HOW TO START YOUR OWN
MOBILE LOCKSMITHING SERVICE
The locks on the doors of most homes will keep the skilled burglar out for about 30
seconds! This is especially true if the only thing slowing him down is a standard
keyintheknob lock. Statistically, one residential burglary occurs every 30
seconds in this country. Traditionally, as the economy falters and times get harder, the
number of burglaries tends to rise.
Quite naturally, people are concerned and frightened. As a result, locksmithing is not
only one of the new businesses in demand, it's rapidly becoming one of the more profitable
businesses for entrepreneurs with little capital to invest.
Today's locksmiths are usually well versed in mathematics and basic electronics. With
the new types of electronic locks being introduced this has become a necessity. Today's
locksmith is more likely to be known as a Security Specialist than simply an ordinary
locksmith. Even so, most locksmithing businesses are still oneman operations. In many
instances, it's a family business, with the husband handling the mechanical end and the
wife overseeing the financial aspects of the business. Most of these small operations
concentrate on the repair side of locksmithing, and deliberately choose to remain small.
This need not be the case. These small businesses can grow into fantastic high income
endeavors.
Depending upon the area in which he is located, an established, well trained and
organized locksmith may gross between $50,000 and $100,000 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 personalized business and can be started on a shoestring
and operated out of the home, it is not to say that a locksmithing service cannot be
developed into a million dollar operation. On the contrary, there are a number of
companies 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. The sharp beginner, armed with determination and vision, can
dominate any market with a modern locksmithing service.
The key ingredient to this business is the utilization of proper marketing and sales
skills. It goes without saying, "You can know all there is about the mechanical
functioning of a business, but without innovative marketing and sales ability, your
business will surely flounder. However, given the marketing knowhow and a persistent
sales efforts, you can succeed in this business built upon the technical knowledge you can
acquire with simple training. The success of any business is founded upon the marketing
expertise of its founder. After all, a trained technician can be easily hired, but it's
the vision behind the enterprise that will ultimately determine its success.
Your marketing efforts should stress the theme that your services will allay the fears
of your buyers. You want your prospective customers to rest comfortably in the sense of
security your service will provide. Let the customer know that 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 fear
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 of their home
changed the day they move in so that former occupants and other keyholders will not have
access to their place. In addition, a need exists 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 locks changed on safe deposit boxes. Private
mail services with a large number of post officestyle boxes will need to have locks
changed when a box holder losses his keys, changes box numbers, or the box passes to a new
customer. Commercial accounts can form the most profitable and dependable portion of the
new locksmith's business.
Generally speaking, newcomers to this field should focus their efforts on the
commercial and industrial areas 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 and
industrial accounts, there's also the possibility of ongoing service and maintenance.
Commercial accounts are well worth going after and can put your business in the black very
rapidly. However, it takes aggressive 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 it's going to take a lot more 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 fullservice locksmithing. Such a business would require at least
$5,000 in equipment, perhaps more, depending on how many different services you decide to
offer. This estimate for startup 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 learnathome 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 sharp marketing and selling expertise, plus 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. 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 diverse the jobs you can handle. And the greater
variety of services you can provide, 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 expenses of maintaining a retail location. But to make the really big
money in this business, you must start small and work out of your home, putting more
mobile trucks on the road as soon as possible and opening a retail location as quickly as
is feasible. 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 smalltime category.
Endeavor to handle all jobs as quickly and as efficiently as possible. Outfitting
yourself and your technicians in sharp looking uniforms will help. Making your calls in a
clean, wellorganized van will also play an important part in the image your customers
have of your business. You want your customers to have confidence in you 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. Consider this: An invoice presented by a man in a clean
uniform who drives up in a good looking van and does quality work is going to be paid more
readily than one presented by a guy in grubby jeans who drove up in a 10year 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 seminars and workshops that offer
ongoing help in both the technical and financial sides of the business. In other
words, keep yourself uptodate with a program of continuous learning.
There are several ways to start your business. You could 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, hire the
technical help and the sales force necessary to build the business while you oversee the
operation. You might 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 concentrate on learning the fiscal and management
side of the business, and hire others to handle the mechanical or technical aspects. Thus,
the purpose of this report is to help you develop your managerial abilities. To explain
the technical details of this business would take volumes, and much of the information
contained would be outdated by the time it came off the press. We will, however,
provide you with an outline of the most common types of jobs a locksmith should be able to
handle.
RECOMBINATING LOCKS: A customer may want to change an existing lock to work off a new
key, usually for a keyintheknob cylinder or pin tumbler lock, the most
common type of all locks. When the proper key is inserted in the keyway, springloaded
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 pintumbler 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. 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 12345 and
6789. 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. Responding to these
off hour calls both 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 foreign cars. The Slim Shin is a flat piece of metal, notched on the side at
various intervals. It 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. Another tool is a "button popper" that is worked through the weather
stripping on vent windows in the older cars and angled back to release 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 hardware 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 outward to open the outside doors of many
public buildings thus setting off an alarm. Door closers are 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 locksmithing business. Many larger locksmithing operations move into this specialized
area. Alarms can be the perimeter type, which sound when a door is opened after hours, or
area alarms. Area (or space) protection is generally preferred and involves infrared,
ultrasonic, or microwave sensors that trigger 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. Growing in popularity is the sale and service
of safes for home and business use. You will be exposed to all these specialties and to
other technological advancements at seminars, conventions, and workshops.
