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SMALL BUSINESS
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| TEC-HEAD Richmond Technical Services |
The BusinessTec-Head is a 10-year-old company with 14 full- and part-time employees. The company offers short-term help in such areas as graphic design; multimedia projects; and computer programming, staffing and training. The PlayersPhil and Philise Conein started their company in Richmond 10 years ago. They have a second office in McLean and satellite offices in Hampton Roads. |
 artwork by Chris OBrion |
The Problem The Coneins' company steadily grew, but they couldn't seem to hang onto a business name for more than a couple of years. The Background When the Coneins started their business in 1988, they named it C Design, after the first initial of their last name. Two years later, they incorporated as Desktop Service Center Inc. Their clients knew them as Desktop Temps. The Coneins loved the name, but lost it in a lawsuit with MacTemps of Boston. That company had offices in Washington, D.C., and trademark dibs on the name Desktop Personnel. |
| In 1993, the Coneins renamed their company
DSC Temps. But "temps" no longer fit
their business, which had begun offering training
and other services. So they changed it again to
DSC Resources. Once again, they ran into a
problem. Over the phone, people referred to them
as DC Resources, or PC Resources or SC Resources.
The staff was reduced to spelling it out for
clients. "We are from Dog Sam Cat
Resources," Conein recalls saying,
repeatedly. "DSC is not memorable. ...
Everyone I talked to was constantly getting it
wrong." The Solution One fall day in 1997, on a business call to a client, Conein absentmindedly scribbled Tec-Head on his pad of paper. "I liked it," he says. "[But] this time I did my homework." Conein ran the name past his clients and got universally positive feedback. He immediately applied for and received a trademark and reserved the name on the Internet as a World Wide Web address. To find a good name that will last, businesses need to "dig deep" and try to determine the company's vision in 10 or 20 years, says Catherine Ostheimer. She's a brand director with Stamford, Conn.-based Corporate Branding. Businesses should focus, not on a narrow definition of their identity, but on a generic word that will encompass many avenues of growth. Businesses can hire companies like Corporate Branding or Interbrand, a New York-based company, to do name and brand identity development for them, but the costs can be substantial. Karl Larsen, managing director of Interbrand, which developed the product names Nuprin and Ford Contour, says paying for a brand name can run between $10,000 and $200,000. Small entrepreneurs like Conein find the cost prohibitive, but Larsen and Ostheimer say there is also a price to pay if you come up with the wrong name. "It is arguably the most important part of the new business or products," Larson says. "If it's wrong it's going to kill you. If it's right it's going to help you." Before settling on a name, Conein says, "we felt that we were in limbo." In limbo no more, Tec-Head finally has a name that seems to work. "Businesses should do a lot of research before they come out with a name," Conein advises. "They should make sure it fits their image." And if the company plans to grow, the name should be able to grow with it. Virginia Business collects tales of innovations from small businesses statewide. If you have a case study in problem-solving, e-mail lugincius@va-busines s.com or call (804) 649-6232.
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