Tips On Naming Your Cleaning Business

Your business name is an often overlooked component of starting your own business.

Though most people get this part right, I’ve seen my share of botched company names.

You would think messing up your company name is tough to do, but I see it quite often. Just the other day I was handed a business card and it just read “Start-up specialist”. I’m not sure if this persons company is called “Start-up specialist” or what! Under the owners name it said “entrepreneur”.

I really doubt you can be both a “start-up specialist” and a “entrepreneur” when you can’t even spell out what you do on your business card. Those claims seem a little dubious to say the least.

With that said, your company name needs to have some thought put into it. After all, this is where it all begins right? So here are some tips to help you along with the process.

3 tips on naming your cleaning business

Your cleaning business name should be descriptive

It is vital to be descriptive as possible when naming your company. You want there to be no misunderstanding on the customers part as to what it is exactly that you do. If you only plan on servicing one area, then a good example would be: Mercer County Janitorial Services, LLC. This is a nice descriptive term. It covers both the area (county they operate in) and service it performs (janitorial).

A poor choice would be: Johns Janitorial, LLC. If a friend of yours gave out this version of your business card to someone who never heard of you they wouldn’t know if you service their area or not. Maybe they would call you and find out, but maybe they would just get someone else who describes themselves a little more accurately. Why take the chance on losing out. It is a small detail but it pays to be more descriptive if you can.

Your cleaning business name should be easily remembered

Don’t make your company name too wordy or complicated. Word of mouth adverting is critical to your success. You do not want people to get tongue tied when pronouncing your name.

Your cleaning business name should be reasonably unique

The less common a brand name the better. The whole point of a brand is to stand out, not fade into the mass of similar names. Before making your decision, search for similar business names in the industry. If another business has a similar or identical name, you may want to keep looking for a more unusual name.

A few more tips on naming your cleaning business 

Think about your visual identity

While it may be a little early to start designing a logo, you do want to consider how your company name will translate into a visual identity. Many people see “images” when they read or hear a word. Incorporating a visual element into your business name can be a powerful aid to the customer’s memory, as well as a powerful advertising tool. Make sure that the images your name conjures up are positive.

Don’t add “AAA” to the beginning of your name

People used to do this to get listed at the front of the phone book for their specialty. Today people go online to get results and adding “AAA” to the front gets you nowhere because search queries are returned by relevance, not alphabetically.

Think long term

Try to think of where your business is going, not where it currently is. “Johns Cleaning Service” may sound good to start, but may limit your growth later. “Johns Complete Janitorial” would be easier to grow into as you add services (floor care and carpet cleaning).

Try to come up with several different business names you like. Your first choice may not be available when you go to register it with the county or state you reside in, so you will want to have some back up choices. Of course naming your business is just half the battle, next you need to create a USP (Unique Selling Proposition) that will make you stand out even more. For tips on that click here.

For those who need a little help, just stop by the contact me page to get a hold of me.