HIGH SECURITY WORK: A typical locksmith can be categorized as a general practitioner,
while the highsecurity 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. This work involves access control
systems using card readers or voice print equipment combined with electronic pushbutton
locks that work off a combination of numbers known only to a few individuals. Development
and installation of such systems requires an extensive background in electrical theory and
several years of experience.
In addition to these major areas of activity, locksmiths the world over do key
duplicating and impressioning (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 customer. 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 promptly 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
will 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 present market by offering more and better service, especially with
a wellplanned campaign for 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. Doortodoor sales efforts, direct mail advertising
campaigns, local newspaper advertising, and 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 the 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 $5,000. 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 much of your work in it, and to have to stoop all the time
would soon become quite tiring.
You can generally run a workbench down either or both sides of your van, building in
adequate storage shelves and drawers under the workbenches. Above the workspace and on the
sides of the van pegboard works very well for hanging your tools and key blanks.
You'll also need 110volt as well as 12volt outlets for power. This is
accomplished with either a power converter or readyline generator. Also consider the
addition of an air conditioning unit.
Whether you start out with a van or not, you'll need a variety of equipment. Your first
basic investment should be a key duplicating machine. You'll use this machine to take one
key and make copies. You'll also need a keycoding machine which will allow you to
turn keys out to new codes. This will be essential for the combinating work you'll be
doing. These two tools will be the workhorses of your business the basic
equipment 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, micrometers, and mortising tools. You may also want to check out the
additional profit potential of owning a hand keycoding machine. You should also have
a pin kit, plus a wide variety of key blanks, locks, and padlocks. Depending on how
aggressively you intend to pursue the different areas of the locksmithing business,
consider investing at least $3,000 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. Traditionally, locksmiths have located themselves in
outoftheway storefront shops or in shopping center parking lots. Thus, most
have never charged more than a pittance for their work. In other words, they have been
underpricing themselves. The great advantage of being mobile is that you can take
your services to the customer and should be able to charge $35 to $50 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 fifty
percent. Thus, if you were to buy locks at a wholesale price of $14, you would charge your
customer $21.00 for the lock, plus your installation charge. If a key blank costs you 50
cents, your price to the customer would be 75 cents plus whatever portion of an hour you
figure it takes you to turn it out or duplicate it. Always consider the base cost of your
supplies plus a profit margin for yourself and then the installation charge when figuring
your total charge. Thus a twohour job to install a couple of deadbolt locks, with
keys, might run the customer $80 or $100.
The best quality work and the lowest prices in town are of no value whatsoever if you
have no clients, 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 business. As mentioned earlier in this report, you can and should use
doortodoor circulars, direct mail, local newspaper, and seminar type sales
efforts. And don't forget the tremendous advantage of telemarketing.
Run an ad in your local papers recruiting commission sales people. Hire them to call on
homeowners doortodoor and to sell the idea of upgrading 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 and parking lots. 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, newspaper ads are best used
to splash a special offer such as the replacement of all keyintheknob 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. Arrange your
materials so that you will get the name, address, and telephone number of everyone who
attends. Put on a short halfhour to fortyfive minute presentation first about
the increase in the number of burglaries and the losses sustained. You may wish to hire an
offduty police officer from your area to make this presentation. Follow through with
a presentation describing the proper ways to insure the security of a home or business.
Contact your suppliers. Through them you may be able to come up with a slide presentation
or a complete program detailing how their line of locks, alarms, and other security
devices will burglarproof 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 should make the survey appointments. Then, have another
salesperson visit these prospects and make a quick survey. Afterwards the salesperson can
sit down with the client and make recommendations on how to improve the security of their
home or business. From there, it's a natural leadin to how your company can do the
job at the lowest price.
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 advantage of up to date security devices
for a home or business. Hire students to deliver these circulars doortodoor 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 sales people to call on the government agencies and institutions such as
hospitals and schools. Buy a goodsized display ad in the yellow pages of your area
telephone directory. 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 marketing persistence 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 vast merchandising and selling potential of their profession. By combining
the business and marketing skills we've touched upon with quality workmanship you should
be able to quickly establish a profitable business that will continue to grow and prosper.
ASSOCIATIONS, SCHOOLS, AND PUBLISHERS
Commercial Technical Institute FoleyBelsaw Institute
116 Fairfield Rd 6301 Equitable Road
Fairfield, NJ 07004 Kansas City, MO 64120
Associated Locksmiths of America, Inc. National Locksmith Suppliers Association
3003 Live Oak St. 95 E. Valley Stream Blvd.
Dallas, TX 75204 Valley Stream, NY 11580
NRI Schools
McGrawHill Continuing Education Center
4401 Connecticut Ave. NW
Washington, DC 20008
