In a fast-paced business like bail bonds, you must be one step ahead of your competition. Your client can’t afford to be put on hold or leave a voice message. Most people calling your firm have been arrested and want to secure freedom soonest possible by posting bail. Your bail agents cannot be available all the time to answer calls because the industry is hectic. With that said, whenever you fail to answer calls promptly, clients will call the next bondsman on their list.
Bail bonds business requires that you answer every single phone call that rings in your office soonest possible. However, considering the number of cases you are handling and the time you spend on the field, it can be challenging to respond to all incoming calls on time. You might want to consider utilizing an answering service for your bail bond company.
Types of Phone Calls in the Bail Bonds Business
If you and your bail bond agents have been handling phone calls, you understand that almost all the callers have pressing issues that must be addressed with urgency. The phone call can be from an inmate or a defendant checking in on a related matter. Also, it could be a new client calling to make a bail request. Other phone calls you receive are from people who want to pay or post bail on behalf of their loved ones who have been arrested and detained. You might also get calls updating you on inmate status.
All these calls are essential, and none of them should ring more than three times without an answer. Unfortunately, with your tight schedule, it’s hard to have time to answer these calls and still secure your clients’ release. Perhaps you have never thought of hiring an answering service, but you need one to stay ahead of your competition and keep clients happy.
Why you need to Consider Utilizing an Answering Service for your Bail Bonds Company
When you want to be ahead of your competition in the commercial sector, first impression and your company’s image are critical. While you might wish your bail bond agents to handle calls from different clients, it will be challenging to keep them satisfied without an answering service.
You employees might be overwhelmed by juggling between providing bail bonds services and customer service. Not answering an urgent call after a defendant has been granted bail can have severe consequences because they might be detained further. Additionally, you will be losing significant business and at the same time damaging your reputation, which isn’t good for business.
Therefore, a phone call answering service will ensure open communication between clients and your bail bonds company, creating trust among customers. Remember, most people facing charges for a crime might not have access to the internet to search for a bail bonds agent. They rely on recommendations from inmates and defense attorneys. So, if people get to know your company is reliable and trustworthy, you will attract new customers and retain the existing ones because of word of mouth.
You should use a phone answering service for your company because of the following reasons:
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Bail Bonds Phone Calls are Answered Quickly
As a person who runs a bail bonds company, you understand the immediacy of the calls you receive every day. You receive many calls during the day, at night, and even on weekends and holidays. None of these bail bond calls can be assumed because they are all urgent. You will need receptionists to work 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to ensure every call is answered and bail processing begins. However, your employees cannot work after hours, during weekends or holidays, which means you will need an answering service.
Regardless of the type of bail bonds call, you must answer them promptly. If it’s a check-in call from an inmate or defendant, it must be responded to quickly to address any inquiries or provide updates. Not answering this type of ring will make them feel less confident in your bail service, and they might move to the next company.
When someone new looking to post bail learns of your good reputation in securing a release on bail awaiting trial, they are likely to ring your company seeking your services. Whether it in the middle of the night, weekend or holiday, the caller must get a prompt response. An around the clock bail bonds answering service will be available 24 hours a day throughout the year to answer calls within the first ring so that you don’t lose new bail bond clients.
A call from a family member or relative who wants to post bail on behalf of a relative must get an immediate response. As mentioned earlier, posting bail is a matter of immediacy. So, whenever the phone rings. A call agent from a telephone answering service will be readily available and willing to pick the call and explain to the caller the process of posting bail so that they can begin securing the release of the defendant right away.
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Simplify the Bail Process for New Clients Seeking to Post Bail
As you build your bail bonds company, you expect calls from new clients who want to utilize your company to secure their release freedom or that of their loved one. An answering service will ensure you don’t miss these calls because they help you extend your customer base. Additionally, if they ask more questions regarding your services, it means they are hoping the information you provide will help them consider utilizing the services of your bail bondsmen.
Virtual receptionists will do with the new bail bond calls because they will get the caller’s name and be referring to them by their name through the phone call. This gives the caller a personal touch with your bail bonds company. Besides, the operators will get the number and address of the caller to contact them later.
During these calls, the person looking to enlist the services of your bail bonds company is interested in particular details of your company, to decide on whether to hire you or not. An operator will jot down the caller’s interest, like the time it takes for your company to process bail. They will share this information with you to put the right measures in place to ensure you meet the timeline the client wants or other requests they might have.
