About Bail - Collateral

Understanding Bail Bond Collateral

2019-06-13T00:00:00-06:00

Often, bail bond companies will attempt to transact a bail bond without the use of collateral. However, if the risk is too high, a bail bondsman will require collateral in order to post bail. This is needed to protect the bail bond company from potential loss. This article will discuss different types of collateral typically utilized in bail bond transactions.

Conventional Types of Bail Bond Collateral:

Real Estate

For bail bonds, real estate is the most common type of collateral. The bail bond company puts a lien on the real estate until the bail bond has been exonerated (finished). Once the bail bond is exonerated, the bail bond company can file documentation that will essentially dissolve the lien.

While real estate is a strong form of collateral for most bail bonds, there is some risk involved for the bail bond company such as property devaluation or a legal dispute. Another problem is if, after a legal dispute, the person who signed for the bond is not the real owner of the property. All these risks will be considered by the bail bond company when assessing whether or not to accept a specific property as collateral. Despite the risks mentioned, bail bond companies still favor utilizing real estate as collateral.

Cash

Cash is the most secure form of all collateral types. Normally, the customer will simply conduct a wire transfer of funds to the bail bond company. Alternatively, the customer can present a cashier’s check to the bail bond company. One of the benefits of using cash is that it’s easy to understand by all parties.

Irrevocable Letter of Credit

An Irrevocable Letter of Credit (ILOC) is a letter written by a bank. The letter specifically states that the bank is guaranteeing the conditions of the bond to the bail bond company. An ILOC can be difficult to obtain by the average person. Generally, you need a very strong relationship with the bank for the bank to issue an ILOC.

Brokerage account (non-retirement)

Individuals often maintain personal investment accounts that are generally made up of stock, bonds, and other investments. Usually, an individual does not want to liquidate these investments, but would instead like to use the existing investments as collateral for the bail bond. One alternative is that your bank could issue an Irrevocable Letter of Credit (ILOC) using your brokerage account as collateral. Some financial institutions may allow securities based lending, a process wherein a loan is taken on the securities to be used as collateral. This can often be finalized in just a few days. It’s best to contact your financial institution to discuss possible options. Each financial institution has particular rules and programs that they follow.

Credit Card

In limited situations, some surety bond companies may accept credit cards as collateral. By using the credit card method, a “hold” is placed on the credit card; similar to the type of “hold” that a hotel utilizes for a reservation. The “hold” does not appear on the card holder’s monthly statement, nor is there interest charged to the cardholder. The “hold” can remain in place for months, even years.

Personal Property

Automobiles, computers, jewelry, and other personal effects are generally sub-par collateral. There are multiple pitfalls associated with utilizing personal items as collateral. For example, who is responsible if it’s damaged? Where will the personal item be stored? Who will pay for storage? What about appraisal disputes? What if the item is stolen? Who is the real owner of the personal item?

401K / IRA / SEP Plans and other Retirement Accounts

The IRS does not allow the use of retirement accounts as collateral.

Conclusion

For bail bond transactions, the most common form of collateral is real estate. Utilizing other methods of collateral are generally explored on a case-by-case basis. Bail bond companies will usually try to exhaust other options prior to mandating collateral. Bail bond agents are trained in determining risks associated with a particular bond. Here are some typical questions a bail agent might ask to determine the risk of a particular bail bond:

How long has the defendant lived in the area?
Is the defendant originally from another country?
Is the defendant employed?
Is the defendant married? Kids? Other family in the area?
Criminal history?

Another method to determine risk is to review a credit report. While not perfect, a credit report does say a lot about a person’s financial responsibility and general stability. Those with higher credit scores may potentially side-step the need for collateral.

Depending on the type of bond, the bail bond company might also be interested in seeing the Principal’s financial statements to determine net worth.

Generally, the first step when qualifying a customer is a review of their credit report. Those with favorable credit scores will usually receive better collateral requirements. The bail bond company may also be interested in seeing financial statements (balance sheet/ income statement) to determine financial capacity. Also, bail bond companies may be interested in the Indemnitors specific industry experience and competence. Once the underwriter has reviewed the aforementioned items, they can determine the necessity of collateral.

About the Author: Greg A. Rynerson, CPCU is President of Surety Bond Authority, Inc. which is a mid-sized surety bond company that handles all types of surety bonds (including court bonds, construction bonds and licensing bonds). We welcome any questions regarding your surety bond situation. Visit our website for more information.

Bail Bondsman's Guide to Hiring High-Quality Employees

2018-12-10T00:00:00-07:00

Bail agents need to be extremely selective when hiring new employees. It is no mystery that the right employee can have an amazing impact on the success of your bail agency. Because your fellow bail agents and office staff are the heart and soul of your company, it is vital that you hire those who will help grow your business, who will work hard, help increase business and revenue, and be motivated to keep your company running smoothly and effectively. Because the person you hire will be interacting with your customers and serving as one of the faces of your company, it is highly important that you choose someone with the right combination of experience and people skills.

When hiring a new employee in the bail industry - whether you're scouting new bail agents or administrative employees - you should look for:

Great customer service skills
Someone who is a hard worker and dedicated
Professionalism
Someone who is willing and able to work long hours, weekends and holidays
Someone with basic computer and organizational skills
A team player

Attracting quality bail agents and administrative employees

Although it may be a tedious process, effectively hiring quality employees begins before you ever meet a candidate. The best place to start is using your own personal and professional networks. Pay attention to the people you come into contact with in your daily life. Ask acquaintances, friends, colleagues, and current employees if they can recommend anyone suitable for the position.

Another easy and cheap way to recruit a qualified employee is to post an ad online. With sites such as Craigslist, CareerBuilder and local newspaper websites, it is often free and easy to post an ad and job description, and by utilizing these job boards, employees come to you. Benefits of using online job boards include being able to post not only locally but also regionally, it's simple for you and job seekers to use, it's cost effective and you will get a good mix of applicants to choose from.

In order to attract the right candidates on job boards, you must create an effective job ad. Key things to include in your ad are a list of skills you are looking for in the potential candidate, the different roles that will need to be filled, the necessary education and experience levels of the applicants and the personality traits that are important to the position and the company. By being specific to your business needs in your ad you will narrow down the candidates and discourage many unqualified people from applying for the position.

Interviewing selected applicants

The interview is your chance to dig below the surface to learn about their motivation to work for you, their work ethic, their strengths, and their weaknesses, how they will fit into the work culture at your business, etc. To underscore the financial importance of hiring the right person, consider this statistic: Depending on which source you quote, hiring the wrong employee could cost your company anywhere from two to 10 times the employee's annual salary. Those numbers make high turnover rates much less acceptable from a business standpoint.

When conducting the interview, consider these helpful tips:

Take your time. Hiring new employees is no quick and easy task, so taking your time during the process instead of rushing into a decision will pay off in the long run. Before beginning the interview process, make a list of the qualities and experience you're looking for so that you have a crystal-clear picture of your ideal employee. Don't settle.
Give a realistic job description. When describing your company to the applicant, be sure to give them an accurate representation of what day-to-day life will be like at work. Information that they should be given includes working hours, workload, specific duties and an overview of what it's like to work for your company. You want the person you choose to want to work for you and to know what to expect, which will help you avoid high turnover rates.
Test the applicants. You want someone who is thorough and can follow directions, so giving them certain small tasks of your choosing throughout the interview process can help you quickly figure out who has these qualities.
Mix up your questions. In addition to standard interview questions, ask the person about how they have handled specific situations, and how they would handle hypothetical situations. This will give you a clearer idea of their ethics and decision-making skills.
Create the right interviewing environment. The more relaxed the applicant is during the interview, the better idea you will get about the person's true personality and qualifications. Take measures to put him or her at ease such as not placing their chair directly in front of you, and using a more welcoming demeanor during the interview.

Once you've completed the interview process and chosen one or more prospective employees, read the second part of this series, where we'll focus on how to screen applicants to find the right one.

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If you would like to redistribute this article or any other content for your website, newsletter or other publication, e-mail sdavis@aboutbail.com to find out how. And if you're interested in writing articles about the bail industry, AboutBail.com is always looking for guest writers to share their industry knowledge.

Bail Bondsmen and Data Security: How to Protect Your Client Information

2018-11-13T00:00:00-07:00

Bail bondsmen are paying more attention to data security after recent losses of client information. Although bail bondsmen are not typically held to the same standards of confidentiality as doctors, lawyers or financial institutions, recent incidents have called attention to the need for stiffer security standards when it comes to client information.

Recently, bail bondsmen have been criticized in the news for their negligence of security regarding client information. In Seattle, several unsuspecting bondsmen disclosed clients' personal information to criminals who were posing as law enforcement officials. After gaining this sensitive information, the conmen then contacted the clients and requested more money in relation to their recent bail bond process.

According to Alex Price, a nationally recognized expert on the art of skip tracing and cyber tracking, situations such as this demonstrate why there is a strong need for bail bondsmen to implement security policies.

"We all deal with sensitive data in our day-to-day activities-from customer applications, to internal files, to data retrieved from the net," Price said. "We are all charged to be good stewards of this data, and if we aren't we can lose that privilege."

Price said that mistakes like the one made in by bondsmen in Seattle could have been prevented by having some simple office security policies in place. He also said by safeguarding clients' information with these policies, not only would daily functions of business be enhanced, but they will also give bail bondsmen peace of mind.

So what can bail agents do to keep client information safe? Below are some examples of the policies and procedures that Price recommends to protect clients' sensitive data:

Develop formal and documented security policies, standards, plans, and procedures.

Have written policies or standards regarding data privacy, internet access and use, encryption, incident management, and external communication devices and removable media, signed by all staff members.

Restrict your staff's access to information and technology based on job description.

Establish a process for granting and documenting system access including, but not limited to, access for third parties and remote access.

Disable user names and passwords associated with employees who are terminated or transferred.

Prevent removing secure information or related assets (storage media, hardware) from the premises.

Install security cameras inside and outside of areas associated with access to secured data.

Equip all doors and windows of your business with an alarm system.

Price said that he has heard many horror stories during his travels of how failing to protect the data can be a costly mistake. By taking a few precautions and implementing security policies, the worst of these mistakes could have been avoided.

To learn more about becoming a member of AboutBail.com's trusted network of bail agents, contact us online.

When Can A Judge Raise Bail?

2018-10-09T00:00:00-06:00

Many people aren’t aware of this, and it can come as a very unpleasant surprise: judges can actually raise bail after it’s set. The original bail can be paid and the defendant can be released—only to then be notified that they will need to pay even more than they were told.

So why does this happen, and how?

First, How is Bail Set?

A judge will take several things into consideration when setting the amount for bail. These things include how serious or violent the crime is that the defendant is involved in; the circumstances of the crime; the defendant’s current conduct and their past criminal record; the probability of the defendant skipping their court
date; if the defendant has a job and the defendant’s history within the community.

A starting point for a judge to decide the bail amount is typically a bail schedule, which is a list of pre-set bail amounts for different charges. Each bail schedule
varies from state to state.

Why Do Judges Sometimes Raise Bail?

As if getting arrested and going through the bailout process isn’t bad enough, many defendants find out a little later that the judge has, in fact, raised their bail
amount. But why does this happen?

In order for a judge to increase the bail amount, there has to be a change in circumstances. This can mean that the defendant has new charges against him
or her that are more serious than the ones that the original bail was posted on. While the original bail amount may have been set for something like a misdemeanor, a judge may raise the bail amount when the crime is discovered to be more complex and serious and/or violent after the charge is further reviewed.

A judge may also raise the bail amount after it’s been paid if there was a victim involved in the crime whose injuries become worse or end up resulting in a life-
long condition.

If the defendant seems to be a danger to themselves, to others, or if they do not honor the conditions of their release, the judge may also raise the bail amount in this case as well.

There Will Need to be a Reason

A judge can never raise a bail amount simply because they feel like it. There has to be a legitimate reason—a change in circumstances—and they must state this
reason on record. The defendant must also be told about any raise in bail with at least three hours’ notice in order to prepare.

After the bail amount is determined by a judge, the defendant will then be given the opportunity to pay for (or arrange payment for) their bail. Once it’s paid, the
defendant can go home, and will then need to wait for the beginning of their trial.

Paying for Bail Through a Bondsman

Often, the bail amount is set so high that neither the defendant nor their loved one is able to pay it. In this case, they will most likely visit a professional bail
bondsman, who will post a bail bond for them. In exchange for this bail bond, a percentage of the bail amount will need to be paid, as well as collateral for the
remainder of the bond. Collateral can include a house, a car, or anything else with a lot of monetary value.

If the defendant does everything right and shows up to his or her court dates, no more money will be required—unless, of course, the judge raises the bail
amount. The collateral will be returned, but the bail bondsman’s percentage fee will not.

Hopefully, this article sheds a little light on why judges can sometimes raise the bail amount—and hopefully, it will never happen to you!

Tori Green writes for Armstrong Bail Bonds, one of the oldest and most experienced bail bondsman in Los Angeles, founded in 1926.

10 Phone Etiquette Mistakes Your Bail Agency Should Avoid

2018-09-11T00:00:00-06:00

Answering and making calls is an important element of business, and every bail bond agency should understand that they are judged by their phone etiquette. It may seem basic, but it is absolutely crucial that you put your best efforts into making clients feel like they were helped. How you treat a client during a phone call can determine whether they will stick with you or take their business elsewhere.

Here are 8 common phone etiquette mistakes that could hurt your business:

Not answering the phone. With caller ID, telemarketers, and restricted numbers many people choose to ignore calls from numbers they don’t recognize. Unfortunately, in a time-sensitive business, it's usually the first professional to answer that gets the job.

Not having a business line. Having your work calls come in on your personal line may seem like no big deal, but a future client will likely hang up if they hear a ringback tone or even a voicemail that isn’t specific to your business.

Not forwarding your calls. It’s important to have your office calls forwarded to your cell phone when you aren't in. This way you aren’t missing out on any potential clients and can be reached if there is an emergency or sudden change.

Not answering professionally. Most businesses answer with their business name, so a “Hello” can make the client confused about who they are talking to and if it's a business. A good example would be to say, “XYZ Bail Bonds, this is John. How may I help you?” This establishes professionalism from the beginning and immediately tells the client who your company is, what you do, who they are speaking with, and most importantly that you are ready to help them.

Being unfriendly or rude. A person who is seeking a bail bond agent might be stressed out and upset, but it’s important to be calm and patient. If the potential customer thinks you were rude and not very helpful, they will likely take their business elsewhere.

Not taking notes. From the moment you answer the phone, you should be taking notes on the call. It’s important to write down the person’s name, what they are calling about, and the details of their bail needs.

Leaving people on hold. Ideally, you would never have to put a potential client on hold, but sometimes it’s necessary. When you put someone on hold, try to get back to them as soon as possible. If it will take you more than a minute or two, ask to take a message and let them know you will call them back as soon as you can.

Not returning calls. If a potential client has left you a voicemail, it’s important to get back to them as soon as possible. Not returning calls can make your business look disorganized and unprofessional.

Given the choice, customers will usually turn to the company that provides better customer service, so you should consider phone calls your most basic form of marketing. Remember, if you are friendly, helpful, and meet your client's needs, they might refer someone to you in the future.

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Bail Agent’s Guide to Understanding Domestic Violence

2018-08-14T00:00:00-06:00

Domestic Violence related charges are some of the most common bonds bail agents will receive calls about. This category of charges tends to have significantly higher misconceptions, questions, and emotions than other charges bail agents typically encounter.

