PeoplePlus Support Locksmith Start Up Company in West Yorkshire
June 21, 2022Posted by:
Background
After finishing university Andrew was employed as a Computer Aided Designer (C.A.D) which involved the use of computers (or workstations) to aid in the creation, modification, analysis, or optimisation of a design. Andrew’s side hobby was picking locks, he was interested in the sport of lock picking (yes, it really is classed as a sport!). He started doing this in his spare time after work and started to get good at it.
His friends and family soon found out about his lock picking skills, and he started to receive the odd phone call from friends who had lost their keys and needed to get in. It then dawned on him that he should turn his hobby into a business! He decided to leave his office job and begin his locksmith journey.
The Branding Vision
Andrew’s locksmith business was nothing new to the market, so he felt it was important to make the business stand out via marketing and branding. He noticed that most locksmiths have very boring and simple branding for example 'John Smith Locksmith', so he wanted to come up with something completely different and something that did not have his name in it. For that reason he chose the name ‘Lemon Locksmith’, he felt it was different, slightly funny, and easy to remember.
PeoplePlus’ Support
Andrew came to PeoplePlus looking for advice and support on utilizing social media to generate customers. He always had people saying “you should use social media more…” but he did not know where to start with it and felt quite overwhelmed. He felt that locksmith work is hardly the kind of exciting business where people would want to follow and see pictures of completed work, in comparison to kitchen fitters who work wonders transforming kitchens. However, he knew of other tradesman who were making it work such as electricians and plumbers, so he knew he was missing a trick and needed to enter the world of social media.
Andrew joined the Start Up West Yorkshire programme, where he learned all about SEO and using social media to raise brand awareness and generate leads. Andrew was allocated his own business advisor, Adam Whitaker who offered Andrew tailored 121 business advice, he helped increase his followers and suggested Andrew started commenting on posts from businesses in the local area and that he posts regularly on community groups. Andrew took this advice and commented on a Facebook post from Leeds University regarding the opening of a new building. Leeds University saw his post and clicked ‘like’. This showed that Leeds University saw his post and in turn recommended Lemon Locksmith to another education provider called ‘Global Banking School. This is a banking university which has recently opened a division in Leeds (alongside Dubai & London). In summary, this has resulted in a very large order as they require locks installing in all their new classroom doors, this ultimately shows the power of social media.
Future plans
Andrew hopes to expand his business and build the brand, he feels that due to the huge lack of tradesmen in general in UK at the moment, his long terms plans would be to make a business that caters to many aspects of home repair including locks, electrics, plumbing, decoration etc – his vision is to call it The Lemon Group!
Andrew said:
“I had a pleasant experience with PeoplePlus, who worked around my busy schedule. They not only provided useful information, but I also made lots of new contacts”
For more information about the programme visit Start Up West Yorkshire | PeoplePlus
For more information about Lemon Locksmith click here
June 21, 2022Posted by:
