Should I change my company name..

[Captain Morgan]

or leave it alone?

A little history: ACME Carpet & Upholstery Cleaning was started 30 years ago and I bought it in May 07 after several years in decline due to owners health problems and lack of interest in keeping the business going.. some addition information can be found in my response to Jimmy Ladwig calling me out. See William Morgan posted last week.

I think the name is so neutral and bland that it doesn't conjure and positive imagery to a prospective customer's mind.. like Crystal Clear Carpet Care, All Bright Cleaning & Restoration or something like that. Most often I get... "Oh ACME.. like the Coyote and Roadrunner? Thats funny.. he always blew up of fell over the cliff.. that ACME stuff never worked.."

If I could get some ideas as to the Pro's and Con's with changing the name that would be helpful. If anyone needs additional information about the business, how the previous owner ran his business vs. how I am now, etc.. which might help sway their decision I'd be happy to share it ..

It's obvious I don't care much for the name but don't just tell me what I want to hear. I can live with it if I felt there are compelling reasons to keep it or enough confirming reasons to dump it.

Thanks for your help.
Bill Morgan

 

[XTREME1]

You already have a very recognizable name, why not use it to your advantage. Use similar pictures to wiley and roadrunner getting along after Roadrunner got his carpets cleaned or just use the name with a TNT picture saying don't use acme dynamite on your carpets use acme carpet cleaning

 

[John Buxton]

I'd think long and hard before I threw away a 30 year name recognition. Had a big HVAC company ARS come into town and buy up several smaller HVAC's that have been around for 20-30 years. It hurt them.

 

[Royal Man]

The roadrunner image is a good suggestion. I just wondered if it is likely to be trademarked?

 

[Chads]

I'd say change that name and get good new one people like new and if its like you said the people before you have ran the name down quite a bit you have to work three times harder to get the reputation back just keep the old number and send out letters to all you existing carpet customers with your intent and introducing your new name to them I would change it after what you told me about young kid working just for a little beer money and not really caring about what work they do. Good luck

 

[White-Magic rebuilder]

Simple solution:

Call it...

Morgan-Acme Carpet Care.

Rolls off the tongue easily and sounds distinguished IMO.

Rob.

 

[bob vawter]

Don forget to get a horn...BEEP BEEP!

Use it.....it's a good name!

 

[Spurling]

I say keep the old name ... start a new name and phrase it like "High Quality Carpet Cleaning" (by ACME) .. send out reminders re-introducing the new name ..then let the name Acme phase out in 3 yrs ... if you dump the name now ... it will be like starting over with no credibility.

 

[truckmount girl]

My inclination, with the history and the problems associated with the name is to scrap it and start new. It's just not a very evocative name anyway and doesn't make someone think of clean or good products.

Tell us something about your business, equipment and business plan and we'll probably be able to come up with a great name for you.

Take care,
Lisa

 

[encapman]

Acme is not a great name. It doesn't say anything about YOU. It is an old school common business name. I wouldn't really want it. Especially if it is connected with a bad track record.

On the flip side, Acme has a 30 year position in the market place. And as mentioned above, you could do some creative stuff with it.

Why not have 2 business names???

Keep Acme, and start a new dba. It costs next to nothing to set up a new business name. The bank will be happy to accept funds from as many names as you have legally registered with the state or county govt. If it were me I'd invent a new name and keep running both.

But before you spend one more minute thinking about this, you MUST read this book. It will help you beyond belief...

"The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding"
http://www.amazon.com/22-Immutable-Laws-Branding/dp/0060007737/ref=bxgy_cc_b_img_b

Keep thinking!




.

 

[Captain Morgan]

name change?

Thank you to those who have replied so far, I appreciate your arguments for and against.. and I've been struggling with whether I should change it since I purchased last year.

The arguments of name recognition are valid and there is a trademark issue to deal with. The owner did paint up the side of his van with a coyote holding a wand vacuuming up the dust of a roadrunner trying to get away. I asked the owner about trademark infringement.. all he would say was that they were different. He wouldn't elaborate as to how. He just said if you look at Warner Brother's versions and what was on the van, they were different.

That flip answer didn't make me feel good. About a week after the sale, I was talking with a newspaper ad rep and he told me about a hair dresser who's business name was Scissors of OZ, no pictures or any other reference to Dorothy and the movie. She got a nasty letter from AOL Time Warner's legal department. Her attorney suggested she rename her business. The next day I removed the images of Coyote and Roadrunner.

