|
HOW TO START YOUR OWN MOBILE LOCK-SMITING SERVICE
The locks on the doors of most homes keep the skilled burglar out for about 30 seconds! This is especially true if the only thing slowing him down is a standard key-in-the-knob lock. Statistically, there's about one residential burglary every 30 seconds in this country. Traditionally, as the economy falters and times get harder, the number tends to rise. Quite naturally, people are concerned and frightened. As a result, lock smiting is not only one of the new "demand" businesses, it's rapidly becoming one of the more profitable businesses for entrepreneurs with not too much capital to invest . Today's locksmiths are usually well versed in mathematics and basic electronics. They almost have to be, what with the new types of locks being introduced. Today's locksmith is more likely to be known as a "Security Specialist", than as just ordinary locksmith, as in the past . Even so, most lock smiting businesses are still one-man operations. In many instances, it's a husband and wife family affair, with the husband handling the mechanical end and the wife the books and financial end of the business. Most of these small operations concentrate on the repair side of the business, and deliberately choose to remain small in size. As we will discuss later, however, this need not be the case; these small businesses can "grow up." Related Sites According to the area in which he is located, an
established, well organized and trained locksmith may gross between $50,000
and $60,000 per year, using a van as a mobile "workshop," and space
in his home as an office. Remember: As the economy turns toward recession,
burglaries increase and people become aware of the need for better locks to
protect what they own; thus the locksmith enjoys an increased income during
hard times. Just because lock smiting is a "personal" kind
of business, and can be started on a shoestring and operated out of the home,
that's not to say that a lock smiting service cannot be developed into a
million dollar business. On the contrary, there are a number of operations in
some of the larger metropolitan areas that have several mobile locksmith vans
on the road, in addition to retail store locations. These operations are
grossing well into the million dollar figures every year. It's a matter of desire, determination and personal
fulfillment and satisfaction. Attitude, marketing skills and general business
knowledge are also positive attributes necessary for real success. Very
definitely, the sharp businessman with determined ambition can dominate any
market with a modern lock smiting service. The key ingredient to this business is the utilization
of proper marketing and selling skills. It goes without saying: You can know
all there is about the mechanical functioning of a business, but without
innovative marketing and selling skills, your business will surely flounder. However, given the marketing know-how, plus persistent
sales efforts, you can succeed in this business with the knowledge you can
acquire of the technical side. The success of any business is built upon the
marketing and sales expertise of its founder, because after all, "mechanics" can always be
hired, if you decide to go that route rather than learn the trade and the
business. Your marketing efforts should stress the theme that your
services will allay the fears of your buyers. You want to get across to your
prospective customers the sense of security your service will provide. You can
make them safe in their own homes; no longer will they have to worry about
being rudely awakened in the middle of the night by a burglar rustling around
in their house; no longer will they have to worry about coming home to a house
that's been cleaned out or ransacked. Once you understand that fear is a basic human instinct,
it's easy to see that virtually everyone can be a prospect for your services
as a locksmith. Your potential market includes everyone in your area, because
everyone has possessions. So every homeowner, every apartment dweller, every business
owner, all the schools, churches, government institutions, and a wide variety
of other commercial and industrial accounts can be yours. In this day and age, new homeowners and apartment
dwellers want the locks changed the day they move in, so that former occupants
and other key holders will not have access to their place. In addition, there
will probably be the need for additional keys for each member of the new
family, now that new, safer locks have been installed. Commercial and industrial accounts present an even more
lucrative market. Larger companies tend to want their keys
"departmentalized," so that office workers can get into the building
on weekends, but not into the factory or shipping areas, and vice versa. Banks and savings institutions frequently need
the safe deposit locks changed. Generally speaking, newcomers to this field should focus
their efforts on the commercial and industrial area as soon as possible. The
commercial market is vast, and often up for grabs in many areas. In addition,
the profit margins in these areas are excellent! With one of these accounts
you'll have work paying about $500 or more per visit, compared with $25 to $50
per visit for a residential job. With commercial/industrial accounts, there's
also the possibility of ongoing service and maintenance. Definitely, the
commercial/industrial business is well worth going after, and can put your
business in the black very rapidly. However, it does take aggressiveness, and
the determination to sell these accounts. Start small. Consider working out of your home in the
beginning. Most of today's successful locksmiths began by working out of their
homes, with the family car or van outfitted with the tools and equipment
needed. Such an approach will enable you to get started for as little as $1,000. You should be aware
however, that this is just a beginning, and not all it's going to take to
really establish your business. With this level of investment, you're more or
less limited in the business you can handle and the money you can make.
