RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT

It’s been a while! I apologise for the lack of directors’ blog posts over the last couple of months! I’ve got lots of news to tell you so I’ll not waffle on and jump straight in!



Welcome back Martyn!

If you cast your minds back to my last blog post a few months ago you’ll remember that our technical support guru Martyn had to undergo surgery at short notice. All of us here at 3D Group are now delighted to say that he is back at work and has recovered well. Martyn is now taking on a more office based role managing our technical support department as well as helping us research and develop new products. Martyn’s years of auto locksmith experience means he’s the ideal person to assist with any technical difficulties our customers might be experiencing and now that he is office based he will be able to respond to e-mail support enquiries much quicker.


Research & Development

Martyn and I have been working together testing a whole host of new parts and tools so that we can be sure of their quality before we release them for sale.

One product that flew through its testing phase was the new Ford PIN-Code retrieval tool for the SKP-900. This nifty gadget is now for sale on our website here, it connects to the OBD port of the vehicle as well as the SKP-900 machine and provides the PIN-Code in a matter of seconds. It’s so easy to use and such great value for money. Martyn’s full product review will be featured in the latest 3D Group e-mail newsletter and more information can be found on our website. Hopefully we will also be releasing a Nissan version of this tool in the near future. It’s currently being tested and much like the Ford version it will connect to the SKP and read the NATS code eliminating the need for code retrieval from another source. We’ll let you know as soon as this is available for purchase.


Another product that recently passed our rigorous testing procedures with flying colours is the 884 Mini Decryptor key cloner. Martyn was amazed at how easy this product was to use! In case you missed the email you can read Martyn’s full product review here . The good news is that we have held the introductory offer price so it really is great value for money and a great key cloner that will pay for itself within just a few jobs. Find out more about the Keyline 884 Mini Decryptor here.


We develop our own 3D Group range of after-market products and those that we have released already have been received very well. We aim for these products to be as good in terms of quality as the OEM version, however in the last few weeks we have received a complaint about one particular product and that is VGB1. The customer reported that he had a few cases of this particular blade snapping at the point where the groove can be found at the top of the blade. We have retested this product and found that there is a fault when excessive force is placed on the blade, therefore we are changing the design of this product and future batches of this blade will not have a groove at the top. This groove provides no particular function it is purely cosmetic, so removing it will simply remove the weak point in the blade and should improve the products quality.


We are also in the process of developing our own 3D version of NR9 - the Nissan remote. Unfortunately this has had to go back to the manufacturing factory due to it failing our test procedures on one particular vehicle. We realised that this problem vehicle is not available in the manufacturers’ country and so couldn't be tested which explains why we only realised we had a problem when it reached us. We have worked around this issue and final testing is now being done. Once this product has the green light and we are certain it will work on the full range of Nissan vehicles it will be available for sale.


New members of team 3D
I’m pleased to tell you that we have a couple of new members of staff that have joined us in the last few months. Matt is now well and truly settled in our sales department and you might have already spoken to him on the phone. We recruited Kristina as Matt’s replacement in the warehouse, her previous role was working in the Marks and Spencers distribution warehouse so she has plenty of experience and she has filled Matt’s boots well. She’s also over 6 feet tall so reaching the top shelves isn’t a problem for her and this quality has come in quite handy!

Developments within the company and the speed at which we are growing has meant that I am not able to dedicate as much time to the development of the new 3D Group website as it needs. I have waved the white flag and admitted that I need help so this week we have welcomed Istvan to the 3D Group team as our new web developer. Having Istvan on board should mean that we are able to release our new website sooner, as well as having the expertise in-house to potentially develop new projects too. The only problem is, with the new building still in development and the need for more office space for new staff, we have had to convert our stationary and filing room into a new office! This new office will also be the temporary home of a very exciting secret project that we are currently working on that will be coming to the UK next year! It’s all very hush hush at the moment and we are all sworn to secrecy but we are really excited about it and can’t wait to be able to tell you more in the New Year!

