Your business name is too long!

[Wolfy Trax]

I am planning to expand my business and have been meeting with a SCORE counselor. He told me I should consider shortening my business name.

Simply shortening my name would have my business being named the same as another massage business in a city about 50 miles away.

So, if I did change it, I would have little choice but to totally change the name.

Of course, my other option is just to do nothing and keep it as it is.

Please give me your opinions.

 

[Fossa]

Your business name is too long!

and your business name is ???????. Shortened to ?????

 

[Laetizia]

Your business name is too long!

The name of my practice is "Massage Works" - because it does. There are many practices throughout the US & Canada with the very same name. There's no confusion over who is who around here. It might be different with your area, but, around here, clients rarely care what someone else's business name is the next county over. fwiw

 

[Silent]

Your business name is too long!

My business has a very long name, but can be shortened conversationally. My score cousellor said the same thing. But she was wrong about several items, so go with your gut.

 

[Answer King]

Your business name is too long!

Here is an example of a name.

Twin Rivers Wellness Spot

Wellness Spot is used by another business in my state.

What if we just answered the phone by saying, "Wellness Spot"

What if the name location stayed part of the real part of the name, but we always refer to it as the Wellness Spot? Can that be done?

 

[s0LuT1oN]

Your business name is too long!

Leave the name as is.

 

[Deaner 2.0]

Your business name is too long!

Yes, either leave it, or even Twin Rivers Wellness. Don't capitulate to society's mass ADD! If they can't spare the half second to hear the rest of your name, then oh well!

 

[stephannie1202]

Your business name is too long!

Here is an example of a name.

Twin Rivers Wellness Spot

Wellness Spot is used by another business in my state.

What if we just answered the phone by saying, "Wellness Spot"

What if the name location stayed part of the real part of the name, but we always refer to it as the Wellness Spot? Can that be done?

I think it is hard to say... is this an example of a name, or your business name? It may depend on what it actually "sounds" like... and not what the example sounds like, if that makes sense.

If you aren't comfortable with putting the info here, possibly consider putting this thread in the "Private" Section.

 

[Riley S:)]

Your business name is too long!

It doesn't matter if it is the real deal or just an example. I am the one who would ultimately decide if a name change will take place. I just wanted the pros and cons, some discussion, and to see if anyone else had ever done such a thing.

 

[natalie.anastasakis]

Your business name is too long!

I can't think of any benefits to changing the name of a well-established business, outside of an actual change to the type of business being done. When a business changes the name, there is a question of why that happened. Did something go wrong? Did they change owners? Was there a legal problem? If I was to change mine, it would be to reflect additional services - which would probably mean making the name longer, lol.

 

[kimmy]

Your business name is too long!

It doesn't matter if it is the real deal or just an example. I am the one who would ultimately decide if a name change will take place. I just wanted the pros and cons, some discussion, and to see if anyone else had ever done such a thing.

OK... but it's hard to give pros & cons, not understanding fully "how it sounds"... but then, that's just my opinon. We all have them, right?

I may be misunderstanding, but why wouldn't you ultimately decide? Did I suggest you would not, or am I overly sensitive to your most recent post?

From your original posts in this thread, I was unable to pick up that your question was not about shortening/re-naming your business according to "your" business, but that you wanted discussion about changing business names, generically. *oops*

I'll try to return later to expand on business name changes. I have gone through a name change in the past.

 

[A soldiers wife]

Your business name is too long!

It doesn't matter if it is the real deal or just an example. I am the one who would ultimately decide if a name change will take place. I just wanted the pros and cons, some discussion, and to see if anyone else had ever done such a thing.

If you are considering contracting the existing name, you can do so without actually changing the existing business name. Use the formal name on official documents, but you can test-run various contractions when answering the phone, in e-mails, in conversations, etc. Consider the following:

Formal Name: Twin Rivers Wellness Spot

some possible contractions:
Twin Rivers Wellness
Wellness Spot
TR Wellness Spot
TR Wellness
Rivers Wellness Spot
Rivers Wellness

and some variations that people will immediately understand, even if the formal name remains the same:
Twin Rivers Massage
Twin Rivers Bodywork
TR Massage
TR Bodywork
Rivers Massage
Rivers Bodywork
etc.....

Hope that helps!

 

[Pompal 09.]

Your business name is too long!

You could also use an acronym if appropriate. My internet business name is The Other Side of the Sun, in conversation, web address etc we use TOSOTS. Sometimes it takes a little explaining, but most people "get" it.

Our web address used to be "evans-lambert.com" and some customers still call us that, even tho the business name has always been The Other Side of the Sun.

I think in the end it doesn't matter how long your real business name is, people use what they want. Did the SCORE advisor give you a reason? I just don't get it. I could see if there was a change of management, serious change of services etc, but just because a name is too long? t017 If you are expanding from a massage only practice, to something that encompasses much more (yoga, chiro whatever) It might make sense to change the name to include that refelction, ie Peacenut Massage to Peacenut Wellness for example.

With the information I have, I would say, leave it be.

 

[James K]

Your business name is too long!

I say leave it be - especially if you have an established clientele. It is just one person's opinion that you change it and counsellors are not always right! Has it been a problem on the phone so far?

However, I second the person (sorry, too lazy to look back) who said that Twin Rivers might be one thing, but if your business name is different, we might have a different opinion.

 

[Kns0509]

Your business name is too long!

Does your State have an Office of Secretary of State or a Corporation Commission who are involved in facilitating lists of "registered" trade and business names? If so, they would have good final answers to naming questions.

True story! Here in AZ, there is an Office of Secretary of State that will work to document your trade name ("... not legally required in AZ but is an accepted business practice...."). I wanted to register the name "Arizona Bodyworks". I was told NO DICE, because the name "bodyworks" was already registered by someone else, and that a location notation (in this case, "arizona") is presumed. Hence, to their view "Arizona Bodyworks" is the same as "Bodyworks". Same holds true for "Scottsdale Bodyworks" or "Phoenix Bodyworks". The explaination given to me was that a customer would be led to believe that MY business (Arizona Bodyworks) is the Arizona branch of an existing registered business (Bodyworks). The Sec. of State office did not want that kind of misleading happening to people. I wound up registering the name as I only was allowed to ...... "Arizona Bodyworks by Fred Smith", with my name being Fred Smith (my name isn't really Fred Smith, but you get the point). I was told that putting my name on it distinguished the "Arizona/Bodyworks" name far enough away from the registered name of "Bodyworks".

Maybe some of the truths of this story apply directly to your situation. My suspicion is that if there is already a business in operation within your state, that THEY have final rights to the business name, even if located physically far away from where you are. If you used their business name here and now, suppose you expand your business one day into their neighborhood.... what then? Secretary of State office, best place to really start asking for naming guidelines.

 

[Mark aka jack573]

Your business name is too long!

For what it is worth, my business was around before the second one and I did register my business name with the state. I don't know if they other place registered theirs.

For the time being, I am not going to worry about changing my name. Eventually, though, we may just keep the last part of our name in print only. In the example givien, the dropped word would be 'spot.'

 

[Dana]

Your business name is too long!

Good choice peacenut. I don't think the name is too long and as pointed out it can be abbreviated. To TRW. =D

Longer names are more interesting and distinctive.