Locksmiths who want to make the really big money should be investing all their
early profits into more equipment and inventory up to a level where they can
offer complete full-service lock smithing. Such a business would require at
least $5,000 in equipment, perhaps even $10,000, depending on how many
different services you want to offer. This estimate for start-up costs does
not include your van or inventory of spare parts and new locks. Perhaps a quick word of caution is in order here. You've
no doubt seen or heard some of the advertisements promising all kinds of big
money to be made with your own lock smithing service; "Just send for the
learn-at-home correspondence course , and you'll be home free." It's true
that you can earn big money in this business, but as we've noted earlier,
without a lot of sharp marketing and selling expertise, plus at least the
essential equipment to handle the kind of work these courses
teach, enrolling in one of these courses will put you no further ahead than
you are right now. This business requires equipment and knowledge. You can make excellent money as a locksmith, so long as
you operate your business capably and in a professional manner. But without a
full line of the equipment required to handle a wide variety of jobs, you will
be limiting your total income potential. The more you invest in quality equipment, the more
different kinds of jobs you can handle, and thus the more money you'll be
capable of making. This is definitely a business in which you decide for
yourself exactly how far and how fast you want to go. As we've said, some
operators are perfectly content to work out of their homes, using a mobile
van. They don't want the larger problems involved in hiring employees, or the
expense of maintaining a retail location. But to make the really big money in this business,
starting small and working out of your home, you should plan to put more
mobile trucks on the road, and as soon as possible, open a retail location.
Each mobile van will give you another satellite business, and a retail
location will afford you a base headquarters for your mobile vans. It is of the utmost importance that you build and
maintain a professional image as a quality lock smiting operation from the
start. Clinging to the craftsman type of image will be of advantage only if
you wish to stay in the "Mom and Pop" category. You should endeavor to handle all jobs as quickly and as
efficiently as possible. Outfitting yourself and your help in sharp looking
uniforms will help. Making your calls in a clean, well-organized van will also
play an important part in the image your customers have of your business. You
want your customers to have confidence in your business, and in the quality of
work you do for them. When they do, you'll find they are more likely to pay their bills with fewer reminders. Think of it like this: A large invoice presented by a
man in a clean uniform who drives up in a good looking truck and does quality
work is going to be paid more readily than one for $25 presented by a guy in
grubby jeans who drove up in a 10-year old decrepit truck. With so many technological changes occurring within this
field on an almost monthly basis, it's to your advantage to stay on top of
what's happening within the lock smiting field. This means subscribing to some
of the better trade publications. You should be attending the various Lock smiting
Association promoted seminars and workshops that offer on-going
help in both the technical and financial side of this business. In other
words, you should plan to keep yourself up to date with a program of
continuous learning. There are several ways to get started in this business.
You can buy an existing operation from a retiring craftsman. Ask him to help
you with the technical side of the operation while you spend most of your time
actively promoting and managing the business. Or, you can hire the technical
help you need, and the sales force to build the business while you do the
managing. You can enroll in one of the popular correspondence courses, become
involved in the business as you learn from the various trade publications, and
progress at your own speed. Our recommendation is that you learn the fiscal
and management side of the business, and hire others to handle the mechanical
or technical side. Thus the purpose of this report is to indoctrinate you on
the business side. To explain the technical details of this business would
take volumes, and probably much of the information contained would be
out-dated by the time it came off the press. However, we will provide you with an outline of the most
common types of jobs a locksmith should be able to handle. Related Sites RECOMBINATION LOCKS: A customer may want to change an
existing lock to work off a new key - the most common type of lock being the
key-in-the-knob cylinder or pin tumbler lock. When the proper key is inserted
in the keyway, spring-loaded pins are pushed up and out of the cylinder,
allowing the plug to turn, and opening the lock. When recombinating, you're
changing the depth of these pins so that a new key is the only one that will
work. Most house, auto and padlocks are the pin-tumbler variety. Different
brands of locks use different depths, spaces and keyways. But with a given
brand of lock, up to 50,000 variations exist. Thus, it's not always necessary
to change to a new lock. COMBINATING ALIKE: Some customers will have a house or a
business with several different locks and keys, none of them alike or using
the same key. Sometimes these people will want to change to a system that will
require the least number of keys to carry around. Here, you'll be required to
change the key coding so that one key works all the locks. Sometimes this
requires the installation of common door hardware; however, in most cases,
you'll find the same brand of locks are used throughout the building. MASTERKEYING: Apartment owners and other commercial
accounts may want dual key access. This is done by using locks with dual pin
tumbler sets. One works with the apartment key, the other with the master key.
