Notice Board
GETTING NOTICED OFFLINE & ONLINE: LOCK DOC
» WE CAUGHT UP WITH KAJ DARBY OF Lock Doc in Medway, Kent, who has built a strong reputation for excellent customer service and goes all out in marketing his business— both online and offline.
How did you get into Locksmithing?
I was an estate agent before, for eight years, so I’ ve always had an interest in property and still do! When I was made redundant in 2006, I worked in security for a while and temporarily for a housing company as an anti-social behaviour officer.
My friend was a locksmith and told me the hours were flexible. I also realised that locksmithing wasn’ t as widely recognised as more common trades like plumber or electrician, which made me see it as a great opportunity. I wanted to work in an old-fashioned trade but with a modern approach. I booked my first locksmithing course with Matrix whilst I was on honeymoon.
Marketing my Business
Checkatrade’ s changes have been frustrating since it changed ownership( now owned by Brookfield who acquired it as part of the Homeserve takeover)- after three years at the top, my page position now changes daily due to the‘ Fairshare Algorithm’, one day I could be on page one( below the sponsored adverts) and the next day on page seven; it’ s totally random. I used to spend £ 98 per month but now I spend around half of that amount because I’ m not able to compete with the big companies that spend a fortune on advertising. I don’ t pay the extra £ 10 per month for a website link, it’ s not worth it as customers just what to find a number to call, I receive approx. one or two jobs a month from it, so it covers itself.
I find Which? Trusted Traders better nowadays, but it isn’ t a huge lead generator. Becoming a Which? Trusted Trader is not easy, there’ s a lot of hurdles to jump to proof yourself worthy: financial checks, Trading Standards checks and review of your business practices, hold relevant qualifications, affiliations and insurance. I like Which? Trusted Traders because it’ s a non-profit organisation that helps reassure my customers that I’ m legitimate.
Social media has been a gamechanger for me. I use drone footage and‘ point of view’ Ray-Ban meta glasses to capture and share photos and videos of my work, and it gets a lot of engagement. Facebook is a great source of leads— whenever I post, I get tagged in recommendations. It’ s all about catching people’ s attention these days.
I like to stay ahead with marketing. I have just over 7,000 Instagram followers and 3,500 likes on Facebook. Social media has changed; it’ s all about engagement, quick videos, and catching people’ s attention. I get a lot of work from Facebook, especially from“ Can anyone recommend?” posts where I’ m frequently tagged.
The Power of Word of Mouth
Word of mouth is incredibly important for my business. Recommendations bring in a lot of work, and whenever I post on Facebook, I get plenty of tags from past customers. My Google listing performs well in my area, and my van— big, colourful, and standout— gets a lot of attention. People beep and wave, whether they’ re customers or just recognise me. I’ ve found creative ways to capture attention such as having a large vinyl of a helicopter on my van roof. It’ s a great conversation starter— people notice it from an upstairs window, and they ask about it, and it helps them remember me.
I take pride in what I do; I offer nondestructive entry and every job I do I ensure that the customer is left happy. I achieve this through having high standards and attention to detail; it’ s what keeps the work coming in. I enjoy meeting people, helping them when they’ re in a tough spot, and making them feel at ease. I take pride in doing a good job, so customers can see and appreciate the value of what they’ ve paid for.
Side Hustle I recently bought and renovated a property for us as a family home. I really enjoyed it and found that a property development sideline works well beside locksmithing, so I’ m planning to do it
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MARCH 2025
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