Ideas for increasing business

[Engineer]

Something I read today made me thing that maybe there should be a post on here about ideas for increasing profit, especially with the credit crunch effecting so many.

This should not be a conflict of interests, since the chances of any of us having a business near any others on this group, must be very small indeed.

To get things started, I will put out some ideas I've had. Anyone else have any good ideas?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When cutting keys, how about asking the customer if they want their key plated in pure silver?

http://www.tableauproducts.com/sections/METAL_CARE/1

Owners of more expensive cars might well go for this as a status symbol - Just "polish" the key after you have cut it and make a nice profit. Some people don't like brass door keys either.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If you are lucky enough to have building work going on within a reasonable distance of your place, have you thought of contacting the developers and asking them for a contract to fit doorbells and/or door viewers? If it's a small developer, then go to the site and ask for the site manager and ask them who you should contact for the work.

If homes are being refurbished, then that is even better. You get paid there and then, and it's more profit than contract work. If you hyave someone sat around with no locks fo0r them to fit, send them out to walk around the houses that have just been done with a bag of door viewers and/or doorbells. This has been incredibly good business in the past for people I know.

If fitting door viewers, don't just drill a hole in the middle of the door and fit it. Ask whoever answers the door, what height they want it fitted at, so that it will be at the right height for the tallest and shortest memebrs of the household. There's nothing worse than fitting a door viewer too high for some members of the household to use - Worse still, the shortest people in the house are often the women, the very ones who will most want to use the door viewer! They will appreciate your thoughfulnees and how professional it was to think of who might have to use the viewer.

Don't leave it there though, LEAVE A BUSINESS CARD with every job like that you get. Make sure it says you do door viewers/doorbells or whatever else you do and not just "locksmith". rememebr, they are only normal people and have no idea of what a locksmith can do - For example, here in the UK, almost no ordinary people know a lock can be re-pinned. they just think it needs a whole new lock and that will be too expensive.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Business cards, how many get thrown away because they are big, cheap and ugly? You are in a status profession if you are fitting locks. Keycutting they might go for the cheapest, but the locks themselves they want fitting professionally. Your business card should reflect that. You don't want something A6-sized, looking like it came from a taxi company. Go for quite small (easily kept in address book or wherever) BUT on pure white, smooth, thick card. Something that looks dignified, not something that looks like it was knocked up by your 12-year-old kid on their school computer when no-one was looking.

Personally I'd say 220 g/m2 card as a minimum. Have the front with your logo and contact details on. Perhaps print the reverse with LOTS of details about what you do. For example, say you cut keys for Cylinder locks, mortice, patio doors, cars, lawnmowers, etc. Not just "keys cut".

Include any ancillary services you do, like servicing safes (some of thse people will work in offices, or own their own businesses after all). Say you fit doorbells, door viewers, supply and/or fit door numbers, letterboxes - Whatever you can think of and don't mind doing when things are a little slack, to bring in extra money. Better to be fitting door numbers for a bit of money, that sat around not earning surely?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Safecrackin Sammy]

Always look for opportunities while out on any service call!

My favorite when its cold and the wind is blowing is DOOR CLOSERS!

Working on door closers,door pivots and hinges is good money and
most poeple are happy just to find somebody to work on them.

Its a natural sideline to locksmithing.

Next time you go into the shopping mall or any business look up
and see how many closers are leaking oil or falling off.

Its MONEY!!!!!!!!!!

[maintenanceguy]

Two comments:

1) new construction work is cut throat, especially now with the housing market so bad. Most subcontractors who work on new construction bid so low, they can barely make payroll, then the contractor won't pay the bill for several months until the sub agrees to accept less than the original contract as payment in full just to get some money coming in. I worked for a developer who built a few thousand homes every year it was a dirty business. I am sure we were the cause of many small contactor's going out of busness so we could put a few more dollars in the owner's pockets. My advice, stay away from new construction.

2) I also worked for a contractor that did handy-man type work. We were required to knock on 4 doors next to and across the street from any work we did to introduce ourselves and let the home owners know we were working in the neighborhood. We were given a very short intro we were supposed to say, didn't take more than 20 seconds and then hand the home owner a business card, thank them for their time and go. If they weren't home, we were supposed to hang a door hanger. We got a percentage of any sales that came in as a result.

