"There is No Such thing as Cheap or Expensive,But Thinking Makes It So"Shakespeare, if he were alive today.
I am writing this blog today because we have heard from consumers, on occasion, that they would choose Flam's Lock and Key if we were not so expensive. What is expensive?
The subject of pricing, no matter what you sell,always has been and always will be,relative.
WHY IS FLAM'S SO EXPENSIVE?
We only 'appear' expensive because our service call is more than 80% of most other locksmith's you may call,but when you compare the bottom line, not the service call line, we are cheaper.
More important,we choose a higher price point for our trip charge so we can maintain our standards of excellence and stay in business.
Some of these standards that are for your benefit include:
1. Maintaining a shop location and paying rent so we can offer you more choices than a mobile
only service. We want you to touch and feel, not just listen over the phone. We also want to
offer products like high security locks because you can only get your proprietary keys cut at a shop.
Flam's physical location also allows us to cater to commercial clients, property management
companies, homeowners associations and quality residential clientel,
We were also raised with old fashion values that taught us that having a physical location lends
greater credibility to our reputation and integrity. Sixty years in business proves this advice was
correct.
2. We believe in hiring the best and most experienced and ethical employees and paying them
more. It adds to our cost but less to yours' because they can problem solve and you can trust
they are a good fit to work in a culture that demands excellence, continuing education and
integrity.
We don't pay them as independent contractors, like most, to avoid paying workers comp
insurance avoiding matching social security taxes.
3. We charge what it cost to pay for a truck, insurance, repairs and travel time ( we actually
don't charge enough to cover these costs) so we can stay in business and honor your
warranties.
WE DO THE RIGHT THING!
5. WE DON'T WANT EVERYONE'S BUSINESS and yes you read that correctly. We choose
to eliminate price shoppers who have no appreciation for the difference between a locksmith and a
'security professional' and who are not concerned with the reputation of who hands them there keys.
These are the consumers who pay the most and learn that 'cheap is expensive'.
WHY ARE FLAM'S PRICES SO CHEAP?
So now that you know why we may charge more you may wonder why we are less expensive.
1. We charge enough so you are not ripped off with the lure of a cheap service call which is made
up by charging you 4 times more for product and labor.
2. We maintain a location so you can bring things in for repair without needing a trip charge.
3. Remember that standard about paying more for experienced and ethical employees?
Well, they can repair and not just replace, they will not pretend your lock can't be picked so
they can make more by replacing it, they will get the job done faster because they can, keeping
your labor costs down. They can problem solve and tell you the truth because they know about
more products.
4. We don't send out independent contractors who make commission and don't protect you
against liability.
5. We maintain our State Contractors license's, require our employee's to have their Consumers
Affairs License so you know we are not sending criminals or sex offenders. Yes, you read
correctly again, most locksmiths do not do background checks. We know of one sex offender
currently in business and another that employed him for 12 years.
"There is No Such Thing as Cheap or Expensive, But Thinkng Makes It so"
There is such a thing as good and bad.
Protecting what you most value!
Vikki Flam
