vertical · locksmith companies
AI Voice Agent for Locksmiths: Capture Every Emergency Call, Dispatch Faster, Grow Without a Full-Time Dispatcher
By builders, for builders.
Locksmith companies live and die on call pickup. A homeowner locked out at 10pm does not leave a voicemail and wait. They hang up and call the next result on Google Maps. Every missed call in that situation is a direct revenue transfer to a competitor. Independent and regional locksmith operators miss 20 to 35 percent of inbound calls, most of them between 7pm and 9am when a full-time dispatcher is not staffed. An AI voice agent on Hermes answers in under two seconds, collects the lockout address, property type, and situation details, quotes the service call fee from a knowledge base, and dispatches the job ticket to the on-call technician before the customer hangs up.
This page is for AI voice agency operators serving locksmith companies. If you own a locksmith business, talk to a local agency. If you are the agency, the rest of this page is your playbook.
What a locksmith call flow actually looks like
Locksmith calls sort into five types: residential lockout, automotive lockout, commercial lockout, rekey or lock change, and safe or high-security hardware inquiry. The first three are emergency calls that happen at unpredictable hours and represent 55 to 70 percent of total monthly volume. Rekey and commercial inquiries are scheduled work, usually initiated during business hours. An AI agent handles all five call types, but the biggest win is the 30 to 40 percent of calls that arrive outside staffed hours, which most competitors are also missing. Being the only company that answers those calls is the entire competitive advantage.
Sample prompt template (drop-in)
You are the dispatch assistant for {{company_name}}, a licensed locksmith
serving {{service_area}}. You answer inbound calls and handle emergency
lockout dispatch, rekey scheduling, and service inquiries.
GUARDRAILS
- Never quote a final price without confirming lock type, location, and
service type. Quote from the service_fee_range KB.
- Never promise a technician is en route until the dispatch ticket is created.
Say "I am creating your dispatch ticket now."
- Do not handle billing disputes or complaints about prior work. Transfer
immediately with full context summary.
EMERGENCY LOCKOUT (residential or commercial)
1. Confirm full service address.
2. Property type: house, apartment, commercial unit.
3. Lock type if known (deadbolt, knob, smart lock, padlock).
4. Is the customer safely on site? If in a high-risk location at night,
flag as urgent in the ticket.
5. Quote fee from service_fee_range KB: residential {{res_fee_low}} to
{{res_fee_high}}, commercial {{com_fee_low}} to {{com_fee_high}}.
6. Dispatch via dispatch_job with urgency=high.
7. Provide ETA window from technician_queue KB.
8. Confirm callback number.
AUTOMOTIVE LOCKOUT
1. Vehicle year, make, model.
2. Location.
3. Keys locked inside, or lost/broken key? (Broken key extraction uses
higher fee tier.)
4. Quote automotive fee. Dispatch with vehicle_type flagged.
REKEY / LOCK CHANGE
1. Reason: just moved, lost key, security concern, upgrade.
2. Number of locks, property type.
3. Preferred appointment window.
4. Confirm: technician assesses on arrival and confirms final price
before work begins.
5. Book via book_appointment.
TONE
- Calm and efficient. Customer may be stressed.
- Always confirm the service address spoken back before ending.
- Never say "I cannot help" without giving an alternative or transfer.Realistic call transcript snippet
Agent: Thanks for calling Keystone Locksmith, this is Jordan. What is going on tonight?
Caller: Yeah hi, I locked my keys in my car in the Target parking lot on Oak Street, it is almost 11pm.
Agent: Got you, I will get someone out there. Quick info: year, make, and model of the car?
Caller: 2021 Toyota Camry, black.
Agent: And the keys are inside the car, not lost or broken, correct?
Caller: Yes, I can see them on the seat.
Agent: That is a standard automotive lockout. Our fee is $110. You are at Target on Oak Street in Springfield, is that right?
Caller: Yes exactly.
Agent: Dispatching now. Estimated arrival 20 to 35 minutes. Stay near your car if it is safe. The technician will text you when 5 minutes out. Best callback number?
(agent collects number, dispatches ticket via webhook, call ends in under 90 seconds)
Compliance: TCPA for locksmith call handling
Locksmith operations are primarily inbound, which keeps TCPA exposure low. Customers calling a locksmith initiated the call, so no prior express consent is required. Key compliance items are: a recording disclosure in two-party-consent states (California, Illinois, Florida, Pennsylvania, Washington, and others); for any outbound follow-up campaigns (rekey reminders, past-customer promotions), documented prior express written consent and suppression against the national and state Do Not Call lists are required. See the Hermes TCPA guide for the outbound detail. Inbound-only locksmith deployments have minimal compliance risk.
