Technology and Hiring trends for locksmiths in 2022 (part 3) | #Lockboss Show & Giveaway

 Technology and Hiring trends for locksmiths in 2022 (part 3) | #Lockboss Show & Giveaway

PJ:

Alright, well, hopefully we're live. Maybe? My computer's playing tricks on me again here, so. Okay, I think we're live. Good stuff. Alright. Hey, it's always good to get pranked by your computer right when it says it doesn't know if you're live or not. But hey, what is up, my name is PJ and welcome to the #Lockboss Show & Giveaway.

Thank you all for tuning in. Of course, I'm drinking Topo Chico, my go-to beverage, I'll take a quick sip here. You know, I've been waiting to have my first sip until we're on the show. And I tell you what it's worth it every time. So I hope all of you are doing well. I tell you what, up here in northern Idaho, we're in once again, another snow storm. I mean, shoot, we have 12-15, maybe 18 inches on the ground plus more coming. And yeah.

Outside of work, my life at this point looks like wake up, snowplow, get home from work, snowplow, and then repeat the next day. So, it's been quite exciting. But I know there's a lot of really cool temperatures going on all over the country right now and world for that matter. And if you're in one of those areas, definitely I hope you're staying warm, especially if you're out working on locks and keys. And if you're in the warmer areas, well I hope you're enjoying it. Why not, right?

So, I tell you what, we got a lots in store for you tonight. But before we dive into it, I kind of want to talk about a few different things. So first, like I've been talking about the first of the year, we're going to be switching up how we do the #Lockboss giveaway. And I'll tell you what, I guess the best way to describe it is that we're going next level. How about that? So we're definitely going to get more- I guess you're going to see here soon. So all of the details have been finalized. We're waiting for a few things to show up, before we launch it, so it should be pretty soon. I mean, I don't know. It'll be in January, for sure. So that's right around the corner. I can't wait to share it all with you. I know so many of you are going to be excited. And I mean, we're all going to be excited. It's going to be fun.

And so on top of that, okay, we got two things in the mail to share with you. So this here is from Doug Kimber. Doug, thank you very much, Doug's Lock the Key. You can see it right there. Alright, Doug. Thanks for sending these in. He actually sent one to me, one to the warehouse staff, one to the sales staff, and he even sent one to the lockfather at the lockfather's address. How cool is that? So of course what we got going on in here is pistachios. Doug, I see you're on live. Hey, thank you for sending them. And if you don't mind here, let me pop a couple real quick, huh? These are delicious. I mean, he knows I like them. I hope you do too. But I won't eat them all right here right now because well, I don't want to make you hungry. Alright, so we got those that way, and then next we got from- now this is the deal.

We got these in the mail today actually. Okay. And I looked at the paper. And also it says in there is, "here's your cookies. Sorry, there's no sprinkles." And immediately I know who it was from, Mr. Ken Nixon. Thank you very much. So what we got going on here is, oh man, they smell good. Is some chocolate chip chocolate cookies. How about that? These have a nice thing on them here. So I'm going to open those a little later. Look at that. I tell you what, they smell good. You don't want me to start eating these. I won't be able to stop that. It'll be good. It'll get awkward, right, when I'm supposed to be doing this, but I eating cookies.

But Ken, thank you. I see you're on there on live. Thank you so much for sending those in. I'm gonna give you a hall pass even though there's no sprinkles, you know? For those of you who don't know, I've been working hard throughout this year answering Ken's random questions he has, and I believe I've got them I think all but one, right. I think one I got wrong. The rest I got right. So I work hard for those.

So anyways, everybody, thanks for tuning in. Alright, let's see here. Alright, let's go ahead and let's get the show started how about that. Alright, so say what we're going over with first here.

So, what we're gonna be doing is the Posts of the Week, Comment of the Week, and then we're gonna get into our part three of the Locksmith Trends of 2022.

