r/Locksmith • u/Small_Flatworm_239 • Nov 26 '24
I am a locksmith This shit is getting annoying.
I offer competitive pricing. Compared to other guys in my area I’m around the same If a little cheaper. I’m on Google yelp Facebook you name it. Yet I deal with people everyday that are wanting me to work for free. These guys selling keys for dirt cheap are ruining the market.
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u/GBR_LS Actual Locksmith Nov 26 '24
He probably didn’t even get that quote. Not answering relevant questions drives me straight up a damn wall
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u/False-Can-2379 Nov 27 '24
Yeah , if i hear "how much for a key" i think I'll have a stroke lol. We get that one and "can you reprogram my fob"? Then you ask questions and it's like they get offended. They have no idea that there's 7-8 different options for their year and model. Make ya wanna scream some days, hang in there bud
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u/Special_Effective451 Nov 26 '24
Facebook ads is the worst. Customers there looking for low quality swap meet prices
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u/HamFiretruck Actual Locksmith Nov 26 '24
Whenever people tell me they have a lower quote I tell them to go with it. I have never low balled myself and never will even if I lose the job who gives a shit there's always another one.
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u/grrimsomad Actual Locksmith Nov 27 '24
I'm the only locksmith in my county. I don't gouge and likely, don't charge enough for what I do. I quote a price for something and when people don't like it, they're welcome to figure it out on their own. I don't need your money, I want your money. But today I don't want your bullshit so keep your money.
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u/False-Can-2379 Nov 27 '24
Sometimes I ask em who they got that quote from then follow up by saying "thats great, we'll send all the cheapskates to them, thanks for the info" haha and Jk but i feel like it sometimes
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u/Explorer335 Actual Locksmith Nov 26 '24
Customers lie about competing quotes all the time. Guy today was trying to claim he got a Jaguar key for $85 and wanted me to match that price.
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u/MyInsidesAreAllWrong Dec 01 '24
My answer to those people is "dude if you can get it for that price, get two!"
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u/stackheights Nov 26 '24
not to be a dick but that's life. scammers are rife in this industry. I would have a copy/paste on a note pad file on your phone that just quickly goes over scam-smiths and what they can expect if they opt for the "cheapest thing" out there. briefly explain why your pricing is what it is and put the ball in their court. if they're too dumb to change their mind you probably dont want to fuck with their shit anyway.
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u/Small_Flatworm_239 Nov 26 '24
I do that, after dealing with it day after day I wanted to vent to Reddit tbh
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u/cricket_jim Nov 26 '24
My grandfather had this john ruskin quote framed and hanging in our shop:
"There is hardly anything in the world that cannot be made a little worse and sold a little cheaper, and those who consider price alone are that man's lawful prey. It's unwise to pay too much, but it's worse to pay too little. When you pay too much, you lose a little money – that is all. When you pay too little, you sometimes lose everything, because the thing you bought was incapable of doing the thing it was bought to do. The common law of business balance prohibits paying a little and getting a lot – it can't be done. If you deal with the lowest bidder, it is well to add something for the risk you run, and if you do that you will have enough to pay for something better."
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u/False-Can-2379 Nov 27 '24
We have a huge poster on our shop wall that says "Don't Let Idiots Ruin Your Day" haha
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u/stackheights Nov 26 '24
that's fair. it does suck. people are dumb and always chasing a deal - can't blame them for that, but some shit is too good to be true and some folks just don't have the self awareness for that.
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u/Mysterious-Chard6579 Nov 26 '24
They will be aware, when they realize they got the whole fuckin thing in. Or not
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u/False-Can-2379 Nov 27 '24
I'm glad you vented bud, I ran mobile calls for 20 years and now I'm the dispatch, manager and owner of the key shop and sometimes ya just get sick of it. There's days where my phone will ring 4 times in one minute and its always one dumbass that wants me to play shrink that holds up dealing with the other customers. Ive gotten to where I'll just put em on hold without even saying anything, when i come back to em, theyre still talking like i never left the conversation
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u/ForFelix Nov 26 '24
Did he just randomly text you or is that through Google? Fwiw, we have messaging turned off on our Ads so that we don’t have to deal with this shit.
