Changing a company name often takes time. Don’t forget all the little details when you make the switch. Everyone remembers to design a new logo and print new stationery, but it’s all those little details that “getcha!”
Here’s a checklist to help. Although this doesn’t include everything, maybe it will include something you haven’t thought of yet! I’m sure that there is at least 10 other things not listed. Let me know what you think I’m forgetting, too.
- Change the name on the automatic answering telephone.
- Ask each employee to re record their voicemail if they use the company name
- Change the name on the logo of the web site
- Update all the pages on the website
- Get the domain for the new name and redirect the old site.
- Leave a “trail” in the meta tag description and keyword of the old name
- Have a transition on the return address of the envelopes so you don’t lose your cash flow when your customers throw away your invoices.
- Make it into a celebration so the old time employees have closure.
- Write a press release and post it on your website explaining why.
- Update your listings in directories: especially Thomas Net
- Post a press release on PRWeb, PRNewswire and the like.
- Send a letter to all your customers: current, former and potential.
- Make sure all the employees know, especially the ones off site.
- Send a letter and email to all your vendors too.
- Order a new sign for out front
- Get a trinket: mousepads, tshirts, pens, baseball caps as appropriate
By planning the name change, not just making a half-hearted switch, you’ll have a more successful transition.
Who has done it well? Cingular to AT&T? Kaufmann’s to Macy’s? ____fill in the blank____ — Who has messed up…tell me!
{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
Just curious, Chris, are you considering a name change?
Robyn:
No, not for my company but we are currently working with two different clients who are in the midst of the process.
Chris
Chris: As you know, the university where I work is in the throes of a name change, which takes effect on Jan. 1. Trying to manage that effort on a campuswide scale has been a very good (but sometimes harsh) lesson in branding and change management. The list you’ve come up with is a good start. One item that applies to universities is changing the revered “alma mater” song. For our campus, the line “UM-Rolla, MSM, alma mater” must be altered before next May’s commencement.
You asked about who has managed a name change well and who hasn’t. I’ll agree with you about the Cingular-to-AT&T change, but that was more of a merger of two brands than a complete renaming.
As for who is doing it not-so-well, I give you Exhibit A (with props to Snark Hunting).
Andrew Careaga
higher ed marketing
Also director of communications for the University of Missouri-Rolla (soon to be Missouri University of Science and Technology)
P.S. – We’ll soon be announcing the Missouri S&T logo on our campus’ Name Change Conversations blog.
Thanks so much for the great tips. My company is not changing names, but another company with which I am associated, is, after 10 years with the original name. I realize that there are going to be scores of little things to do, but your list has been a big help. Now I am going to do a web search for “the pitfalls in changing your company name!”
Connie:
If you find more things that should be added to the list, please let me know. I did a checklist for moving a company and found that when my business associates moved, the checklist helped them too.
thanks!
Chris
What is the legal procedure to change company legal name in MO? Will this require a change in EIN also?
Hi Aech:
I am not a lawyer and can’t give legal advice. I do know that some companies change their name for marketing purposes as a “dba” which stands for “doing business as”. That means the checks, bank accounts would have the official name on the check. DBA names are more like branding nicknames. Maybe like Coke. Coca-cola. You need to ask a lawyer!! Thanks,
Chris
My partners and I are discussing the possibility of changing our business name. My company was incorporated in 2001 and I have 2 partners, who happen to be siblings. I approached them recently and asked for my name, we’ll use Jones, to become part of the company name – we’ll say their last name is Thomas. The name “Thomas Search”, Inc. was adopted originally because my partner had already been operating under that name before he came to his sister and I to become partners and incorporate. The change I proposed was “Thomas & Jones” Search, Inc. My company is a small document filing and retrieval company. We do property research for Title Insurance underwriters and assist companies with their due diligence processes.
We are currently considering trademarking our name “Thomas Search, Inc.†because we found another company with the same name. They are an India based company with an entertainment search application for cell phones. I felt this was a good time to consider adding my name to the company to reflect ownership of our company. My partner’s concerns are that this would hurt our business due to client perception, would cause a lot of administrative headaches and the cost involved would be high. I agree that administratively this would cause a lot of work; however, I disagree with them about this hurting our business for the following reasons:
1. Our present client base knows who I am and know that I am a partner. We would explain to our clients that the change is being done to reflect the ownership of the company and also to distance ourselves from the media application.
2. Any new clients would have no impression of our company name until they found us.
3. I have been a partner in this company since the very beginning and run our NY City office, the most profitable office we have. We have 1 office in San Francisco (run by a partner, the sister) and 1 office in Los Angeles (run by a manager). The third partner (the company founder) lives and works in Georgia and he follows up on accounts payable, paying bills, etc.
Any insight or advise would be greatly appreciated – thank you very much for your time. Have a good day!
Thanks for your question…
I always have a bit of trouble with a company that names itself for the principals… partly because as you add and change people and partners the name either changes with the firm… or stays the same.
Are you naming the business for you/partners’ or for the clients’ convenience? What about having something of the services in the name. Do you have an exit strategy for your business?
I guess I end up asking more questions than offering answers, but I think you have to think about the goals for your business. A business with someone’s name or names is a personal decision.
I have changed our company’s logo and am finding a hard time developing a letter to our clients. I need help in forming such a letter since i don’t know what it should contain. Does it have to have the reasons why we/ve done that and the perception that we have of the new logo? Or should the letter be for information only? We are an international independent and integrated consulting engineering company.
Thanks
I am in the process of buying a business that has had the same name in the same location for about 15 yrs. Only problem is that there are several other businesses in Canada with the same name (it was once a franchise) I guess the business didnt do well so each individual continued on with the same name selling each individuals own taste. Right now this business is not associated with a website or web address. I am thinking of putting the business on line and have an online store as part of this business. Im sure once this happens and people try to find us online they will probly find all the other business with the same name as well…this will not work well with what I have planned to do with the business in the next few years.
I guess my question is what are the pros & cons of changing a business name once it has been established for that amount of time (even if its not established online)?
Is it possible to keep same company name when changing company from LLC to INC?
John:
I think so, I did. I wanted to because I went from a sole proprietor to incorporated but it was still the same business. I live in Ohio and had to file a form as the old company telling the new company it was okay to use the similar name. My lawyer did the form filing.
Check with your lawyer!
And thanks for reading the blog and commenting.
Chris