Below is a crash course in the basics of Domestic Violence for Bail Agents:

The difference between standard battery or aggravated assault charges and domestic violence is the presence of an intimate partnership (old, new, family-linked, undone, or one-sided). Domestic violence can occur outside the home, but if proven that the relationship was perceived as a partnership by one side or the other, and even if the relationship has been legally severed any mental or physical abuse can slip into this category. Most cases of Domestic Violence are the result of intimate partners under stress and heightened by the presence of substances (alcohol or drugs) and a need to dominate the more submissive partner. It is not always man over woman, or man over man, or woman over woman, nor do the effects confine themselves to a single victim and by no means is a single reported or police recorded event the proof that it was contained to one incident. Most domestic violence is ongoing, and the reportable recordable situations represent the times when it rose loudly enough to surface and warrant outside party complaint.

According to most sources on domestic violence, the top reason for staying in a relationship that is harmful to at least one party is FEAR. Some examples are fear of reprisal, fear of a partners’ fury, fear of bodily harm, fear of being outed for their preferences or perceived weaknesses, fear of harm to a family member, fear of being hunted or stalked, or fear of never being able to be an individual with any independence. Fear is what prevents people from pressing charges, escaping, or confiding in someone else about their need for help. For victims, know that the prison of abuse won’t change without action.

In some cases, domestic violence is a charge faced by both parties in an isolated incident (public or private) resulting in both parties in jail. In other cases there is a single arrest and an abuse victim who now must decide whether to fight or stay; that decision is made by factors that set deep into the psyche of the individual:

Will they have the support of their family in this action (cultural/religious)?
Will they be able to survive without the support of the incarcerated (enslavement)?
Will they be able to achieve a normal life should this extend past sentencing, rehabilitation, and possible reconciliation?

The situations vary widely but the one certainty is that the cycle requires one or both parties in the relationship to willingly break out of the abusive or submissive postures. Further complications exist when one party is removed by language or visibility from the community and, of course, when there are children present as witnesses.

Nothing is as threatening as an ongoing physically or mentally abusive situation and most will not end without intervention. It is not a situation exclusive to women (but they are the majority of reported victims). Domestic violence ultimately affects all of society and has no exclusive group that suffers more: heterosexual couples, gay, lesbian, transgender persons, married, divorced, separated, or singles and any children who are within the realm of exposure.

Most bail agents have seen their share of arrests that occur after incidents have erupted to the point of police action. Some domestic violence arrests affect persons involved in intimate- partner relationships undergoing sudden change and others reached a breaking point after long-standing acceptance of the condition. Remember that at some time prior to abuse all parties involved in an intimate partnership relationship were drawn by a promise of something in exchange for the others’ contact. In some cases, it may be the sincere treatment of contributing factors (alcohol consumption, drug use) that can turn the violence pattern off but it requires a mutual commitment to sobriety and it has been successful.

Charges and Personal Arrest History

Domestic violence charges are considered in the legal world as a wobbler, meaning that the charge may be determined a felony or misdemeanor. The wobble toward misdemeanor usually occurs in first or second offenses and is often judged by the amount of physical injury or participation of both parties to the incident. The wobble toward felony usually occurs for anyone who has a history of violent arrests or if a weapon was used in the act or whether or not substances (alcohol or drugs) were present during the arresting offense.

Stay or Leave

For the 55% of the population in the United States that has never suffered any form of relationship abuse (on record), the answer seems callously easy – don’t stay. Leaving any relationship brings an emotional toll. For many, it is emotionally wrenching and a financial impossibility. The answer “leave” means moving, having a place to move to, having the financial resources or support to accomplish that (deposits, application fees, background checks, etc.) in addition to the will to face the unknown without a partnership. Existing dependency on an individual’s income or stability seems to outweigh the single or patterned outburst of ongoing anger and often influence the decision to press charges. Codependency is often intertwined with pattern abuse and becomes accepted as a bizarre normalcy, and this is not the outcome desired for anyone involved in such a relationship. The impact of the abuser’s income might be more than the victim can bear to lose, and in the event of children in the relationship, separation promises ongoing confrontation under visitation privileges. Severing ties between two adults who share any considerable time together (positive or negative) requires ongoing strength and can’t necessarily be achieved without the support of family, church, peer group, or outreach service.

Staying in any consistently abusive relationship means that the threat of ongoing incidents will continue unless intervention occurs. Again the support groups that can participate in healing such a situation are family, clergy, peer group, or outreach service. Isolation is part of the threat to the victim of abuse and empowering to the abuser. Incarceration is a catalyst for more hostility and provides only a temporary reprieve with the possibility of repercussions.

Part of the arrest and subsequent bail or bail bond process allows the parties time under observation of the court system to make arrangements and even reach a reasonable understanding. If FEAR remains a factor, the abuse victim can choose to file the necessary paperwork for one of three types of restraining order available in California:

Temporary Restraining Order – This must be legally served to the named individual and copies filed in appropriate departments with the specific complaints. The order is not official until the person to which the complaint is being made has been identified and served with a legal copy.

Stalking Restraining Order – This must be served to the named individual and copies of the complaint filed to departments with specific complaints or alleged offenses. This can be served on anyone who allegedly follows or contacts the complaining party through persistent mail, phone, email, text, or by other means of presence (following, spying, leaving messages, delivering unwanted gifts or items).

Domestic Violence Restraining Order – Special requirements for this order are that there must be an identified relationship between the complaining party and the individual being served. This relationship must be identified as blood relation, marriage relation, former spousal relation, a former intimate partner who cohabitated in the same space (home, apartment, townhouse), a parent of children in an existing or former marriage, in-laws (current or former) or step-children are included as a qualified relationship.

A permanent restraining order may be granted depending on the integrity of the documentation, witnesses, and any prevailing issues that warrant concern regarding the welfare of the parties involved. This is the net result of proper handling of the temporary orders and evaluation of the circumstances.

Community Responsibility

Domestic violence leaves an evidence trail even when it goes unreported. Arguments between people are audible and don’t result in visible bruising or disappearance of a member of the set for a few days. It is the nature of politeness that prevents people from keeps people from prying into neighbors’ business, but behind every fourth household door in ten, there are problems with the potential to escalate to physical abuse.

Look for isolated spouses (by language or lack of social contact), look for children acting out with violence, listen for consistent arguments with one voice dominating, investigate or report signs of neglect, abuse, or substance abuse (including alcohol). Interfere by complaining or calling authorities. It’s not your business, but it is, and the results may well become everyone’s burden of guilt or social cost until the cycle stops. According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, statistics suggest that 1 in 15 children are exposed to the results of domestic violence and of them, 90% are eye-witnesses to the event(s).

For all parties involved directly in a domestic violence incident where an arrest is made, it’s wise to investigate support groups and literature that help explain the options available to victims and abusers if they are distinguishable. See the Domestic Violence Resources Checklist below. Some of the services are also requirements of probation or sentencing. If domestic violence has come to the attention of the police and resulted in an arrest, it has now reached a point where it must be dealt with in a manner that provides the best long-term security for parties involved.

Domestic Violence Resources

Free services as listed available to all:

National Domestic Abuse Hotline: 1-800-799-SAFE (7233)
National Coalition Against Domestic Violence www.ncadv.org

National Dating Abuse Helpline: 1-866-331-9474

Americans Overseas Domestic Violence Crisis Center: 1-866-USWOMEN (879-6636)

National Sexual Assault Hotline: 1-800-656-HOPE (4673)
www.rainn.org

National Center for Victims of Crime: 1-202-467-8700
www.victimsofcrime.org

Jesse Black is the office manager for Mr. Nice Guy Bail Bonds Inc. based in Orange County, California.

8 Tips for a Bail Agency Slogan

2018-07-11T00:00:00-06:00

Most bail agents are somewhat known for creative and innovative marketing strategies. As seen in logos, commercials, and social media promotions, bail agents are comfortable thinking outside the box. With business cards, letterhead and company pens and coasters it may seem that there’s plenty of marketing material to go around, but many bail agents overlook the opportunity in having a catchy slogan for their business. Incorporating a tagline can help make your business unforgettable.

Why slogans are important

Slogans allow brands and services to expand on what their company has to offer. A catchy slogan also increases a person’s likelihood to remember and desire a product or service. Bail agencies can utilize a slogan to showcase their company focus and ensure that they are remembered. Just as Wheaties brands themselves the breakfast of champions bail agents can reinforce their brand name with a slogan.

Creating a slogan for your bail agency

As an important aspect of branding your agency, creating a slogan can present some challenges. Bail agents don’t have the luxury that other products and services have because there is not always an immediate need on the client’s part. Bail clients often come in two forms: future client and immediate client. Since you must balance the difference between clients who are in immediate need of bail and those that might not utilize your service until a later date, it’s crucial that bail agents create a slogan that is strong and memorable.

Here are 8 tips for writing a bail agency slogan:

Showcase what sets your agency apart from others
A slogan is a great way to expand on why a potential client should choose your company. Highlight what sets your agency apart from others whether it’s professionalism, patience or experience.
Reinforce your agency name
Los Angeles bail agency and AboutBail member Lipstick Bail Bonds brands their company with several slogans, including Contact Us & Kiss Jail Goodbye. Using a slogan to reinforce the name of your agency can give potential clients a laugh and make your agency memorable.
Borrow from the bail process
Get inspired by looking at the process of a person getting bailed out of jail and the thought process the indemnitor will go through. Identify opportunities to capitalize on what the person contacting you might experience as well as their emotional response to the situation.
Connect with the customer
Consider the clients who contact your agency for bail. Examine the majority of your client-base including their age, location, interests and what brings them to your office. By educating yourself on what your clients have in common you have a better idea of what will and will not be effective when it comes to your slogan.
Be mindful of the length
Don’t be afraid to make your slogan a few short words or a full sentence, but if you go for a longer tagline make sure every word is important. Often times what you choose to highlight will dictate how long your slogan is.
Be catchy
Slogans should flow and be pleasing to read and hear. Rhymes, rhythm, and repetition can help a customer remember your company name, and if your agency advertises through television or radio commercials consider the potential for your slogan to evolve into a jingle.
Use a call to action
Just as Nike commands people to Just Do It, a slogan is a great way to tell customers to take action. In a bail agent’s case, a call to action will be a phrase that instructs and encourages the person to pick up the phone and call your agency.
Allow your slogan to change
Take a cue from the United States Army’s array of slogans. What started as I Want You! and grew to Be All That You Can Be is now An Army of One. The military branch has allowed their slogans to evolve over time, and yours might too. As your agency evolves and inspiration for a new slogan arises, don’t be afraid to make a change.

Coming up with a slogan can be a daunting process, but if you take the time to consider who your clients are, what is most desirable about your agency’s services and how you can incorporate your existing brand you will likely find success in creating your slogan.

Test your slogan

Hopefully, you’ll develop a few strong slogans to choose from. To get a better feel for what will work best, try posting a poll on your Facebook fan page and asking your fans to vote for their favorite, or use the opportunity to reconnect with past clients. Getting the input of people outside of your agency can help you gauge how effective your tagline will be.

Conclusion

Remember, a slogan doesn’t have to be witty or funny to be effective. Showcasing professionalism or highlighting a focus on customer service can be just as powerful as a slogan that’s short and witty. Once you’ve selected your slogan, make sure you add it to all marketing collateral including business cards, letterhead and promotional products like bags and keychains.

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How Bail Bondsmen Can Effectively Promote Their Bail Business

2018-06-12T00:00:00-06:00

Bail bondsmen operate in a unique industry; one where normal marketing methods don’t always work. While standard marketing is always useful for a business, it isn’t the most optimal solution in the bail bond space. Finding new business isn’t as effective with standard advertising methods like TV, radio, and print advertising. For most people, needing the service of a bail bondsman is a very rare request, or so we all hope. Having regular advertising via normal channels can be extremely expensive and most of the ads will be tuned out as they don’t apply to the recipient, at least at the time of hearing or viewing the ad.

What we need in the bail industry is timely advertising and a way to get in front of motivated customers who need our service. Consumers typically do not recall an ad they saw when there was no connection or need for that service. So what do most bail bondsmen do to combat this issue? Outside of local listings with relevant legal and county entities, they most often make their presence felt online. A challenge with online advertising is the cost often associated with it. Rates vary from market to market, with costs as high as $35-75 per click in certain parts of Los Angeles. Smaller markets that are less competitive see rates around $5-10 per click in most cases. While it’s relatively easy to get listed for paid search advertising, it’s often expensive and most bondsmen do not have the resources to analyze search data, costs, and can’t effectively optimize their search campaigns. To avoid enormous costs that can’t be maintained, it’s recommended to work with a third party that can help optimize campaigns.

In reviewing the leading ad spenders per market, we often see a lot of rotation and participation drop-out. It’s a sign that many bondsmen cannot maintain a consistent online strategy, mainly because things become too expensive. It’s a constant rotation and drop-off from bondsman to bondsman as they lose the ability to maintain their profit-to-expense ratio.

A reputable source such as AboutBail can assist with marketing strategies and execution when it comes to a online marketing. AboutBail is a network of bail agents that offers a valuable backlink to your website and lead generation. Think about it this way - you can either start on your own and throw random search ideas at a wall hoping something sticks, all while using valuable marketing dollars - or, you can start off with an established network that is better positioned to generate leads. A professional can help you find the sweet spot and turn your campaign into a long-term profitable strategy. As previously mentioned, you don’t want to be part of the group that gets in and quickly drops out because you can’t figure out a way to turn your ad campaign into profit.

A new method for bondsmen being introduced to the marketplace is called Pay Per Call. Bail Bonds Network is one of the leaders in this space as they are one of the first to do this in the dedicated space for bail bondsmen. A Pay-Per-Call model is essentially what its name suggests - you pay for qualified calls that you receive. A well designed Adwords Pay-Per-Click campaign will convert around 25-50% of the clicks into actual calls.

The benefit of a Pay Per Call campaign is that you only pay for the calls you receive. It’s much easier to track and to determine the true cost of the campaign. This can be an option for those who are looking to tackle things themselves and need a simpler way to track costs of an acquisition or lead. The campaign can be targeted to specific states or counties in order to target the desired audience.

Moving to more localized, offline promotional methods - bail bondsmen that have success long-term know how to connect with important groups locally.

Bail Bonds Associations
County Bail Board
Local Lawyers
Jail / County Resources
Religious Leaders

Relationship building is key. By being part of the local bail association, you can meet other bondsmen and industry leaders. Most states have county-level regulations and it’s difficult for a bondsman to dominate an entire state. Creating relationships with other bondsmen will result in more leads for your business. We often get calls for areas we don’t service. An extremely effective way to generate more leads is to call other bondsmen in the state and offer to send leads to each other if a caller comes from an area they don’t service. Essentially, you are creating a small list of bondsmen you know and feel confident referring, and they will do the same for you. You are helping the person in need while generating business for each other.

Counties often have a bail board where they want a bondsman to be the expert. Taking this seat allows you to be a leader in your market - it often results in more business, a better reputation, and gives you a step forward in having the latest industry information when it comes to regulation that may impact you.

Local lawyers are a great source for bail leads. In fact, some lawyers write bail themselves but that is not always the case. Can you get on their preferred bondsman list so they can refer their clients to you, or directly use your service?

Jails and county websites list bondsman information in some counties. If this is an option, discuss with the county what you can do to be part of such list.