Keys are spoken of in terms of code numbers. These are sets of digits
reflecting the depth of serrations. A given lock in a master key setup might
respond, for example, to keys with code numbers 1-2-3-4-5 and 6-7-6-9.
Mathematical progressions are used in master keying . LOCKOUTS: Frequently a person finds himself locked out
of his home, office, warehouse, car, etc. Invariably this happens at odd hours
of the day or night. So opening locks at odd hours of the day and night will
be a role you'll definitely play in the lives of your customers. A typical pin tumbler lock can
generally be picked open in about 30 seconds, using either picks or a single
piece of spring steel and good wrist work. All locks have tolerances and
variations in manufacture which allow you to push the cylinder pins up out of
the way while exerting a turning pressure on the cylinder itself. AUTOMOBILE LOCKOUTS: This problem occurs frequently and
will require a different procedure. A tool called a "Slim Shim" is
often used here, and works on most domestic and many foreign cars. This is
pushed down between the glass and the weather stripping on the door far enough
to reach the back of the lock cylinder on the door. You simply push down or
pull up . A "button popper" is also used, worked through the weather
stripping on vent windows in the older cars, and angled back to the latch
button. LOCK INSTALLATION: Much of your time will be spent
installing new locks and door hardware. In many cases, homeowners and business
people will want to upgrade their security with the latest model hard-ware for
older homes, offices and other buildings. Many locksmiths get involved in new
construction of apartment houses, condominiums, shopping centers, and the
like. Often you'll be adding more security to an existing door, such as
installing a deadbolt lock . PANIC BARS AND DOOR CLOSERS: Many locksmiths working the
commercial or industrial market get involved in the repair and installation
of panic bars in public access areas. Panic bars are those large metal bars
you push on to open the outside doors of many public buildings. Door closers
are those hydraulic devices mounted at the top of these doors which return the
door to the closed position after it has been opened. ALARMS, SAFES and VAULTS: The sale and installation of
alarms are a natural adjunct to the locksmith thing business. Many larger lock smiting
operations move into this area, which is somewhat specialized.
Alarms can be the "perimeter" type, which sound when a door is
opened after hours, or "area" alarms. "Space" or
"area" protection is generally preferred, and involves infrared,
ultrasonic or microwave sensors triggering alarms by detecting movement. Safe and vault work is another specialty. Some
locksmiths have major banks and savings and loan associations as clients. They
spend a good deal of their time changing safe deposit box locks and
maintaining vaults and the like. Gaining in popularity is the sale and service
of safes for home and business use. You will be exposed to all these
specialties and to new technology at seminars, conventions and workshops . HIGH SECURITY work: A typical locksmith is a
"general practitioner," while the high-security locksmith is a
"specialist." High security work is often done for major
corporations, government institutions, large banks, race tracks, museums and
wealthy private individuals who desire maximum security. Often this work
involves access control systems using card readers or voice print equipment,
possibly combined with electronic push-button locks that work off a
combination of numbers known only to a very few individuals. In addition to these major areas of activity, locksmiths
the world over do key duplicating and impressioning, which is the replacing of
lost keys with custom made copies, and a wide variety of other types of sales,
repair and service work. In order to achieve maximum profitability as a
locksmith, you must be able to offer all these services to your customers.