I hated doing it and rarely generated any sales and that was a major reason I left the company, it just made me too uncomfortable doing sales, even something that simple. But there were guys who were good at it and made good bonuses on new work. It works. If you can sell, you can grow your business by meeting people and shaking hands. If you can't sell, working for yourself may not be the best idea. I tried going out on my own and just about lost my shirt because I hate sales and depended on marketing instead.

[DOORDOCTOR]

Always look for opportunities while out on any service call!

My favorite when its cold and the wind is blowing is DOOR CLOSERS!

Working on door closers,door pivots and hinges is good money and
most poeple are happy just to find somebody to work on them.

Its a natural sideline to locksmithing.

Next time you go into the shopping mall or any business look up
and see how many closers are leaking oil or falling off.

Its MONEY!!!!!!!!!!

^^looks like im not alone here, im an EXPERT in fixing closers!! if i started business, i would rebuild closers, if you understand how hydraulics work and seen internal parts of one and know what your doing, for a leaking closer it can be just as easy as replacing the o-ring on valve or on pinion and topping it off with the correct amount of light weight hydraulic oil or substitute like mineral oil. now just if i had about $10 for each email or comment or question i get asked about them, i would be doing pretty well moneywise.

i have during boredom have googled common things that happen with closers, such as leaking closers, adjusting vintage kind, traditional style, (such as russwin or corbin and norton 78 B-F) and to my suprize i dont see anything about how to fix leaks or adjust or rebuild them(take piston or spring out)

just one thing about closers, don't underestimate the quality of LCN 4000 series closer, because i have seen in a school that used them, they removed them thinking they were bad, so they put in dorma 8900 series "heavy duty" (they stank, literally, oil odor and slamming and it not taking change in adjustment) and a few years later the school switched back to LCN 4000 series with EDA arms. they learned the hard way not to try things that are still new (this was back in 2000 until about 2003) they also wanted non-hold open (they could have just replaced the closer's forearm/secondary arm, not replace whole unit!)

don't know for how long locksmiths will look up at closers, if you take a look at nortondoorcontrols.com site and http://www.assaabloyfuturelab.com/Futur ... px?id=2702 they talk of a closer(norton trinity) that automatically adjusts itself. to me when they do get sold and alot of people buy them, adjusting closers by hand will be a thing of the past, but with the self adjusting closer, since it says it runs off software and hardware, it may end up being just replacing PLC's and reprogramming software(think robotics engineers)

for me, i still enjoy looking up and adjusting them by hand. sorry about the long post about door closers, but yea, they may be just an "open then shut case", but they are important for safety and security of the building.

[vrocco]

A suggestion for any small business owner (not specific to Locksmithing) who wants to increase business is to pick up a book called "Guerilla Marketing". You can find a used copy on Amazon for a few bucks. It is an outstanding book and will change the way you think about marketing your business.

[prag]

Some excellent hints. Another simple and over looked "foot in the door" approach is to check the hinges. Allot of hinges are damages and will lead to deteriorating lock damage.

I'm going on a card giving campaign soon. I feel allot of the businesses in the need to be made aware of our services. I've complied a list of target businesses I intend doing and have broken them in sectors and time slots. IE Monday 2hrs do a street etc.

Would like you input on this strategy

[lunchb0x]

At my old work we would do everything to do with security from basic locksmithing, safe installs, repairs and moving, alarm systems, automotive keys and locks, and installing roller doors which was very good money, the boss was selling the doors for twice as much as what he was buying them for and charging $50 for installation, builders would prefer to use us because they thought that for the price they where getting a really good door for cheap installation.

We would also make fences and gates and when you think about how much labour is involved in measuring and welding a fence together, which for some of the places we did they needed a very long fence for their property.

Because we had a lot of experience with moving heavy safes once a removal company used us to move a huge piano out of a building for them.

Because we covered all areas of security people where more likely to use us instead of having to use a couple of different companies to get all their work done.

[Engineer]

Some excelent posts, thank you to eveyone who helps this thread.

I have recently got a cheap electric hand-held engraving tool and intend offering security engraving of people's property. Here in the UK their postcode (zip code in USA) and door number is enough to ensure you get your property back.

