The Anatomy of a Great Locksmith

In today’s tech-savvy world, great locksmiths are a rare breed. Some professionals lack the experience required to tackle complicated problems, while others charge exorbitantly for even the most trivial of tasks.

This makes finding a competent locksmith incredibly complicated.

To help our readers out, we’ve compiled a list of traits they need to look out for when hiring a professional locksmith. Join us as we dissect the locksmith industry, and determine what separates a good locksmith from a great one!

1. Years of Experience:

The defining feature of a great locksmith is their experience. Professionals who have been in the industry for decades are bound to have a better understanding of how locks operate, and are therefore better equipped to solve complicated problems.

On the other hand, professionals with little to no experience whatsoever are bound to refer their guidebook when faced with tricky locks. What makes matters worse is that when a security measure refuses to budge, these individuals resort to brute force in a desperate bid to open the lock which can cost you hundreds of dollars in repairs!

2. Latest Tools and Equipment:

There’s no denying the impact that technology has had on our lives. From how we drive to how we order food, recent technological advancements have completely revolutionized the world. The security and protection industry has also benefited from this technological boom; now, people have many foolproof ways of guaranteeing the safety of their loved ones.

Nowadays, people can rely on smart sensors and biometrics to fortify their defenses against intruders. Thermal cameras have also surged in popularity recently as they efficiently record footage only when a person walks in their vicinity and remain inactive otherwise.

However, the high-security element of these protective devices is also their undoing because, when they malfunction, they can be extremely difficult to get around! To unlock the latest smart locks and protective measures, a locksmith must be equipped with the necessary tools. After all, what good is a dummy key when dealing with a faulty iris scanner!

3. Offers Emergency Services:

The worst thing about locksmith emergencies is that they can pop up without a moment’s notice. Given the fact that locksmith emergencies can severely compromise the security of a building or make you late for important meetings, people need to realize these problems are a time-sensitive issue.

This is why you shouldn’t opt for locksmiths that have the standard 9 to 5 time of operation as there’s always the chance that your emergency may not coincide with their work hours. Therefore, a great locksmith is one that understands the time-sensitive element of the business, and offers round the clock emergency services.

4. Honesty and Transparency:

Unfortunately, the world of locksmiths is full of con artists posing as legitimate professionals. To ensure that the maximum number of people opt for their services, they advertise their services at unbelievably low prices. This clever marketing technique allows them to undercut the market and increases their chances of getting more customers.

However, once done with the job, these individuals charge a king’s ransom for their services. They serve their targets with unjustifiably steep bills!

It’s because of these reasons that we believe a great locksmith should always be honest and transparent about their pricing. Where a regular locksmith is vague and uses phrases like “the final bill will reflect the complexity of the job” or “our advertised prices aren’t inclusive of taxes”, a great locksmith doesn’t try to cheat customers.

By being honest and upfront, these individuals inspire trust in the customer which gives people peace of mind and results in an incredible company-client relationship!

5. Respects Your Time:

Above all else, a great locksmith is one that respects your time. The quality of their service doesn’t deteriorate during the late hours of a day and they don’t make false promises of reaching you within “5 minutes”.

While a good locksmith understands the time-sensitive nature of the business, a great locksmith differentiates themselves from others by arriving onsite as soon as possible, and dealing with the problem as swiftly as they can!

6. Licensed and Bonded:

In today’s fast-paced world, people simply don’t have the time for thorough market research. Due to their busy schedules, they just cannot spend hours of their day to research the standard market price for their current locksmith emergencies.

Luckily, people don’t have to waste hours on end just to understand the cost-effectiveness of a business as there are checks and balances that prevent professionals from charging them extortionate rates for their services.

As far as locksmiths are concerned, these checks and balances are in the form of their professional license and bond. Simply put, a licensed and bonded locksmith is one that has put in the hours in training and has honed their skills to a respectable point. Furthermore, a licensed and bonded locksmith is legally required to charge a fair fee for their services.

Therefore, the easiest of telling a great locksmith from a sub-par one is to see if they are licensed and bonded or not. As discussed above, great locksmiths always want to inspire trust in their customers which is they’re more than willing to jump through the legal hoops required to earn their stripes.

On the other hand, locksmiths with sub-standard skill sets do all in their power to avoid getting licensed as this just imposes financial restrictions on them. Generally speaking, they just want to get the maximum amount of money in the smallest possible period of time!

7. After Sale Support:

How a locksmith treats their customers after the conclusion of a financial transaction tells you all you need to know about them as a person (and as a professional). If you’ve already spent hundreds of dollars on a troublesome lock but your problems still persist, your locksmith should offer prompt repair service.

Furthermore, after sale support is also a great barometer in judging how well the locksmith can do their job. Simply put, if a professional offers guarantees on their services, they’re convinced that they’ve done a good job, and that their clients won’t experience the same problem again!

8. Creativity and an Unorthodox Approach:

One of the most important traits of a great locksmith is their creativity. Contrary to popular belief, all locks are different and should be treated as such. In other words, an effective technique for opening a particular type of malfunctioning lock may not work on another.

This is what separates a good locksmith from a great one. The former persists with an inefficient technique because they’ve experienced success with it in the past. On the other hand, a great locksmith is constantly trying to perfect their technique and regularly comes up with a creative way to unlock even the trickiest of locks!