HOW TO START YOUR OWN MOBILE LOCKSMITHING SERVICE

HOW TO START YOUR OWN MOBILE LOCKSMITHING 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, locksmithing 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 locksmithing 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."

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 locksmithing 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 locksmithing 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 locksmithing 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 keyholders 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 locksmithing. 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 locksmithing

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

locksmithing 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 locksmithing field. This means

subscribing to some of the better trade publications. You should be attending the various

Locksmithing 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.

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 in stallation 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 locksmithing 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 locksmithing 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 locksmithing 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 combinating 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 locksmithing 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, thens it 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.

Associations, schools and publishers:

Associated Locksmiths of America, Inc.

3003 Live Oak St.

Dallas, TX 75204

National Locksmith Suppliers Association

95 E. Valley Stream Blvd.

Valley Stream, NY 11580

Foley-Belsaw Institute

Box 8525

Kansas City, MO 64141

Locksmith Business Management School

6301 Equitable Road

Emeryville, CA 94608

Security Systems Management School

1500 Cardinal Drive

Little Falls, NJ 07424

Locksmith Ledger

1800 Oakton St.

Des Plaines, IL 60018