Independent Vs National Locksmiths

I was reading an article written by IKS Locksmiths and it got me thinking.

The article was regarding Local independent Locksmiths Vs National Locksmiths and as I have worked under both of these I thought I would give my opinion on the subject.

I worked for a National Locksmith company, who claimed to be the biggest locksmith company in the uk, for about 3 years but soon began to realise the difference between the two.

National Locksmiths

I'm not going to mention the company as I think that would be unfair, and plus I wouldn't want to promote the company in anyway.
When you call one of these big companies you are normally put through to a call centre who will have little knowledge and no experience of being out in the field working as a locksmith.
They will then take down your details and have to give you a call back whilst they speak to a locksmith and get some more information and a time slot for you, a long and lengthy process.
The National companies will also charge you a lot more than a local independent locksmith. The company I used to work for would charge £85 per hour, plus VAT, and then the mark up on materials would be horrific. For a lock that would costs them £8, they would charge the customer anything up to £50/60, so for a simple lock change it could cost you £170, that's nearly double to what it would cost using a local locksmith.

I think you can see my point already! And the way they treat the customer and us the locksmith was disgusting, they didn't have any consideration for anyone else but themselves. As long as they were making money they didn't care who's toes they were stepping on.

Quite nice getting all this off my chest!!ha

Local Independent Locksmiths

So when you call a local locksmith company you will speak to an experienced locksmith who will be able to give you advice and information straight away, they'll be able to give you a time slot and a quote, all within a couple of minutes.
And normally a local locksmiths response time will be quicker than a national company. My response time is generally 30 minutes.
So like I said above, you will get a better price with the local locksmith. using the same example as above, for a simple lock change you shouldn't be looking at anymore than £100.

The only thing I find hard as a local locksmith is advertising. The big companies pay big money to be number one on the search engines etc whilst the smaller companies rely on reviews, feedback, word of mouth and putting adverts in the local magazines.
I do find it hard trying to compete with the bigger companies and their advertising budgets and this is the only thing that makes me think sometimes am I doing the right thing.
After two years now of working for myself I am now starting to see a lot more recommendations and reviews about me and my company so fingers crossed it will keep improving.

If you haven't already then put the number of your local locksmith in your phone.

As a locksmith all I want to do is help the customer out by completing the job and leaving them feeling happy that they called me. I Love my job and if I can earn a bit of money as well to look after the family then that's all I ask.

A.R Locksmiths covering all towns in the Essex area: 07813842390

www.arlocksmiths.co.uk