051 The Invisible Touch – Choose A Name, Not A Paragraph
The Second Key: Brand
Many of my friends in the service business, especially where partnerships are created, have problems with their company names.
I'll pick on one of my friends (my attorney) and at the same time give her some publicity.
They Work Hard And Want Their Name On The Door
My friend's name is Virgie Vakil. Her law firm name is Kelly Grimes Pietrangelo & Vakil
Can you imagine what it sounds like to a new person when she gets up in a meeting and introduces herself as "Virgie Vakil, Kelly Grimes Pietrangelo & Vakil"? By the time she has said the whole name, people have forgotten HER name.
And her name is unusual enough.
How many Virgies do you know? Believe me, this is ONE CLASSY WOMAN – when you meet her, you'll remember her! And you might remember her last name too: Vakil (va KEEL).
And Virgie has a terrific background – she was a nurse and now specializes in family law. Don't you just feel that her "caring level" will be much higher than a lot of other lawyers? Believe me, it is.
She pairs her legal knowledge with the "bedside manner" she learned as a nurse and is one sharp, empathetic person… even though her partnership name is more like a paragraph than a name.
But I defy anyone meeting her for the first time to remember her name and the name of her practice when she gets in front of a room to introduce herself.
When Introducing Yourself, Your Company Name Often Means Nothing
Truth be told, when we introduce ourselves in public or in writing, our names and our company names mean almost nothing.
Get people interested in YOU and then they'll be begging for your name.
(OK… if you said you were from Disney or Microsoft or Apple or the Pew Foundation, THOSE names might mean something… but usually our own name and our company names mean little or nothing – at first.)
Sometimes I go the other direction – I'm so enthusiastic about what I'm saying when I introduce myself that I FORGET to say my name, which I almost ALWAYS leave for the end. I want to say WHO I am and WHAT I'm doing and THEN tell them my name.
And "Charlie" is enough – I want to give them enough information so they can find me across the crowded room and know what to call me when they ask me for more information.
And though my full name is Charles F. Seymour Jr, I dropped the middle initial except for legal documents. My theory is this: people can remember THREE things: Sammy Davis Jr, Robert Downey Jr, Charlie Seymour Jr… add one more thing to remember, and they'll say Sammy F Davis or Robert F Downey or Charles F Seymour (and that's my Dad, not ME!).
So… while you'll want to select a good name for your company, use it sparingly – let it mean something to other people before you start leading with it. Use a good headline, ask some good questions, get involved with solving someone's challenges and THEN use your company name – you'll get more business that way!
Best,
Charlie Seymour Jr
Blogging, Podcasting, Consulting
The Invisible Touch – A Marketing Blog Series By Charles Seymour Jr
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Charlie Seymour Jr is an entrepreneurial evangelist and marketing-success coach helping individuals and companies (up to $100MM) explode their success through online and direct-response marketing. He specializes in blogging, podcasting, photography, video, and Facebook applications. Visit his blog at http://bit.ly/24eYTO to learn more about his successes.
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Fallacies of Marketing
051 The Invisible Touch – Choose A Name, Not A Paragraph
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