Filling out bail application forms requires certain information like the defendant’s name, date of birth, address, place of work, place of arrest, the facility where they are being detained, the charges they face, and the bond amount. An operator will collect this information on your behalf to kick start the process of securing bail right away. However, if the caller doesn’t have the information, a call agent will reach out to various courts or law enforcement agencies to get the information for you.
With all the necessary information, you or your bond agents can begin to secure bail on behalf of the defendant. The process of obtaining bail is also simplified.
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Bail Bond Lead Capturing
In today’s fast-paced world, you need a competitive edge to remain relevant in the market. With bail bonds companies flooding the market and providing services around the clock, every bail bond call is a lead that you must capitalize on. The best way to do that is by ensuring no phone call at whatever time of the day is missed.
Remember, most people calling to inquire about your services are already interested in utilizing them to secure bail. So, the moment you don’t answer their call, you will have lost an opportunity to bring in customers. However, with the help of an answering service, you will capture all these bail bond leads and turn them into opportunities to grow and expand your customer base.
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Calls are Recorded, and Information is Kept Strictly Confidential
To succeed in the bail bonds industry, you must be discreet. People don’t want the public to learn that their loved one is being detained or charged with a crime. So, they prefer all the files and phone records regarding locating and securing bail for a loved one to be confidential. Your company will succeed if you can protect both the client’s rights and information.
Operators from an answering service will record the calls of your clients and keep the information confidential. That way, your customer’s family will remain intact because the data or files regarding a loved one’s arrest will remain a secret. Some answering services have invested in the state of the art technology to secure call records and files, making them accessible only to authorized personnel.
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Call Screening through Customized Scripts to Ensure only the Priority Ones are Forwarded to Bond Agents.
You receive different types of calls every day in your bail bonds company. Some of these calls are from defendants or inmates with inquiries on securing freedom awaiting trial using bail. Others are from the loved ones of defendants who have been granted bail by the court and want to begin the process of paying bail and securing release immediately.
It will be unfair for you to answer all calls as a bail bondsman, both the urgent ones and unurgent. If you need enough time to rest or handle cases with less interruption, you can only afford to answer emergency or urgent bail bond calls.
An answering serving will make this possible by screening all incoming bail bond calls utilizing the custom script they have developed with your team. That way, they can only patch the urgent bail bond phone calls to you and your bondsmen will record information of less urgent calls that can wait until when you are free.
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Spanish Clients Seeking to Secure Bail will Find Friendly Bilingual Receptionists to Talk to.
Considerable numbers of bail bond calls you receive in your company are from Spanish speakers. Some of these people don’t speak or understand English. Understanding their case will be quite challenging because of the language barrier. However, when you have bilingual operators who can speak Spanish, you will be sure that bail bond calls that are in Spanish will be answered by a receptionist familiar with the language.
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You Charge Low Fees for Securing Bail
Many people opting to contact a bail bonds company can’t afford the bail amount. Charging them hefty fees for your services will increase their burden. How do you keep your charges low and maintain quality services? The best way to achieve that is by outsourcing an answering service at a low cost instead of having in-house or permanent receptionists. You pay an answering service for the calls they answer, which reduces your expenses significantly.
With the low cost of operating your bail bonds company, you can afford to charge clients reasonable fees without compromising your service delivery. The reason companies charge hefty fees is because of the high cost of operations usually brought about by the high wage bill. Therefore, if you can maintain a smaller size of employees, you can manage to charge affordable bail bond services.
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You Get to Help More People Secure Release Awaiting Trial
The reason you are in business is to assist defendants who have been granted bail by the court to secure their freedom instead of remaining in custody awaiting trial. So, you help society a lot by ensuring the only people that stay in jail are the ones that have been convicted for a crime.
Answering every bail bonds call means a lot because you will be saving someone from weeks, months, or years in prison awaiting trial. A phone call answering service will ensure that you help as many defendants as possible post bail even when they cannot afford to raise the amount.
Do you need an Answering Service for your Bail Bonds Company?
Although you are used to handling all calls as a bondsman, it’s time you take a break and focus on the essential part of your business. Hiring an answering service will allow you and your bail bonds agent to concentrate on securing bail for your clients.