locksmith shop questions

[Locksmith22]

Me and a partner have opened a small shop in a busy town on a main st. We originally opened with typical mon-fri 9-5 hours but are having trouble staffing it because of our road calls. We also get very little walk in traffic, I know the holiday season is typically ghost town in a shop anyways but still. Should we just put up a sign that says "Locksmith on service call, call for questions etc" or do we change the hours and print them on the door to times we can try to manage, for example mon/wed/fri 9-3. Would this be a weird type of thing to do in a retail enviroment? I mean, it is a specialty type of store so maybe specialty hours wouldnt be so bad? Any advice from shop owners or any other locksmiths for that matter would be greatly appreciated

[cledry]

Me and a partner have opened a small shop in a busy town on a main st. We originally opened with typical mon-fri 9-5 hours but are having trouble staffing it because of our road calls. We also get very little walk in traffic, I know the holiday season is typically ghost town in a shop anyways but still. Should we just put up a sign that says "Locksmith on service call, call for questions etc" or do we change the hours and print them on the door to times we can try to manage, for example mon/wed/fri 9-3. Would this be a weird type of thing to do in a retail enviroment? I mean, it is a specialty type of store so maybe specialty hours wouldnt be so bad? Any advice from shop owners or any other locksmiths for that matter would be greatly appreciated

How long have you been open? It might take a year or so before you will generate regular walk in trade. If you want regular trade I would suggest 1 person in the shop at all times, answering calls, dispatching, doing paperwork, ordering parts, cutting keys for master key jobs, pinning locks for road jobs etc.

Many shops barely break even but they provide a place to do the above things I mention. We have a somewhat busy shop but many days more of the time is spent answering calls and doing paperwork. We are busy enough that 2 employees are needed most days.

One member here who will chime in shortly keeps his shop open something like 45 minutes a day. Not even sure if he opens 5 days a week. He is a one person operation though. So if your road business is such that you cannot run a shop you need to add an employee or close the shop, or run odd hours that frankly I cannot see working well.

Do you have a website that steers people to your store?

[billdeserthills]

I'm the member Cledry spoke of, I open my shop Tuesday-Friday 10am to 10:45am, In the beginning my Dad kept the shop open from 8:30am to 5pm, when he had a call to do, he would put up his 'will return' sign and came back after he was done with his job. After he retired in 1994, I started doing the same thing, but many times while I was out, I would get a second or even a third job, and soon began receiving calls from annoyed clients, who wanted their keys cut. As a result, I began my 10am for 45 minutes hours, this way the public had a time when I would be in the shop, and I quit receiving phone calls from annoyed people (actually they were still annoyed, but I could simply point to my posted new hours) any-
how I have kept the short hours for over 20 years now and recently a new key shop has opened down the street. I have never seen a customer in his shop, but I'm sure he has some. I have refrained from stabbing his tires, breaking keys off in his locks and many other things I wouldn't want him to do to me.

One thing I have learned in this biz, you can't keep all the work for yourself

[Locksmith22]

Thanks for the advice guys. I was on here a few weeks ago asking about shop questions etc. Honestly we got the shop to add a little more credibility to our business and start heavily targeting commercial accounts. I hit a road block with my mobile business and I felt like it was time to kick it up a notch.

Staffing the store is going to be tough on us, we also both don't work every day but 1 guy is always on. Originally we were just going to have a "return soon" sign but the walk in has been so pathetic and we don't have the account database to keep us busy 9-5 in the shop. He'll it's tough keeping 1 of us busy on the road with this winter freeze.

One other question. What is a good practice to try and attract more accounts? We have a few but I would say that we are 90% residential/automotive keys. We want more repeats customers to help keep us a lot busier. I always approach real estate agents with cards etc but any other ideas on how we can weather this storm would be appreciated.

[Locksmith22]

Our website has our hours listed on it but it projects more of a mobile service image. We advertise that we welcome walk ins but it is clear by the website look that we come to you the majority of the time.

[cledry]

Our website has our hours listed on it but it projects more of a mobile service image. We advertise that we welcome walk ins but it is clear by the website look that we come to you the majority of the time.

Would you mind sharing a link? If you don't emphasize the shop then you cannot really expect business to just appear on your doorstep. Our website whilst not very good IMO at least shows a prominent photo of the shop and has a virtual tour.

My advice is to increase the web presence of the shop and court NSPs for at least 30% of your target business. IMO real estate and used car dealerships are the last people I really go after, although we inherited a few realtors they tend to think of themselves as though they are your sole customer or at the very least that they are your most important customer. Sure they can be a great addition to your customer base but, instead I would target property management companies (commercial and residential).