One effective, yet less used, method to gain more business is to work with local church leaders. Be open about what you offer and how you’re willing to help those in need. Are you able to offer a lending hand - whether it’s consultation for those in need or maybe a more generous payment plan for those part of the community? Work with these leaders as they often hear of difficult stories families are experiencing, and they may point those in need your way.

Various strategies exist in the online and offline space when it comes to growing your bail bond business. It’s best to explore all options, from listings with AboutBail, premium search listings, to creative offline marketing strategies. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket and commit time to all strategies to determine what works best in your market.

Bail Bonds Network is a leader in Pay Per Call marketing for bail agents. Questions about this advertising model can be directed to Bail Bonds Network via their Bail Advertising and Contact page.

Information to Collect From Every Bail Applicant

2018-05-14T00:00:00-06:00

Editor's note: This article was written by industry professional and guest contributor Jason Pollock. The views and opinions in this article are of the author and do not reflect the views of AboutBail. If you are interested in becoming a guest contributor, please contact us.

About the Author: Jason Pollock received his first glimpse into the mysterious world of Fugitive Recovery as an operator in 1999 and he is now the owner and operator of Surety Risk Management, a professional Bail Enforcement and Risk Management Agency based in Los Angeles, California. Jason has successfully located and apprehended approximately 1,700 “wayward bail clients” during his career as an operator, all with zero post-operation residual liability. He is the former owner of a bail bond company that never paid a single summary judgment to any court and he is currently working on his first book, a project that is now more than ten years in the making. Jason may be contacted at suretyriskmanagement@gmail.com

As long as you can verify that it is true, the more information you gather about a bail applicant, the better off you will be. If you determine that an applicant has lied to you about their identifiers or any other pertinent information, that deception could imply their intent to breach the Terms & Conditions set forth in the application for bail and other bond contract forms, including the intent to fail to appear in court.

You should always collect the following information from every single applicant, specifically to help prevent the client from jumping bail:

Source:
Ask applicants how they heard about your company. This will give you great insight as to how your advertising and marketing is working or failing for your company. You’ll also get a better idea as to where you should invest your marketing dollars in the future.
Full Name:
Obtain the first, middle and last name of every applicant. If you have ever had the challenge of searching for someone who has a common first and last name, but you don’t have their middle name, any of their identifiers, or any other good information about them, then you know exactly the difficulty that I’m talking about. A middle name can be an identifier and will help you to weed out many of the “non-possibles.” It can also serve to help you narrow down your search a bit.
Date and Place of Birth:
Find out exactly when and where the applicant was born. As far as the place of birth goes, find out the city and state where the applicant was born. If the applicant was born outside of the United States, find out the city, region, and country where the applicant was born. Many government records, especially criminal court records, are maintained by the subject’s name and date of birth, and you will need this information to conduct searches of those government records.
Social Security Number:
It has been said that the Social Security Number (SSN), a 9-digit number assigned by the federal government to one person only, is the “most unique identifier.” I agree. The first 3 numbers indicate the state where the SSN was issued. Usually, but not always, the state where the Social Security Number was issued was where the subject was born. In cases where the subject is an immigrant, Social Security Numbers are issued in the state where the immigrant made a lawful entry into the United States.

While many government records are maintained in computers by a subject’s name and date of birth, most private records, such as credit reports, are maintained by a subject’s name and Social Security Number, backed up by a date of birth for security reasons. Many skip-tracing searches are executed using only the applicant’s Social Security Number. When searching for people through private records, I have found that using the SSN is usually the most powerful approach.
I.N.S. A#:
If you are considering bailing out a client that is an alien, be sure to get that client’s I.N.S. A#, because there will be information on file about this client, at the federal level; and most certainly there will be an Immigration Court Case that this Client will have been a party to. You can also call the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (I.C.E.) Automated Case Information Line at 1-800-898-7180 to “status check” that client’s court case and you will need the Client’s I.N.S. A# to do this.
Email Address:
This can be a handy piece of information to have when conducting “social networking” investigations, “side-tracking” investigations or preparing a sting.
Physical Description:
Write down the applicant’s height, weight, hair color and eye color. This information, combined with the applicant’s photograph(s), will help you when you need to search for wayward bail clients. Also determine whether the applicant is right-handed, left-handed or ambidextrous. This information will aid you in detecting deception from the applicant.
Vehicle Descriptions:
Collect the color, year, make, model and license plate number for all vehicles that are associated with the applicant’s household. This information can help you locate difficult indemnitors and wayward bail clients.
Current Phone Numbers:
Annotate every single current phone number for each applicant and indicate whether that phone is a land-line or a cell phone. Land-Lines will help you associate an applicant with an actual physical location, while it may be a little bit more difficult and expensive to do this with a cell phone.
Current Residential Information:
Secure all of the following information about the applicant’s Current Residence:
- Street Address
- Building/Apartment Number
- Is the applicant buying or renting? From whom?
- How long has the applicant resided there?
- Who owns this property?
- What is your relationship to the property owner?

Also, obtain the exact same information about their most recent previous address.
Proof of Residence:
Such as an electric bill, gas bill, phone bill (landline only, cell phones are not a good proof of residence), cable or satellite T.V. bill, mortgage bill, rental contract for an apartment, etc. You basically want something that ties that applicant into that physical address. Never accept a photocopy. Take the actual, original bill into your hands and make a photocopy for yourself. Bail Bond Clients can be some crafty individuals.
Current Employer’s Information:
Secure all of the following information about the applicant’s Current Employer:
- Company Name
- Name of the Applicant’s “First-Line” Supervisor
- Company Phone Number
- Company Address (Physical, not Mailing)
- Position
- How long has the applicant been employed with this employer?
Proof of Employment:
Such as paycheck stubs, Union Membership Documentation, maybe even their W-2 forms.
The applicant’s work schedule:
If your applicant has a job, it’s nice to know when your applicant will be at work, as this information could help you to schedule a time or an “appointment” for apprehension. Most defendants usually go quietly and without incident when they are apprehended at their place of employment. They are usually caught off-guard, embarrassed and compliant, as they don’t want to look bad in front of their employers out of fear of possibly losing their jobs.
List of References:
Get as much contact information from their references as you can. If the client cannot provide you with a complete address and phone number for that reference, then that person does not qualify as being a reference. If something doesn't check out, it might just be a simple fluke or it could be an indicator of where the defendant intends on hiding in the event of a failure to appear, so try to expand on that missing information.
Information Concerning Previous Arrests:
Ask the applicant if he/she has any previous arrests, the date of arrest, the location of the arrest, the charge(s), the final outcome/disposition of the case and if they are currently on probation or parole. If the applicant has another court case, then there is another file that exists and intelligence can be gleaned from it.
Information Concerning Previous Bonds:
Ask the applicant if they have ever been bailed out of jail, the date that he/she was bailed out of jail, which bail bond company bailed him/her out of jail and if they are still out on bond. If the applicant has been released on bond from another agency, then there is another file that exists and intelligence can be gleaned from it as well.
High School Attended:
Ask the applicants which high school they attended, the last year that they attended this high school, what city and state that high school is in and the cross streets of where that high school is. The answers provided to these questions can easily be detected as disinformation.

Make sure that your applicant’s handwriting is neat and legible, otherwise, you may consider filling in the application yourself and then have the applicant sign in the appropriate places after the form(s) have been completely filled in. The information provided will be absolutely useless if you cannot read it.

Follow your intuition and pay attention to "indicators." You can discover many truths before the ink is even dry. If multiple things don't check out, you just might consider an early surrender/revocation. If a client is going to lie to my face, he or she is probably not intent on going to court and fulfilling contractual obligations. Remember, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

Additional articles on bail applicants

Stay tuned for more tips on how you can prevent clients from jumping bail.

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This article was written by an industry guest contributor. If you are interested in being a guest contributor or have an article suggestion, please contact us.

10 Types of Collateral and Tips to Secure It

2018-04-11T00:00:00-06:00

Editor's note: This article was written by an industry professional and guest contributor Jason Pollock. The views and opinions in this article are of the author and do not reflect the views of AboutBail. If you are interested in becoming a guest contributor, send an email to marketing@aboutbail.com.

Securing collateral is a protective measure specifically geared towards preventing bail bond companies from suffering financial losses. Bail agents should secure something of significant value from their clients, to hold as collateral, in an effort to protect themselves from forfeitures and summary judgments. In our profession, we take somewhat of a hostage in that we take are secure forms of collateral. The value of the items taken as collateral should meet or exceed the penal amount of the bail bond(s) posted on the defendant’s behalf. If a bail bond company is truly diligent in their underwriting practices, they will do their absolute best to secure appropriate forms of collateral in an effort to ensure that all of their clients appear in court. This collateral is basically held for ransom to guarantee that the client fulfills all of the contractual obligations of the bail bond agreement; the most important of which are the defendant’s mandatory appearances in court.

If an appropriate form of collateral has been secured, and the defendant fails to appear in court, the bail agent will have two options:

Motivation: If the bail agent is experiencing difficulties in locating the wayward bail client, the bail agent can use the collateral as the proper leverage to motivate the indemnitor (or whoever it was that deposited the collateral) to cooperate with the investigation. If an indemnitor has nothing to lose, then that indemnitor also has no real reason to assist you. If you have secured collateral that is of significant value to the indemnitor, then you can advise the indemnitor that unless the defendant is surrendered in a timely fashion, the collateral will be forfeited and liquidated to offset the expense of the summary judgment. Without collateral, you have no hostage, and any demands that you might make will most likely fall upon deaf ears.
Liquidation: If the client fails to appear in court and cannot be located, apprehended, and surrendered within the forfeiture period, and the forfeiture cannot be set aside or vacated in a timely fashion, as set forth by law, then that collateral is forfeited to the bail bond company and the bail bond company will liquidate it in an effort to recoup any expenses incurred due to having been forced to pay the summary judgment.

Here are 10 of the best options for collateral and how to secure it:

In my opinion, the best form of collateral is “Actionable Intelligence (Good, Timely, Positively-Verified Information).” Be sure to obtain the truthful answers from every applicant in reference to these three questions: Who knows exactly where you reside? What vehicle(s) are you driving (be sure that you obtain the full description of that vehicle)? Who are you “intimate” with (girlfriend/boyfriend, fiance, spouse)? The answers to these three questions are some of the most useful pieces of intelligence that an investigator can use to locate wayward bail clients. Whenever you are inquiring about an applicant’s references or cohabitants, be sure that you collect the following pieces of intelligence, in regards to those people: Full Name, Date of Birth (get their age, at the very least), their relationship to the applicant, Address, Phone Numbers, Employment Information, Email address, and web links to their social networking profiles. Actionable intelligence should be gleaned with two thoughts in mind. First: how will this information prevent the client from jumping bail? Second: if the client does jump bail, how will this information help to locate the client?
Real Property can be an excellent form of collateral, provided that it has enough equity to cover the penal amount of all of your outstanding liability and so long as there are no liens against it. The best way to assess the true value of real property is to take a close look at the most recent bill from the financial institution that provided the loan for that property and deduct the amount of money that has been put towards the principal form the overall cost of the property. You may also want to check with the county recorder and county assessor to ensure that there are no liens on that property and that the applicant is the true owner of that property. You can use the following link to obtain a general idea of how much a certain property might be worth. In the State of California, bail bond companies will probably best be served by securing real property as collateral with a grant deed.
Vehicles With Titles are a very common form of collateral. One of the most important aspects of securing a vehicle as collateral is determining the true value of that vehicle. When you are researching the value of a vehicle, select the “See Trade-In Value” option, as you may very well have to sell that vehicle in an effort to recoup a loss. You may not receive as much money for the vehicle, but at least you won’t be taking too much of a loss on it if you do have to sell it to an automobile dealership. Unless you are a highly-skilled professional who knows exactly how to evaluate and appraise a vehicle’s condition and value, then choose the “Fair” trade-in value, as this will also help you avoid taking too much of a financial loss, if you have to liquidate a vehicle. After you have been satisfied that the vehicle does hold enough value to be used as collateral, you and the registered owner of that vehicle should execute the title so that you take legal ownership of that vehicle. Some private companies that offer D.M.V. services excel at these types of transaction and may be of great assistance to you. They can usually expedite the title transfer process in a much speedier fashion than you can. Whether or not you take physical control of that vehicle and its keys is entirely up to you. If you chose to do so, make sure that you secure all sets of keys for that vehicle.
Cash is an awesome form of collateral, provided an applicant can actually produce the full amount. I have found from personal experience that cash collateral often cannot be obtained, but once in awhile when the bail amount is low, some applicants can actually produce the cash collateral necessary to properly secure a bail bond.
Credit cards can sometimes be utilized to secure your bail bond(s). I have personally used credit card authorization forms that granted me the cardholder’s permission to run the credit card for the penal amount of the bail bond(s) should the defendant fail to appear in court or otherwise violate the terms and conditions as outlined in the bail bond contract. I have also used that form to secure my collateral when wayward bail clients failed to appear in court. As if by magic, the cardholder called my bail bond company within a few days of that credit card transaction, demanding to know why such a large transaction was placed on the credit account. After I explained that the client had failed to appear in court and that the card was run to secure the necessary collateral, which would be returned to the cardholder upon the timely surrender of that wayward bail client. The cardholder gladly informed me as to the true whereabouts of that wayward bail client. If you should find yourself needing to run a credit card to fully collateralize your bail bond(s), you should first status check your bond with the court to ensure that it has not been exonerated, then it might be wise to batch out your credit card machine immediately after you run the credit card, and then transfer those funds from your merchant account into your collateral account. This would be done to prevent your client from contacting the credit card company and having those funds charged back to the client’s credit card. Also, when setting up your credit card machine and merchant account, it would pay huge dividends to investigate which credit card companies allow their cardholders to demand chargebacks without the credit card company having first contacted you or received your consent to do so. I would not accept credit cards from such companies for any transactions with my bail bond company.
Jewelry can be used as collateral, provided that one knows how to properly appraise the true value of jewelry. Being that I am not a professional jeweler, gemologist or precious metals expert, I personally would not feel too comfortable with having to execute such an undertaking. I would be more apt to request that the client pawn the jewelry and then bring the cash secured from that transaction to me as a form of collateral that I would feel much more secure with holding. There can be some pitfalls associated with securing jewelry as collateral. One instance that comes to mind is how the collateral is specifically described on the collateral receipt. If a client gives you a brass ring with a cubic zirconia mounted to it and you write up the collateral receipt as a gold ring with a diamond mounted to it, then when it comes time to return that collateral, you can end up in a bit of a tight spot. If the depositor of that collateral presses the issue, you will find yourself owing that person a gold ring with a diamond mounted on it. The best way to draft that receipt would be to describe that ring as a “yellow metal ring with a white or clear stone” mounted to it. Another thing that you should consider before accepting jewelry as collateral is the issue of safely securing it until the time comes to return it to the depositor or liquidate it.
Promissory Notes are an interesting form of collateral, which I used to secure every bail bond that I ever wrote, but never did a promissory note help me to locate a wayward bail client. It did, however, help my collections agency when they were attempting to collect money that was owed on accounts receivables.
My Waiver of Extradition form was used by a bail enforcement agent that I hired in Georgia. That agent located one of my wayward bail clients who had failed to appear in court in the custody of a jail in another southern state. Said bail enforcement agent used this form to gain the Judge’s blessing to release that wayward bail client into his custody so that he could return that fugitive to Las Vegas to answer to his pending charges.
A document providing authorization for you to ping the applicant’s cell phone(s) can make locating a wayward bail client a snap. You should consult with an attorney when drafting this document. Other bail agents are already using such a document, so it doesn’t hurt to ask around and see if they will supply you with a copy of their document.
Cell Phone Downloads can provide a bail bond company with a plethora of intelligence. There is software/hardware available that will allow you to tether an applicant’s cell phone to your computer and download all of the contact information that is stored in their cell phone to your computer. Just imagine all of the skiptracing opportunities that this type of intelligence could provide.

