I am trying to decide on a name for my business.
I am currently leaning towards the following 3 names and love to hear the opinions of the seasoned pros.
CMF pressure washing
Under pressure exterior cleaning
CYS ( clean your stuff) pressure washing. I obviously would not include what CYS stands for it would just be for me to know and something to tell of I’m asked.
TBH, none of them are particularly catchy or memorable. If you’re actually putting thought into it, then you’re on the right track. You want it to be something that you can tie to your logo/color scheme/etc. If you have growth/diversification plans, make it something you can easily adapt to other potential market segments.
Think of something prominent in your area. A landmark, a popular nickname for your area, etc. That clues potential customers that you are near that spot/area. There’s nothing wrong with the names you are thinking of, but I don’t believe any of them are catchy unless you come up with a slogan that builds that stick factor.
Under pressure exterior cleaning…let us take take that load off your shoulders
CMF…for when it needs to be Clean AF. Depending on your market this likely won’t be fly af either.
Keep playing with something and you’ll figure it out.
What name will be the easiest to find on line and remember? What does it says about you? What’s the message you are sending ? Check also on your state business website for names available. The website name also to be available.
Thank you all for the input.
Names are tough. I always think of how the name would sound if the company went much bigger and across regions. Probably not a big worry this line of work. But professionalism sells. Honestly still working on my name also. Catchy isn’t cutting it for me. They make sense to me but to others it could be misleading. Leaning towards using my last name and the basic pressure/soft wash variants.
I don’t like the gimmick-y names. Things like E-Z clean or Clean Your Stuff. Makes you sound very green and unknowledgeable. Still with something more basic. I like CMF Pressure Washing. I don’t know what CMF is but it makes you sound more professional and for lack of a better word, timeless.
My 2 cents
Hard to go wrong with something basic like AAA Power Wash. Then list your business in the phone book and you’d be right near the top of the list. That is, as long as no one else has that name already.
AAAA is way better.
I see your AAAA and I raise you to AAAAA.
CMF would simply be my initias
MISDEAL! A deck only has 4 As…
I guess my 2 cents would again be think a lot about where you see things going.
Our example: The company was started as a softwash company, but quickly added interior window cleaning which spawned maid services. That was a big headache and was sold off. We added Christmas lights for the offseason (under a different company name initially), but got a huge bump when we went to using the recognizable name. We’re looking to add services along those lines, so our Lighting Company subsidiary will sort of be a stand alone entity for the time being, apart from our Pro Wash side.
That said, marketing research says (granted, this is what I’m told, not my own first-hand knowledge) that people remember best when a color is paired with an object. It’s worked well for us anyway, in a lot of different service iterations. It also helps if you can tie your stuff to your company’s “why” as well, but that’s getting waay into nerdy territory, which is admittedly where I thive, lol.
CITYWIDE POWERWASHING.
it’s generic enough to move with you if you leave the city or state.
I had to change my name from DC Brock Window Cleaning to DC Brock Exterior Cleaning, but somewhat regretting it now as some people think I just do outs only on windows.
I could have done DC Brock Services LLC but again, doesn’t really give an idea what I offer.
What is this ‘phone book’ you speak of? That was a tactic back in the 90’s.
And it still works today. So does newspaper ads. I did over $10k in work in one neighborhood from a single call from a newspaper ad I ran last year. This year I’ve spent $0.00 on advertising and nearly doubled last year’s gross. The old school tactics still work fine because there are still old school people in our world. Too many people have been suckered into believing that they must spend money on ads, websites, SEO, etc. to get business when it’s just not true. It helps but it’s not necessary either.
We’ve gone by word of mouth for our first season of washing and it worked out great. We didn’t spend a penny on any type of advertising, outside of a decal on the truck. I don’t think I’ll spend any money next season either.
@Cory as for the business name, I went with an abbreviated version of my last name and put pressure works behind it. Went with a simple logo my wife designed and the rest is history. Granted, it took me a couple months to really nail down the name and logo. We will be moving our business from NC to MI in a couple years, so we chose a name that could move with us.
Again I thank all of you for the input. I am playing around with a couple new ideas. Hard to find something that speaks to my area because it is very diverse. Not to mention I have two other cities close by that I can market in as well.
