How Agents Can Help Businesses Strengthen Their Bond Applications

• By: Olivia Overman
• December 29, 2025

To help companies secure the coverage they need, independent agents in the surety bond sector must understand not only the intricacies of the product but also the broader market conditions at play.

“On commercial accounts, there is not a lot that the agent can do, as the terms are tied to the commercial company’s results,” says Jack Anderson, president, Goldleaf Services LLC. “For companies performing well and maintaining a strong financial picture, these are easy to place. But, if a company is not performing well, these become more challenging, and the agent needs to have markets that will work with these commercial companies.”

Agents can steer their clients through the fluctuating economy and markets by offering proactive measures, such as “encouraging their clients to build their balance sheet strength, focusing on profitable growth and building working capital,” says David Gonsalves, CEO at BondExchange. “Agents should also recommend that businesses engage a capable CPA to prepare professional financial statements, as surety underwriters may dismiss a company’s financials if they are presented poorly, even if the underlying business is sound and financially stable.”  

Additionally, “surety can be an obscure product line, and agents can provide value to their customers by assisting them in understanding what type of bond they need and what actions can constitute claims,” Gonsalves says. 

For agents looking to offer bonds to their clients, here are three tips to consider:

1) Understand the risk. “The best advice is to understand the risk from the surety’s perspective. Once you understand what is creating the risk from the surety standpoint, then you can look for ways to offset the risk,” Anderson says. “Sometimes the answer is in the state statute that may govern this type of bond, other times the risk is in the bond form itself—for example, does a multi-year contract allow the bond to be annually renewable?”

“Sometimes the risk is buried in the financial statements and reading and understanding the CPA financials can be critical for larger companies. Read the footnotes carefully as the risk may be buried in the footnotes,” Anderson adds.

2) Efficiency is key. “The most common points of interest for bond customers typically center around price, ease of issuance and filing the bond form,” Gonsalves says. “Historically, obtaining surety bonds has been an arduous process for agents, as they would need to manually submit applications to multiple different markets and engage in back and forth with multiple different underwriters, resulting in the quoting and issuance process taking hours or even days.”

The good news is that technology is improving the quoting and issuance process. “We recommend agents partner with third-party platforms that specialize in surety, have robust market access, contain built-in systems that allow them to generate quotes in a matter of minutes, and provide guidance post-issuance on how to properly submit the bond form to the obligee,” Gonsalves says.  

In the current soft surety market, efficiency is crucial for gaining or retaining a client’s account. “If you are not providing the best of service, someone else will be and may take the account away from you,” Anderson says. “The minute you tell the commercial account that you cannot get them the bond they are requesting, there may be someone else who can get them the bond they want. If they provide this bond, you have not only lost the bond to the other agent, but the insurance may soon follow.”

3) Market your product. “To secure more surety customers, we recommend agents adopt marketing strategies specifically targeting this line of business,” Gonsalves says. “Potential customers need to know you offer the product line, and the onus is on you to get the word out. Many principals start their search online, and agents that employ search engine optimization (SEO) and content marketing strategies targeting bonds tend to have a leg up on their competition, as their websites are tailored to appear in online searches regarding bonds.”  

“Finding creative ways to meet potential clients on their own turf is also important,” Gonsalves explains. “For example, attending local conferences for industries that have bond requirements, such as auto dealers or construction contractors, can secure you face time with potential clients and provide you the opportunity to understand their pain points and pitch your services.” 

Olivia Overman is IA content editor.  

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