive way of gaining more business. You may have to forward your calls to your cell phone, invest in a more sophisticated phone system or even hire an office assistant, but if calls go unanswered you are missing out on business.
We have heard people say, "I don't answer blocked calls" or "I don't answer calls from out-of-state", but if you are doing ANY form of advertising this thought process is very flawed. These could be calls from potential clients.
2. Be Professional and Courteous
“Bail Bonds!” – this is how the majority of bail agency phones are answered – usually with an unprofessional and harsh tone. You are in a growing industry – your potential clients have choices. Can you afford missing out on a bond because the person answering your phone was rude or unprofessional? Your potential clients are already scared, embarrassed and confused. Treating them with professionalism and respect can put them at ease and have a dramatic impact on your bottom line.
3. Understand Marketing Basics
The only difference between you and the most successful companies in your industry is how you market your agency. There are a lot of inexperienced and unprofessional companies in the bail and bail recovery industries that make a lot of money simply because they market themselves. The old adage “you need to spend money to make money” holds true today more than ever. Marketing is what gets your customer to pick up the phone and literally touches every aspect of your company including:
- communication with your clients (conversations, emails, reports, invoices, letters)
- your company name
- how you answer the phone
- marketing materials (brochures, business cards, letterhead, signs, advertisements, web site)
Next time you are near a bookstore, pick up a book on marketing basics. Even if you have a degree in marketing, keeping a book like this handy will prove to be useful. Additionally, there are numerous e-newsletters and blogs you can find on the web that have great marketing ideas and tips. Spending just a few hours per week on marketing can have a dramatic impact on your business.
4. Advertise when business is good
As long as you are in business, you should always continue to market your services. It doesn’t matter how well-known you are, you constantly need to have your brand in front of the buyers of your services. This is why you will see Budweiser, IBM and other Fortune 500 companies investing in multi-million dollar ads during the Super Bowl. A major component of marketing is brand recognition. When your customers see your company advertised on the web, billboards, or yellow pages, it helps build trust in your brand and will likely result in them calling you over your competition.
5. Advertise MORE when business in slow
The first thing people tend to cut when business is slow is their marketing and advertising. This knee-jerk reaction is often an effort to save money, but can be counterproductive to the success of your business. This is when you should be marketing the most, not only because you need to increase business, but you have the time to reevaluate your marketing and advertising options. Take this time to identify new places where your customers may be going to locate bail agents and think about additional marketing initiatives.
If you are just starting to market your business don't get frustrated if your marketing does not work overnight. Statistics show that it can take many exposures to elicit a buying reaction from your potential customers.
6. Join and Support industry associations.
There are a number of state and national associations that gives you access to training, networking, and member resources that can be key to growing your business. More importantly, these groups come together to form teams that fight legislation that may negatively impact the bail industry as a whole. For a nominal membership fee, you are helping to assure your job security and joining a group of like-minded business professionals.
7. Delegate Tasks
You can't do everything yourself and continue to operate a growing business. Eventually, you need to bring in help with bookkeeping, collections, data entry and other administrative tasks. Whether you get the help from a part-time employee or a family member, you need to delegate time-consuming tasks to others so you can focus on managing your customers and growing your business. If you already have additional human resources in the office, look at ways in which you can increase efficiency by assigning specific tasks to your employees.
8. Use Technology to Improve Efficiency
With software and mobile technology, we now have the ability to run our businesses from our home, hotels and even the road. Smart phones and broadband cards for your laptop are becoming "must-haves" for bail agents that spend a significant amount of time out of the office.
Additionally, many software packages exist that were developed specifically for bail agents. These applications enable you to manage bonds, communicate with surety companies, automate your accounting and much more.
Take the time to do an audit of your daily operations. What tasks are the most time-consuming? Chances are that technology exists that can help you automate some of these processes, saving you time and money.
9. Build or Update Existing Web Site
If you don't have a web site yet, you need one. If you already have web site, but you haven't updated it in a few years, take the time to go through it to make sure all your information is accurate and up-to-date. You should be doing this at least a couple times per year. You should also avoid putting anything on your site that will require frequent updates such as a news or newsletter section. Most people don’t have the time or resources to keep this current.
Use your web site as a tool to sell your company as experts in your field. The main goal of your web site as a bail agent is to get customers to pick up the phone to call you. Your web site should be professional, clean, educational and precise. Make sure your phone number is clearly visible at the top of each page.
Educate the client on the bail process and why they should contact you to assist them.
10. Set, Plan and Track your Goals
To be successful in anything you need to have goals. To reach your goals you must have a plan. To make sure your plan is working, you must track your progress.
If your plan for 2007 is to double your business, what do you need to do to achieve this? Do you need to advertise more or hire more people? Make a plan to achieve this goal then check in on a monthly basis to see where adjustments need to be made. Just by being cognizant of your goals and your progress, you will put yourself in a positive mindset to help you achieve them.
We hope that this information helps you with your planning for 2007, or at least gives you something to think about. Not all businesses are the same and not all of these ideas are right for every company, but we all have room for improvement. If you are an AboutBail.com, we invite you to contact us at (866) 411-2245 or sales@aboutbail.com to talk about your marketing and advertising in 2007. Additionally, if you have feedback for us regarding how we can improve our services, we would like to hear from you!