The Big Build

Speaking of the new building extension, things were going well. We had finally received approval and planning permission and we were excited to begin transforming the old building next door into our new office and warehouse extension. The plan was to remove the top floor of the old building but keep the external walls and remodel the internal structure so that we could align doorways etc with our current building and knock through. But the buildings inspector paid us a visit to see how the demolition was going and threw a spanner in the works! You can see the progress in this video.




The MLA


This year was the first year that 3D Group exhibited at the MLA Expo. Thank you to those of you who took the time to pay our stand a visit. Our stand was a lot smaller that we usually have at the likes of ALEX and LOCKEXPO but the introduction of a new touch-screen ordering system meant that not as much space was needed and it made it easier for customers to take advantage of our huge trade show offers. Our small stand proved effective and the show was a successful one for us. I hope if you visited, you enjoyed the MLA Expo too. This coming year we are increasing our presence at industry trade shows and will be adding a couple of new exhibitions to our repertoire so we look forward to meeting more of our customers face to face.

Customer Service

We are keen to provide the best customer service that we can and we try our best to monitor how well each department works. In our warehouse department our main target is to dispatch all orders as efficiently as possible with zero mistakes. Mistakes do occasionally happen, although very rarely and there has been a couple of instances where customers have received the wrong product. In order to try and iron out these errors our warehouse department has altered the way it picks products and we hope that this will increase our accuracy. Add to this the new systems updates that will be occurring with the launch of the new website and I hope we will be able to get the number of mistakes down to the bare minimum.

Reward Scheme Success



It’s just over three months since we launched our Reward scheme and it seems to have proven a hit! In the last three months we have given away thousands of points and you have treated yourselves to thousands of pounds worth of free products! We are delighted with the schemes success and hope that you are enjoying reaping the benefits of the orders that you place with us. If you have been saving those points to treat yourself to something extra special why not take a look at the new products we have recently added and see if anything takes your fancy? Keep your eyes peeled for some special rewards and offers appearing in the run up to Christmas too!

So, there’s the highlights from the last couple of months here at 3D Group. As always, keep in touch and up to date by following us on social media and registering for our newsletter if you don’t already receive it. Have a great week!


Dean

3D GROUP REWARDS - NOT JUST A TOKEN GESTURE...

For some time now we, as a company have been thinking of ways to reward our customers for ordering from us. Some companies give away free gifts, discounted gym memberships or vouchers in exchange for new account referrals, but we felt that these were all token gestures that didn't really hold any useful value to customers and even if they did, it was short lived. 

We wanted to devise a reward scheme that was simple for customers to get involved in and offered beneficial rewards that customers could truly see the value of. 3D Group Rewards was born, read on to find out more!

3D Group Rewards

3D Group has been exclusively providing auto locksmith parts and tools to trade for over 8 years. As a company we are eternally grateful to our customers for making us their choice of wholesaler and wanted to reward every one of our customers for their loyalty.

July 18^th 2015 saw the launch of 3D Group Rewards. This reward scheme has been designed to offer our customers a valuable reward that is worth receiving and not just a token gesture. Customers will earn points automatically on every order over £100* that they place with 3D Group. The number of points earned is depicted by the value of each order and can be as much as 3 points for every £1 spent. Customers will bank their points in their online rewards account, with no limit to how many points they can bank and no expiry on when these points have to be redeemed. 

Points hold a value of £0.01p discount off a future order with 3D Group and can be redeemed as and when the customer chooses. Points can be redeemed against almost every product on the 3D group website which means that customers can use them to treat themselves to that luxury tool they’ve always wanted, or save them up throughout the year and purchase that top of the range machine they’ve coveted. Alternatively they can redeem their discounts on their usual order every month to simply reduce their costs.

In addition, 3D Group will hold special reward events at various times throughout the year when the number of points earned on purchases is increased or even the discount value of the customers’ banked points is doubled! Keep your eyes peeled on 3dgroupuk.com for these special events!

