I’ve been extra busy lately. I’ve got a lot of pans in the fire, and on top of those I’m assembling a mailing list to send out for Mr. A’s business. We’re going to send a 2009 magnet calendar with Mr. A’s business information on it, a price list, several business cards and just a general announcement that we’re here for business. I was excited to discover some envelopes that I was given free by one of my clients will work perfectly. We’ve already purchased and received the calendars, and now I just need to invest in the stamps.

I’m using a few sources to compile our mailing list:

• Google Maps – you can enter the type of business you are looking for, and the city name to narrow down the hits
• Yellow Pages online
• Yellow Book online
• Kudzu online
• Chamber of Commerce Business Directories

By the way, the idea to get addresses from the Chamber of Commerce came from one of the books I read about making your business a success. I gathered directories from four local Chamber of Commerce surrounding our area and I’ve been going through them trying to glean out companies that would be appropriate for us to solicit for business. I have four directories and the first one I went through I had quite a hard time because some companies do not pick names which are reflective of the type of product or service they provide. This directory also did not make it easy to know what the company was selling or providing. I was relieved when I moved on to the next directory and found that it did list the service or product beneath the list.

Some of the names really gave no hint of what the business was about. Just to give you a few examples, here are some company names I found on the Internet. See if you can guess what services or products these companies provide:

1. GroupXcel – Accountants or Janitors?
2. Studio 121, Inc – Interior Design or Photography?
3. Richters of Nashville, Inc. – Jewelry or Mortuary?
4. Suddath – Moving Services or Dressmaker?
5. Imagine Design Team – Graphic Artists or Tanning Salon?
6. The Rite Angle, Inc. – Architects or Moving Company?
7. Cerqa – Bakery or Moving Company?
8. Just Cruisin’ Plus – Travel Agency or Motorcycle Dealer?
9. Amer Sports Logistics – Sports Equipment or Transportation Services?

I’ve provided answers below.

Now how about these companies?

Pet Butler
Town & Country Limousine
All My Sons Moving and Storage

Quite a bit easier, huh? Another of the books I read said you should make a point to name your company appropriately. It does make sense that you would do much better business-wise if your company name reflected your product or service.

I’m also planning to send a “Season’s Greetings” card to all of the customers we’ve had over the past year, thanking them for their business. I’m going to include several business cards with each card.

Business has been very slow for Mr. A. We are still making it on his last few jobs, and we won’t need to use the credit cards for normal expenditures until January. We did have some major vehicle repairs done in October and November which we had no choice but to use the cards.

The most phone calls Mr. A has been receiving are people seeking jobs! He did have a small job last weekend, and got an order for one coming up next week, thankfully.

Okay, here are the answers to the companies above.

1. GroupXcel are Janitors
   
2. Studio 121, Inc does Interior Design
   
3. Richters of Nashville, Inc. sells Jewelry
   
4. Suddath provides Moving Services
   
5. Imagine Design Team is a Tanning Salon
   
6. The Rite Angle, Inc. is a Moving Company
   
7. Cerqa is a Moving Company
   
8. Just Cruisin’ Plus is a Travel Agency
   
9. Amer Sports Logistics provides Transportation Services
10. Pet Butler provides Pet Services
11. Town & Country Limousine offers limousine service
12. All My Sons Moving and Storage is a Moving Company
    

How did YOU do?