Thursday, April 16, 2009

Putting a name on your business or company

These days what you name your business is just as important as what your product is, be it a service or something more tangible. The name is how people know what you sell. You don’t want a name that you need to educate people about before they know what you are all about. Don’t waste the marketing money and time trying to sell the name when you can make the name sell you.

People are not interested in cool exotic names or unusual named companies; they want simple names that quickly identify what that company can do for them or sell to them. Does the name tell people what you do or sell? If not what is the point of the name? Are you going to have to spend fortune marketing or branding your name so people know what your company is about? Why put the effort into selling your company name when you could be spending your time marketing your product with the name. What is more important having an unusual name or one that tells people what your company is about?

How well do you know your product and your target market? You need a name that is connected to your product and appeals to your target market. You want to keep it simple and straight forward, easy to understand, say and remember. What good is a name that is hard to remember or say? You want to have people think of your company when they are looking for your services or product. If they don’t remember the name clearly they will move onto one that they do.

Put some real though and time into picking the name for your business or company. The easier it is to market the better.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Why make an appointment if you are not going to show up?



The problem with being in a business where people book your time is the no shows. People who book up your time and then don’t show up or call to cancel. You hold a time for them and waste your time waiting for them, losing money because you did not book someone else in. In the business world if you make an appointment you are expected to show up for it or call with an explanation. Why is it that so many people don’t show up and don’t call? It is like because I work out of my home and not an office it is not a business.


So again today I had two people book and not show up, no calls or anything. Now one of two things will happen, I will never hear from them again or they will show up late and expect me to drop everything and everyone to deal with them. It does not matter that I am not available; they will expect me to make myself available because they had an appointment with me. It does not matter to them that they are a ½ an hour or more late.


I just want to be treated with respect. If you are unable to make your appointment, call me and let me know why. If you don’t want to re-book that is fine but at least have the common courtesy to notify me of the change in plans. I run a business. Just because I run the business out of my home does not change the fact that it is a business. My time is valuable, just like any other professional’s time is valuable.