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What’s In a Name, Part 3

Posted by Danielle Keister on
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One thing that interests me about marketing is that so much of it involves psychology, which I find fascinating. Being a student of psychology definitely will aid you in your marketing.

I’m sure many have heard the coffee comparison example:

Essentially, that people will pay many times more for a cup of coffee at Starbucks than they would for the same coffee at 7-11.

A lot of that has to do with the “experience” of getting coffee at Starbucks, which might include (among others):

  • more quality coffee (real or perceived)
  • better tasting coffee (real or perceived)
  • hip/comfortable atmosphere
  • place to hang-out, to see and be seen
  • status

All of this is related in many ways to “connotation,” which is the underlying (conscious and subconcious) thoughts, feelings, perceptions, prejudices and preconceived ideas and associations that are conjured up and evoked from a word, term or experience.

Just as context, environs and experience have much to do with how people buy and the perceptions they bring to the table, the words and terms you use in your marketing are relevant in this respect as well.

While some lofty, high-minded conversation about your title should NEVER be part of your marketing message nor your conversation with clients, the term, title and brand words you use to identify yourself to clients does matter. It will evoke certain perceptions and understanding (or misunderstandings as the case may be) in your potential clients.

You can make things easier and work more in your favor or more difficult (paddling upstream) all depending on the words and terms you use.

For more on this topic, see these blog categories as well:

What’s In a Name?

Why We Stopped Calling Ourselves Virtual Assistants

You Are Not an Assistant

Posted by Danielle Keister on
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From both a legal and practical standpoint, the fact is when you are in business, you are not anyone’s assistant.

The term “assistant” is a term of employment, not business, and shouldn’t ever be used in your business relationships and conversations.

When you stop calling yourself an assistant, you’ll get less pushback from clients when it comes to your fees.

People automatically equate “assistant” with employment. So when you call yourself an assistant, you predispose clients to balking at your fees because they don’t understand why they would pay you more than they would any other in-house employee/assistant.

You can talk until you’re blue in the face about your standards and boundaries and that you are a biz owner, that you have your own taxes and expenses to pay, yada yada yada–but you negate all of that when you call yourself an assistant.

It’s all about positioning and using the right words to pre-set proper expectations and mindsets–all for vastly easier conversations and more successful relationships with clients. You’ll always have more problems when you call yourself an assistant.

When you frame yourself instead as an expert in the art of administrative support, it’s a whole other ballgame. People EXPECT to pay experts professional fees. Instead of looking at you as an employee they don’t pay taxes on, they view you as a professional who is hired for a particular expertise that will help them meet a solve, solve a problem and move forward and improve their businesses–in our case, that’s the expertise of administrative support and guidance.

Another reason to stop calling yourself an assistant is to reduce the likelihood of the IRS (or your country’s similar governing agency) determining you are an employee and going after the client for back taxes and penalties for misclassification of employees.

This is one of the many, many reasons we as an organization moved to the term Administrative Consultant.

If you’re not comfortable with the word “consultant,” call yourself an administrative partner or administrative expert or administrative specialist… ANYTHING but assistant.

How to Name Your Business for Success

Posted by Danielle Keister on
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Business naming is an area we’ve all struggled with. Perhaps you are in start-up stages yourself and are completely frustrated with where to even begin. So I thought I would round up some advice from a few smart experts, including myself, to give you some much-needed direction.

I love Guy Kawasaki’s down-to-earth, tell-it-like-it-is style (plus, I think he’s a cutie-pie to boot). In his book, The Art of the Start, he advises never to compromise on your business name–it’s that important and will make your positioning much easier. A few of his tips include:

  • Have a first initial that’s early in the alphabet.
  • Avoid numbers.
  • Pick a name with “verb potential.”
  • Sound different.
  • Sound logical.
  • Avoid the trendy (and cutesy).

All great advice. Personally, while I think choosing a name with an initial early in the alphabet can provide some advantages, they are more incidental in the scheme of things. The person who learns how to market and create her own pipelines will never suffer because her business name doesn’t start with the letter “A.”

