Making Money from National Service Providers

In another Locksmith Live podcast, Wayne Winton and Texas locksmith Roger Courts Jr., president of ReKey Xpress, shared some tips for getting (paying) business from national service providers (NSPs), also sometimes called facility maintenance companies.

These companies act as buffer zones between the locksmith and the end user. They have contracts with large companies, such as retail chains. There is a way to make money with these organizations, but you have to know the rulebook before you get started.

Courts had some advice, based on his experience in doing a lot of business for a couple NSPs. Read your contract and understand the terms you are working under. If you don’t agree with the terms, negotiate when possible, he advised.

Make sure to spread your business so you are not too dependent on a single NSP, he added.  “If you get that one big customer, that’s great. But don’t bank on it. If you are spreading yourself out there and you’ve got a larger number of customers, you’ve got a more stable company.”

Winton noted that in a true emergency, NSPs will start calling any local locksmiths they can reach. In that case, they will give you a credit card right away. They are in desperate need of your services.

Filling out the paperwork – called a vendor packet-- is the typical beginning step. You want to get on their preferred vendor list so they will call you first.

Some rules from Winton:

When a NSP contacts me for the first time, they must pay by credit card for that initial service. Once we have a good working relationship and we have one successful business transaction completed, I’ll fill out the subcontractor agreement and I will agree to 30- or 45-day net terms. I will not agree to longer terms.

Keys to the NSP gate:

Furnish the proper paperwork (downloading via app or sending electronically or paper.) Fill everything out properly and submit it in the format they require.

Take and submit before and after photos and consider taking videos.

Log into their system in the way they require. If the paperwork says to call in from the store’s phone, you have to call in using the store’s landline. If they have an app, be ready to use it.

Build into your pricing the labor time required to get the manager’s signature and do associated paperwork.

To attend or view future Locksmith Live sessions, join Wayne Winton's Locksmith Nation Facebook Group at www.facebook.com/groups/LocksmithNation or subscribe to his YouTube channel.