Question

Topic: Taglines/Names

Planning To Succeed

Posted by wclary on 4/30/2012 at 10:19 PM ET 375 Points
My company works in the areas employee benefits planning, estate planning and investment planning. Our target market are small businesses and individuals. Currently, my company name is Wilson Clary & Associates. I have been told by a consulting firm that my name needs to be dropped if I ever want to sell this company. Since our company focuses on a number of areas, I have become frustrated with renaming our company and developing a tagline that encompasses our passion in what we do and our client focused approach. We are considering the following:
Main Street Financial
Your Success is Our Passion
Please advise if you have any suggestions for me.
Wilson
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RESPONSES

  • Posted by Gail@PUBLISIDE on 4/30/2012 at 11:03 PM Accepted
    Main Street Financial is simple and memorable if it applies (no reason to apply a "hidden meaning.").

    You may also consider (City/Area) Financial Planning with a tagline "Monetary plans for your future"
  • Posted by CarolBlaha on 5/1/2012 at 2:07 AM Accepted
    I agree with Monarch. There is no reason to change your name. It is a solid name, and all the suggestions you provide detract from this.

    Your consultant is not taking into consideration the goodwill of your name. Your name is on the door-- that implies you take responsibility. Main Street Financial could be Joe the Plumber giving advice. There are other ways to build your brand. Leave the name alone. If/when you sell, let the new owner make his choice.

  • Posted by michael on 5/1/2012 at 9:10 AM Accepted
    That's probably not really great advice. Are you already thinking about selling?
  • Posted by Peter (henna gaijin) on 5/1/2012 at 12:11 PM Accepted
    I agree with the others that a name change may not be required.

    There are risks to a name change. Talked about before is whether the new name says what you want in a way that customers will like. But also a risk to the brand equity you have built up under your new name, and losing that if you go to a new name.

    There are also plenty of examples of companies with family names that moved beyond the family to be a company that people don't connect with the founders any more. Ford Motors and Toyota are two examples. And many of the large law or accounting firms have names on the door of partners who are no longer part of the firm.
  • Posted by mgoodman on 5/1/2012 at 12:32 PM Accepted
    Without understanding the whole situation, my knee-jerk reaction is that you really don't need to go through all that a name change will entail. Maybe your consultant knows something we don't know.

    If it were my company, I'd focus on doing the best possible job of understanding the target audience, positioning and marketing our services, and delivering remarkable results for our clients. Those are the things that will make your company valuable to a prospective buyer ... and to you, if you decide not to sell.

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