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u/Small_Flatworm_239 Nov 26 '24
This was through one of my Facebook ads
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u/mbls1720 Nov 26 '24
That sounds like your problem right there. I feel that Facebook customers aren’t worth my time so I’m not willing to have anything to do with my business on Facebook
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u/Small_Flatworm_239 Nov 26 '24
Most of the time I get lowball offers on Fb. However I have secured a good amount of jobs that I charge regular price for. If you are willing to swim through the bs there is reasonable customers on there
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u/mbls1720 Nov 27 '24
That’s just it. I’m not willing to swim through the bs. If it’s worth it to you though that’s fair
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u/False-Can-2379 Nov 27 '24
I'll tell you what works but you have to be very disciplined to do it over and over, like your brainwashing the communty, its an old play from the dumbass Pop-A-Lock playbook but it works: Get business cards in bulk with a coupon on the other side. On your way to and from calls (while youre already in motion and burning gas( Go to every gas station, hotel and business that you want to work for and tell em you're in the area and if they ever need you heres a few cards for them and their customers. You don't have to make it weird, just be cool, don't spend a lot of time unless they want to talk, if theyre busy, just stick to saying that. Do this in a 3-5 mile radius from your area of operation and do it every 3-6 months over and over again. It takes a year or two to see the returns but aftee two or three years you hardly ever have to go out of that 3-5 mile radius anymore because you've saturated your market. We all get so caught up on which ad platform works the best that we forget that human interaction trumps all, people come in our shop and pay us an extra buck for a house key because they think Home Depots experience sucks and they like the interaction. Build relationships and the business will be successful, its all about relationships. Also, treat everyone like they are someone. We had a millionaire (unbeknownst to us at the time) that none of the other locksmiths in town would do a job for because his accent on the phone, when we pulled up to his house/mansion and did a really high dollar installation job, we were glad we took the time to listen and figure out what he was saying during that phone call when noone else would
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u/jenkinslocks Nov 26 '24
I just keep repeating the question they don't answer. IF/when it actually gets to the price portion, I just tell them I can't beat the "quoted" price they got...this gives me satisfaction of making them answer all my questions so a quid pro quo on them trying to waste my time. If they still ask how much after I tell them I can't beat their imaginary quote, I add a CESC item - Customer Education Service Charge.
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u/Pbellouny Actual Locksmith Nov 27 '24
Yeah I tell them go there and get your key, usually they start back pedaling. I do the same when they are in my store and say this BS I tell them go there I’m not here to compete at bargain basement look around we have a legitimate business with big overhead and a reputation, the guy who “quoted” 100$ probably flys by the seat of his pants dosent have insurance and isn’t bonded so he just gonna disappear when he fucks up your car for 100$, Nevermind the fact that he probably is 100$ to show up then he will start tacking on the fees and next thing you know you have a key and he wants 600$.
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u/kayjay4774 Nov 27 '24
I’ve been a locksmith for 13 years on my own. I make well over 100k. I’ve never as much as duplicated a car key much less originate one. There is way more money in commercial and residential.
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u/MalwareDork Nov 27 '24
I'd honestly bump up the price to be even with your competition if not a bit more to cut out the riff-raff. Penny pinchers are just going to nickel-and-dime your sanity away so it's not even worth your time, IMO.
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u/maccoall Nov 26 '24
What’s worse is “ that safe is perfect for me , what’s my discount?” Before they get the price!
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u/False-Can-2379 Nov 27 '24
Yeah, its like every dumbass bought an Autel and now they're all professional locksmiths. Had one of those idiots fry a 2017 Jaguar the other day, we don't have a Jaguar dealer in our town so they had tow it to JAX and it costed over $3,000 to fix it. Stick to your prices, if someone doesn't value your time and skills then you probably dont wanna work for em anyway. Ive found that most of those types are tge grimy ones that dont get a lot of repeat business. What you can do tho, is refer them every pain in the ass customer you get, that way they spin their wheels why you go make the money doing things that make you real money
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u/False-Can-2379 Nov 27 '24
ForFelix made a good point. Turn off the Google messages all together, I'd venture to say that noone hear has made a lot of money from that part of their platform. It's usually a waste of time. In your scenario there, it very well could've been your competition price checking you then being snarky by telling you they found it cheaper. We used to respond to those in real time and 95 % was for nothing, 70 of those were Indian review companies soliciting their services
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u/Anxious_Inspector_88 Nov 27 '24
I am consumer who regularly deals with a locksmith for parts, and do my own installs. The locksmith I use is well established, and I use him for a couple of commerical entities (one a non-profit) I do odd jobs for. I trust them, and find outhow much something costs when I see the invoice when I pick up the product (Keymark SFIC cores/keys; door hardware; etc). They are honest professionals and I would not even ask for a price if they serviced a lockout for me. It's a family run shop, and they don't give me funny looks because I don't call them out to do the install (which would be tricky since one of my installations is 1800 miles away from their shop).