Fun little sidenote, okay, we're gonna mix it up, and have a little fun next live and it's gonna be the lockfather and I. And we're going to be going over some of our predictions for the 2023 year, as pertaining to the locksmithing/security type industry. So that should be fun next week. We've never done one of those before. But I think it'd be fun for us to make three predictions each live on the internet, so we can discredit ourselves when they don't come true in 2024. It'll be fun, there'll be good stuff.

So alright, and then of course, we're going to announce this week's five lucky #Lockboss winners. So, I hope all five of you are watching. We'll find out.

Posts of the Week

Here we go, alright Posts of the Week, alright, so this one came in from ljredneck6.

"Thank you clksupplies you folks are the best #lockboss" -ljredneck6

So, it looks like he was one of the lucky winners of the free $100 gift card. Through the Black Friday special, we had this little thing going on that for a certain amount of time if you put an order in five lucky winners, we're gonna get $100 Visa gift card and here's one of them. So how cool is that? Glad, you won there.

Alright, next up this comes from pick_hooker. It says,

"Thanks for the gummies!🤘"

Hey, that's good. You know so many of some people in life who keep telling us that we haven't had the gummies and I've been checking on it and gummies should be going out as normal. I'm happy that you got one there and also thanks for that stock order there what my screens kind of small to see here. What do you got there? Quick Set maybe kind of hard to see in this picture. So, Houdini, couple other tools. Thank you so much for the support.

Right, next up, this one comes from S & M Lock and Key says, ""Thanks to CLK Supplies for the nice gift. I won one of their #Lockboss Live Show and Giveaway. Everything they sent will be put to good use. JMA Ford H84PT keys are already going to be used for an upcoming job. The B111 keys are a must to keep on hand. I can’t wait to try out the waifer popper and lockpick lodge. Just need to transfer my picks and tools over from my very worn pick case." I tell you what. That waifer popper, it's one of those that you don't really know how bad you want/need one of those until you try it. And then you're like, yeah, I definitely want to keep this thing around here. He got the lockpick Lodge and says "I just need to transfer my picks and tools over from my very worn pick case." Very cool. Thank you so much for sending that in.

Next up is the Christmassy logo from Chris Capone. Chris. Thanks for sending that in. Pretty cool. I see you put on there. It's a meowy one to I think that's cool. You know, I mean hey, we got a cat at my house. My kids actually just changed its name. I don't know if you can do that. But I think the cats like seven years old and they change its name from Rosie to Jig. No, I think it's like a Minecraft or something. I don't know. But yeah, I like the cat in the background. Pretty cool with the Santa hat there. So, thanks for sending that in.

Alright, #lockboss Comment of the Week.

See what we got going on here. From John Falk, he says,

"This #Lockboss agrees with Tom Cason. I have used BOTH of those Extractors. Your Explanation of WHERE to use each Extractor was VERY HELPFUL PJ. Thank You for the Explanation. Your Video Reminds Me that I NEED to buy some NEW Extractors to place in My New Lockpick Lodge. Get Ready for a New Order."

Hey, John, thank you so much. Good stuff. I mean, I love every part of that comment. But yeah, I'm glad you found the how to use those two different extractors useful. You know, I mean, and honestly, you know, when I was a kid using key extractors on stuff, you know what I mean, I don't know, you just kind of find a hole, put it in and pull it out or whatever. But once you start realizing what they're for, or different techniques and how to do them can definitely be helpful. So I'm glad that you found some use out of that video. Alright, let's see here.

Part 3 of Locksmith Ledger's Locksmith Trends of 2022

Okay, here we go. So now we're gonna go into part three of this trend. So, I really broke it down. At first, I was just going to do one long video on live and going over the Locksmith Ledger's Trends for 2022. But as I kind of dove into it, I'm like, you know what, we should probably break this up a little bit and kind of talk about it a little deeper. And so, this is going to be the third and final part of this so far. So, I'll pull it up. And let's get to talking about it.