One way of looking at collateral is that it is the bail agent’s ball and chain because it makes it difficult for the prisoner to escape from custody. When you don’t secure your client’s collateral, you make it much easier for them to violate the terms of their bond and skip.

Additional articles on bail applicants

Stay tuned for more tips on how you can prevent clients from jumping bail.

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This article was written by an industry guest contributor. If you are interested in being a guest contributor or have an article suggestion, please contact us!

Write More Bonds with these 3 Steps

2018-03-14T00:00:00-06:00

Have you ever wondered why that bail bonding company across town is writing so many bonds? You’re doing everything you can to market your business in an effort to get the calls to come in, yet there’s still something missing. Here are the top free three things you can do right now to write more bonds this month and every month thereafter.

Sharpen your Phone Etiquette.

When you get a call to your office, you have to think of every single caller as a potential client. Yes, many people are just calling around and shopping for the ‘best price,’ but many people are shopping for more than that. We all know that rates for bail bonds are pretty standard from one company to another, but we often fail to realize that people make a company, not the rates.

In every industry, people tend to do business with people they like. Have you ever called a few different service providers and felt that one of them just gave you a ‘good feeling’? Most of us have, and we based our buying decision based off of that feeling. That’s the sort of feeling you want to give to every call that comes into your bonding company. Every. Single. Call.

If you aren't the one answering your phone, then you need to listen to what your staff is saying. You'll be surprised!

To illustrate the power of being likable over the phone, think about this…

Let’s say a person calls three other companies before yours for the ‘best price’ only to find out that most companies’ rates and qualifications are similar. Now, they’re on the phone with you. What do you do? Do you tell them your rates and let them say, “I’ll call you back?” or do you tell them your rates, express a genuine interest in helping them, answer their questions, and close the deal?

If you ever end a phone call with the other person saying “I’ll call you back,” then you’re probably not communicating your desire to help them well enough over the phone.

Become a Pro at Follow-up

A bail bonds business is like any other business in that we rely on people calling us to inquire about our services. Therefore, every single phone call that comes into your office is the lifeblood of your business. Sure, you’re not going to have every single call become a co-signer on a bond, but just think about how many voicemails you haven’t followed up on. Think about how many people said, “I’ll call you back” and never did.

Looking at your company as a business that relies on leads (phone calls) and wrapping your head around the fact that any one of those phone calls, voicemails, texts, or “call-backs” of a potential client could be the one thing that increases your revenue by several thousand dollars each month. Return voicemails and call people back instead of waiting for them give you another call.

Improve your Sales Tactics

If you are on the front line of a business, then you are in sales. If you are a business owner, then you are in sales. If you’re in customer service, then you’re in sales. If you are a bondsman… you get the point. It doesn’t matter if you are a large company or a one-man operation. If you aren’t going to sell your service, then who is?

Sales aren’t about pushing a service. It’s all about identifying needs and thoroughly communicating the benefits of your service. It starts with proper phone etiquette and follow-up and ends with more money in your bank account. The middle part of the process is very simple. You get the caller to agree to come in and sign the bail bond. There are so many sales lost due to the fact that the company never directly asks the person for their business. It’s a very simple process that can improve your success rate!

During the phone call, ask qualifying questions about the co-signer and if they fit your guidelines, determine a good time for them to come into the office to sign the paperwork. If they don’t know, give them two different time slots and ask which one would be better for them. After that, tell them to come into the office to sign the bail bond at that time and give them directions to your office over the phone. Make them repeat it to you so you know they have written it down.

It seems very simple, but if that is your only take away from this, you’ll sign more bonds. I guarantee it.

To Summarize

Remember that customers buy from people they like. It’s not all about price. Don’t make them like you as part of a sales gimmick. Just be likable. Follow-up with messages and people who said they’ll call you back. Answer a potential client’s questions directly and try to pre-qualify every call that comes in. If you’re on the phone with the co-signer, walk them through coming into the office at an agreeable time. Do these things and you’ll see that this year will be your bonding company’s best one yet.

Tom Peck is a sales and marketing consultant for Bail Bonding Now, an Atlanta bail bonds company servicing Fulton, DeKalb, Cobb, Clayton, and Gwinnett County.

How to Testify at a Bail Reduction Hearing

2018-02-14T00:00:00-07:00

There are times when a potential client's bail amount is so high that he and his family cannot pay the premium or provide the necessary collateral. The only way the defendant is going to make bail is for the bail amount to be reduced. As a bondsman, you can help make that happen by providing valuable testimony at the defendant's bail reduction hearing.

In most states, a judge setting bail must consider the defendant's risk of flight and the safety of the public and the alleged victim. The judge should set the bail in an amount sufficient to ensure the defendant's appearance at all court hearings. The Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution, however, prohibits "excessive bail." Before testifying, you should thoroughly underwrite the bond. You should meet with all indemnitors and, if possible, the defendant. All relevant documents, such as pay stubs, deeds, and mortgages, should be gathered. Finally, you should discuss your testimony with the defendant's lawyer before the hearing. Your testimony should include the following topics:

Your experience as a bail bondsman. The judge will more likely accept your testimony if he determines you are experienced and professional.
Your experience performing fugitive recovery work. If the judge believes you are capable of finding and returning the defendant should he become a fugitive, then the judge may lower the bail amount.
The results of your interview with indemnitors. You should testify about each indemnitor's job, stability, and reputation in the community. These likely will affect the judge's view of the defendant's flight risk.
Your opinion regarding the defendant's flight risk. Explain to the judge why you think the defendant's flight risk is low - family ties, job, prior case appearances, etc.
Assets that the indemnitors have to secure a bond. If the judge understands that the defendant's parents only have $50,000 of equity in their home, he may agree that the forfeiture of a $50,000 bond would mean the defendant's parents would lose everything if their son became a fugitive.
The defendant's check-in requirements if he makes bail. A judge will feel more secure in lowering bail if he knows that the defendant is required to check-in regularly with the bondsman by phone or in person. You can even offer to put the defendant on electronic monitoring and house arrest.
Your willingness to write, with your insurance company's approval, a bond of a specific amount.

By providing the testimony, you only help secure a bond you previously could not write, but also you provide your client with a valuable service. In addition, you will gain a reputation in the community as a high-quality, professional bondsman.

Guest Contributor Mark T. Holtschneider is the Executive Vice President and General Counsel for Lexington National Insurance Corporation, a leading surety that underwrites bail bonds across the country. Mark can be reached at 888-888-2245 or mholtschneider@lexingtonnational.com.

If you're interested in writing articles about the bail industry, AboutBail.com is always looking for guest writers to share their industry knowledge. E-mail sdavis@aboutbail.com to find out more about writing for Collateral Magazine and AboutBail.com.

To learn more about becoming a member of AboutBail.com's trusted network of bail agents, contact us online.

11 Ways for Bail Agents to Prevent Credit Card Chargebacks

2018-01-09T00:00:00-07:00

Your bail agency just successfully bonded a person out of jail and you received payment for your services via credit card. You're feeling great about everything - until you discover that the client has initiated a chargeback on the credit card they used to pay you. You groan as you consider the hassles you are about to endure dealing with the client, the client's bank and your merchant processing company.

Bail agents are at a high risk of dealing with chargebacks in part because of the nature of their client base, but there are ways to mitigate the risk. A combination of preparation, high-quality customer service, and solid business practices can prevent chargebacks, as we'll explain.

Why would a bail agent's client resort to a chargeback?

The reasons that a client might initiate a chargeback vary, but they can include dissatisfaction with services, confusion over billing, or even that the person wants something for nothing. For the purposes of this article, we will focus on preventing chargebacks from clients resulting from billing confusion or a dispute over services rendered by a bail agent.

How can bail agencies prevent a chargeback?

Here is a list of 11 preventative measures and resolution tactics you can use to reduce your chances of dealing with a credit card chargeback.

Clearly explain your billing and refund policies to clients and if possible have them sign a written copy to prove that they read and understand them. Consider adding an item they can sign where they agree that they will not dispute or chargeback the payment.
Give clients a detailed written description of the services you will be providing. If possible, have them sign a copy of this outlined plan.
Make sure the business name on the credit card billing statement matches your firm's name (or at least let the client know which name will appear if it's different than your firm's name). People become highly suspicious when they see an unknown charge on their card and may respond with a chargeback.
Include a phone number on the statement so clients can contact you in the event of confusion or disputes.
Keep clients fully updated on the status of their bail bond so they don't consider a chargeback because they feel like they're being left in the dark.
If any tricky situations arise, let them know promptly so they don't try to have their money returned through a chargeback.
When choosing a merchant processing company or bank, research them thoroughly to compare chargeback resolution measures. Some merchant processing companies side firmly with consumers while giving little recourse to merchants or service-providers, so you should find a company that protects your rights and lets you fairly fight chargebacks.
Keep detailed records of your interactions with every client. Archive notes about telephone conversations, records of e-mail conversations, receipts, contracts, copies of credit cards and more. The more information you can offer when disputing the chargeback, the better.
Work with clients to resolve disputes before they resort to a chargeback. You may deal occasionally with a client who turns away all resolution attempts, but often some logical reasoning and customer service can save the day.
If the client's bank issues a retrieval request, which is where they ask for proof that you delivered the promised services, respond as quickly as possible. The sooner you offer proof, the less chance of a chargeback.
Last but not least is a tip that you likely practice every day but is nonetheless important: provide top-notch bail services. Good old-fashioned hard work and helpful customer service is an effective way to keep clients from even considering a chargeback.

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How to Locate Fugitives with Social Media

2017-12-13T00:00:00-07:00

John Dillinger might not have been such a successful bank robber if he had kept a Facebook page. These days, more and more bail agents, private investigators and law enforcement agencies are using social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace to locate hard-to-find fugitives. With a quick Google search and a little creativity, it is now possible to find out everything you need to know about your subject without leaving the office.

Social networking has become an especially useful tool for bail agents who stand to lose money if they can't locate their skip. Some fugitives will leave town and remove nearly all physical evidence of their whereabouts, yet they faithfully update their Facebook page and give away details that lead to their capture. In New York, for example, one fugitive who had been on the run for months listed detailed information about himself on Facebook and MySpace including the town he lived in, the name of the tattoo parlor where he worked and even his work hours. It seems like some fugitives are practically begging to be caught, which is why you should include social networking in your efforts to locate fugitives.

Social networking use in legal industries slowly gaining momentum

Even though social networking sites are home to many criminals and fugitives, their pursuers have been slow to follow. Vic Pichette, president of Genesis Investigations in Rhode Island, began using social networking during investigations about two years ago. It has since become the first step of any attempt to gather background information or locate people. Pichette has seen a gradual increase in the number of people conducting investigations via social networking, but he said there is still a long way to go.

"It bums me out that people don't understand not only how they can use it to locate somebody and get background information, but use it as your own tool to make money and promote yourself and brand yourself as a professional," Pichette said.

David Stuckman, from American Surety Bail Bonds in Manhattan, Kansas, said the younger generation of bail agents has a head start because most of them are already familiar with social networking. But he thinks that veteran bail agents are starting to come around.

"If it's a bondsman that's in his 20s and 30s, he knows how Facebook works," Stuckman said. "I've actually got a flowchart on how to do it myself because I'm in my 50s, or I'll recruit one of the younger people. The older generation is saying that it's a pretty good idea."

Assuming a new online identity

Stuckman said Facebook is his site of choice for finding people who have skipped town. His company is located near both Kansas State University and Fort Riley, a military base, so the majority of his skips are college students or GIs between 18 and 25 who have committed "minor" offenses such as DUI. In order to locate some of these kids, Stuckman said he has to trick them into talking to him on Facebook. One of his favorite techniques is for him, his son or his daughter to create a dummy account on Facebook so the subject thinks he or she is being contacted by another college student. After establishing a dialogue with the subject, they send a message asking where he is, or telling him they are holding onto a check that came in the mail for him and that he should come pick it up.

Once Stuckman and his associates have gained the trust of the subject on Facebook, they begin gently probing for information that they can use to locate him. Stuckman asks questions such as what kind of bars the subject frequents, which tells him a lot because there are only a certain number of sports bars, Western bars and reggae bars in Manhattan. If the subject says he attends KSU football games, Stuckman might strike up a conversation by saying, "I think I saw you the other night at the KSU game." Another trick Stuckman employs is to befriend the subject's friends online and ask if they've seen the subject because he owes him $50.

Stuckman said that many times they eventually tell the person that he or she is talking to a bail agent. At that point, they attempt to talk the person into returning. Even if they aren't successful, they can print out the time- and date-stamped communication and show it to the judge, which proves that they are in contact with the subject. This proof of effort is often enough to convince the judge to give them more time to bring the person back.

Protecting your own privacy

The flow of online information is a two-way superhighway, meaning you might be just as guilty of sharing too much information as the people you're trying to find. Be very selective about the information you share online when using social networking sites for personal use. Phil Johnson, the owner of J J Associates International in the U.K., offered some advice for protecting yourself.

"Just put on what you would be willing to share with your friends," Johnson said. "If you do not want your phone number, e-mail or personal address, do not put it there."

How to use social networking to your advantage

If you are interested in using social networking to find people or gather background information, here are six tips to get you started:

Create accounts for social networking sites you want to use for searches. Joining social networking sites is usually free and easy, and it allows you more access to subjects' profiles than if you are not a member. Popular sites include:
- Facebook
- MySpace
- Twitter
- hi5
- Bebo
- ZoomInfo
- LinkedIn
- Ning
- Friendster
- Social Mention
- YouTube
- Pipl
- Classmates.com
Start your investigation by entering search terms related to your subject into search engines such as Yahoo!, Google and Bing. These terms include names, addresses, and telephone numbers. Johnson recommends searching for relatives, interests, and information about places the subject frequents because this data is useful for skip tracing and process serving.
Search for the person using sites such as Pipl and Social Mention, which may turn up information that the big search engines miss.
If your broad searches are not proving fruitful, try searching for the person on specific social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace.
Vic Pichette recommends setting up Google Alerts or using sites like Social Mention to set social media alerts. These alerts notify you whenever news or information related to your subject pops up online.
Some bail agents and investigators are more comfortable pretending to be someone else on social networking sites to gain the confidence of a subject, so whether you choose to use that tactic is up to you. You should check the rules in your state to make sure there are no laws against creating a fake profile for investigative purposes. If you choose to do it, customize each effort to the person you are tracking. Create a profile that looks like it could be someone the subject knows, use what you know about the subject to tailor the profile, and adopt a convincing persona when contacting the subject.

Conclusion

The Internet has made the world a much smaller place, and with a quick search, you might find who you're looking for right in your own backyard. Using social networking can be a trial-and-error process because it's still a relatively new investigative technique, but the results are often well worth the effort. And if you need a little help, why not enlist the help of your nearest neighborhood teenager.