To celebrate the launch of 3D Group Rewards, 3D Group has secretly been crediting all existing customers’ reward accounts with points since Monday 13^th July. If you’ve placed an order on or after the 13^th July simply log in to your 3D Group account now to see how many points you've already got banked and to discover how much discount is already available to you.

Code Service

We also launched our new online code service a month or so ago and we are delighted with its success so far! Initial user figures are better than we had ever hoped for, proving that the convenience of an online service is useful to today’s auto locksmith. If you haven’t yet tried it, you can visit www.3dgroupuk.com/codes and test the service for yourself. We credited every account with 5 free tokens when we launched the service so if you haven’t used them already you can try it for free!

Website development

I appreciate that it’s been a while since I mentioned the new 3D Group website that’s in development so I thought I better give you an update. The new website will be a complete re-fresh of our existing website. 

As 3D Group’s web developer I have been working non-stop to develop the functionality of the new site. It will be easier to navigate, easier to manage your trade account online and feature a superb search function. We are also completely modernising the way that the website works and communicates with our warehouse and dispatch systems in order to further improve the level of customer service that we can offer you.  

Unfortunately this does take time, so in order to speed up the process so that you can benefit from the developments sooner we have contracted a graphic designer to assist in the project, ensuring that the new website has a brand new modern and fresh look as well as being functional.

New Building

Our rate of expansion never ceases to amaze me. In the last few years as a business we have grown at an exponential rate. As I mentioned at the start of the year, we are quickly running out of space in our warehouse for new products! The building next door was purchased just after Christmas and since then we have been liaising with the architect to develop and plan how we will combine the two buildings. It will be quite a project but we are so excited for the final result. 

The new building will allow for a huge expansion of the warehouse space, along with extra offices and a dedicated workshop for our retail auto locksmith brand. A purpose built training centre will also be included in the new plans so that Martyn can expand his training packages. The demolition of the current internal structure of the new building will begin in the next couple of weeks and fingers crossed the development will run smoothly and to plan, with minimal impact on the operation of our current premises.

Staff

There has been a few staff changes at head office in the last couple of months. Rachel our new warehouse assistant has settled in well and is holding her own with the lad’s banter! (An important personality trait I feel!) We have welcomed Louise to our sales office so you may have spoken to her on the phone already. 

Unfortunately we have had to say goodbye to Nathan from the sales office as he has moved on to his dream job in game design, however this has meant that Matt from our warehouse department has been able to continue his 3D Group career development and will be transferring to replace Nathan in the sales office very soon. Matt has worked in our warehouse for over 3 years and has a wealth of product knowledge that will stand him in good stead for dealing with customer enquiries and orders. This creates a vacancy in our warehouse department that we are currently advertising. If you know of anyone that may be interested there are further details online here. 

Martyn has performed many roles since he first started with 3D Group way back when he was a teenager! For many years he has worked as an auto locksmith for our retail brand as well as providing the technical support and training for the wholesale side of the business. If you have ever completed any training with 3D Group it is highly likely that Martyn was your trainer. Unfortunately several weeks ago Martyn had to undergo surgery on short notice and this has meant that he has been unable to return to work for several months whilst he recovers fully. We are pleased to tell you that the surgery was successful and Martyn is on the mend, we really do wish him a speedy and successful recovery. The office just isn’t the same without his huge personality and sense of humour! 

We look forward to seeing him back in the office once he is fully healed and ready. The exciting news is that when he does return Martyn will be taking on more of an office based role and will be able to provide faster technical support. He will also be heavily involved with product research and development alongside developing his own training courses and packages once the new facility is complete.

Blog Posts

Our last blog post ‘Free Ways To Promote Your Auto Locksmith Business & Increase Enquiries’, written by Rebecca to help auto locksmiths better promote their services with next to no expenditure has proven incredibly popular! I’m almost a little offended! Ha! 

Rebecca’s blog post broke our records for the highest number of views of all the posts we’ve published on this blog. I’m hoping that those who have read it have found it useful. Perhaps coincidentally we have noticed an increase in the number of auto locksmiths active on twitter which is great! Please get in touch and tell us what you thought of the post and tell us of any results you’ve seen by implementing any of Rebecca’s suggestions. 

