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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.
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