Alright, technology trends here. So, the question was, respondents were asked to select the technology or service advancements that were most important to their business, they were asked to select the top three choices, so it's not going to add up to 100. So, coming in at number one with 45% is smart locks. 37% was picking decoding tools. Third was automotive transponders. Number four was... 32% wireless solutions, and 31% was high security cylinders and 23% said, key machines. So, I think that's, you know, where do you stack up with that? When you look at that list? I mean, would you say the same thing? You know, it doesn't surprise me at all.

So, it kind of gives us kind of a good point to talk about, which is essentially half of the people that were asked in this quiz, or on this survey viewed that smart locks were an area, right, that were very important to their business. Now, the interesting thing about that, that I kind of want to talk about is, I'm sure you've noticed by now a lot of the Smart Lock kind of technology that's out there today, right? So, like we don't need to, like single the locks out in particular, but so much of that technology is actually direct to consumer.

So, what you're seeing is companies creating the technology, and then selling it directly to the people who are using it. Where, in like the locksmithing industry, for example, right, we have this classic, more classic kind of a business model where it's like manufacturers sell to what we would call distributors or distribution centers. And then from there, they would sell to different areas in the industry, right. Some only to certain parts of the industry, some to everyone. You know, everyone kind of it's all over the place there. But the interest- so what's kind of happened in a lot of ways, right, is with the smart locks is that with the manufacturers going from through the normal distribution channels to now going direct to consumer, is that it's kind of for all of us tradespeople. It's kind of bypassed us a little bit, right? Now, we do have some options, of course, right? Like the Townsteel options, right? There's some alarm lock options. But when it comes to the residential in particular, they kind of bypassed our entire industry a little bit, which, hey, you know I mean, you find the industry and that hasn't been disrupted, you're going to find some sort of venture capital or someone who's going to come in and try to disrupt it, right.

And so, we can't be too surprised or upset about that type of behavior, because well, I mean, that's kind of always what happens, right? So, at the same time, though, what I want to kind of dive into with this a little bit, and I would love to know your thoughts in the comments is with this happening that doesn't mean that the people who, like us, who work with locks and keys are just out of it entirely? And so, um, I think we need to kind of think through this a little bit. And maybe it's a better conversation for another day, but I want to keep diving into just a little bit more, which is, because these companies are selling direct to consumer, that's how their business model setup including even now, you know, Amazon, I mean, Google all of them, right?

Ring Electronic Doorbell

You can get them from them directly. Or you can go to Costco if you wanted to and buy a Ring type stuff. And I would also say it's equally upsetting that the security industry with cameras and that sort of thing. But that doesn't mean just because people can buy it from these places, doesn't it mean that they want to install it. And so I think it's wise to kind of think through that element of your business and say, hey, you know, what should I make- should I set up a website or a web page is a better word, a web page, on my website, talking about that, if you are you bought a ring, or Nest or whatever the different versions are? Deadbolt or knob, that we're more than happy to not only set it up for you, but also we can, you know, key it to work with your existing keys, that sort of thing.

And so, I think there's a lot of opportunity there. But of course, you know, everyone's gonna have their own type of business model. Some people only want to work with the locks that they provide. I totally get it. But I mean, it's a huge, huge, huge segment in this industry now. And I think when I look at that, that's what I hear. So, I guess, my point I'm trying to make is when I see that 45%, and they're like, yeah, hey, how do we get into the smart locks game?

Commercial? We have some great options in this industry between Alarm Lock and Townsteel, and some others. But when it comes to residential, we don't really have, I mean, I don't know if I'm being 100% transparent with you, I mean, yes. Can you go buy some $40-$50 junky electronic lock, and resell it and make some money and install it? Sure. But the truth is, most of these locks are just branded garbage. And so, man, I don't know, I don't... I don't feel like that is a better option than using one of the customer provided mainstream ones.

Now, of course, I can't talk for all of us. I see some of you in the comments are talking about that you don't really like the Nest or Ring or any of those. I totally get it. You know, I mean it's one of those weird things that if you know that we have to we have to decide what we should be doing. But I think when I see this question, to get back to my main point, is that I think the question that is being asked there or answered is that there's a whole industry that's bypassed our industry. And we need to be forward thinking in ways on how we can deal with it.