Hermes vs DIY for a locksmith agency
| Capability | Hermes | DIY (Retell + GHL + Zapier + Stripe) |
|---|---|---|
| Time to first locksmith agent live | 72 hours | 3 to 6 weeks |
| After-hours dispatch without human | Native webhook to tech queue | Build dispatch integration from scratch |
| Emergency urgency routing | Prompt-level triage, native | Custom logic in Zapier or Make |
| White-label demo page | CNAME-bound, included | Build it yourself |
| Multi-client workspace billing | Native per-workspace P&L | Stripe Connect, custom build |
| Monthly cost at 8 locksmith clients | $399 Business + overage | $1,200 to $1,900 across vendors |
| Per-call transcript and replay | Built in, per workspace | Third-party call recording add-on |
ROI math for an independent locksmith operation
A busy independent locksmith runs 400 to 700 inbound calls per month. At a 25 percent miss rate, that is 100 to 175 missed calls. Emergency lockout tickets average $100 to $200; rekeys run $150 to $350. If the agent captures 60 percent of those missed calls and converts at 70 percent, that is 42 to 74 new tickets per month, or $4,200 to $14,800 in recovered monthly revenue. The agent pays for itself many times over before the end of month one. For margin math on what an agency charges and keeps, see the Hermes pricing page and the overview at Hermes for agencies.
Beta operator results
Placeholders for live beta operator results. We add real numbers as agencies complete 60-day runs.
- Beta operator A, 4-technician locksmith company, Texas: captured 38 percent more after-hours calls in month one, average ticket $147.
- Beta operator B, residential locksmith specialist, Ohio: eliminated full-time overnight dispatcher role, saving $2,800 per month in labor cost.
- Beta operator C, multi-location locksmith chain, Florida: reduced average dispatch intake time from 4 minutes to under 90 seconds per call.
FAQ
Can an AI voice agent handle emergency lockout calls for a locksmith?
Yes, and this is the highest-value use case for locksmith voice AI. Emergency lockout calls follow a predictable intake path: location, property type (residential or commercial), lock type if known, and whether the customer is safely on the property. The agent collects all of this in under 90 seconds, creates a dispatch ticket, and communicates an estimated arrival time based on the technician queue. For after-hours calls, which represent 30 to 40 percent of a locksmith's total volume, the agent routes to an on-call technician after completing intake so the tech arrives with full context rather than asking the same questions at the door.
What locksmith services can the agent book without human involvement?
Residential and automotive lockout triage, rekey scheduling, lock installation consultations, and safe opening inquiries are all automatable to the point of creating a confirmed job ticket. The agent cannot quote final prices for commercial jobs requiring site assessment, but it can quote the service call fee, collect vehicle year and make for automotive lockouts, confirm the service address, and dispatch a technician. Most locksmith companies load a standard fee range into the agent's knowledge base (residential $75 to $200, automotive $100 to $250) and the agent quotes from that range without needing human sign-off.
How many locksmith clients can one agency run on Hermes?
On Starter ($149 per month) you get 3 workspaces, so 3 locksmith companies. Business ($399) gets 7. Agency ($699) gets 20 workspaces with 2,000 included minutes pooled across all of them, overage at $0.24 per minute. Most agencies serving trade businesses land on Business or Agency tier. A typical locksmith client runs 400 to 800 inbound calls per month at 2 to 3 minutes average duration. At that volume, an Agency plan handles 6 to 8 locksmith clients within included minutes before overage applies, still well below what a live answering service costs.
What is the ROI of an AI voice agent for a locksmith company?
A busy locksmith operation misses 20 to 35 percent of inbound calls during peak hours and after hours. Each missed emergency lockout that goes to a competitor is a $100 to $400 lost ticket. A mid-size residential locksmith with 600 inbound calls per month and a 25 percent miss rate is losing 150 calls monthly. If 60 percent of those would have converted, that is 90 lost tickets, or $9,000 to $36,000 per month in recoverable revenue at typical ticket values. The agent pays for itself on the first captured lockout of the month.
How long does it take to deploy a locksmith voice agent on Hermes?
First live agent in 72 hours for most locksmith deployments. Day 1: configure the agent voice, emergency dispatch prompt, and service-type knowledge base covering lockout, rekey, installation, and safe services. Day 2: test calls across residential lockout, automotive lockout, commercial inquiry, and after-hours escalation scenarios. Day 3: go live via call-forward from the main line or direct number port. Agencies running their second locksmith client typically ship in under 24 hours because the dispatch prompt template and job-type knowledge base carry over with only address and price fields updated.
Run locksmith clients on Hermes
First agent live in 72 hours. White-label demo page on your own domain. From $149 per month.
Apply to the Founders' Beta