With the busy and hectic holidays for locksmiths and retail stores alike, it’s crucial to set your business up for success. How can you weather the holiday storm and prepare yourself for a busy (and profitable) locksmith holiday?
In this guide we’ll cover:
- Why the holidays are a busy time for locksmiths
- How locksmiths can prepare their businesses for the holidays
- How locksmith software can streamline your business to maximize profitability
Problems Mean Business For Locksmiths During the Holidays
Who doesn’t like the end-of-the-year company holiday parties or all the fun of getting together with family? But all this fun has a different side as well–it’s prime time for criminals trying to take advantage of the party season.
As you may know, locksmiths are in high demand during the holidays, whether it’s break-ins or porch pirates stealing your packages. Here are a few common problems that arise during the holidays that require a locksmith:
- Vehicle/Home Break Ins: Robberies increase by 20% during the time around holidays. Many times, when criminals break into a home, they steal house or vehicle keys. This increases locksmith calls to change the locks or get a new set of keys.
- Package Theft: Christmas deliveries piling up on your porch make attractive targets for criminals. Locksmiths can install security cameras to help prevent the yearly spike in package theft. The ring doorbell system is a popular choice.
- Getting Locked Out of Car or House: Everyone’s in a hurry during the holidays. It’s very easy, and common to get locked out of your home or vehicle. Locksmiths can get locked out shoppers back in business!
So we know why business increases in December, what can locksmiths do to prepare?
Ramping Up for the Holiday Hussle
How can you make sure your locksmith business is ready for the holiday rush? Here are a few tips:
- What happened last December? If you have already been through a few holiday seasons, look back to last year. Did you have enough staff to cover the amount of business coming in? Were there any lessons learned that you could use to prepare this year?
- Make sure you are properly staffed. Would it help to hire additional office staff or seasonal help to ensure you don’t have to turn down any business or avoid work delays?
- Tip: if your team was understaffed last year and you can’t get seasonal workers, consider special incentives, overtime pay or bonuses for team members who take on additional shifts around the holidays.
- Communicate with your customers and try to set reasonable schedules and hours. After all, you want employees to celebrate the holidays with their families as well. You probably don’t want to be changing up house locks at 11p.m. on Christmas Eve.
- Adjust your prices if needed. Are you charging customers enough to make a reasonable profit and grow your business? You might consider surge pricing for later hours and weekends around the holidays.
- Ensure inventory is stocked and trucks are serviced. You don’t want to get stuck with ordering last-minute stock or a broken down truck.
Now we’ll look at the best tool you can get to prepare for the holiday rush!
How Locksmith Software Can Help
Many locksmith startups are still trying to run their business using paper tickets and outdated software. There’s a better way! As today’s top software, FieldEdge can streamline your entire business:
- Asset and team tracking
- Instantly dispatch optimized routes
- Access client accounts from anywhere
- Rapidly invoice customers in a few clicks
- Generate quick professional estimates on-the-go
- Simplify marketing campaigns and automate them
- Auto-charge credit cards and get paid on time, every time
- And so much more!
Let’s do a deep dive of the features you can expect from FieldEdge’s top-shelf locksmith software to improve your business, especially during the busy holiday season!
Smart Dispatching Board Speeds Up the Process
Dispatching is a great place to start when streamlining a business. Today’s dispatch boards allow the dispatcher or office manager to see the entire process to better match the next appointment with the most skilled or closest locksmith.
The board can optimize the driving route, cutting down on windshield time. It also can use location mapping to show real time status of the locksmith (traveling, working, finished, etc).
Connect With Mobile CRM
Most high-end field service software has a built in Mobile CRM (Customer Relationship Management). This allows a company to connect with its customers, the office and locksmiths out on a job. CRMs are a great tool to:
- Track revenue and ROI
- Let customers know you’re en route and when you’ll arrive
- View customer notes and equipment history for every work order
Powerful Price Presentation Boosts Sales
When your locksmith software has a price presentation tool, your locksmiths come across as professional and on the ball. Selling is much easier when you show consistent and easy-to-understand prices.
Offer good-better-best options right from your tablet or phone as many customers want to make an informed decision, especially when choosing smart locks or which security camera is best.
Streamline your Locksmith Business with FieldEdge. Book your FREE personalized demo today!
Locked and Loaded for the Holidays!
Now, you should be better prepared to tackle all the holiday challenges in the coming months. We covered the following steps to help you prep for a very merry holiday season:
- Leading expert tips on navigating the busy holidays in the locksmith industry
- Professional advice on making the most out of the holiday season to ramp up success
- The top locksmith software proven to maximize profits, streamline operations, and grow your business
Related: The Ultimate Locksmith Pricing Guide for Business Owners