4 Ways To Reduce Your Failure to Appear Rate

2017-11-14T00:00:00-07:00

The author Anne Rice once said, "To write something, you have to risk making a fool of yourself." She was referring to writing works of literature, but she may as well have been talking about writing bail bonds. Every time you write a bond, you face the very real risk that the person will fail to appear in court. The national average indicates that between 15 to 19 percent of people released on surety bail fails to appear, but that number varies agency by agency -- often depending on the business practices used.

We spoke with PBUS Vice President Marco J. LiMandri, a longtime San Diego bail businessman, and Ohio-based bail agent Tina Valli, both of whom shared some tried-and-true techniques to ensure that people show up to court. Before you face a possible financial loss or spend time and money tracking down a fugitive, we have some advice for you collected straight from the lips of industry insiders.

1) Low-risk underwriting

Both LiMandri and Valli stressed that intelligent underwriting is the first and most important step in preventing failures to appear. Some agencies are more willing to write bonds for high-risk defendants, but LiMandri said he loses no sleep at night worrying about missed court appearances because he is so discerning when evaluating potential clients.

From the moment a potential client contacts you, it's time to evaluate them and identify any factors that could lead to missed court dates or the defendant fleeing the area. Questions that you should be asking both defendants and their co-signers include:

Are they local or from out of town? People from out of town are sometimes less inclined to stick around once they're out on bail.
Do they have a stable job or are their co-signers gainfully employed?
Do they have ties to the community (family, friends, groups, etc.) that are a strong incentive for them to stay?
Do they have a history of failures to appear?
Can the defendant or their co-signers put up sufficient collateral?
How do the person's prior offenses relate to the current charge? According to LiMandri, if the person has had a DUI but was arrested for domestic violence, that's not an issue. But if the person has prior domestic violence arrests and is arrested for domestic violence, he or she might be a flight risk because the penalty will likely be more strict.

Once you have established that the potential client meets most or all of these criteria, your chances of dealing with missed court dates are already greatly reduced. LiMandri said that agencies that write bonds for high-risk defendants are likely above the national rate in failures to appear, and they're probably not destined for business success in the long run.

"Every agency that simply writes for premium is writing bonds today to pay for the bonds they lost yesterday and will eventually implode," LiMandri said.

2) Improved communication

It is the bail agent's responsibility to make the client aware of his or her responsibilities to the court, to the bail agent and to the Indemnitor. The information and instructions that you provide upon taking on a new client should be as complete and understandable as possible to avoid missed court appearances. Valli said that confusion between defendants and bail agents is probably the biggest contributing factor that she has observed when defendants miss court.

"Most of the time if they fail to appear, it's miscommunication. They're not purposely missing court," Valli said.

Things to discuss with your clients in specific terms include:

Court date and time. Make sure this information is retained by the defendant and/or co-signer.
Ensure that the defendant and Indemnitors understand that they are responsible for the full bond amount if the person doesn't show in court, as well as any remaining balance if they don't pay in full up front.
Valli has clients sign a paper which states that intentionally missing court could lead to Valli's company spending time and money to locate the person, and those fees will come out of the pockets of the defendant and Indemnitors.

3) Keep in touch

Valli and LiMandri said by the time they have determined that the defendant is low-risk and they have provided clear instructions to them, they are very confident that they will show up at court. But if bail agents feel it's necessary, or if it's a large bond, they said businesses shouldn't hesitate to hedge their bets with follow-up efforts. Especially because LiMandri points out that there's always the chance of someone oversleeping, going to the wrong courthouse or simply forgetting.

Typical contact with clients ranges from occasional in-person visits, phone calls, and postcards, to virtually babysitting the defendant or giving wake-up calls the day of the scheduled court appearance. The person might not be enthusiastic about being reminded of their court date, but the effort can save both you and them a lot of money and time in the end.

4) Employ new technology

GPS has given bail agents a new way to keep track of high-risk clients, although many have yet to use it -- possibly because of the cost, or because they are confident that they don't need it. LiMandri said he doesn't use GPS in his business, but he can see how it could be a potential help to bail agents.

"The jury's still out on GPS," LiMandri said. "The way GPS is going to work for the judicial system is to tie it to a bail bond if you're going to use it. You can specify in the contract that they're going to wear GPS, and have the Indemnitor sign it."

Conclusion

It's nearly impossible to win 'em all in the bail business; some people are just dead-set on missing court no matter who pays for it. But with some strategic selection of who you write bonds for and regular use of some of these techniques, you have the power to reduce the risk of people failing to appear in court.

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6 Ways to Market Your Bail Bond Agency

2017-10-09T00:00:00-06:00

Today’s digital environment is increasingly competitive for small business owners, and that presents both a challenge and an opportunity. The challenge is that it’s easier for prospective clients to compare offerings online with just a couple of clicks. The opportunity is that social media has made it easier than ever before for businesses to get the word out and to distinguish themselves from their competitors.

If bail bond agents are willing to take the time to learn more new marketing tools and to then put the effort into following through, the payoffs can be substantial. Here are some new ways, as well as a few tried and true techniques, to generate new business.

Connect with Clients and References

People won’t necessarily come back to you or recommend your services because they’ve done so in the past. There are a lot of competing agencies out there, so it’s critical that you discover what your closest contacts like (and don’t like) about your business.

You can create profiles based on past clients and referral sources and then develop and execute marketing campaigns aimed directly at each segment. Make sure that you keep those profiles active and up to date. As you find out more information about the people in your database improve and optimize your campaigns.

Focus on your Brand

You may have a competitive edge, but that doesn’t matter if people don’t know how to get in touch with you. Many business owners continue to use phone numbers, email addresses and website names that are just too difficult to remember.

It sounds simple, but it really is amazing how many people forget: don’t make getting in touch with you a research project. Think about using a branded vanity phone number or a local number that includes a word or a memorable sequence of numbers. Your website should include your business name and your website URL should be short and relevant to your brand, or relating to your industry and location.

Use Social Media

Social media is not just for showing your vacation photos. Social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn provide a great way to make connections and to introduce yourself and your business to prospective clients and contacts. These social media sites offer advertising opportunities that allow you to connect directly to the people you’d most like to reach.

Keep in mind that social media is dynamic and constantly changing. If you make the decision to use it, you’ll want to keep up to date and active. Post frequently and make sure that what you’re posting is interesting and relevant to those who you would like to read it. It’s best to keep the press releases and self-promotion to a minimum.

Harness the Power of Mobile

Many consumers are leaving their computers behind for the convenience of the mobile devices. In the case of bail bond businesses, it’s even more likely that this is how prospective clients will find out about your business.

Beginning later this year Google will formally give search engine preference to companies that are optimized for mobile use. If you’re not optimized for mobile use in the near future than your placement on key Google results will suffer.

Make Personal Connections

The world may be increasingly digital, but there’s often no substitute for a face-to-face introduction or meeting. A personal marketing strategy takes more time and effort. They’re certainly not accomplished in a few keystrokes. But while everyone else is looking down at their phones you can stand out by looking up and shaking a few hands.

Develop a Search Strategy

When you do go back online, one of the surest ways to generate attention is by mounting a paid search campaign. Those are the search results that you see on the top and to the side of search results. However, since you are paying for every click you get, make sure that you are attracting clients and not just browsers.

One of the best ways to connect through Google search is to combine the power of paid advertising with unpaid or organic search results. Research and develop a strategy that will ensure that over time you show up on the first page of results for common search terms most likely to be used by clients. The money that you put into the paid ads will more than pay for itself in a relatively short period of time.

Your best bet for coming up with a killer marketing program is to combine tried and true marketing practices with new digital techniques. Using the best of both worlds will enable you to stand out from your competitors and create new opportunities.

Start today and see how quickly you can bring in new business!

Paul Faust is Vice President of Business Development at RingBoost, a nationally recognized marketing company focusing on providing vanity phone numbers to businesses. Paul can be reached directly at paul@ringboost.com.

Your Neighbor, the Bail Bondsman

2017-09-18T00:00:00-06:00

Many people, for whatever reason, have a negative opinion of bail bondsmen. Those people don’t understand the industry, or simply have no idea what a bail bondsman does. They feel it is unfair to force people to pay bail to stay out of jail while awaiting the trial. Some of them blame the bail bondsmen since he/she is part of the system. That is akin to blaming their accountant for the complicated tax code.

Since many defendants lack the means to post their own bail, bail bonds provide a considerable service, securing the bond for a non-refundable fee, normally 10%. Nonetheless, many people believe that a bail bondsman is a type of loan shark, underhanded businessman or bounty hunter.

They are none of these. Most bail bond professionals are small business owners, like your accountant, your auto repairman or your pizza maker. They have families and may live in your neighborhood. A bondsman may be your son or daughter’s soccer coach. He is the man in the stands, cheering for a local high school team. She is a leader of a girl scout troop.

There are more than 15,000 registered bail bondsmen nationwide, most of them operating in their respective localities. Almost all of them make themselves available 24 hours a day. It is the nature of the business. When not aiding in processing an accused out of lock up, they live lives like anyone else.

When you think about the qualities that make a good bondsman, it is easy to see that they are the same qualities that make a good neighbor. Some of those qualities are:

Patience - Bail bondsman deals primarily with people who are trying to get someone out of jail “now!” There is a sense of urgency when a loved one is incarcerated. They may present as aggravated, upset and anxious. Bail agents are trained in customer care and make every effort to comfort their clients. This takes patience and understanding.
Detail oriented – Like most other interactions with a government agency, the bail bond industry requires paperwork. Errors can have damaging consequences for the bail bondsman or client. Bondsmen must be fastidious in their attention to each case. Your neighbor with the best yard may be similarly oriented.
People-oriented – Bail bondsmen work with people who have an immediate need. They deal with such people at all times of day, every day of the year. They must be able to relate to their feelings and personal situations. They understand what they are experiencing. A bondsman must be willing to put themselves in the shoes or see through the eyes of their clients It’s an ability not everyone has. It’s called empathy, something good neighbors have for others.
Business owners – Their business is different than most others. Bail bondsmen, for the most part, are sole proprietors or LLC’s. They pay taxes, hire employees and perform a valuable service for the public. The service they perform saves money for the taxpayer. In Connecticut, it costs $137/day to keep an inmate incarcerated. Those costs are eliminated when a defendant is allowed out of jail on bail while awaiting trial. The Bail company ensures the defendant will appear in court. If they fail to show up, the agency sends out Bail Enforcement Agents to bring them back. This is done at their own expense, not the taxpayers.

Drew Bloom is the owner and founder of 3D Bail Bonds, a bond agency serving Connecticut for more than 20 years. In his spare time Drew coaches a local little league and volunteers for his local fire department.

The Important Role of Bail Bondsman Associations

2017-08-13T00:00:00-06:00

Associations play an important role in preserving the growing community of bail bondsmen, pushing for and fighting legislation changes and rallying support from community leaders. With an established national association, several state associations and others getting ready to form, bondsmen have a number of opportunities to team up and get involved in their professional associations. As bail bondsman associations play an important role in the industry, it’s important for bail agents to understand their individual roles and how they can help.

CEO and Executive Director of the Professional Bail Agents of the United States (PBUS) Melanie Ledgerwood stresses the importance of networking and joining together in the bail community. “[Members of PBUS have] an opportunity to network with their colleagues across the nation,” she explains. “With the bail industry under increasing attack from tax-payer based programs, it’s important that we present a unified voice when promoting the bail industry.” Ledgerwood also expressed the growing need for individual bondsmen and associations to understand what is happening in the bail industry within each state. AboutBail sat down with a number of professionals at the 2012 PBUS Conference in Las Vegas, and it’s apparent that state association leaders and professional bondsmen agree.

Here's what association leaders have to say:

“In unity we stand,” New York bondsman George Zouvelos noted. Zouvelos, who is the president of the New York State Professional Bondsman Association (NYPBA), describes PBUS as the father entity, and explained that when local bondsmen and state associations work together it creates a stronger industry. “I think that if each state can have a strong association, the larger association is only as strong as its membership,” he said.

Zouvelos explained that his association works hard to ensure that the NYPBA is aware of what’s going on in every area of New York. “We travel all the way from Buffalo all the way out to Montuak,” he explained. “What’s important is that we travel from county to county and we gather the intelligence and pulse of each legislature and also the bondsmen that are on the ground there.” With an accurate picture of what is going on across the state, Zouvelos says his association then tries to push the legislature into seeing issues from the view of the affected bondsmen. “When we aggregate this kind of information and we also share it with press releases and things of that nature, we’re able to change the minds of even judges and other decision makers which are crucial [to the criminal justice process].”

Zouvelos notes that sharing this information with other national and state associations helps bondsmen stay alert of different programs and tactics. “I think you get an accurate picture when you have a good, strong association,” he said, “and we return to PBUS and say, ‘they’re doing the same thing, in fact, they’re doing something else--you should look after that in your neighborhood.’” Describing it as a domino effect, strategies used against private bail and especially for pre-trial release are tried in one area and inevitably will spread to other states. “There’s certain tactics tried in one part of the country that haven’t yet been tried in another part of the country,” he began, “and where best to share that information than at a national association.”

Expanding on the importance of bail agents being vocal in their communities, former president of the Golden State Bail Association Topo Padilla noted the importance of joining together as association members. “If you’re a professional in this industry, you should be a member of one of the [state] bail associations, and on a national level you should be a member of PBUS,” he explains. Padilla notes that through lobbyists, executive directors and releasing industry news to a variety of sources, bail associations work toward raising awareness of the positive aspects of private bail. He also noted the financial cost and support needed from individuals in order to achieve success in an association. In discussing ways to get involved, Padilla encourages bail agents to join associations, committees and boards or to help associations financially. He also hopes that bail bondsmen will keep up to date with industry news and publications. “The reason the bail industry is so ineffective is because we can’t get more people involved,” he explained.

Association leaders across the country agree that the more active bail bondsmen become in associations the more effective the industry will be. Padilla concluded his interview stressing the core purpose of associations saying, “What [bail agents] need to realize is this: when you have an association, that association is there to act as your voice.” As no-bail states reconsider their bail structure, pre-trial release continues to gain support and bail bondsmen work to grow their businesses, associations will remain a strong element in improving the bail industry. Get involved in your state and national association today!

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5 Reasons Bail Agents Should Get To Know The Local Legal Community

2017-07-18T00:00:00-06:00

With harmful legislation threatening the industry, rallying support for pre-trial release and a common misunderstanding of their profession, bail agents face a lot of challenges these days. One way to further support for the industry is to get to know the legal community in your area. Judges, criminal defense attorneys, prosecutors, paralegals and a host of other professionals can become allies for bail agents, and getting to know the community can have a positive effect when pushing for changes in the industry. AboutBail caught up with bail agents to find out why agents should be getting involved in the local community.