My father is against the name change saying even though it's been beat down, it's better to rebuild than start over from scratch. He suggests advertise, advertise and advertise to rebuild the name and reputation. Unfortunately, the former owners reputation was low budget, low cost and so so service. Some older customers who I've been able to get back, said that his quality of work (or his kids) went downhill too. He wasn't even using cleaning agents.. just hot water. He told me that detergents were the worst thing for carpets and just a gimmick by distributors to steal from carpet cleaners. :shock: Maybe some of that is true :wink:

ACME is very recognizable to older people and retirees. I like the ideas of letters to customers about pending name change, the 3 yr phase out idea or adding my name to help merge/associate me into the business identity. This are all REALLY helpful suggestions.

Keep them coming..

 

[encapman]

But before you spend one more minute thinking about this, you MUST read this book. It will help you beyond belief...

"The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding"
http://www.amazon.com/22-Immutable-Laws-Branding/dp/0060007737/ref=bxgy_cc_b_img_b

Keep thinking!

Read the dang book!
Nuff said.



.

 

[steve g]

I say change it, i think most carpet cleaners suck at naming their business, I think its a mistake to name the business with any part of your name in it, JMO of course

 

[Spurling]

when you re-introduce your company, you should express not only your name change , but the new way you do business or new style of cleaning or type of service experience they should expect..include a good guarantee..if the ex-Acme Man cleaned with no interest, clients will remember that..so if you offer something above and beyond ACME MAN ..you will at least get 1 more shot to impress.
As for heavily advertising .. becareful.. we have a double page in the yellow pages and we get more work from referrals than we do from the book. Ill never do the book again.. offer any and everyone 10% for referring your company. go clean someones family room in exchange for 3 referrals.. this way they see what type of job they're referring.. we have people referring us that we've never even met ..they have just heard about us..
As for a guarantee..we offer a 30 day and that alone blows peoples minds..they have actually said, "Wow, you must be good with that kind of guarantee."
Good Luck!

 

[diamond brian]

As a fellow carpet cleaner whose company has a stale, generic, and all-around unimpressive name, I'd say keep it.

If you project the right image and take care of your customers, the name doesn't matter much.

I like Greg's idea of the Roadrunner/Coyote.

 

[ScottM]

Personally, I would keep the name or start using a new name with the old name and do the three year phase out. We did change our name 9 years ago and it wasn't easy. But either way, you should advertise all of the changes.............

New Owners, New Process, etc. Talk positive and focus on the things your customer wants to know, not what you think they should now.

Also, google the Wizard of Ads. Any of Roy Williams' books will give you a lot of insight into your customers and building your business.

 

[truckmount girl]

Describe your business, ideally, in 10 years:

Residential, commercial, restoration, rugs, owner operator, multi-truck, what kind of equipment, etc.

Then let's take it from there while you read Rick's book.

Take care,
Lisa

 

[Scottie]

All
Clean by
Morgan
Enterprises

8)

 

[Spurling]

All
Certified
Men
Employed

 

[Captain Morgan]

business name change

Geesh Rick, calm down, I ordered the book.. should have it in a couple days

Thanks again everybody!!

 

[Scott]

I liked "The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding"

I LOVED "Killer Brands"

Scott

 

[D.Layman]

Keep the name, but maybe change what it stands for as others have alluded to.

Assured Cleaning & Mitigation Experts

(incase you ever want to get into water damage mitigation and whenever you get a chance to save a carpet before it's to late, your in essence mitigating the damage to the carpet and restoring it.........)

The "A" can stand for many things;
Applied
Absolute
etc, etc, etc.........

 

[Guest]

Since you are new, you may not have alot invested into letter head, cards, brochures ect. But maybe you do. My point is what is the cost to create a new name/image. Maybe your gut is leading you on the correct path, maybe not. You can have a great name but if your image and message is poor it wont matter what your name is.

A simple fix would be to change Acme to A-1 as this would keep you in the front of yellow pages ( if you use them )and also give the appearance of being the best.

 

[Captain Morgan]

changing business name

You guys have some terrific ideas... it's making my job a lot harder but I'm cool with that.

John : I don't have a ton of money invested into letterhead, business cards or brochures but I'm getting low and need to reorder. I don't have a company logo, my business cards were made at Staples and they used a stock image of a guy cleaning a overstuffed chair.. black/white stock image; Royal Blue, Maroon and Black print with only a couple font sizes, italics, etc for the body of the biz card. The cards are a little flimsy and they can't seem to cut them centered worth a damn, but they are a huge step up from before. I'm going to ax the stock image and put my picture on them, go with a heavier stock and probably do front and back with a "free trial offer" of some sort as someone suggested to do to either get in the door, create some buzz or in exchange for some referrals. Something to get people thinking about giving me a shot. And go to a printer who can get the job done right.

the owner only advertised the phone number in the Yellow Pages. It's nice to be at the top of the yellow pages. I booked 2 appointments yesterday from people just going through the phone book.. I think that was just plain luck. But I know its not cost effective and people don't use the yellow pages like they used to.