Michael says, "I have installed several Rings from my customers. Great add on." Yeah, that's awesome. Michael, great to hear that. Let's see here. See, yeah, a bunch of other people talking about it, too. That's really good. So yeah, so that's good. I would definitely you know, on your website and your social posts that you're doing, kind of come up with the basic plan. I want to just bring this up here for a minute. Because I think it's important to talk about now that we're on the subject, why not? And that is most of the time and I talked about this with customer provided keys, but I also think it is just as important with locks, okay? When someone goes when, you know, someone goes to Home Depot, and they or, I don't know, insert store of your choice, and they buy a lock, okay? And then they get home and they look at it and they're like, "Oh man, I don't- this is not- I don't want to do this. I need someone to do it." And so, they call a locksmith, right.

Nest Electronic Doorbell

Like, I think a lot of times our perspective can be that we just want- we're like upset that like what do you mean, you bought a lock? You didn't call me? And I mean, I get the point. Okay, I totally get it and sometimes it's true probably. But most of the time someone's like, Hey, I found this cool lock or it works with Ring, I have a Ring camera on my doorbell. And I just want to add it and so they're not trying to like, like I said, the whole industry is bypassed, our industry. And so, they're not trying to- I mean, they're just buying a lock and they just want it installed, right? It's our world that we live in. But for them, it's just next Tuesday, I'm hoping someone can install it type of thing. So I would say just, you know, come up with some sort of a plan deal with that, definitely. I recommend doing a web page that just has that talks about your service for you know, Ring and Nest. And what other those other two that keep coming to my mind at the moment. But you know, if you want to offer something like that, I maybe create a web page doing that and maybe do some social advertising and stuff. And if you guys have a lot of interest in that maybe we can put together some basic copy for you all that you could use. So anyways, sorry, that's long winded. You can see why now I wanted to keep this as its own topic.

VATS Key

Okay, so next we scroll down there, right is picking and decoding, makes total sense. And then automotive transponders, and then wireless solutions, right? You can kind of pair up wireless solutions with Smart Locks. Um, yeah, I mean, I think automotive transponders, make sense. You know, it's a whole new actual big business. You have to remember 25 years ago, that was a big deal. Maybe it's a little more than 25 years. But like, when VATS keys came out in the automotive industry, it was like, okay, those automotive key for your car used to be $2 or a $1.50. Now, they're 20. And this is crazy. And now with all the prox keys, and all this other stuff. I mean, it's a huge industry on its own now, due to the technology that's also in those keys. But most of you know that.

So anyways, when it comes to technology trends, I think that's very interesting. Thanks for letting me chat about that a little bit. Yeah, and I see a lot of you in here do install those. Yep. I totally get it. Like, uh, you know, "if I don't sell one, I won't warranty it. But you'll install it." Yep. Dave, I get it. You know, I totally get it. I mean, of course, you can't. And that's why I mean, you really can't install or warranty something that you didn't provide, right, which is an incentive for them to buy from you. The problem, like I said, is that this entire industry, this whole industry, has bypassed the lock and key type classic distribution model, right. And so, I don't know, it doesn't surprise me. Because well, let me there's, you know, companies are always looking to disrupt industries, right? That's just kind of how it works. But anyways, yeah, go and check that out at the Locksmith Ledger, if you need, if you want to look at that more. Found that very interesting. Very, very interesting.

So, something else that's kind of cool to think about a little bit, is think about, think about all of the YouTube videos and stuff that's out there for how to pick and decode locks, right? There's a ton, a ton. I mean, I have people who aren't even in the locksmithing industry who have never okay, I know, have never talked to me about anything about the industry. And next thing, you know, they're asking me about the Lockpick Lawyer, right? I mean, it's a huge industry. But even with all of that information and knowledge out there, 37.3% are still wanting more info about it makes sense. I mean, and it really comes down to is a lot of it. There's knowledge, right? And you can learn knowledge, but to hone the skill, does take some work for most people. So, make sense. Let's see here. Yep. Ken, you're right, yes, all that kind of stuff. We're all cut out together. It's true. It's true.

