Page 87 - The UnCaptive Agent

60 THE UNCAPTIVE AGENT

a business that included a state name in it, I repeated
the geographical limitation mistake. When we decided
to expand our operations outside of that state, we had
to create a second name for the business. That was
expensive and confusing because we now had two names
to operate under. Subsequently, we decided to shorten
the names of both businesses to an acronym, which
in turn led to being constantly asked what the name
stood for. Until you get to be the size of International
Business Machines (IBM), I’d recommend not calling
your business by an acronym.
Some people choose to name the business after them-
selves. While there’s nothing particularly wrong about
that, it does make it a little tougher if you decide to
add a partner later. Then you will have to change the
name of your business. It also makes it difficult for you
to separate your identity from your business, which you
may want to do at some point.
We had an agent in our organization who wanted
to specialize his agency in a highly technical type of
insurance. He put that insurance product in the name
of his agency. It made the agency name long, which
is also not a good thing for marketing purposes. And
it also gave the market place the impression that they
were very highly specialized and only sold that kind
of insurance. Ultimately, he shortened the name to an
acronym (see above!). I would avoid including the type
of insurance that you sell in the name of your agency.
Some states like California require that the word
“agency” be included in the name. So, it is important
to check with the insurance regulator in your state for
any naming rules that they may have before you file the
name with the Secretary of State in your state.
In general, I recommend that your name clearly
tell the marketplace what it is that you do, (i.e.,