What’s In a Name?   Our Future

 

 

 By Sam Horn, award-winning speaker and

author of POP!

 

 It was 1982 and I was running from room to room in a Kapalua, Hawaii resort. 

 

As Emcee of the Conference, part of my job was to make sure our breakout sessions had started on time and were proceeding smoothly.

 

I dashed into literary agent Michael Larsen’s session just in time to hear this exchange.

 

Larsen said, “An attention-grabbing name can be the difference between blah-blah-blah and a best seller.  Titles close deals and drive sales.”

 

Audience member, “What’s an example of a great name?”

 

Larsen, “Tongue Fu!® is the best name I’ve heard in ten years.”

 

I walked outside in a daze and plopped into the nearest chair.

 

Why?  Tongue Fu!® was MY title.  I’d been delivering workshops with that name for years to organizations who wanted their employees to know how to deal with difficult people– without becoming one themselves.

 

Clients had often told me I should write a book, but I’d always told them, “I’m a business owner and mother of two small boys. I’m already going 24/7; who’s got time?”

 

Larsen’s words kept echoing in my mind though, and I woke up in the middle of the night with an epiphany. 

 

I was turning my back on a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.  An expert had predicted I had a breakout name, yet I was turning my back on its potential by claiming to be “too busy.”  How short-sighted. 

 

I realized that if I wanted to be a visionary on behalf of my professional future, I’d put my current business on hold for a few months and invest that time in capitalizing on that name.  If what Larsen said was true, marketing a book with a stop-em-in-their-tracks title would catapult my career more than anything else I could do.

 

Larsen was right.  Not only has that trade-marked name catalyzed experiences (and income!) I couldn’t have imagined at the time, it’s spawned my current business in which I help entrepreneurs come up with their own breakout names.

 

If there’s anything I’ve learned in the past 17 years, it’s that people are BB (busy and bored).  They have dozens of things competing for their attention, plus many think they’ve heard and seen it all.  That’s why it’s crucial to have an stop-em-in-their-tracks business name that breaks through people’s preoccupation, pops you out of your pack, attracts free, national media attention and increases profits.

 

There’s no better way to prove this than to look over a few favorite business names from the many I’ve collected over the years.

 

Geek2Geek:  an online dating site for pocket-protector types.  Sample profiles include “Tall, Dork and Handsome.”

 

Java Jacket:  the trademarked, multi-million dollar name Jay Sorenson gave those “cardboard insulating sleeves” put around coffee cups so we don’t burn our fingers.

 

Weeding By Example:  what 13-year-old Jack McShane calls his landscaping biz.

 

Garage Mahal:  The perfect name for a spotless, high-end auto repair shop

 

Wok-amole:  What else would you call a fusion restaurant that serves Chinese and Mexican food?  I also like Ciao-Mein for an Italian-Chinese restaurant.

 

Texas Chainsaw Manicure:  Sure you can get a manicure elsewhere, but this nail salon gets ongoing, free national press because of its creative name.

 

Segs in the City:  Want to tour Washington DC’s monuments?  Why walk when you can zip around on stand-up motorized scooter Segways?

 

Did any of these names cause you to smile?  Motivate you to check them out? Bingo.  These names are benefiting their companies because they’re capturing favorable interest and turning us into word-of-mouth advertisers.  What’s in a name?  Your future.   Your business can blend in – or  break out.  It’s all in a name

 

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Sam Horn, America’s Intrigue Expert, is the author of POP! (Perigee-Penguin) which Seth Godin calls “revolutionary” and Tongue Fu!® (St. Martin’s Press) which John Gray says “Everyone needs this.” She speaks for clients including Inc, NASA, Intel and Boeing and helps entrepreneurs and organizations create one-of-a-kind ideas and approaches that help them break out vs. blend in.  www.SamHorn.com

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