I will also be stocking ultra-violet security pens and torches with a little poster and "hand-out" to go with them about how to mark things properly and not forgetting to mark all your CDs and DVDs around the centre hole with the UV pen. So often the Police know the CD/DVDs are stolen, but cannot return them, as they do not know where they come from, or cannot prove they are someone's property. If they are marked, you can get them back.

[chev49]

The above posts are great. There is another thing that I learned 30 or so yrs ago from a very wealthy individual. Have more than one business. I now have 3. When things are slow in one, they usually aren't in another. Tax, leasing, etc between businesses helps... With the downturn in the economy, the business that I expected to be hit the hardest is doing the best. Also, having the capital to buy cheap real estate or someone else's business (who is financially over his head) at a fire sale price is a good idea. Be creative, look for opportunities and be ready to change with the times. Just my 2 cents worth... Rick

[offero1]

Never say no. I can't believe how many times I am talking to a locksmith either at a distributor, or a local locksmith meeting, and their phone rings. I can't help but over hear the conversation and the locksmith does everything he can not to book the call. Never coming up with ways to get a job done, but rather coming up with reasons not to. This is why I stopped anwering my own calls and hired a service. I know too much for my own good. When doing road service, take every oporunity to get infront of a customer.
Sell premiums such as Charlie bars, Window locks, and the like. The company I work for has a page on their website that shows a couple of different thing residential customers don't know about such as lighting and window film. http://www.academylocksmith.com/residentialtips.htmlOur jobs as locksmiths, in my opinion is not only to re-key locks, but also to fully secure customers. I even keep a few Coke can safes on my truck, and if I don't sell one every other week.

[Engineer]

Thanks for that good tip offero1.

I've recently been toying with a few idea on how to get at the market of people buying a house. This is a relatively undeveloped market in the UK. A lot of people don't seem to bother changing the locks when they move in, or just replace the front door cylinder themselves.

I am thinking of touring local estate agents and asking them to put an advert for me in their windows? they would charge for this and the cost would have to be factored into the cost of any work you got. I think a "price list" would put people off, they just don't seem to like working out a total themselves and it's not as eye-catching of course. You also have the problem of not making enough if they want just one cylinder changed (due to travelling expenses), while someone who wants everything changed in their house will be put off by the price as you figured your travelling expenses on 4 locks and they want 8 doing.

The best solution seems to be a flat rate for changing all the locks on the house. In the UK this would typically be 2 cylinders and two mortice (lever) locks for thew front and back doors. In lots of the UK, you would also have the garage door lock as well. I don't intend covering window locks (as these all have standard keys), nor the padlocks on gates, garden sheds, etc. (although I would sell you replacement padlocks of course!). Might even fix up the hasps on the door free if you bought them at the same time

I wasn't happy though, moving is a stressful enough time for people and they are not going to want to be bothered with a load of details, so I think a "complete solution" is definately the way to go, if it can be done fairly cheaply and comprehensively. The one thing most homeowners cannot do for themselves and don't even usually try, is changing the code on their alarm system. Including that in the "deal" would only take a few minutes and no parts. I think that might be my big selling point here - Including changing your alarm code to a new code for you.

So I got around to thinking that estate agaents usually like to use their windows for advertising their own houses and not my services. They would probably charge a fortune and there may be a cheaper way. I bet a lot of shops would be willing to do something like this in most countries, but here in the UK it is very common that shops will display a postcard for you in their windows for just 10-20p a week. The most common shops that do this sort of thing are Newspaper sellers and Post Offices. Newspapers are declining in sales, but it is still very common for people to visit the shops, as they often sell other things as well (at least in the UK).

So my idea is a double postcard-sized mini-poster saying something like "Moving house? You don't know who got keys cut while they were viewing your new house and can just walk in now - We will change the cylinder and mortice locks on your two external doors and even reprogram your burglar alarm system to a code you choose, all for just £xxx. You let us do all the work and the worrying about your security. Patio doors are only £xx extra, while garage doors are £xx. We can even change the locks on your gates and sheds as well if you wish for a very competitive price - Call xxxxxxxxxxxxxx (24 hours and your local locksmith)!"

So what do you think? If I go ahead with something like this, I'm going to put little stickers on the burglar alarms with my number and reminding them to get the alarms serviced regularly and that I'm their local locksmith.

[sevedus]

Another potential string for your bow.