Fans of Rebecca’s post will be pleased to hear that she will be putting pen to paper again very soon. Following on from telling you how to increase your enquiries, Rebecca will explain some of the best ways to then convert those enquiries into booked jobs in her next blog post. If there are any topics that you would like to see covered in future blogs, please get in touch!

Dean

Free Ways To Promote Your Auto Locksmith Business & Increase Enquiries

Introducing Rebecca...

We thought we would give you a bit of a break from ‘the norm’ in this instalment of the Directors blog. 3D Group have experienced great success over the last few years and we thank our customers for that entirely, but when we started out as a small company ourselves it became apparent very early on that promoting your small business with little to no marketing budget is an incredibly important but also a difficult task. If you want the customers to keep coming your way, you need to get your name and brand ‘out there’, so for this instalment of our blog I am handing the reins over to our marketing assistant Rebecca. Rebecca has helped us to promote all of 3D Group’s brands over the last couple of years including our local auto locksmith service 3D Autokeys which is currently thriving. I have tasked Rebecca with explaining her top 6 tried and tested ways to advertise your own auto locksmith service for free (or relatively low cost) so that you can increase your customer base and hopefully the number of enquiries you receive without much expenditure at all. Enjoy! - Dean

My Top 6 Ways To Promote Your Auto Locksmith Business For Free

Do you have a comfy chair and a cuppa? I’ll pre-warn you that this is quite a lengthy article, however I have written it as an overview that I hope you can dip in and out of and will refer back to as and when you have the time to implement any of these free forms of marketing. I also hope that you find my suggestions valuable and that they help to increase your businesses presence within your local service area, so it’s definitely worth a skim read.

The internet, love it or loathe it, is now instrumental to most industries and you certainly cannot escape or ignore it. The internet has so many uses and is now integrated into so much modern day technology that many people would find it hard to go a full day and not ‘connect’. There’s even washing machines with wifi and an app! 

It will come as no surprise then that when it comes to promoting your auto locksmith business for ‘free’ or at a low cost, the internet is invaluable, and it features in all of my top 6 in some form or another. 84% of British households now have the internet so I’m going to take the liberty of assuming that you yourself are one of those 22 million.

1. Optimise your website.

I am of course assuming that you have a website for your business. If you don’t, I would certainly look into getting one. 74% of adults now buy goods or services online and with the majority of mobile phones now being ‘smart’, having a mobile friendly website is a must. A website can be created with zero technical coding knowledge using online services such as GoDaddy.com, 1&1.co.uk or Weebly.com. Of course, if you have the coding knowledge then Drupal is a great platform to create your own website.

Google Search Results

Once you have an online presence for your business one of your main aims should be to appear in the Google search results and preferably on the first page as few people will look beyond that. It is worth spending some time racking your brain to come up with a list of phrases (also known as keywords) that you think your customers will search for. There’s going to be the obvious such as ‘auto locksmith in Nottingham’ but you’ll be surprised at the suggestions you will receive if you ask friends and family what they would search for if they lost their car keys. ‘new car key for Ford’ ‘Replacement Key fob’ etc. 

Once you have a list of these keywords you will need to integrate them into the content of your website. Try using the most popular keywords in the titles of the relevant pages as well as the main paragraphs of text on your website, a little repetition helps but be careful to make sure that it still sounds natural and not forced.

Example of Keyword Placement - www.3dautokeys.co.uk

Your content should be interesting and well written and be informative to your prospective customers. Google crawls through the content of your web pages and uses its algorithms to decipher if your website is worthy of being displayed in their search results, but there is a fine line and if you over-step it with your keywords the Google gods can view that unfavourably! For more information about SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) take a look at this article.