Here's what bail agents and association leaders have to say:

Here are just a few reasons to get to know the local legal community:

You can educate them on bail bonds and legislation
Not every member in the legal community supports private bail, and in fact, in many areas the majority of lawyers, judges and local law enforcement agents don’t understand the benefits of private bail. “The people that don’t support private bail, whether they are citizens, sheriffs, the court, judges or anyone in the criminal justice system--they don’t understand what we do,” California bondsman Topo Padilla explained, “We need to educate the judges. We need to educate the [District Attorney’s] office. We need to educate the lawyers. Educate them on what a bond is, how it works and why it’s so effective.” In further explanation, Padilla noted that following a recent legislation change, the bail associations in California sat down with members of the legslature that signed the bill. By educating them on what they were actually backing, he explained, many who voted in favor of the bill realized they did not fully support its intentions. The former president of the Golden State Bail Association stressed the value in educating the legal community on bail itself and what legislation will change. "That's something we as an industry need to do on a more professional level,” Padilla concluded.
You can gain a better understanding of why people are supporting government programs
Battling government programs is difficult, but understanding why people and legislative representatives are supporting those programs gives bail agents an advantage for forming a sophisticated and effective strategy to combat the issue. “States have their own rules and regulations that are gathered best not from [a news source] but from the mouths of legislatures and bondsmen on the ground,” NYPBA (New York Professional Bondsmen Association) President George Zouvelos explained, “When we aggregate this data and we also share it with press releases and things of that nature, we’re able to change the minds of even judges and other decision makers that are crucial [to the criminal justice process].”
You can gain support when pushing for or fighting legislation changes
Vocal support can go a long way, especially when legislation and regulations are on the line. “Take time to meet with [representatives], meet them at the capitol and let them know that we want to work with them,” bail agent Bobby Brown recommends. Brown further explained that recent legislation threatened to shut down bail agents in Colorado, and the only reason the bill did not pass was due to the aid of a legislative representative and allie. ”We were at the very last committee,” Brown explained, “ and if it passed that night, the very next morning we were literally going to be shutting down--every bail bondsman in the state of Colorado and all of our employees.”
You can establish relationships with powerful allies
If there’s anything we’ve learned from our interview with Judge McBain, it’s that having an outspoken supporter in the legal community can bring a lot of positive publicity to the bail industry. Many individuals were surprised to find a judge and former prosecutor speaking out in support of private bail, and with any luck it will change a few opinions. Bail agents should always work toward gaining local support and allies for private bail. Keep in mind that community members may be more easily convinced of the positive aspects of bail when they are outlined by legal professionals like judges, attorneys and legal assistants rather than the agents themselves.
You can supplement your business with recommendations
While reaching out to create a professional relationship and gain support for backing legislation, consider opportunities for business referrals and recommendations. Provide business cards with up to date contact information to local judges and attorneys. “[I work] with the courts, with the judges, the attorneys,” Bobby Brown, a Colorado bail agent explained, “I do more attorney recommended bonds than anybody.”

Regardless of what issues bail agents in any community are facing, teaming up with the local legal community can have a powerful impact on what the bail industry can accomplish. Reaching out to individuals may take some time and convincing, but once a relationship has been established the benefits will be worth the effort. With strong community leaders and the support of local officials, bail agents in any area will be able to create stronger ties to the community and bring longevity to the industry as a whole.

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5 Ways Bail Bondsmen Can Get Good Leads from the Internet

2017-06-14T00:00:00-06:00

Editor's note: This article was written by an industry professional and guest contributor. The views and opinions in this article are of the author and do not reflect the views of AboutBail. If you are interested in becoming a guest contributor, send an email to submissions@aboutbail.com.

Bail bondsmen have an important role in acting as a surety for those who require bail. They ensure that a person accused in court can pay for their bail, often while profiting from borrowing fees that range from 5% to 15%. The legitimacy of bail bondsmen is rarely in question, as their rates are set by the state. State laws also set regulations for what bondsmen can and cannot do. In essence, there is rarely a difference between bail bondsmen. What sets them apart in the eyes of a consumer is marketing. Bail bondsmen are generally successful through pre-established connections and marketing, the latter of which must be accomplished on the Internet for sustained success.

1. Choose a creative moniker

Regardless of where they set up shop, bail bondsmen are bound to have local competition. Rather than going the generic route of naming their business after their last name, bail bondsmen should choose something fun and creative with advertising potential, something that separates them from the pack. Not only will this help potential clients keep their business name in mind, but a creative and eye-catching name will be beneficial later on when their Internet ad campaigns are in full swing.

2. Set up a website

Unless they have a pre-established plethora of contacts, it’s absolutely essential for bail bondsmen to have a website that sells their services. Using a blog tool like Wordpress or site creator like Wix are quick and easy solutions, but their free and default themes are unattractive and bland. It wouldn’t be a wasteful expense to hire a web designer to create a unique, professional page for a bail bonds business. And of course, the content within the site – which should include details on why the services are superior to other bail bondsmen, in addition to contact info – is important as well, with room for embellishment.

3. Have contact information appear very prominently

Regardless of the site design, any legal business online should have their phone number and address in prominent letters on the banner of their website. One should not have to navigate to a separate ‘Contact’ page to inquire about the services of a bail bondsmen. The number should be available on every page. Another feature that may prove useful is a live chat plugin like Casengo, which allows all visitors to interact live with the bail bondsman. This will provide a personable impression, and increases the likelihood site visitors will become clients.

4. Create user-friendly videos

Many are accustomed to legal teams being bland and vanilla, with little personality beyond the suit. Bail bondsmen have the potential to show off personality with on-site videos that, with a casual demeanor, will encourage visitors to contact them. Explaining the benefits of using bail bondsmen in an accessible, non-pretentious tone can go a long way in finding good leads on the Internet.

5. Utilize a variety of online advertising techniques

Testing a variety of advertising techniques – from conventional methods like Adwords and guest posts to other marketing techniques – is recommended for bail bondsmen seeking leads on the Internet. They can link to their website, which should boast engrossing content and original videos by now. And with a creative and catchy name, people seeking bail bondsmen will be immediately drawn in. Advertising is one of the last steps for bail bondsmen to find leads, and once it’s successfully implemented the clients should start coming in masses.

About the Author:

Courtney Gordner is a journalist/blogger who has a passion for Internet marketing. She enjoys writing her advice for a variety of companies from bail agencies to furniture stores, including Mission Amish Outlet.

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Mandating Check-Ins for Your Bail Clients

2017-05-09T00:00:00-06:00

Check-Ins will allow you to keep tabs on your clients while they are still in your custody. The check-in can also be utilized as a gauge to let you know if your client is intent on failing to appear in court. You should effectively communicate to all of your clients that they must report to your bail bonds office after they been released from the jail. I would say that 24-hours is sufficient enough time to report to your office. This will allow your clients to get some much needed rest, some good, home-cooked food, and a nice, hot shower. You might also consider recommending to your clients that they bring their address/phone book with them so that they will have a much easier time supplying contact information on your application for bail. You should have a Check-In Form prepared so that you can keep track of all of your clients check-ins. It would be best for you to prepare a separate form for each client, rather than have a running sheet for all clients. If you have these check-in forms printed up at a copy shop in triplicate, you can put one form in the client’s file, one in your check-in log book, and give one to your client.

Physical Check-Ins

Physical Check-Ins, if properly manipulated, can be utilized to assure you that your clients are still in town and have not fled to another location. Depending on your perceived risks, you can have your clients check in once a week, a few days each week, or every single day. In my opinion, this form of check-in should be used for your highest risk clients because you want to ensure that those individuals are still in your area and within your reach.

Telephonic Trap Lines

Telephonic Trap Lines can be utilized for those clients where your perceived risks are lower. There are a number of companies that provide trap line services for a nominal fee. Each client would be issued a unique PIN (Personal Identification Number). This PIN is what tells you who is calling to check in. The phone line should be set up so that all incoming callers must surrender the phone number that they are call you from through utilizing anonymous call rejection. You don’t even have to answer the phone, but at some time each day, you will have to go back through your incoming calls and voicemail messages so that you can record each telephonic check-in into your check-in log book. If a client who has been using the telephonic check-ins does fail to appear in court, you will have a list of phone numbers that the client called you from; which is a great source of investigative leads, because you can turn all of those phone numbers into names and addresses. I would suggest that you use this form of check-in for your medium risk clients, because it does not require much of your time or attention to monitor these individuals, thus freeing up more of yourself to write bail and perform other daily work tasks.

Website Check-Ins

Website Check-Ins can also be effective and more convenient for your lowest-risk clients. If you have a company website, you can set up one of your web pages to be utilized for electronic check-ins. If you set this up properly, your clients will be surrendering their IP Address to you when they check in. In turn, those IP Addresses can be turned into physical addresses, so this is also a great source for leads should one of your clients decide to fail to appear in court. See the following link for an example of how one Bail Bond Company has their website check-in system set up. See the example to the right.

Your lowest risk clients should be afforded the privilege and comfort of the website check in, as it offers them even more discretion from those who they would rather not have knowing that they have been admitted to bail.

Using a Combination of Check-Ins

You can also use combinations of the different forms of check-ins to net more intelligence about your clients. You can use the physical check-in to make sure that your client is still in town, the telephonic check-in to glean intelligence about where the client is calling from, and you can use the website check-ins to determine where the client is located when checking in through the internet.

GPS Monitoring

GPS Monitoring can be an extremely useful tool for checking in on your clients although it is really not a form of having your clients checking in with your bail bond company. As the bail agent, you can set forth terms and conditions within your bail bond contract that specifically limit where your clients may travel to while they are out on your bail bond. For example, you can advise your client that he or she is not permitted to travel outside of his or her home county while released on your bail bond. Requiring your highest-risk clients to wear a G.P.S. ankle bracelet will let you monitor the real-time location of your clients, anytime of the day or night. The location information that these ankle bracelets provide is live and actionable. Therefore, if you receive information from the ankle bracelet that the defendant has traveled outside of his/her home county, then you will have reason to believe that he or she is attempting to flee from your custody and this could quite possibly be the basis for an early surrender, based upon the actions taken by the defendant (breach of contract, violating the terms and conditions of your bail bond conditions of release). This can also indicate that the defendant is intent on failing to appear in court. In my opinion, the greatest power that G.P.S. ankle bracelets provide is deterring clients from jumping bail. They will know that you can monitor their true location and travel history at any time that you choose, which would make locating, apprehending, and surrendering them a rather simple task. It would often curb the need for a protracted investigation geared at locating the defendant. This will help you to greatly discourage your clients from skipping court.

Case in Point:

My bail bond company had bailed out a defendant who had been charged with two counts of trafficking in narcotics. Because of these charges, we were a little concerned about whether or not he was going to appear in court, so we had put him on a physical check-in three times each week. We set up his check-in so that he would appear in our office each Saturday. We did that to discourage him from travelling out of state on the weekends, which we had assumed was the prime time for him to drive to the neighboring state to score drugs and bring them back. Well, as luck would have it, he did fail to appear in court, and we were clued-in to this intent because he quit checking in with our bail bond company, which is when our hunt began. It’s a good thing that we had put him on a check-in, because the court never did mail a forfeiture letter to us. If we didn’t have him on a check-in, we would not have known that he had fled. A check with the United States Postal Service revealed that he had provided them with a mail forwarding address to that neighboring state where we had suspected that he was travelling to in order to pick up his dope. A subsequent surveillance at that address revealed that he didn’t actually live there, he was merely having his mail forwarded there; which made for a rather interesting caper.

When you combine your check-ins with regular status checks with the courts, staying on top of your open liabilities will be a snap. One of the key indicators here is compliance. If your clients do not comply with their check-in agreements, then the odds of your clients making their mandatory appearances in court are slim to none. At that point in time, you will need to seriously consider whether or not you wish to revoke their bail bonds and make an early surrender.

Helpful Tip:

You can have your Check-In forms printed in triplicate, carbonless copies at your local print shop. This will allow you to write up your Check-In agreement once, yet you will still be able to give a copy of the agreement to your client, put one copy in the client’s file and keep one copy in your Check-In Book, without having to make photocopies of the form, which will save you precious time. The Check-In Book is a 3-ring binder that will allow you to maintain all of your current Check-Ins in a well-organized and efficient fashion. The Check-In Book precludes having to hunt through files in a filing cabinet for any specific Check-In form. This type of efficiency will improve your company’s productivity because it will save you precious time.

More on preventing clients from jumping bail

Stay tuned for more tips on how you can prevent clients from jumping bail.

About the Author: Jason Pollock received his first glimpse into the mysterious world of Fugitive Recovery as an operator in 1999 and he is now the owner and operator of Surety Risk Management, a professional Bail Enforcement and Risk Management Agency based in Los Angeles, California. Jason has successfully located and apprehended approximately 1,700 “wayward bail clients” during his career as an operator, all with zero post-operation residual liability. He is the former owner of a bail bond company that never paid a single summary judgment to any court and he is currently working on his first book, a project that is now more then ten years in the making. Jason may be contacted at suretyriskmanagement@gmail.com

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How Bail Agencies Can Keep Up With Their Competitors

2017-03-12T00:00:00-07:00

Editor's Note: This article was written by an industry professional and guest contributor. The views and opinions in this article are of the author and do not reflect the views of AboutBail. If you are interested in becoming a guest contributor, send an email to submissions@aboutbail.com.

Similar to businesses in many industries, bail agencies will always have competition. After all, bail bondsmen make their living by working with accused persons, which there will never be a shortage of. There will always be accused parties in need of bail agencies, a prospect that makes the industry far from untapped. Your locality is likely to have at least one bail agency nearby. In more populated areas, there tend to be several.

Since competition among bail agencies is imminent, it’s prudent for a bail agency to keep up with their competitors. Whereas several decades ago this would have been difficult, resources on the internet have made researching business competitors a lot easier. Some methods bail agencies can use to keep up with their competitors include:

Search Google News and News Databases for Company Information

Not every business has a Wikipedia entry detailing their history. As a result, it’s up to you to find out a competitor’s past. Google News is a great resource for finding past articles from a wide variety of publications. With this, you can look up information such as a competing bail agency’s upper-level management shifts or recent service implementations.

Study Competing Ads

If your bail agency’s advertising campaign is struggling to reach its target demographic, then studying the ad campaigns of competitors can inspire some ideas. Local newspapers, television commercials, radio spots and billboards are just a few areas to look. A competitor's ads can help a bail agency better determine how to market their services.

Analyze Competitors’ Social Media Strategies

Bail agencies typically have difficulty with social media campaigns, primarily because the notion of bail bonds is not appealing for most. However, some agencies have succeeded by posting and commenting on news relevant to the legal or bail bonds industries. If you notice that a competing bail agency has a successful social media strategy and a significant following, take note of its social media campaign. Echoing or culling ideas from their campaign has the ability to net new leads for your agency.

Never Bad-Mouth Your Competitors

The last thing a bail agency wants to do is come across as immature, especially since a bail bondsman is responsible for a rather delicate legal service. As a result, make sure to never bad-mouth a competitor, even if the criticism is valid. Keep the criticisms to yourself, instead using them productively to map out a better marketing plan. If they don’t do something well, then it’s good for you. There’s no need to gloat about it to clients or on social media.

By using the strategies above, bail agencies can keep up with the business tactics, advertising campaigns, and public perception of competing bail agencies. This information can be extremely useful for your bail agency to use in acquiring new leads and establishing a superior overall presence to your competitor.

About the Author:

Courtney Gordner is a journalist/blogger who has a passion for Internet marketing. This article was written on behalf of D&P Personal Injury Attorneys.

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Bail Bonds Enforcement Agents: Media Portrayal and The Perfect World

2017-03-10T00:00:00-07:00

I’ve seen the movie Domino. I’ve watched Dog the Bounty Hunter on TV. I’ve heard the misconceptions from friends and family. It seems to me that a lot of people are confused as to what a fugitive recovery agent actually does, what they are allowed to do, and, most importantly, what they aren’t allowed to do. So I wanted to set the record straight, or at least a little straighter than it already was, and chalk up the truth about fugitive recovery/bail enforcement.

