Open a Locksmith Biz questions

[mattbau43]

Hello,
Im new to locksmithing, but am enjoying it. I am thinking wayyyy ahead right now, but if I was to open my own business, what do you think of the area I live in.
>I have approximately 35,000 year round residents, with another 20,000 summer.
> There is no other locksmith within 60 miles in any direction (partly because its a rural area).
> Its fairly low income.
>My "Base" town houses a small university, 3 police depts, and other business including several banks.

So any feedback would be great. Is this an area that could look promising?
Are there enough people to generate business ?
For you current locksmiths, how did you determine your given market?
Thanks!

[Shrub]

It sounds a good start location wise but its the skill that will determine your wage,

[Raccoon]

Consider tourism; how many out-of-towners travel through there or visit? Do any of the police departments do vehicle openings, or would they refer calls out to you? Do you have any tow companies or mechanics that do lockout work.

Try calling the non-emergency police number and say that you're locked out of your car. See what happens. Then apologize, because you just found your keys. This will at least give you some idea. A LARGE number of lockout calls are fielded by the local police and sheriff's depts.

[RodVT]

Sounds like you might be able to develop a decent business plan there, after you do a little market research. Go talk to the banks and the merchants. Ask who they are using and how much they are spending per call, and yearly. After a reasonable sample size you should be able to determine the potential market size, then estimate what sort of share of the total business you think you might be able to garner. Might just work....

[Raccoon]

Also ask the University who they're contracting with. They certainly have someone on staff who does key control, and probably does locks and pinning too. But they may also contract out a locksmith, and that might reveal another locksmith in the area.

Certainly someone is doing the work... figure out who it is.

[mattbau43]

Thanks for the input everyone. You asked about officers doing the lockout service. How does that work in your town/city. Do the officers call you?

Also, I am assuming that banks need a very skilled locksmith. Is my assumption correct?

As far as the college is concerned, I am fairly sure that they contract out that service. I know the staff well, and have not heard of anyone with those skills.

The tourism is interesting in my area. A decent amount of summer people, and a nice flow of traffic through the entire area.

I look forward to hearing your feedback.

[RodVT]

In my town the police do not do lockouts anymore, they call me. The next town over (and about 4 times bigger population wise), the police do unlocks for residents only, all others have to call a commercial service. To get much of that summer tourist business you will have to compete with the towing services for auto lockout work and/or sign up with AAA (if you are in the U.S.).

[mattbau43]

RodVT. Thanks for the input. AAA calls you when needed? What did you need to get signed up with them?

[RodVT]

No, I quit AAA a long time ago. I am in a town of 4000, with maybe 125,000 within 25 miles of here though. If I were in the center of the population, and could just do lockouts (I also have a towing business), I might consider working for "the evil empire" again, but out in the sticks there is too much driving, and too much time between calls, to make money working at their rates.

To get a hold of the AAA Roadservice Area Manager, just walk into any AAA travel office and they will know how to contact him.

[mattbau43]

Can anyone else elaborate on their experiences compared with my possible situation?

[Raccoon]

I live in a small town of 11,000. I'm the only locksmith actually advertising in my area, however, the local sheriff and police either do lockouts themselves or direct most of their calls to a tow company that has been around for 10 years. I get a few calls if neither of these options are available.

This is also a college town; 25% of the population are college students. However, the college has its own on-staffed locksmith and I'm not permitted to let people into their office. I do handle vehicle work, but the campus police sargent carries a slimjim and long rods.

There is also another locksmith in town who is not advertising in any phone books or ads, but has a lot of steady contracts in town with real estate agencies and contractors.

All of the above accounts for about 50% of the jobs and 80% of the potential income that I currently lose to others. So just because I'm the only one in the yellow pages, doesn't mean I'm doing VERY well. I thought I was until I learned this. I could be earning 5x more, but right now business is slow and intermittent.

[mattbau43]

Thanks for the reply. What are the needs of realtors? I can see why a locksmith might be nice, but does it account for a good deal of business? Do contractors really seek out locksmiths? Or do they just do the job themselves?

[Raccoon]

Retailers might be a good source of business as new home owners might want their locks changed, and the real estate agency can tell them just who to call. Also, if the property foreclosed or if the agency feels there is some risk of domestic dispute over the property, they may wish to change the locks to discourage vandalism by a drunk ex-husband who still has keys.

Contractors generally know how to install a lock, and often enough can purchase locks for institutions that are already master-keyed by the manufacturer, though, there may be some circumstances where the contractor or institution requires a locksmith to tackle the job.

[Raccoon]

Sorry, Realtors, not Retailers.

[quicksilver]

Can anyone else elaborate on their experiences compared with my possible situation?

What we did was do a lot of research and actually write a business plan. We looked at what skills we had, what we could develop, what type of business we actually wanted vs what business what commonly sought after.

We analyzed the demographics of the community and those who traveled in the area. This lead to interesting realizations. The auto lock-out issues was certainly available, commercial contractors when building homes in tract-lots (as well as Realtors) could be contacted, Motel-Hotel and other larger multi-lock commercial stuff was available. Emergency response stuff via emergency services was also a possibility via contacts with those agencies. Public/residential response calls, door hanging, re-key, & upgrade residential stuff as well was discussed. And any and all competition was defined and documented.

We first thought of what we really were equipped to do. What we really WANTED to do was defined as goals & objectives. We wrote a business plan. The most important thing was we sought out those who started their own businesses and were willing to share positive advice. We learned an enormous amount. Every situation is so vastly different due to BOTH demographics AND the wants desires, and goals of the individual business.

In this type of thing using "I" statements is critical. For what works for one situation may not work in another, of course. We felt that the automobile lock-out stuff had too low of a return. We are in a VERY rural area. the drives to individuals were expensive due to gas prices. To be competitive we needed to keep the service call at $35; that was just too low to really make it worth it.

Residential stuff was examined. We had contractor's licenses; that was not the issue - but insurance WAS a big issue! We needed more than we could afford due to not being able to sub-contract (Bonding becomes an issue when looking at commercial stuff). We could get larger Bonds due to ALOA membership. So we leaned toward commercial and new construction. We could not have avoided some severe pit-falls without that business plan to work from. When we went for a small loan; again the lender wanted to see a business plan.....it helped a great deal in so many ways.