Alright, next up here is hiring trends. Right, now this has been a hot topic everywhere. So, but let's see what else to say here. So, response for the following questions about their business with respect to hiring workers and training. In their first question, they were asked to select top three specialties. So the sum will add up to 100. Okay, so the top three summaries that they were trying to hire hire people for is mechanical locksmithing 57.5%. And I'm, I'm reading all this for those of you who are only listening, not watching. So, next up is electrical skills 41.8%. 41% with IT knowledge and 34.3% for automotive locksmithing and 23.1% for safe work, and then it kind of goes down from there.

Pretty cool. So, um, once again, you know, I mean, I think that is good, right, that mechanical locksmithing truly is still alive and well today. It definitely looks a lot different, and the businesses look a lot different than it did in years past. Electrical skills 41.8%. You know, I have a question for all of you out there, about this. And that is, you know, um, because right, electrical work is a public safety issue. Right? Work that requires permitting, right, it requires electricians to have a license, right? A low voltage license. What I'm interested in, though, is if any of you out there who have our locksmithing type or security companies that expanded into electrical work, right? Electronic strikes, where actually wiring and doing that kind of stuff yourself? Or maybe you're not. How would, how did you work the licensing issues with that, you know?

So, there's been some companies I've kept my eye on that have kind of jumped through a few of the different public safety issues, right? It's been interesting to try to watch and see how they move their licenses around to do that. So I've seen some of the ways they've done that, by like creating. One I've seen is creating a separate entity that like the locksmithing company, or the security industry owns 50% of and then like the electrical company owns 50%. Right? And that's how they kind of team up and do that work. Of course, that's like a bookkeeping nightmare for a small enterprise. But I'd be curious to see how they have handled that.

But then next up IT knowledge. Makes sense. I'd be kind of curious what that actually means. I mean, I know what it means on the surface, but what are they actually looking for? And the next up automotive locksmithing, which today is like its own animal, which is pretty cool. And then 23% is safe work, right? And then let's talk about this for just a few minutes, and then we'll get on to the live winners. So when it comes to safe work 23% Something I find interesting, and you're gonna see me here in upcoming videos start to kind of go after just a little bit is safe work. Like it's another industry in itself that historically, you know, 30 years ago, you would go into a local lock shop, you find that find a nice selection of safes. Although that can still be true today, the big retailers, man, like they've really taken that industry by storm, right? Now, of course, we know if you're in the industry that you know, these little cheapy plastic safes- I mean, it's hard to really describe them as a definition of a safe, but that's been sold as, but um, with that being said, right, like, we may have lost some of the sales in this industry for safes. But something that I think is just ripe for the picking is actual safe work, right? So, all these big companies, they sell a lot of safes, that the locks on the safes. So, I won't name any brands, but let's just say they leave a lot to be desired.

And there's a lot of opportunity for safe work out there. So that's another one for you. You might want to consider looking into it, if you have a lot of interest on that, you know. I mean, I actually have some, some a little bit of that type of content coming up here in a few weeks. But yeah, so but kinda very interesting, of course, makes sense right to find that there's no straight path into this industry. We all know that we talk about that a lot here on the #Lockboss show. And that's that's just how it is, no straight path. So of course mechanical skills can be hard to come by. So yeah, there you have it.

James says, yep, safes are easily sold up until 2008. Yeah, it is true. So yeah, guys. So there you have it. That's the topic this week. It was a mouthful, man. I hope you maybe got some on it or out of it. But yeah, it was good stuff. Good. Good stuff here.

Alright, so let's go ahead and hop into this week's lucky winners.

