Rick or whoever can help.

My company name is AFTERGLOW and was read past post on having a name that is catchy (if this is a word). I used to have a business called PC Doctor when I was in business repairing computers and that was a name that got me business. I started the carpet business 2.5 years ago and feel that the name is not working. I am struggling to get the business off the ground. Just started using Cimex about 5 months ago and it is a little better than the HWE porty, much better cleaning. I really like the name Rick uses (Kleestep) I was discussing this with my wife and being as smart as she is said ask Rick. Wow everybody knows Rick. I am going to change the name After to Tax year 2006. Maybe some help with a catchy name?


Thanx :~}
MA

Afterglow Services
Commercial & Residential Carpet Care

Name means nothing compared to level of service. the original name of my co. was (and still is) U.S. Steam - been a long time since I steam cleaned a carpet. Use powerful headlines in your ads and great copy - buold a great reputation and people will call regardless of your company name. Unless you are PC doctor carpet cleaning lol!
Good luck
Bob

Bob makes a GREAT point - "powerful headlines in your ads and great copy" is what's most important. That's absolutely essential. But keep in mind that ALL the pieces work together. And a good brand-able name can be become more powerful than you may presently recognize.

Our original cleaning companies name was Pioneer Building Maintenance which we later shortened to Pioneer Maintenance, Inc. Pioneer Maintenance was a fine name - BUT it didn't make the phone ring. After reading the book "The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding" I saw that my name would never be brand-able. So I brainstormed and came up with the name Kleenstep. I wouldn't have guessed that a name could have as much of an effect as the new name had. But I quickly learned that our name Kleenstep, was more important than I had ever imagined it could be.

Think about it for a moment. What brands do you choose? We’re all more brand name conscious than we probably realize. I use a bank called Mercantile Bank - would you consider going to a bank called Joe Poindexter's Bank? Would you consider driving a car called Smith's Sports Car? Would you use a toothpaste called Professional Tooth Cleaning Paste? You see brands do matter. We buy brands like Closeup, Bandaid, Jello, Shake-n-Bake, Tide Outback, Chips Ahoy, Green Giant, FedEx, etc. Names identify the product.

If you'll do yourself the service of reading "The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding" you'll learn information that will help you more than you can imagine. I read the book over a long weekend when my wife and I and some friends were on a camping trip. At the outset I had no intention of going through the hassle of choosing and implementing a new name for our well established company. But by the end of the weekend, I couldn't wait to get home so that I could start working on setting up our new company name. It's not like I was hankering to spend time and money on a new name for no good reason - trust me there WAS a GOOD REASON for doing it. The results quickly made themselves manifest as soon as I began marketing with a good brand-able name.

So kick the name thing around some. "The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding" may just help you to transform your business like it did for us.




Rick Gelinas
encapman

Mark: on a side note, if you think the Cimex does better than the porty, you should see the Challenger on resi carpet -vs- a porty. OP cleaning is outstanding from my experiences...i finally have confidence cleaning resi. was never satisfied with it b4.

thanx --- Derek.

Rick is so right on this one.
since we have changed our company names
we have recieved better responce to our ads.

We have also made it a practice to put our faces in all advertisments
when ever possable. Countless times we have heard people say "I figured if you put your pictue in that Ad you must be honest enought to clean for us"

I named my business after an employer I worked for back in the 1960's- who was the most successful single owner-operator I knew.

I call my business- Heacocks Custom Cleaning Service. Immediately that will eliminate the potential lowball folks that would call "Heacocks Discount Cleaners", and gives the idea of top quality work. I used my name because it was ME who would be in charge, whether I did the work or sent employees to do it.

My business model was the top quality customers seeking the very best company to do the best work on the best goods.

It certainly worked for me. Might work for you.

The main drawback to a personal name is that is hard to sell when the time comes.

Naming a business can be the key to success or failure, so it should be descriptive. A customer of mine who is one of the largest booksellers in the country- Powell's Books- describes who and what, immediately.

But a restaurant in town has the name- "Veritable Quandary" while still open after 3 or 4 years, is struggling to stay open, and on the verge of failure all the time.

A friend in town calls his cleaning business- "Carpet Man".

An e-mail friend who had called his business- "Under Pressure Carpet Cleaners" struggled for 2 or 3 years, finally went out of business. I told him it was not a good business name, but he liked it and kept it, because his machine had a lot of cleaning pressure.

Gary

I use WET LOOK FLOORS by Fales Enterprises and get good callS about what do.



SLOW JOE

we learned the good and bad with ours:
The Blind Cleaning Company
We started out doing ultrasonic blind cleaning then expanded into cleaning everything else.

we had people call, "do you hire the blind?", "If you have blind employees, how do they know thier doing a good job?", "do you only clean blinds?", etc.

Altho with our unique logo and orange tye-dye shirts, once we worked for you, you remembered us, And alot of our calls came as "are you the ones with the funny lookin guy holding the blind on your vans?"

Brian

Ah, yes, we recently learned the vital importance of a good company name!

What we've been using up till now as a company name is: "The World's Best Locally Based Corporation for Locating, Analyzing, Chemically Emulsifying, Agitating, Utterly Flushing and Thereby Absolutely Eradicating Any Unwanted, Unwarranted, Unwelcome, Unhealthy and Unappetizing Particles of Soil, Stickiness, Sewage, Filth, Foulnesss, Fuzz, Goo, Gum, Grease, Pathogens & Probematical Proteins, Dirt, Droppings, Dust and All Assorted Anomalies from Textile Surfaces Used to Cover Flooring or Furniture"

It's been suggested in no uncertain terms to us that the name is terrible - apparently it's way too long and goes into too much unnecessary detail. I'm able to take a hint, I know what I need to do.

You see, if your customers don't like your company name, they may just call your competition, so you have to be keenly alert to this kind of thing. Call it a sixth sense, an ability to 'read their minds' almost. Some of us just 'get it', I guess. You are either born with this innate sense of what customers want to hear, or you don't - it can't be cultivated. Trust me on this.

From now on we're shortening our name to just the initials: "TWBLBCFLACEAUFATAEAUUUUUAUPOSSSFFFGGGPPPDDDAAAAFTSUTCFOF"

So now that we've solved that little issue, my only remaining problem is coming up with a catchy jingle for our radio ads that will use the name and make it really sing....y'know what I mean???

I'm really hoping you guys and gals can help us come up with a good tagline for the song...you know, something like: "And like a good neighbor, TWBLBCFLACEAUFATAEAUUUUUAUPOSSSFFFGGGPPPDDDAAAAFTSUTCFOF's there..."

or: "You deserve a break today, so get up and get away to TWBLBCFLACEAUFATAEAUUUUUAUPOSSSFFFGGGPPPDDDAAAAFTSUTCFOF"

or: "I am stuck on TWBLBCFLACEAUFATAEAUUUUUAUPOSSSFFFGGGPPPDDDAAAAFTSUTCFOF, cuz TWBLBCFLACEAUFATAEAUUUUUAUPOSSSFFFGGGPPPDDDAAAAFTSUTCFOF's stuck on me"