Fire Horse for locksmiths
Four of them are call centers that will quote $29 and charge $290 on arrival. You're the real local shop - but only if you pick up first and say a price out loud. We make sure you do both.
No contract, cancel any time, running inside two weeks
One night · call log
10:14pm · locked out, keys inside
Answered, flat price given, tech 25 minutes out.
11:52pm · car key snapped in the ignition
You were asleep. Year, make and model collected, 8am booked.
2:31am · tenant moved out, needs rekey
Not urgent. Answered anyway, quoted, booked for Tuesday.
Illustrative example, not a real account
A shop we run this for
13 → 50+
Google reviews, in a matter of weeks
ECHA HVAC in Sacramento started at thirteen reviews. We asked their past customers as well as their new ones, answered everything that came in, and the count did the rest. Different trade, same engine - and for a locksmith the review count is the only thing separating you from the fake listings sitting next to you in the map pack.
Where locksmith work leaks
The 2am phone
Lockouts happen at the hours nobody wants to work. You can't be awake for all of them, and a call that rings out at 2am goes to whoever answers on the second try.
The call centers above you
Half the listings in your market aren't shops, they're lead brokers. You beat them on trust, but only if your listing has the reviews and your phone gets picked up.
The commercial quote nobody chased
Master key systems, panic hardware, an access control upgrade for a strip mall. Four-figure work that gets quoted once and then quietly forgotten by both sides.
Research on lead response is consistent about the shape of this: answering first matters more than answering best. See the sourced figures on the homepage.
Your numbers, not averages
Count the after-hours ones honestly. Those are the tickets with the margin on them.
What we install in a locksmith shop
Found
A real address, real hours and real reviews, next to listings that have none.
Answered
Somebody picks up at 2am. Most work is lost right here.
Booked
A flat price and an arrival time, said out loud before you dispatch.
Asked
A relieved customer at midnight writes your best review, if asked.
Chased
The commercial and rekey quotes get asked again until they're closed.
In this trade gates one and two carry the weight - you're competing against listings that only need to look real for thirty seconds.
01 · Answering
The people phoning you have already been burned or have read that they might be. Naming the service call and the price band in the first reply does more for your close rate than anything else on this page. It answers every call, gives your real numbers, and tells them the tech's name and ETA.
· Answered around the clock, missed calls texted back in seconds
· Flat service call and price band stated up front, from your list
· Year, make, model and key type collected for automotive jobs
· Proof of residence or ownership requirement explained before dispatch
· Genuine emergencies - child or pet locked in a car - routed straight to you
Works with ServiceTitan, Housecall Pro, Jobber, Workiz, or QuickBooks. Somewhere else? We'll look before you sign anything.
Open quotes · last 90 days
16 open · $28,900
Master key system · 22-unit building
$6,400
Quoted 31 days ago · no reply
“Hi Trish - still want to move on the master key system? We can stage it a floor at a time so nobody's without a key, and we've got capacity in the week of the 14th.”
Replied same day · site walk booked
Panic hardware · two fire doors
Quoted 18 days ago · follow-up 2 sent
$2,150
Smart lock rollout · 9 doors
Closed out · went with somebody else
$4,300
Illustrative example, not a real account
02 · The work with the margin on it
Lockouts pay the bills; commercial hardware, master keying and access control pay for the year. Those quotes go quiet because the person who asked for them has a hundred other jobs. We follow up by text in your name until you get a yes or a no.
Property managers get their own track - the buildings you've already worked in, asked once a year whether anything needs rekeying between tenants. It's the same list your competitors never call.
Every residential lockout also gets one follow-up a week later: a spare key cut, or a deadbolt on the door that let them down.
03 · Reviews and the listing
A customer you let back into her car at midnight will write you a paragraph. That's the review that wins the next hundred searches, and it only exists if somebody asks the next morning. We ask every time, and we work the years already behind you.
· Review request the morning after, not at 1am
· Every review answered, usually within the hour
· Real address, real hours, real service area kept accurate on your listing
· Photos of your van and storefront posted, because the brokers have none
Review count and rating are the part of local ranking that responds to effort. The other two levers are your address and your categories - see the homepage.
ECHA HVAC · at signup
13
Google reviews on the profile
Years of finished jobs, none of them asked.
A few weeks later
50+
Google reviews on the profile
Past customers asked alongside the new ones. Nothing about the work changed.
How this works
Same ladder for every trade. Most locksmiths start on Response, because the after-hours calls are the ones with the margin.
Start here
Look like the real shop you are.
$397/mo
Step 2
Nothing rings out at 2am.
$897/mo
Step 3
Everything, running together.
$1,094/mo
Website build is separate: $3,500 one time, and the finished site belongs to you whether you stay or not. Hosting is included with any monthly plan. Ongoing edits and new pages are $197/mo, optional.
Locksmith questions
Will it give a price that gets me in trouble on arrival?
It quotes only what you've approved - flat lockout pricing and bands for common work - and it says plainly what could change the number. That's the opposite of how the brokers operate, and it's the point.
Does it handle the ID and proof-of-residence rules?
It explains your requirement before the van moves, so your tech isn't the one delivering bad news on a doorstep. What counts as acceptable ID is your call and we script it with you.
What about a child or a pet locked in a car?
That question is asked on the first message and a yes routes straight to your phone, plus a prompt to call 911 first. Those calls never sit in a queue.
Can it screen out the tire-kickers who want a $19 lockout?
Naming your real price in the first reply does that on its own. The people shopping for a bait price stop replying, and you stop driving out to arguments.
Is there a contract?
No. Month to month. Cancel any time and service runs through the month you've already paid for.
We'll record a short video showing where the work is leaking - how your listing stacks up against the brokers next to it, how a late call gets handled, what's still open on the commercial side - and send it over. No call required.