My sense of urgency to keep, modify or scrap the business name is because I don't want to spend the time, money and energy printing cards, brochures, a web site just to change everything 6-12 months from now.

Diamond Brian: Mr. Jackson.. with all due respect I don't think your company name is stale or generic. Diamond Care Specialist.. Maybe it should be Diamond Carpet or Floor Care Specialists so people don't mistake you for a jewelry repair shop.. But the word diamond has a powerful image associated with it... DeBeers has done a wonderful job of marketing the value, rarity and quality diamonds are compared to other gem stones. I would have to say those are the qualities many people will associate with your company when they see your name in print, even if they haven't a clue what kind of a cleaner you are. I'll trade names with you.. you can ACME which brings cartoon characters to mind and I'll take Diamond for all the reasons I mentioned off your hands.

I did heavy advertising about the business changing hands "new owners, new management etc. but calls from that ad stopped after about 3 months so I changed to a smaller classified ad to keep a presence in the newspaper but I haven't gotten a single call from anyone who says they've seen my ad in the paper. I guess I've got to back to the bigger sized ad and/or as some have mentioned, advertise how I'm different.

I average about $.35 sq. ft. for residential but I work my ass off and give people their moneys worth and then some. I did come up with a business motto which is on my cards, letterhead, brochures "When Quality & Service Matter Most" I'm not married to this either but I think I accurately describes how I conduct my business. I'm a firm believer of under promise and over deliver.

The other owner charged mainly by room price but was charging about $.18 sq. ft. for residential when I broke down some of his numbers from old accounts. That's probably why he couldn't afford chemicals or to maintain his equipment and evolved into a splash and dash cleaner from what old customers have told me. Older customers who call for a quotes are quick to point out how much cheaper the previous owner was... 4-5 years ago when they last cleaned their carpets. I explain what and how I do things differently, my guarantee etc.. and why I'm worth more. Some don't care and are just looking for the cheapest guy around. That's not the clientele I'm looking for.

I want upper and middle class customers and I don't think ACME projects that image. I kind of like the ideas of turning the name into an acronym as some have suggested to give it a more polished image and better desciption of my range of services all the while maintaining the old name

Lisa aka truckmount girl.. do you want me to PM to you my vision of where I want to be in 10 years or post it here in this thread? I'm trying to give bits and pieces of info about the old business and what I've done or am trying to do to help answer some excellent questions people have raised but I have a HUGE tendency to ramble and get off the subject.. so I will apologize right now if I've given anyone a migraine

Thank you everyone!!

 

[truckmount girl]

Post it here William.

Take care,
Lisa

 

[Desk Jockey]

We had a local bar that was sued for using a Coyote that looked very similar to the WB Coyote.

I think you're wise not to use it, they have deep pockets!

While it would be an attention getter, it not worth wasting money defending it.

I would phase it out using the combo name....shhh!

But don't listen to me, we're so creative with our companies name!

 

[bob vawter]

Acme...General.....National are all Sid an' Sal generic names.....

Don make me 'splain that to ya.....!

 

[Captain Morgan]

business name change

Hi Bob,

I understand ACME is about as vanilla as it gets with General, National, etc. Sounds to me like you are in favor of modifying it some way as others have suggested. Can you share your ideas?

 

[bob vawter]

Well i'll try, although sometimes i can't decide what to has for breakfast.....it is of MY opinion that a company name should include the owner...thus creating a personal TRUST between you an' Mrs Phif.....

When they call Sears...they don talk to Mr Sears do they? You'll get 20% MORE work if you jus put YOR name in front of the name of the company...for example....my company is called:

BOB VAWTER'S
MR STEAMCLEAN



There he go's that's Mr Bob.......

 

[Guest]

Send me an email info@bonnetpro.com. We have a great business card. Full color image on a magnet and they where not that much money. When I get back to my office tomorrow I will look for the box and try and give you a phone number. They have a great stock image taken from the stairs overlooking a nice living room. I believe you can go on line to fill in the info you would like on the card ( good time to change the name ) I think they where around $ 200 for 500 magnet cards. I have used them 2x now and have been very satisfied.