Changing your business name is not something that you want to take lightly. Your name is your image and your brand. It's how customers identify your business. Changing your name can cause you to lose your identity in many ways. Any credibility you may have established will follow the name right on out the door. You may even be in danger of losing customers.
You also need to consider the cost of changing your business name. It's more than just buying a new sign to put up outside of your building. You'll need to consider the cost of business cards, letterhead, and sales and marketing collateral. You'll need to pay for a new logo design. Maybe you'll need to have new employee uniforms made. If you have a Web presence you'll need to redesign your website, or more than likely create a whole new website. If you do create a new website, it's a good idea to keep both sites up and running for several months to allow customers visiting the old site to be redirected.
Basically a name change comes with a complete overhaul and a pretty hefty price tag. So you're going to need a better reason than that you're simply bored with the current name or that you thought of another name that would be really cool. You need something that makes sense.
Though it's difficult to find a legitimate reason to change the name of your business, they are still out there. One such reason might be that you bought a business that uses someone else?s name, and you want the name to be a representation of you, not of the former owner. In cases like this you still want to carefully consider all of the risks and not act rashly just because you don't like that it's someone else?s name. It may be a better idea to keep the original name and say that the company is under new management.
Another reason and perhaps the most justifiable reason, is that the core function or operation of your business has changed over time and your name no longer represents your products or services. For a name to be effective it needs to accurately reflect what your business does. In cases where your name is no longer doing that, a new one is certainly warranted.
When or if you do decide that a name change is the way to go, there are a few things you should do to make sure the new name creates the effect you're looking for. You?ll want to first do some research on your name ideas. Find out if they have a striking resemblance to other similar businesses. Watch out for registered trademarks. Also do a domain name search to see if your new name is already registered. When you've come up with a name that you think is perfect, it?s a good idea to sit on it for a while. Let it run it's course and then revisit it in a week or two to see if you?re still as in love with it as ever. It?s also smart to run the new name by your customers. Find out how they really feel about it. They may love it and help the transition period run smoothly. Or they may hate it and help you to see that your original is much more effective than you thought.
If you've picked a name, done your homework on it and concretely decided to go with it, all that's left to do is make it legal. The specific actions required to change your business name depend on the type of business you're in. The IRS website will help you determine exactly how you're particular business must go about changing its name. Just visit http://www.irs.gov/individuals/article/0,,id=148089,00.html.