The Importance of a Good Mind

Plenty of buddies have come up to me and asked how to get into the bail enforcement business. I tell them go to school for it and they scoff at me incredulously. Most of these guys are gym buddies or guys that I play football and baseball in the park with, guys that I know but don’t really know all that well, and most of them are pretty stacked. One of these guys is a little over six-feet-tall, and I’ve seen him put up 315lbs on the bench. He’s ripped. He’s bulky. The guy is a monster. He was also one of these guys that gives sort of a condescending laugh when I tell them that they need to take classes, as if they are back in high school being forced to stimulate their minds when all they want to do is go outside and run around.

They Come Quietly

I tell them that fugitive recovery is not like it is portrayed in the movies or in reality TV. While it is a relatively dangerous job, they don’t understand that you’re not talking on some two-way radio with somebody who’s calling the shots and telling you where to go. You’re not generally banging doors down and apprehending criminals who are trying to flee. A lot of the time, I find the guy or gal and they simply say “You got me,” and put their hands behind their backs to be cuffed. The hardest part is finding them.

A Lot of Detective Work

A bail enforcement agent is more a detective than he is an enforcer. We’re sleuths. Hunters. Once you actually find the skip, figure out where they frequent and where they work, the most difficult and taxing part is over. We pour over credit card statements, contact and question friends, family members, drug dealers—anybody that we think can get us a lead—and we do stakeouts. You’d think from the movies that stakeouts would be fun, but I dread them. I hate sitting around for three or four hours, just watching a place. You can’t just recline back, snooze, and wait for something huge to happen, because if you’re doing that you’ll miss everything. You have to be alert. The mind, and its powers of observation, are bail enforcement agents’ best friends.

Things CAN Get Heated

There are times when things get sticky, but it is very rare. Fugitive recovery agents get guns pointed in their faces, they sometimes have to deal with wily boyfriends if the skip is a woman, and we have to refrain from injuring the skip or the jails won’t take ‘em. But what’s funny is that I can count on both hands all the times that a recovery has lead to violence—like I said before, most of the time skips are brought in just by talking to them.

Just Trying to Make a Living

The problem is that everybody wants to see “action”. I tell ‘em: you want to see action? Go join the military. Become a cop. What fugitive recovery agents actually do is not what you think it is. We are not “Dog the Bounty Hunters”. We’re not soldiers or tactical assault personnel. We’re just guys and gals that are trying to make a living.

In a perfect world, the TV shows and the movies wouldn’t sensationalize our jobs, making people think that 95% of the time we’re running around shooting things up and the other 5% of the time we do paperwork. In a perfect world, people would realize that it’s the other way around; 95% mental work and 5% action, if that. But I guess in a perfect world, people wouldn’t skip out on bail either, and I wouldn’t have a job.

About the Author:

Jeff Yorke is a bail recovery agent and freelance writer. His favorite topics to write on involve all facets of law enforcement, including bail bonds. When he's not working, Jeff enjoys playing pickup football with his friends and maxing out at the gym. This article was written on behalf of Bail Bonds Direct.

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The Cases That Got Me Hooked on Bail Bonds

2017-01-09T00:00:00-07:00

In a recent poll, Deloitte found that 70% of Netflix users binge-watch a show (watching three or more episodes during one sitting). The average amount of episodes watched during one session is five and this happens weekly for 31% of all Netflix users. Besides personal experience, I have caught my grandma watching several episodes in a row of Criminal Minds and my pastor even mentioned once or twice that he occasionally binge-watched on Netflix. So, I can definitely believe these statistics. Highly watched shows have similar characteristics. They are laced with mesmerizing language and talented actors. Viewers get attached to characters by understanding them on a more intricate level as the story continues. And while no one cares for drama in their own lives, a hit show supplies never-ending suspense. People do not know how much they will enjoy the show when the hour episode begins, but they are typically more captivated by the end of the show and ready for more. That is similar to how it is with me and bail bonds. At first, it sounded good because I needed a job and thought it would be fun to work with one of my college friends. Fast forward three and a half years and I have been involved with the industry ever since. There are a couple of “episodes” that have occurred in my own experience that have kept me intrigued with this business.

$32,000 Worth of Experience

I had a wild season opener for my introduction to the bail bonds business. I had just started working for this bail bonds company. The day after orientation, I was arranged to meet with a couple and a notary public to get the deed of trust to a house and the full premium of $32,000 for a bail bond. The entire amount of money went to the company. I didn’t profit at all financially (silly, I know), but what I did gain was a lot of useful experience that day. Besides learning how to present myself and how to get paperwork filled out, I learned the most important lesson in the industry: how to be a friendly face in an unfriendly experience. Arrests are not anticipated or welcomed, but people still go through it. Being a part of the bail bonds industry, I can decide to help make an unfortunate experience more manageable and less painful. While this amount of money was not a regular occurrence, the occasion made me see the part that I wanted to play in this industry and honestly, it was an addicting experience. First hand, I saw the success of a business that helped a couple get their loved one out of jail.

The Perfect First Client

As time continued, I was able to open my own bail bonds business. The first business call that I received was from a colleague that knew I was in the area to post a bail bond. The family was on board to cosign and get their family member released from jail putting up the full premium amount. Already, those were great signs. Unfortunately for the family, the case took a long time to be completed by the court system. Court dates were scheduled, rescheduled, and continued about 15 times over the course of 14 months. Yet, I never worried about the client returning to court for their court dates because there was always constant and open communication. I offer a service that helps people return to jobs and families while going through court proceedings. Helping people in this situation is not always straightforward, but families like this attract me to the bail bonds business. I have gotten attached to the characters. For obvious reasons, it can be a difficult situation for clients, but the ones that are open from the beginning have made this job a privilege to help people.

The Lesson That Keeps on Teaching

A family member called me late at night to get their relative out of jail. I had the pleasure of meeting another kind family. The arrestee had forgotten to pay a ticket when the last arrest case had concluded. For this simple reason, an arrest warrant had been put out for the individual which led to their apprehension. There was no worrying with this client to complete court because all that was needed to end the case was a paid fine. The client did it within the next couple days and with the conclusion of the case, I was exonerated from the bond.

The silver lining that came from this situation was learning from the client’s mistake. I have since used this person’s experience to remind other clients to pay their fines as soon as possible to avoid re-arrest. The suspense in the life of this client and others has helped me benefit others in their situation. In my line of work, I get to meet a lot of intriguing people. Each have their own stories that I get to be a part of. The people are what keep me returning to the industry.

About the Author

Keila DuSold is a licensed bail bondsman and owner of 20 Something Bail Bonds in California. She has an honest and simple approach to the bail bonds industry that focuses on helping people. In her free time, she likes to enjoy the little things, read faith-inspired books, take unique fitness classes, and soak up sunshine on the beach.

Selling My Bail Bond Business

2017-01-05T00:00:00-07:00

You can learn about the other side of this transaction here: Looking for a Life Changing Experience? Try Buying a Bail Bond Business!.

Probably one of the hardest decisions I have ever made was deciding to sell my family bail bond business. I'm a second generation bail bond agent and bail is really all I know. One day after years of dreaming about life after the bail bond business, I decided it was time for a change. It was finally time to sell my family heirloom, a business started by my dad in 1971.

The bail bond business is a very unique entity. Bonding companies are generally very profitable but extremely hard to sell. With intense government regulation and hard to quantify valuation, a bail business, if sold, will generate far less than it should when compared to other businesses. The value of most bail operations is in good will. Basically, you are selling your name and reputation and not much else. If left alone, the business will generate large profits year end and year out, but there comes a time in any career when you have had enough and just need a change of scenery.

I have been told by several sources that selling a bonding company has a formula to base your asking price on.

What is the Basic Valuation Formula for bail bond companies?

The basic valuation formula is $50,000 per one million in liability written each year.

So for example: you will receive about 150k if you write 3 million in liability annually (about 300k in premium). I hate this formula personally and think it is way too low. To me it feels like giving it away. Even more troubling is finding a qualified buyer with cash to close your deal. If you’re an astute investor you may look at the purchase purely from an investor point of view. An investor would typically view the purchase as a capitalization rate or cap rate (often used for real estate).

What is a Cap Rate?

The capitalization rate is the ratio of Net Operating Income (NOI) to property asset value.

So, for example, if a business was listed for $300,000 and generated an NOI of $100,000, then the cap rate would be $100,000 divided by $300,000, or 33%. That is an incredible return. This is the easy part. Buying a bail bond business would not be considered an investment. You are buying a job.

As you already know, the bail bond industry is a very unique business model. Most people do not have a clue how it works. Even worse, we are harshly regulated. Speaking from my Florida perspective, a bail agency cannot be owned by a person unless they are already a licensed bail agent. Therefore, your available pool of potential buyers is whittled down to your competition and current employees. It’s rare that some guy awakens one day and decides to buy in and get his bail license. Most States have succession processes so look into any laws or regulations that govern our business. Even more challenging is to find a buyer with enough cash to satisfy your urge to move on. I have yet to find a commercial lender willing to loan on a bail bond business unless the buyer is unbelievably qualified or real estate is tied to the sale. I say that in jest due to the fact that if your buyer is unbelievable qualified, it’s doubtful that they will be adding a bail bond agency to their portfolio.

Once the word gets out that you are selling, you will hear from every tire kicker around. Getting the word out is all about marketing. There are a few commercial sites you can use without a business broker. You can market directly on the web with a designated web address: xyzbailbondbusinessforsale.com as an example. A detailed and colorful flyer will be helpful for any direct mailing. Be prepared to require your potential buyers to sign a confidentiality disclosure before you open your books. I thinks it’s prudent to talk to a few business brokers for advice and definitely use a lawyer to close the deal. Everyone needs protection in the sale and transfer of a business.

Once you have your deal, be prepared to offer some sort of owner financing as most potential buyers will not have all the money. Financing a portion of your sale may allow you to get a decent rate of return on the owner financing portion of the deal. In my case, the qualified buyer was already a licensed bail agent. I sold to a long time employee and yes I'm holding a promissory note for a majority of the purchase price. I made him an offer he couldn’t refuse. He received a business he never thought he could afford and I get to move on. I’m happy with my decision but I suggest you think long and hard about the reality of not owning your precious asset. Once it’s gone, it’s gone. Once it’s sold, never look back. That door is closed…

Selling my family business was difficult and the questions I kept asking myself were:

What’s the real reason for selling?
What will I do for a job going forward if all I know is bail and I’m too young to retire?
Is it just a change of scenery that I’m looking for?
Do I open a new bail bond business elsewhere?
Am I just tired of the industry and want something else?

I found my primary objective in selling was that I truly wanted a change in scenery and wanted to live by the beach where I could enjoy my boat. My family’s bail bond business was not near the water that kept me land locked most of the time. Coming to the realization that it was truly just a change of geography that I needed, I sold the business and relocated to Clearwater, Florida, and opened up another bail bonds business. I am enjoying life by the beach now and operate 49th Street Bail Bonds in Clearwater, Florida.

For others who are considering selling their bail bonds business I wish you success in putting together a win-win agreement between you and the buyer. Enlisting the help of an attorney and business broker to evaluate your business so you can maximize your return on investment would be highly encouraged. It may be a difficult decision but there could quite possibly be a new chapter of your life waiting for you once the bill of sale is signed! Best of luck to you if you are considering selling your bail bonds business.

You can learn about the other side of this transaction here: Looking for a Life Changing Experience? Try Buying a Bail Bond Business!.

About the Author

Author, Joe Von Waldner is a second generation bail bondsmen. He was licensed a few months after turning 18 and has been an full time bail agent for 32 years. He has owned several bail agencies and managed dozens of agents throughout his career along with active participation in the multiple local bonding associations. His Clearwater, Florida bail bonds agency, 49th Street Bail Bonds, is active in the community and participates in the Pinellas County Adopt A Mile program.

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This article was written by an industry guest contributor. If you are interested in being a guest contributor or have an article suggestion, please send an email to marketing@aboutbail.com.

Looking for a Life Changing Experience? Try Buying a Bail Bond Business!

2016-12-28T00:00:00-07:00

You can learn about the other side of this transaction here: Selling My Bail Bond Business.

Congratulations! You have made the decision to be your own boss, but what does this mean exactly? Does it mean you are starting your own bail bond business or you are purchasing one? Either way the experience will be life-changing!

Unlike a traditional business, a bail bond business has some additional considerations which most would not even take into account if the business was of a different nature.

As a bail bondsman who has worked in the industry for others I found myself wanting more out of my career. I didn’t show up for work each day just to collect a paycheck, I found myself getting involved in not only the day to day operations but also the marketing of the business. Eventually I decided I had hit a cross road where I either needed to leave my current job to start my own bail bond business or purchase the business I had been working for so many years. The answer was not easy and certainly not a quick decision.

In researching the options there were several things I considered for each scenario…

Starting my own bail bond business – in Central Florida the market has long time competition and is sprawling in geography. I had to consider which jail and county would be my “sweet spot” for revenue. Of course, I could post bail from other jails but where would be my “bread and butter” for clientele? A tough decision when you have a sprawling market the size of Central Florida. Another consideration was the jails itself, how easy was each one to work with? How was my rapport with each one, any jail better than another? These were my initial thoughts that I considered the first hurdles to starting my own bail bond business. Once I selected my market within Central Florida I considered which “street corner” would I set up shop? How much rent was I willing to pay and where was the competition? Right across the street? I was not scared of competitors but did I purposely want to go head to head with a long-time bail bondsman in the area when I was the new kid on the block?

It took some time to work through these thought processes then figure out man-power and whom was I going to hire? Time progressed and my mind began to consider the marketing of my new business and I began to question myself about my credentials to market myself let alone a new business. I found myself asking “how do you market a business? How do I market myself as a bail bondsman?” I thought I could purchase an advertisement in the phone book, maybe buy an online ad or a bill board but all of that would add up financially and would I get a return? As I continued to work each day with my current bail bond employer business was coming in right and left, the word of mouth marketing was in place and the fact that I was working for the oldest bail company in Central Florida added to the success of my employer.

I continued to weigh the option of leaving and starting my own bail business. I had dreamed about the flexibility I would have to do the marketing, make hiring decisions, make decisions about office protocol and how the business was managed. Over the months I was excited about the possibilities ahead of me, however, I began to question if starting my own bail bond business was in my best interest. I am not an entrepreneur at heart, I didn’t know anything about marketing, and what did I enjoy most about my job? Was it managing the office, the hiring or coming up with a cool concept to get repeat clients? While my mind was running with these grand visions, a unique opportunity presented itself with my current employer. He was looking to sell his Orlando location and move across the state to start a new bail bond business.

After months of stressing about starting my own bail business I almost immediately jumped at the option of buying an existing, established business. The location, the marketing, the employees, the book of business was already there. It was like I had the opportunity to purchase a finished sports car and all I had to do was get in and drive, change the oil, maintain the fuel and fluid levels. Along with an established book of business, there also came an established website that was attracting new clients daily.

I started to make a list of questions to consider for purchasing an established bail bond business…

What would this cost me to buy? Is there owner financing? What are the terms? Would I be eligible for a bank loan? Would the employees stay? Can I keep the name? Can I keep the website? And the list continued….

I was somewhat relieved at this opportunity because the “sports car” had now arrived and all I had to do was get in and drive! For me, purchasing an established business certainly had its plusses. The book of business was already there, the marketing had already been done so I would just pick up and continue, as opposed to start from scratch.

As I weighed the options between starting my own business or purchasing an established business that I knew extremely well, it became clear the direction I needed to take. Over the course of 12 months I worked with the owner to purchase the business from him. Once we worked through the financials and the legal paperwork to make it official, the keys to “my new sports car” were handed to me and I couldn’t have been happier!

