2009.04.05 13:21:40

John McDaniel

When I ponder the concept of naming a business I automatically think of constipation.  Not that yours truly has suffered such ailments but a client that I remember has.  During the process of starting up his business (not optometry related) he phoned to say “I need to the right name for business and I need it now!”  I asked why the sudden urgency to make this decision.  Suffice to that I learned that increased stress levels and constipation are rather good friends.  It is funny what things you remember.

Naming a business is stressful.  A plan and some guidelines can reduce the stress.  That said, before I give my variation of naming guidelines it is imperative to point out that some of the best business names in history are the ones that break all the “rules.”

Purpose
It is important to consider the purpose of a business name.  A common misconception of this purpose is that a name should attempt to convey as much information as possible about the business.  That approach is a big mistake.  It leads to long, unruly, and unremarkable business names.  The real purpose of the name is to brand a business as succinctly as possible.  Branding is a broad concept but pertains to naming by dealing with two questions:

1. What is the “big” picture point of the business?
2. What differentiates you from your competition?

Crafting a list of adjectives and adverbs that seek to succinctly answer those questions is a good place to start.

Long Term Business Strategy
The next consideration is the long term strategy of the practice.  More specifically, an analysis of where the practice falls on the business life cycle is useful.  Early on in the life of a practice the name of the doctor tends to be of utmost importance.  It is often necessary to develop a “doctor centered” model to grow a practice during the early phases (including the early phases of an ownership transfer).  As a practice moves through the life cycle there is a tendency (a good tendency) to move toward a “practice centered” model.  This implies a stronger focus on the “entity” versus the “doctor.”  This results from, among other things, an increase is technical support as well as increased delegation of patient care tasks.  Some practices also find that their unique combination of human resources drives this change in focus of its own inertia.  Further along the life cycle exit or succession considerations become apparent.  A more transferable name is desired.  For example, it is easier to transfer equity in a practice named “Community Eye Center” than it is a practice named “Bob Smith, OD.”

Permanence
A name is forever.  Well, not really; but kind of.  I think it depends on what the meaning of “is” is.  This perception of permanence is what I believe to be the strongest factor in causing business owners so much stress when naming a business.  The sense is that once you commit to a name, you have committed to that name forever.  I say differently; only diamonds are forever.  Practice names can be changed as long as the process of changing the name is managed well and the time horizon is years versus months.  A common name change is to go from the doctors name to a less personal entity name, e.g. going from “Bob Smith, OD” to “Community Eye Center.”  This type of change happens all the time.  There are two key lessons here.  First, pick a name for the five year plan of the practice and not for the 15 year plan.  Long term, in this case, should mean five years.  Second, your practice will be dynamic and the branding needs will change.  When they change you should at least consider the possibility of a name change.  While not the first club out of the bag by any means it is, none-the-less, a club in the bag.

The key to a name change is going slow.  The process needs to take years and there should be well defined and well planned stages in the morphing process.  The name change should occur additively.  In other words don’t go from “Bob Smith, OD” to “Community Eye Center” all at once.  At first merge the names, if possible, or create a hybrid of the two.  Then, over the course 1-2 years, begin to drop the old name from things.  Do the name changes in stages that makes sense for your given situation.  Consider all things with the clinic name associated independently such as stationary, signs, the webpage, exam forms, e-mail addresses, etc.

General Recommendations

1. How memorable is the name?  This is likely the most important factor when selecting a name.  The more memorable the better assuming the associations and connotations are positive (e.g. Ted Bundy’s Eye Care)
2. Consider the web domain name – pick the name that is available in a domain name if possible
3. Legal – check with your state regulations regarding business names and have an attorney check the availability of names.  Before you have a lawyer check create a ranked list of 3-5 options in case the first few checked are not available
4. Check the competition – within your local market your name needs to help separate you from the competition; select a name that helps with this process of differentiation
5. Pronunciation – the name should be easy to pronounce.  Or you could just pick “Waugoo” and confuse everybody all the time.
6. If relevant to the life cycle stage of the practice, consider the ability to add doctors, staff, products, services, and locations with respect to the name.  The more flexibility the better.
7. Get three to five opinions from business people you respect.  It is best if some of those people have participated in the naming process before.

Finally, stop stressing too much.  I’ve never seen a practice not sell because of an incompatible name and I’ve never seen a practice thrive or starve because of a brilliant or disastrous name respectively.  Besides, whatever name you pick 10% of your patients will call you “Dr. McDonald” at the “ear clinic” anyway.  People…gotta love ‘em.

Le Meas,

John G. McDaniel, OD, MLHR
President/Founder
Waugoo Consulting Group, LLC
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Practice naming | business names | naming a business | marketing | branding