Alright. So here we go. Let's make sure we're all on the same page first, which is what to do if you win. Email us your shipping info to sales@supplies.com. Or call us at 800-848-6989. And we'll send your gifts soon. How to win? Comment on our videos with the #Lockboss winners will be chosen from the previous week's videos. So, if that's simple, of course, no purchase necessary. But thanks to all you fine folks for supporting us with your orders, I tell you what means a lot to all of us. And we've actually had another record-breaking year this year. So, we're very humbled and feel blessed for all of your support.

But with that said, let's go ahead and not see winners. Here we go.

Number one is Brian Ogram. Brian, congratulations.

Winner number two is A Gonzalez. Congratulations.

Winner number three is Neil Wilson. Neil. Congratulations.

Winner number four is Santiago Carranza. Santiago. Congratulations.

And the winner number five this week is Thomas Payne. Thomas, congratulations.

That's all five #Lockboss winners this week.

Of course, if you spent over $350 or more, you can get the #Lockboss Diamond Beanie and CLK Tape Lanyard for free. How about that, everybody. Well, hey, that's the show. Yeah, so a couple of things. Let's just talk for a few minutes. So I have so, coming up here, okay? On Friday, there's not gonna be a Thursday video. There's going to be a Friday video and it's our present from CLK to all of you, thank you so much, so many of you sent your pictures in. Really appreciate that. And, man, I can't wait. Okay. I cannot wait for the video Friday. It's really been a passion project for me. And yeah, I can't wait. So I really hope that all of you enjoy that video. So, of course, coming up on Sunday is Christmas. So I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas from all of us here at CLK. And yeah, next Tuesday, I'm gonna have the lockfather back on. And we're going to be doing some predictions for '23 just kind of having a little bit of fun and just kind of discrediting ourselves with terrible predictions but should be fun for the industry. I don't know. I don't know. Well, we shall find out you know. I hope he's going to be coming up with some good ones. So, I see a bunch of questions about the pinning mat. You know, I've had a blast teasing you all about that pinning mat. So um, we're getting close. We're getting close. So, man, I mean, I tell you what, if we can release it in January, I will, okay. If they're all done and ready, it will be released in January sometime. If not, I would guess worst case, man. I hope not. But worst-case would-be February. So right around the corner hopefully as weird as those sounds. But yeah. Let's see here look through the comments. Tons of great comments today.

That's good. Is that Friday Showtime the same as Tuesdays. Yeah. So, Friday, one o'clock, I believe Friday, one o'clock is when that video gets released and just kind of- I just wanted to do it before. Historically when we do some sort of, you know, things like this, we do it on Christmas Eve, but I don't know I just we just felt Friday would be the best option. And by the way, if you guys don't know I don't know the lockfather's watching. It is his birthday on Christmas Eve. So, the lockfather's going to be turning the tender age of 66. Here this Saturday, so it's always fun. And by the way, he always likes to do for his birthday? Red Lobster. That's where we'll be going for that. So locksny, I mean, you're probably at this point. I mean, you can keep hoping all right, you keep hoping.

Let's see. John says I think you should give 50 of the mats away after. Oh, that's a good. That's yeah. That pinning mat is just right around the corner. Yeah, no. He says he wasn't joking. No. Hey, you know, if I had control over the date it would come. It'd be fun to put some sort of date on that. But, um, I gotta wait for them in the mail. I'll be standing by the mailbox every day. No, it comes free, but that's good stuff, but all right. All right.

But anyway, have a wonderful evening, as you know, on Tuesday evenings, my middle daughter Audrey and I go out she's 11 and my streak with Texas Roadhouse. Tonight, we're going to Applebee's mainly because we found that my house and you know, you know, that drawer, you have all sorts of random stuff that you don't have to do with him. We found a $25 gift card to Applebee's. We're like, Hey, let's go use that. Let's go use that bad boy. Yeah, right. So that's where we're off to. My daughter and I here just a few minutes, so it'll be fun. But anyways, you all have a wonderful evening, and we'll see you next Tuesday with the lockfather giving some interesting, silly, I don't know, we'll let you be the judge predictions for next year. You all have a great evening and Merry Christmas. We'll see ya.