Locks and security are of prime concern to your customers, and it follows that
when a customer wants help in this area, he wants it taken care of
immediately. Thus, you must position yourself to handle his job immediately,
or lose him to a locksmith who can take care of his needs on the spot. Do some market research. Analyze your local market area
before you embark upon this business. This can be done via letters to the
local lock smiting association, Chamber of Commerce, or even by checking
through the yellow pages. As important as anything else, you'll want to know how many locksmiths
are already operating in your area, and how much of the market you can expect
to attract with your business. Most industry experts agree that any more than
one locksmith for every 30,000 people tends to saturate the market. However, you should study the
operations of the existing locksmiths to determine if you can capture a good
portion of the existing market by offering more and better service, especially
with a well-planned effort towards the commercial and industrial accounts. In
many areas, the established locksmiths have been in business for 20 years or
more, and are not interested in expanding their businesses to include the
newer and more intricate types of protection available. Look your market over. Determine if there's been any
real effort made to "sell" the market on upgraded protection.
Door-to-door sales efforts; direct mail advertising campaigns; local
"hard sell" newspaper advertising; home protection and business
security seminars, are angles that can be used to launch your
business. These approaches should prove to be especially profitable if the
existing locksmiths have been sitting back and letting the people come to them
when they have a problem. Get to know the building contractors and start bidding on the installation of
locks on their building projects. You will get your share of the business,
even though at first you may get contracts only from the new builders who have
not had experience with other locksmiths. For a fast start in this business, we suggest that you
set yourself up with a van and take your business to your customers. It isn't
absolutely necessary to buy a van off the showroom floor and outfit it with
all the equipment you'll ultimately need for a full service lock smithing business. That would be nice, but it would probably run you close to $50,000
or more. By shopping around, you should be able to pick up a good, late model
used van for about $3,000. You might be able to work an even better deal by
leasing a new van, and writing off your payments as a business tax deduction.
One thing you'll definitely want to consider is a van that has a raised roof
in order for you to stand upright in it. After all, you'll be doing most of
your work in it, and to have to stoop all the time would soon become quite
tiring. Generally, you can run a workbench down either or both
sides of your van, building in adequate storage shelves and drawers under the
workbenches. Above the workbenches, and on the sides of the van, peg-board
works very well for hanging your tools and key blanks. You'll need 110-volt as
well as 12-volt outlets for power. This is accomplished with either a power
converter or ready-line generator. Definitely something to think about is the
addition of an air conditioning unit. Whether you do or don't start out with a van, you'll
need a variety of equipment. Your first basic investment should be a key
duplicating machine. This is the machine you'll be using to take one key and
make copies. You'll also need a key-coding machine which will allow you to turn keys out to new codes. This
machine will be essential for the combination work you'll be doing. These two
machines will be the workhorses of your business - the basic machines you'll
need to call yourself a locksmith. So shop around and be sure you get good quality, dependable machines to
do the work for you. You'll also need a wide variety of hand tools such as
files, jigs, drills, screwdrivers, micrometer, and mortising tools. You may
also want to check out the additional profit potential of your owning a hand
key-coding machine. You should also have a pin kit, plus key blanks, locks, and padlocks. Depending on how
aggressively you intend to pursue the different areas of the lock smiting business, you should plan to invest at least $1,000 for a beginning operating
inventory of spare parts, locks and key blanks. Before ordering your
inventory, work with your area distributors or suppliers to determine the most
frequently needed locks and keys. By creating a professional image, turning out quality
work, and having a van that enables you to take your business to the customer,
you'll be able to charge accordingly. It's just that simple. Because
traditionally, locksmiths have located themselves in
"hole-in-the-wall" storefront shops or more recently in shopping
center parking lots, most have never charged more than a pittance for their
work. In other words, they have been under-pricing themselves. The great advantage of being mobile is that you can take
your services to the customer, and should be able to charge $25 to $35 per
hour (or more) for an installation or repair call. A good way to upgrade your
business is to take your services to the upper income areas, because they not only have more to
protect, but are more likely to appreciate the value of your services, and pay
promptly. When pricing the locks you sell, always mark your
procurement cost up by at least 30 percent. Thus, if you were to buy locks at
a wholesale price of $14 you would charge your customer $18.50 for the lock,