A couple of other ways to optimise your website is to make sure your customers can navigate around the website and find the information they need easily. The main aim of your website is to increase the number of enquiries that you receive so your preferred method of contact should be highlighted on every page. This should also include what is known as a ‘call to action’, a phrase that encourages customers to contact you. E.G. ‘Get a free quote now’ or ‘Call Now To Book’. A great tip is to ask family and friends to take a look at your website and to try and use it as if they were looking to use your services. This might flag up navigation issues or places where you could do with highlighting your contact details.

Optimising your website does take time and the results are not instant. It can take weeks, sometimes months to see the fruits of your labour but you will see a dramatic increase in enquiries if you can reach the Holy Grail that is the first page of the Google search results. It’s well worth doing a little optimising, as often as you can, when you have a few minutes.

2. Get Listed!

There are some great online directories on the internet. The problem is, if you aren’t listed in these directories your competitors will be being promoted over and above your company. If you search Google for the phrase 'Auto Locksmith in <enter your town here>'. 9 times out of 10 there will be a result on that first page that takes you to the online version of the Yellow Pages Yell.com. 

There are several other big players in the online directory market, such as FreeIndex and Yelp. It is free to list your business on these directories and you can often include images, a link to your website and in some directories previous customers can review your services so that prospective customers can see how reliable and professional you are. When you list your company on these sites be sure to include as much information as possible, alongside the usual contact details and opening times there is often an area for you to write about your company. Use this to sell yourself, include unique selling points such as quick response times or how many years’ experience you have; anything that will make your business stand out over and above the competition. 

I hate to keep harping on about Google but they are the gods of the internet and they have a little tool called ‘Google My Business’. This is Google’s business directory and claiming your listing with them should be a priority. Chances are they already have your company name on their list already, they are simply waiting for you to claim it as yours. You can use their business search to look for your company and if it isn’t there you can add it manually. It will take you through a step by step guide to add your company and you may need to go through a simple verification process to prove that you are the business owner. Once your Google Business listing is live and is linked to your website it will please the gods and will also improve your website’s Google search rankings. This is well worth taking the time to do and it is entirely free!

3. Be Social

Social Media is huge at the moment. It’s difficult to find an adult that does not use some form of social media. It is a great way to keep in touch with friends and family, post pictures of your dinner, find funny videos of cats etc but it is also a brilliant free tool to promote your business and increase your online presence. The list of social media websites and apps is ever growing but the major players are currently Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram. Each of these ‘networks’ differs in the way that they function and share information, but ultimately they can all be levied as tools to get your message in front of a huge audience for free! 

The best way to utilise social media for your business is to be active, post quality content and post it frequently. This can be anything from handy hints and tips, customer testimonials, how to’s, special offers, to blatant brags about your business., but remember it is meant to be a social platform so share others posts that you think your followers might be interested in (like this one perhaps?) as this will help to build your number of followers. Respond to all comments that are posted on your content but ensure that you do it in a professional manner but remember that you aren’t just replying to the person that commented, your reply is public! Never use social media to moan about an awkward customer or to berate your competition as this is likely to escalate and cause serious damage to your public persona. 

It is a well-known fact within social media users that posts with photos get a higher level of interaction so get your smart phones out and take some pictures whilst you’re out and about working. Even a picture of a brilliant view or of traffic on the M1 can be shared multiple times and get your company name in front of thousands if posted in the right way.

If you need inspiration for the popular things to post or the right hashtags to use, search for your peers within the locksmith industry and see how they utilise social media. It’s also worth taking the time to search for any local social media accounts that will be willing to re-post local businesses posts. Local ‘Spotted’ pages on Facebook or local Twitter accounts that automatically retweet tweets that hashtag the postcode are often useful. You can find these by searching the first part of your postcode with the ‘#’ symbol before it e.g. #NG1. 

Downloading the app onto your smart phone can make the time it takes to post a lot quicker and more convenient. Many social media sites can now link to others and automatically duplicate a post across several networks simultaneously, saving you time. Don’t forget to cross-promote your social media channels on your website, online directory pages and business cards etc as this all helps to grow your ‘following’. It may take a little bit of time to build your following but if you get into the swing of posting frequently you can reap the rewards. 43% of consumers are more likely to buy a new product or service when learning about it on social media.