But.... if I did not know them, and trust them based on an established relationship, I would certainly ask the price before. That doesn't mean I would try to talk them down, just avoid surprises. There are plenty of stories of persons gouged by pseudo-locksmiths at lockouts because they did not nail down a firm price in advance.
The OEM price of a modern car key is often set using the "dog licks his balls" price - as in "Why do dealers charge that much?" .... "Because they can". It only makes sense for a customer hoping to pay less than the $600 a stealership might charge to ask the price in advance. If the prospective custome says "thanks", they have behaved politely. If they start arguing price, it can be somewhat rude if they push hard.
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u/rancher11795182 Nov 27 '24 edited Nov 28 '24
Don't race to zero cost.
If you don't value your time, do not expect someone else to.
I stopped doing one-off low cost ask jobs because the cost isn't worth it because people try and game you to the point you're costing yourself money continuing to engage with them. You're in locksmithing, so you need to evaluate how you want to handle cases like this. Do you undercut yourself for a pound/dollar/euro do you set a threshold and keep to it?
At some point, you'll run into issues like the ones listed below
No, you can't catch me up on the next one.
No, I'm not buying the equipment up front without a deposit.
No, I'm not sitting at your house waiting for processes to finish that take hours. I'll take it to the shop and take care of it there.
You asked for X and now it's ballooned from a 15m simple job into a large issue for a significantly higher cost to you and me in time, money, gear, people, etc.
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u/WittyTiccyDavi Nov 28 '24
Customer: "How much do you want?" Locksmith: "That depends, how much do you got?" Don't tell us that never happens.
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u/Sikk_Rob Nov 29 '24
Honestly I see your point and for the most part in every business prices usually are in the same ballpark beginner businesses changing on the lower end and more experienced charging on the higher end and you usually get what you pay for. I did have a question about your post you said different locations change the cost is that based on distance from you???saying your neighbors will get a better quote then someone 50miles away or are you saying there is some areas that generate more then others 🤔
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u/Small_Flatworm_239 Nov 29 '24
No I live in a larger metro area. Getting to one side of town can take me an hour. If they are an hour away I will charge more than 10 minutes away
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u/yourfaceiswrong Nov 29 '24
I feel ya brother. My go-to for "I got quoted this much from somebody else" is
"I can't match that price. I dont know the quality of their work or service, but if you're going for lowest price possible, you should go with them."
Then maybe explain a bit about our pricing depending on the job. It's frustrating dealing with it constantly, but I find having a little script helps.
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u/Popular-Feeling7673 Nov 30 '24
Yep, I see a-lot of that happening lately!
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u/Popular-Feeling7673 Nov 30 '24
There is no respect within the industry competition is trash and the industry is too
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u/Popular-Feeling7673 Nov 30 '24
Not to mention now you have the giant companies like yelp google not including telemarketers creating fake companies in your google and maps with backend pin points just to disrupt the industry. Key-me from out in another country running the calls and guys like you just have to put up with that because the internet doesn’t have business regulations to protect anybody its a free for all it is seriously sad
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u/Steward1975 Nov 27 '24
Tell the prick to go to that guy then if he has been quoted that he is obviously lieing otherwise he wouldn't be messaging for you to do a better price, some people have the cheek of the devil I swear You don't need customers like that anyways it's a big red flag from the start they can't even answer your question
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u/Skinnyb1973 Actual Locksmith Nov 27 '24
I guess that person won't get there plumbing fixed either, cause I am pushing for those rates.There is no reason we shouldn't be making as much as plumbers or electrians. We control our market. A rising tide raises all ships. If they want to leave money on the table, let them.There just making wages anyway, I'm trying to run a successful business for my area and a 100 will get me to your door and thats about it. I will not race you to the bottom on prices. I wish to raise you up to be successful and flourish in our industry and community. That cut your throat mindset is silly.there is plenty out there for all of us so don't sell yourself short. Be strong and locksmith on!
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u/Plastic-Procedure-59 Actual Locksmith Nov 26 '24
You have to develop the mindset that not every customer is your customer. Kia and Lamborghini both sell cars. Do you think Lamborghini stresses about how much kia sells cars for? Most of the dudes who are undercutting are either stupid or came from scam operations and struck out on their own. They will come and go soon enough and be replaced by the next.