plus your installation charge. If a key blank costs you $1, your price to the customer would be $1.65 plus
whatever portion of an hour you figure it takes you to turn it out or
duplicate it. What we're saying here is to always consider the base cost of
your supplies, plus a profit margin for yourself, and then the installation
charge. Thus a two-hour job to install a couple of deadbolt locks, with keys,
might run the customer $75 or $80. The best quality work, and the lowest prices in town,
are of no value whatsoever if you have no customers, so you must aggressively
seek out customers. Don't wait for them to come to you. Knowledge and
concerted efforts in advertising, promotion, and personal sales will bring you
customers. As mentioned earlier in this report, you can and should use
door-to-door circularizing, direct mail, local newspaper, and seminar type
sales efforts. And don't forget the tremendous advantage of using the
telephone. Run an ad in your local papers calling for commission
sales people. Hire them to call on homeowners door-to-door and to sell the
idea of up-grading their locks. You'll need a preplanned sales program along
with a good breakdown on your costs versus expected income. Direct mail campaigns can be as simple as making up
advertising circulars or flyers and hiring students to deliver them, or hand
them out to shoppers in busy shopping centers. The best angle here is to offer
a free check of their locks. Show them how easily a burglar could open their
doors; and then propose new locks for all their doors at a special price. You
should feel no reservation about putting a little fear into the prospect; remember burglary is real, and frightening! Local newspaper advertising can be as simple as a
regularly run advertisement announcing your business location and phone
number. However, it's best used to "splash" a special offer such as
the replacement of all key-in-the-knob front door locks with deadbolt locks
for half the regular price. Whenever you spend money to advertise, really go
after new business. Once you've installed or replaced the lock on one door,
it's only natural to check the adequacy of the locks on the other doors, and
thus you should be able to realize some real profits from your advertised
special offer. Promoting and selling your services via Home Protection
Seminars could work like this: You rent meeting space in a church, school,
fraternal organization facilities, or even the meeting room of a popular
motel. Run lots of flamboyant advertising in your local papers announcing your
seminar. Have brochures made up describing your services. Have your materials
arranged so that you will get the name, address and telephone number of
everyone who attends. Put on a short half-hour to 45-minute presentation first
about the increase in the number of burglaries and the losses sustained, and
then follow through with a presentation describing the proper ways to insure the
security of a home or business. Contact your suppliers, and through them you
may be able to come up with a slide presentation of a complete program
detailing how their line of locks, alarms and other security devices will
burglar-proof a home or business. Make sure that everyone in attendance gets
one of your brochures, and then have sales people follow up on all who
attended. Via telephone, your sales people can sell homeowners and
business owners on a free survey. Commission sales people to make the survey
appointments. Then have a commission sales person call on these prospects and
make a quick survey, then sit down with them and make recommendations on how
they can improve the security of their home or business. From there, it's a
natural lead-in to "we call do the job" for (whatever) amount of
money. The seminar and telemarketing angles can be very
profitable for you, and if promoted properly, will build your business faster
than all other plans put together. The important thing to keep in mind is that
you must be aggressive and go out after customers. By all means, take advantage of the direct mail
opportunities. Have a flyer or circular made up elaborating on your services,
specifically the upgrading of current security and burglar-proofing of a home
or business. Hire students to deliver these door-to-door, and commission sales
people to contact and follow up via telephone. Once you've got your sales efforts to homeowners and
local businesses organized, hire a couple of sharp commission sales people to
call on the government agencies and institutions such as hospitals and
schools. By all means, buy a good-sized display ad in the yellow pages of your area telephone directory;
and if possible, display advertising on buses or commuter trains. Use your
knowledge of how easy it is to burglarize most homes and businesses to come up
with angles to get your name, and the name of your business, written up in
local newspapers and other publications. Make yourself available for
interviews by local radio and television talk shows, civic clubs and fraternal
organizations. Innovation and persistence in marketing will be the keys
to your immediate success. As we've stated in this report, most locksmiths are
craftsmen who do good work, but just don't understand the merchandising and
selling opportunities. With the business and marketing skills we've touched
upon, plus quality workmanship (which you can hire others to perform for you)
should be able to quickly establish a profitable business that will continue
to grow and prosper. Home
Full list
Bookmark
Tell a friend
Link Partners Directory-Unlimited articles.
All
rights reserved. |
Ebooks & Software Blowout Sales Read more..
See our ebook and software packages with full master reprint and resale rights
|