Harry Beckwith is a marketing expert I can’t get enough of. I have read everything he’s ever written (and you should, too). In his books, Selling the Invisible and The Invisible Touch, he offers some business naming advice we’d all do well to heed:

  • Give your service a name, not a monogram. What he means by this is that people don’t remember acronyms (monograms). They have no memorability because they have “no spirit, no message, no promise, no warmth, and no humanity.”
  • Pick something that stands out. Generic names encourage generic business.
  • Never choose a name that describes something everyone expects from the service. The name will be generic, forgettable and meaningless. Example: Quality Cleaners. Duh, you wouldn’t go to a business named Crappy Cleaners. However, “quality” is such a basic expectation, you’re not saying anything distinctive or memorable by using that word. Plus, with everyone and their brother using “Quality,” you will only blend in with the crowd, which is what your business DOESN’T need to do.
  • Be distinctive and sound it. The mind best remembers names that are unique, sensory, creative and outstanding. An ordinary name implies an ordinary business.
  • Look for a name that people can see, smell, taste, feel or hear (or all four). Names with exceptional memorability are sensory and engage four of the five senses.
  • Start with your own. When in doubt, you can’t go wrong with putting your own name on the business.
  • Look for a name that makes the prospect, not you, sound important.
  • Say the name out loud. If it doesn’t roll off the tongue easily or has unintended pronunciations or connotations, rethink things. It should also be easy to spell.
  • Keep it short. It should be no more than eleven letters or four syllables max.

What I will add to all this great advice:

Forget about clever/tricky spellings. It doesn’t make you distinctive. It just makes it hard for clients to find your site or look you up online because they can’t for the life of them figure out how you spelled your biz name.

2. Make it legal. That is, do your due diligence and make sure you do not choose a name (or version of a name) that another company in your industry is already using. It’s just asking for trouble and will cause ill will within your professional community. It’s a really, really, really bad idea.

And don’t argue with this advice. Whatever you think you know about the law when it comes to this, I guarantee ya, you don’t. The best thing you can do for yourself is operate under the assumption that your colleague’s business is as important to them as yours is to you. They have every right under the law to go after you, in whatever way they see fit, if you infringe upon their established trade name. That’s their livelihood after all. You wouldn’t want someone doing that to you, right? You remember what they say about “do unto others,” don’t you? ;)

So here’s what you can do, once you find a name you like, to ensure you are not infringing on anyone else in your industry:

  1. Conduct a search in your industry directories. Make sure no one else is using the same or similar name already.
  2. Conduct a search for the name (or the predominant unique identifier) in several different search engines. Use Google, MSN, Yahoo, Chrome and any others you might think of. Better to be thorough now than sorry later. Example: If you want to use “Dizzy Admin Support,” you should search for “Dizzy Virtual Assistant,” “Dizzy Virtual Assistants,” “Dizzy Business Support, “Dizzy Administration, “Dizzy Administrative,” etc. If another colleague is using “Dizzy” in their name, forget about using that word.
  3. Search the USPTO.gov Trademark Electronic Search System (TESS). Check to see that no one else is already using the same or similar trade name. Bear in mind that while federally registered trade names have even further protections and recourse, a name does not have to be registered there to be protected. Changing a letter or word is not going to help you if the name can be considered to be substantially the same and/or would still create confusion.

RESOURCE: All the books and authors mentioned can be found on Amazon.com and I HIGHLY recommend you get them–today. As a business owner, it is also imperative you educate yourself about copyright and trade marks. USPTO.gov is a perfect place to start. And having a good Intellectual Property lawyer on your team of professional advisers is always a good idea.

What’s In a Name?

Posted by Danielle Keister on
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I was sharing with my dad recently about how we are converting over to the term “Administrative Consultant” and how the organization will be getting a new name and a new site and all the reasons why… chiefly, the fact that the Virtual Assistant term creates wrong expectations and understandings in clients and makes our conversations with them more difficult than need be.