There’s an aspect of domestic security that comes up in the US only after a tragedy, stays briefly for the horror story and then disappears. The windows.
Every few years children die in fires here because there was security iron-work on the windows, imperishably-mounted, with-out quick-releases or operable locks.
What about widening the scope of your offering by adding a generic SAFETY REVIEW-UPGRADE to the SECURITY REVIEW-UPGRADE? Domiciles changing hands may have widely differing safety concerns in addition to security concerns. Different safety requirements for singles as opposed to the elderly or living-assisted, as opposed to domiciles having infants or small children. Since skilled tradesmen are pretty much by definition in possession of common sense at the level of their own craft, how much of a stretch is it to apply that c.s. to the “safety” aspect of “security”?
Review areas of concern might include internal monitoring systems in addition to access controls, protection from indoor hazards (electrical outlets, stairwell entries, domestic chemical stores).
I've seen only a few attempts to provide security ironwork over glass with a quick-release incorporated (in the US patent publications).
Maybe there's some potential in illuminating for the customer a distinction between "security" and "safety".

[Engineer]

I must admit to being a bit suprised that you posted on one of my threads, but am actually rarther glad that you have.

This is an EXCELENT point. My own wife is very concerned about sealed window units in fires, after she got a lot closer to a housefire as a child than is good for you.

I had to explain how to break sealed windows in an emergency to her - I would like to say in the hope it might save someone's life someday, but am concerned it could be interpreted as destructive entry (althought to be pedantic, it would destructive exit in this case). Whichever - The information might be open to misuse, so I do not feel comfortable saying on here without an "OK" from someone in advance.

The same holds true for bars over windows, etc. I believe this is a point that should be raised whenever someone is enquiring from you about products that are designed to stop people breaking in, but would also stop others getting out in an emergency.

I'm sure most countries have their own horror stories - I was in Manchester in the 1970s when there was a bad fire in Woolworth's in the city centre. There were sofas in the store made of foam that gave out thick, black poisonous smoke back then. There were very old, but thick security bars over the windows at the back and side of the store and there were heart-rending pictures of people, trapped behind them and dying, while the fire brigade were trying to cut them off as quickly as they could with angle grinders.

[mhole]

Engineer - I think you'll have to think long and hard to nail an 'all in' price which won't discourage customers, or leave you out of pocket half the time. Maybe your area is less prone to spendy locks than mine (I operate all over North London, with the focus on the well-to-do areas), but if I quoted an all in price based on rekeying a 114 and swapping an 1109, I could get badly hit in the pocket book when the 'Yale lock' turns out to be an SC71, or the 'normal locks' end up being 2 Banham mortices and a Banham rimlock. I'd inlcude a clear disclaimer about the additional expense of non standard locks.

Alternatively, you could always go the cowboy route, and just add a Yale 77 next to the Banham rather than track down the right bits. I've seen doors with 5(!) nightlatches because somebody added a lock everytime one needed 'changing'.

[Engineer]

Ah no! - No way am I going the cowboy route!

My area is predominately lower-cost housing, so you rarely come across anything too exotic - Having said that, watch me come across my first ever Brahma now tomorow...

You are right about strong disclaimers if your area might mean you come across some serious high-security locks. For example, I've never come across Medeco, so having to rekey one of them would mean spending more on a kit of pins than I could probably get for the whole job.

I think if I found myself in such a situation, I would explain that their property is simply too valuable to be treated that way and that I would strongly not recommend going the fixed-price route, but instead going for a quote for the whole house with suitable replacements that would be in keeping with such a well-appointed residence.

I suppose they could hold you to your fixed price, but surely no-one in their right minds would want such relatively inexpensive locks on a relatively expensive house? Perhaps the disclaimer should contain details of "main locks would be a Yale XXX Cylinder with Era XXX Mortice on two main external doors, with window locks on up to 6 windows" sort of thing.

To be honest, I prefer your idea of "non-standard" locks, but I'm concerned that if I had to explain that their Banham is not a run-of-the-mill lock, that householders would suspect I was just quoting low to get the job and then trying to build up the price once I get there? I still ike this whole idea of a nice, simple service for new homeowners, where I take as much of the stress off them over securing their new property as I can. Part of that thought is no-one can afford a blank cheque, especially when they just bought a house. I'm just not sure how to "optimise" my idea into a simple "let me do the worrying" plan for homeowners, while still being able to it worthwhile to offer it.