For many people owning a business has various meanings. For some, they want to be involved day to day in all business operations, while others want to have a limited involvement. Whatever your approach I highly recommend careful thought and consideration be taken when weighing the options between starting your own bail bond business or buying an established one. My best advice would be to know your strengths and what do you enjoy most about the bail bond business. Don’t waste your time doing things you don’t like to do. If you have the capital, then hire it done or outsource it. As 2017 approaches, it may be time for you to make a change in your life. If this is your time, then proceed but exercise extreme CAUTION!

You can learn about the other side of this transaction here: Selling My Bail Bond Business.

About the Author

Author Russ Pacala has worked in the bail bond industry for ten years. Russ purchased 33rd Street Bail Bonds two and a half years ago. 33rd Street Bail Bonds is the oldest bail bond business in Orlando, started back in the 1970’s. Russ is a member of both the Orlando Chamber of Commerce and the Seminole County Regional Chamber of Commerce.

Hiring and Keeping the Right Talent at Your Bail Agency

2016-12-07T00:00:00-07:00

Scouting talent for your organization is a lot like scouting talent for a sports team. You want people who are excited to be a part of your organization (like joining a sports team) and who actually want to work and not just sit on the bench. There are many other personality traits that I look for when hiring talent. Finding the right candidate is just half the battle, keeping them is the other half!

Where hiring gets challenging is in finding candidates who possess the skills that make them a rock-star employee...By hiring I don’t mean just settling on a candidate, you don’t want to just hire anybody, you want to hire the right person.

In general, people can be trained for most jobs. I can train people to offer good customer service, how to write a bond and overall have descent communication skills. Where hiring gets challenging is in finding candidates who possess the skills that make them a rock-star employee. Being detail oriented, organized and having the tenacity to stick with the job when it gets challenging are traits that cannot be trained. A candidate must come with these skill-sets. It’s almost as if these qualities are part of their cosmetic make-up. Think of telemarketers and how challenging their job is. When hiring for that type of job you would want somebody who is not afraid of rejection, is a self-starter, is motivated and wants to win. Not everybody really wants to win, most just want to show up for the paycheck! As a business owner it takes time to hire good talent. By hiring I don’t mean just settling on a candidate, you don’t want to just hire anybody, you want to hire the right person. Job seekers are a dime a dozen but what sets one candidate apart from another might just be their innate talents. I encourage bail bond owners to make a list of the “must have” characteristics in a candidate. Network with others to find the right talent. The right candidate may not be the obvious person. Posting an advertisement on social media, on your website or on the local college job board are all great ways to solicit resumes. Look closely at each candidate, do they have those skills you cannot train for? Making the right hire will save you time and aggravation in the long run.

Once you find the right talent how do you keep them happy without always throwing money their way? Competition in any industry is always there. Employees can be lured away merely by a competitor waving a few extra bucks. If your employee is truly satisfied both monetarily and with what they are doing for your company, generally speaking they will stay with you.

As competition grows and the need for work-life balance gets increasingly more important, employers should consider other forms of compensation to keep good employees happy. As a long-time Florida bail bondsman I have found strategies like offering additional paid days off, tickets to an upcoming event, treating an employee to a lunch, giving a gift card for their family or giving a simple thank you note have gone a long way. These types of perks don’t increase one’s paycheck but they can go the extra mile to help your employees feel important and appreciated. Nobody likes to feel underappreciated especially when it comes to their job. Most people spend over half of their lifetime working in some sort of a job. Waking up each day and enjoying what you do is part of that work-life balance so many of the younger generation are demanding.

The workforce landscape is changing and before not too long the millennials will out-number the baby boomers. To keep this newer workforce happy, I encourage business owners in all industries to think about their compensation and recognition program. Replacing good talent is as much of a waste of time as hiring the not so good talent. If you don’t know your employees and what is important to them, finding this information out would be your first step. Find out what is important to them, is it their family? Their outside hobbies and interests? Take a few minutes and find out where they spend their time outside of work. Knowing this information can help you in creating your recognition program. Cash is king in most instances, however, not all situations require an outlay of additional cash. Simple acts of gratitude and recognition is all that may be needed to keep employees happy and engaged.

If your employment door is revolving I would recommend it’s time for a change. Key points to consider:

Hold out for the right employee, don’t just hire somebody to place a warm body at a desk.
Consider alternative forms of recognition and compensation. Who couldn’t use an extra day of paid vacation?

As we enter the fourth quarter of 2016 it’s time to consider your human resources and take a look at your talent. Are they happy? How do you keep them happy? All points to ponder and take serious consideration to save you from losing good employees or wasting your time on hiring the duds!

About the Author

Also from Joe Von Waldner

10 Signs Your Marketing Efforts Aren't Working

2016-12-05T00:00:00-07:00

As the marketing world shifts from print advertising to the web, it’s hard to predict what will bring your bail bond agency success. Maybe you’re not sure if your social media, newspaper ad, or direct mailing is worth the effort and cost. Fortunately, when your company’s marketing efforts aren’t working, there are usually some pretty clear signs.

Here are 9 common symptoms of an unsuccessful marketing strategy:

Your clients only come from one source. It’s important to ask new clients how they heard about you, and if they all come from one source you need to look into that success. Once you figure out what’s caused the response, incorporate that into the rest of your marketing strategy.
No one’s sister’s friend’s cousin is coming to you. Even against digital marketing, social media, and online advertising, word-of-mouth is the fastest and most effective way to get new clients. If your customers aren’t recommending you, it might be time to refine your customer service techniques.
You don’t show up in a web search. Take a moment to search for your current city and ‘bail bonds’. People usually search for bail bonds by location, so if you’re not in the results for ‘Denver bail bonds’ thousands of potential customers don’t know you exist. If you don’t know how to improve your web presence or have questions about how to show up in a location search, contact AboutBail and ask about Lawgical Local.
Your website is dated. A bail agent website that is dated is less likely to show up in search results and more likely to make people wonder if you’re still in business.
Your profits haven’t increased. Businesses market themselves to gain exposure and get more clients and income. If your profits haven’t increased or have taken a dip it’s time to rework your strategy.
You’re investing more than you’re making. If you’re advertising on a billboard, the ad should bring in enough clients to more than cover the money that you spent.
You’re not meeting your goals. It’s important to set goals that are realistic and measurable, but if you’re not meeting these goals you may need to take some time to analyze why your plan isn’t working.
You’re not setting goals. If you don’t have a plan for how you would like your business to grow, then your marketing plan is not effective. You need to have standards to measure success over a reasonable time period. An example of a marketing goal would be to increase sales by 10% over a six month period, or increase your Facebook business page likes by 25% during the holiday season.
Your plan doesn’t evolve. If your current marketing plan has increased your profits and brought in more clients, you have a great base, but you can always improve your strategy. Whether it’s resubmitting your company to a local search engine, updating your website, or running a food drive, you should always look for new ways to get your name out. If you’re not looking for the next way to increase your profits, you’re marketing efforts might stall in the future.

You don't necessarily need to scrap your ideas if your marketing efforts aren't working. If you’re not getting social media interaction, refine your posts. If you have an ad in the local paper, move it to a section that might get more results. Remember, getting results can take time, and trial and error is part of the process. Successful marketing can take a lot of effort, but when a steady stream of clients is coming through the door it can be worthwhile.

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What I've Learned From Using Social Media for My Bail Business

2016-10-07T00:00:00-06:00

Social media, followers, friends, likes, fans, tweets, posts…..the list of social “buzz words” is never ending but what does it all really boil down to? Over the years I have come to embrace the term social media. Initially, my opinion was that it was a waste of time and basically some internet jargon thrown around that businesses were in a frenzy to figure out how to capitalize on.

As time went on I began to open my eyes a little more and understand how businesses actually were gaining benefit from being active on social media particularly on Facebook and Google Plus. I started to post signs in my office for people to like my Facebook page and follow my business on Google Plus. I watched my friends and followers grow so I was pretty happy as one could be for being as skeptic as I was about social media.

The challenge, however, was how do I use the social channels to actually grow my business? I think this is the ultimate question for any business owner and I continue to see people struggle as they try to figure it out. There is also the challenge of who is going to be responsible for maintaining the pages and posting enticing content. There is only so much you can post about your office staff and what goes on inside your office each day. After watching other businesses’ social media pages including other bond offices, I concluded that social media is an opportunity for consumers to be heard, an outlet for entertainment and a way to remind people that my business is out there when the need arises.

Reviews

I think one of the biggest opportunities for a bail bond business to use social media is using it as a place for people to be heard. I’m not talking about people posting to your bail bond page about what they ate for lunch. I’m referring to your reviews. Use your social media as an opportunity for people to tell others what their experience was like when working with your bail bond business. Not only can it stimulate business from other consumers but it can also help you with your search engine optimization. Google and the other search engines pay attention to consumer reviews. The benefit is two-fold:

Consumers are now more than ever reading reviews before patronizing a business so to have many positive reviews may win you some new clients, and
The search engines consider the number of reviews and owner responses to reviews when they rank a website in organic search. In the eyes of Google, the business with the most reviews and responses will get more attention. The attention from Google can help you rank better than your competition.

Growing Your Following

When I look back at how I was able to get people to like my bail bond social media pages I used a variety of tactics. Everything from a regular email campaign inviting people to follow me, handing out flyers at events, making it part of my discussion with people once I bonded them out, putting a call to action in my signature line of my email, having signage in my office and a presence on my website. It’s been a slow and “organic” growth, but I have not noticed my followers tapering off. There are of course other means to growing your social following, however, that can involve a hard cost such as buying Facebook ads. These can work if you wish to spend additional dollars to raise your following.

Posting Engaging Content

Once I had a following I experimented with using entertaining content as a way to keep people engaged and continue to follow my business, sprinkled in with lighter news makers that were relative to the criminal justice system. For example, posting content about the Florida man who was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon for throwing an alligator into a Wendy’s restaurant drive-through window. That’s the stuff I have found keeps people engaged but is also relevant to the bail bond business. It’s the entertainment value of this post that makes it a success and keeps people engaged with my Facebook page. Other content I have had success with is talking about changes in laws when applicable to charges I bond for. This helps to show that I am a subject matter expert and my staff and I are paying attention to changes in the laws.

Leveraging Social Media with Video

Video has also been very successful. People want to be entertained. The videos don’t have to be very long. A ten second or more clip may be all that you need to increase follower engagement. Employing user generated content can also be an easy way to grow your followers. Do a contest on the best video of a local event. Have people email you their video clips, you load them to your page then people vote. Tie a prize to it or just give the winner bragging rights for the top video. Your followers will tell their friends to like your page so they can vote on the videos too. This is one idea to increase your followers. This concept also works well for a photo caption contest. Posting one photo a week and asking people to submit their captions can be a fun way to keep people engaged with your business.

Frequency

I have learned it’s about frequency and how often you are out there “waving your hands in the air” so to speak. People don’t call a bail bondsman until they are in need. Keep “waving your hands in the air” and when the need arises you may be the first bondsman they call on.

Managing Social Media

One last point that comes along with creating engaging content is the question of “who?” Who is going to post this content and manage your social pages? Whether you are a one-man band or you have several people on your staff. Dedicating one or maybe two people to manage your social media will be most effective to ensuring your pages are monitored for reviews and interesting content continues to roll out frequently. If you are short staffed and you personally don’t want to deal with your social media consider outsourcing the management of your pages to an agency.

If you have not yet embraced using social media to extend your reach, I highly encourage you to do so in 2016. All age groups and demographics are using it so if your social pages are non-existent you may be missing some viable customers.

About the Author

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Getting Bail Agent Reviews and Referrals

2016-09-22T00:00:00-06:00

It’s a well-known fact that word-of-mouth advertising is one of the most effective forms of advertising. Whether you want powerful testimonials, referrals or social media followers, it’s important to have a word-of-mouth marketing plan. The most powerful aspect of that strategy can be bail agent referrals and reviews.

Helpful hints for getting reviews and referrals

Unhappy clients are more likely to write online reviews than satisfied clients, so it's important to encourage satisfied customers to submit reviews. Happy clients aren't always active about giving positive feedback, so here are a few tips for getting the most out of your reviews.

1. Be patient and explain

Not every client will have experience with the bail process. If you are patient and take the time to answer any questions they have, it will help calm them down. Any customer service that is above and beyond what they expect will surprise them, make them feel more comfortable, and encourage them to refer any of their friends.

2. When your client has a problem, fix it

If a client has an issue with your service, solving it is an opportunity to leave the client with good feelings toward your company. A client that walks away satisfied and had no issues might not share their experience, but if you cleared up a major problem that could have been disastrous, that client might be more vocal about their experience.

3. Ask for a letter of recommendation

If a client tells you they are happy with your services, ask them for a recommendation. You can then post parts of it as a testimonial, or even supply it to potential clients. You can also ask repeat clients if they know anyone else who uses bail services on a regular basis.

4. Ask for specific reviews

If you encourage a satisfied client to write a review, ask them to be specific about how you helped them. ‘Great service and very personable’ isn’t quite as powerful as "XYZ Bail Bonds was incredibly patient and helpful. They explained the entire process and took the time to walk me through the process. I would recommend them to anyone."

5. Ask your Facebook fans for feedback

Post a question asking past clients how you’ve been most helpful and how your business can improve. Negative feedback is just as important as positive feedback, and something potential clients actively look for. This way you can show that you care about your clients, get controlled negative feedback, and show how you interact with your clients. It might also give you the opportunity to help clients that weren’t completely satisfied.

6. Create a channel for feedback

A follow-up email or online poll can be a place for clients to share their likes and dislikes about your service. Most people don’t complain in person, even if they're asked. With this approach you can get some insight to what problems you need to fix. And if anyone gives a great review you can always ask to use it as a testimonial.

7. Network with friends and family

Although your friends and family probably haven't used your services, they can still recommend you to people they know. Often enough, people choose to go with someone who is connected to someone they know and trust.

8. Get involved with your community

It's hard to get referrals from people who have never used your services and don't know you very well, but if you interact and network with your community you might be remembered the next time someone needs a bail agent. It's also a great way to break through some of the negative publicity, and if you're known as the most professional and friendly bail agent a person's ever met, you're likely the person they'll turn to when they need a bond.

Remember, getting referrals and good reviews is about making sure your customers are satisfied. Make sure your customer service skills are polished and that you are using proper email and phone etiquette.

Places where reviews can function as referrals

Ideally, your satisfied customers will be sending new clients your way, but if you aren't getting enough traditional referrals here are a few places where reviews can function as referrals.

Local Search Listing

Once you submit your business to local search, encourage clients to rate your service and write a review on that listing. This way, people who are searching for a bail agent online can get a feel for your customer satisfaction rate.

Facebook Page

Facebook is one of the most important places to showcase your reviews. If a satisfied customer leaves a positive comment on your business page, not only does it boost confidence in your page visitors, but that comment is also visible to the commenter’s friends.

Website

When a potential client visits your website, they are checking for signs that your business is legitimate. Testimonials and reviews from recent clients can turn those page visitors into clients.

Keep in mind that your online presence is how many potential clients will find you, so it's important to put your best image forward.

Conclusion

Having a constant stream of clients takes a great deal of effort and balancing. It's important to manage your online identity and do your best to get positive reviews, and also make the most of your relationships with previous and repeat clients. Whenever you find out a new client is a referral, be sure to thank the person who sent them to you. It's a simple gesture that could send even more clients your direction.