And he shared a story with me about one of our family friends that really illustrates how important a name or term is in educating clients about what you are and what you do and how it can hurt or help in your educating and marketing efforts.

So this family friend is a financial planner and lifelong master sailor. Many moons ago, when I was still a little girl even, due to his love of sailing, he decided he wanted to start a side business teaching beginnner’s how to sail.

One of the very first principles in sailing he’d teach on, because it was the foundation of everything else, was how to clean your boat. Having a crusty bottom, apparently, could literally affect your speed and navigation and in teaching all this, it was the natural segue to all the higher parts of the learning involved.

It’s sort of like with other skills where you don’t start out learning how to do the actual thing, you start by learning the most simple, seemingly unimportant tasks related to the thing. Trying to think of a good example and the movie, Karate Kid comes to mind. It’s been so long since I’ve seen that movie that I can’t remember it exactly, but you know how the teacher dude had the Karate Kid doing basic tasks that didn’t seem related or important at all, but which were really the foundation and shaped the character of everything else? It’s that kind of thing. It’s the crux of all the learning that follows.

So because the cleaning and care of the boat was the crux of everything else when it comes to learning how to sail, he decided to call this business venture Swabbies.

Can you see the problem already?

Now in the sailing world, this is a very understood nautical term, in all its full, nuanced meaning. And this is why he felt it would be perfect for the business name.

The problem, however, was that not only did he fail to understand his market, he used a term that only a select group of people would even remotely understand it’s real meaning. Which meant that it was esoteric jargon to everyone else. And this “everyone else” were who his would-be students were.

So he was getting all these calls and inquiries from people who only understood the term as any layperson would understand it–a swabbie is someone who cleans the deck. Instead of getting calls from people wanting to learn how to sail, he was only getting calls from people who wanted to have their boats cleaned!

As you can see, even super smart people like our friend the financial planner can make such basic branding errors when it comes to what they call their business or what title they use. His very name prevented him from connecting with the customers he was seeking. In fact, it completely miseducated them and made them think he was something he wasn’t whatsoever.

This is the same problem with the term Virtual Assistant. When you are in business, you are not anyone’s assistant and you can’t be.

On top of that, people only understand the word “assistant” one way. No matter how much you try to educate them until you are blue in the face, they just can’t seem to understand that you aren’t an assistant at their beck-and-call.

And why call yourself something that causes that much difficulty in aligning expectations and understandings in the first place? Business conversations are so much easier with a name that better reflects what you are in business to do and better educates clients as to the correct nature of your relationship.

This is why I have moved on to the term Administrative Consultant… because I’m not an assistant, I’m an administrative expert. I’m not hired to be anyone’s flunky or gopher. I’m hired because I have a valuable expertise that helps clients get things done and move forward in their businesses. It’s a term that more clearly reflects what I’m in business to do, it garners INFINITELY more professional respect, and it better educates and aligns expectations and understandings with the kind of clients I work with before we ever even speak to each other.

Dear Danielle: I’m Stuck On a Business Name

Posted by Danielle Keister on
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Dear Danielle:

I have just made the decision to start my own Administrative Consultant business. I’ve been researching lots of sites for helpful info. I’ve started a business plan. I’ve researched software and equipment upgrades I need to make. Right now, I’m really stuck on finding a name for my business. Maybe I’m making a big deal out of nothing but I can’t seem to come up with something catchy. Any tips? MG

Naming a business is an important decision, so I’m glad you’re taking the time to think it through. You’re not making a big deal out of it at all–it IS a big deal. Good for you. :)

There are a few things to think about in naming your business.

First, you do want something unique. You want to differentiate your business and stand out from the crowd. And you definitely don’t want to be confused with any other existing Administrative Consultant business.

Which bring us to the second point–steer clear from infringing on the rights of another Administrative Consultant’s existing business name use. That will get you into hot water with your colleagues–not a great way to introduce yourself to the community, and trust me–you will need them.