4. Expand your network

Join Your Local Business Networking Event

Are you involved with your local business community at all? Most towns and cities will have several business associations that meet regularly and discuss the local issues that impact on local businesses. Often regular local networking events are organised where you can attend, have a coffee and meet other like-minded local business owners. 

I’m not simply suggesting these gatherings to make new friends, although this can be a welcome bi-product. If you think about it, there are very few businesses out there that don’t own at least one vehicle, whether it be for business purposes or simply the owners’ personal car. At the other end of the scale there are several types of businesses that own a fleet of vehicles; local van hire, rent a car, car dealerships, delivery companies, taxi firms etc. These are all local businesses that could pass regular work your way, and potentially a lot of it. As a business owner yourself, who are you more likely to contact? A faceless service that you have found in the Yellow Pages or that lovely professional chap that you had a coffee and a chat with at the recent networking event? Exactly! For the sake of an hour of your time and the price of a coffee you can network with all of these potential customers and hand out a business card or two! 

Now here’s where the internet comes in to it, search for your local networking events online, you’ll be surprised how many there are. Findnetworkingevents.com is a great place to start.

5. Shout about it

Do you often have a read through the local paper and see those articles about the local business that has just opened a new office, or the local company that has just won an award? Do you wish you could be featured too? Think of the huge audience your company name will be put in front of! How do the journalists hear of these local companies’ triumphs? Because those local companies tell them about it! 

When you have something to shout about, albeit a nomination for a local business award or a new apprentice/ employee, write a press release about it! The phrase ‘press release’ can sound a little daunting but actually writing one is pretty simple. There are several free templates that you can download from the internet to make it easier for yourself.  Make sure you attach a relevant photo that you would be happy for the paper to print and send that press release off to as many local papers as you can. The press office contact details can usually be found on the papers website easily. 

You might not think your story is particularly news worthy, but if the paper is short on content for that week, or if there is a bigger news story that is relevant to your business featured, they might just print your story or even contact you for your opinion and then you get free advertising. Just imagine, if the paper is about to print a story about a spate of car key thefts in your area and an already written article from an auto locksmith company lands on the desk surely that would make great column inches?

6. Word of Mouth

As I’m sure you are already aware, there are many vehicle owners out there that have no idea how to go about getting a replacement car key for one that has been lost or stolen. Where do these people go to for advice? The internet possibly, they’ll search in Google, but if you’ve followed my #1 suggestion you should already have that covered. They are also likely to ask their friends, work colleagues and family for recommendations! 

There is no better recommendation than one a person receives from someone that they trust. So what can you do to make sure that yours is the company on the tip of their tongue? The answer is simple, ensure that every job you complete is done in the most professional way possible with excellent customer service. For example, keep the customer in mind all the time, a courtesy call when you are 5 minutes away from them costs you very little but it could make a huge impression on the customer. That call says to them that you are organised, that they are important to you, and that you care. Arriving looking smart and in a clean, well-kept van makes an excellent first impression and reassures the customer that you are going to do a quality job and take care of their vehicle. It will be the customers that receive this level of excellent service from you that will shout about it. Studies show that a happy customer will tell 2-3 people about their wonderful service, but on the flip side an unhappy customer will tell on average 8-10 people about their negative experience and with 92% of people trusting recommendations from friends and family over any other type of marketing you can see how this can affect your business.

So there it is, my top 6 FREE ways to market your auto locksmith business. I hope that this has given you a few ideas. This article was written to offer suggestions and I really have only scratched the surface of all the ways you can promote your business for free, there is a plethora or articles on the internet that can help you with this and I would advocate taking the time to read around each of the methods I have mentioned and implement as much as is possible in any spare time that you have. It might be a slow build but you will begin to see the rewards in the future if you invest the time. 

Thanks for taking the time to read this post, if you know of anyone who might find it useful please feel free to share it and if you've tried any of the suggestions and they've worked for your business I'd love to hear about it in the comments below.

Good Luck! 

Rebecca