There are no geographical boundaries in Administrative Consultant world. We all operate in the same virtual marketplace so it doesn’t matter if Superlative Administrative Consulting is in another state. If you use that person’s existing business name or something derivative of it, she’s not gonna be very happy with you, and may seek legal recourse. That could be very costly to you, and she’ll probably tell all her buddies in the industry about your infringement while she’s at it.

So once you start to come up with some names, due your due diligence: make several Internet searches, look through all the various Virtual Assistant directories, and double check with folks in your professional communities.

In naming your business, it really requires you to go back a few steps and think about your target market. You need get clear about what you do, who you do it for and what results you achieve for them. Formalizing that thought process is going to help you establish your branding.

Once you know those things, you then have a better idea of who your business name is really for. What do most of their websites look like? Are they a serious or fun-loving group? Do they sell products or services? Are they in an industry or a skilled/degreed profession? Are they going to appreciate cleverness or inventiveness, or is traditional formality going to better appeal to their sensibilities? What kind of name will instill trust and credibility in them? What brand aspects can your name convey to them?

These are the kinds of questions that should come to mind once you decide who your business is speaking to, and will help you decide what sort of business name will best suit their tastes while conveying your brand position.

Dear Danielle: My Business Name Was Rejected, Now What?

Posted by Danielle Keister on
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Dear Danielle:

I had a very hard time coming up with a business name and eventually decided on something with “on Demand” in it and was happy about it. But I got a letter of rejection when I went to register it. Apparently, it’s too general. Back to square one; now what do I do?

Obviously, naming your business is a personal process (as long as it doesn’t infringe on any other Administrative Consultant’s or Virtual Assistant’s already existing name), but have you thought ahead to what the phrase “on demand” (as well as its variation “instant assistance”) will portray to clients?

“On demand” connotes the idea that I could just call you up and you’d be sitting there ready to take my administrative order on a transactional (instead of collaborative) basis, work on it immediately as soon as we got off the phone, and have it completed by the end of the day.

If you plan on becoming successful and working for more than one client, that is one expectation you will quickly not be able to meet. When you plan your business, it’s important to look at the big picture and plan for the long-term. There has to be room for intentional systems and processes and growth in how you operate.

Think about what your business will look like as if you were already successful. Envision the number of clients you would have.

How is that going to affect your production, work processes and work flows?

How will the “on demand” expectations that you’ve created affect your work, morale and client satisfaction?

If all your clients called on the same day and each had a project they wanted completed “on demand,” what would your work day look like? Would you be frazzled and stressed? Does it seem likely that you’d be forced to put in extra hours? How would you choose who of your clients gets to be let down when you find that it’s just impossible to treat everyone’s on-demand request equally? How happy are you going to be living life and running business like that?

Doing this, you can easily see that “on demand” services are just not realistic, and trying to meet that kind of expectation will burn you out fast and only disappoint clients. It’s set up to fail and it’s not smart business operation.

Plus, there’s a level of desperation inherent in those words. It says that the service isn’t valuable enough to stand-alone on its own merits; that you can only “sell” it to clients if you make unrealistic promises of “on demand” service. It panders to transaction-minded clients, rather than collaborative-minded ones who are seeking long-term relationships–and the former are typically the cheap-minded ones as well. ;)

Providing administrative support as a business isn’t about operating like an employee who is solely devoted to the one employer and where they are intended to instantly attend to that employer’s demands. The value of Administrative Consulting is the fact that it offers an alternative for businesspeople who don’t have the time, space or workload for in-house staff–the keyword being alternative.

It’s an alternative to, not the same thing as, employees. As a business there are inherently and legally going to be differences in how you work with clients, and you necessarily will not be available to them in the same way an employee would.

If they need someone at their beck-and-call, they need to hire an employee. That’s just the law. And as an independent business owner and independent professional, you will never be able to sustain that level of turnaround once you have more than one or two clients, and will only end up disappointing everyone in the process, including yourself.

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