Mastering 1-2-1s and the Power of Branding

Dive into the Velvet Ventures Podcast for a candid chat on mastering one-to-one meetings and the art of business branding.

Unlock growth with hosts Channing and Ben. 🎙️ #Networking #Branding #Entrepreneurship

Sponsors
Pros Make Ready Sanitizing Services
https://www.prosmakeready.com/

Dallowry
https://www.dallowry.com/

Transcript

Ben: It should all be done from a relational standpoint.

Channing: One to one, it's more important to get to know who the person is. And if you walk away not knowing anything more about their business, I don't think that's an unsuccessful one to one. I think it's a really good starting point.

Ben: Welcome to Velvet Ventures

Channing: Where we talk about life, marriage, and the pursuit of entrepreneurship.

Ben: I'm Ben.

Channing: And I'm Channing. And now a word from our sponsors.

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Ben: Welcome, welcome. So today we're going to talk about how to have like one-to-one meetings. And then also we're going to kind of brush on, we've had some questions and discussions recently about how to like name your business or maybe your product or service. So we're going to kind of touch on that during this episode. So but we'll start it off with one-to-ones.

Channing: Which one-to-ones are meetings, typically one person and one person in a public setting that both of these people are business owners or they both have business goals that they're trying to accomplish. And so a one-to-one is basically like speed dating for businesses essentially. You're going to sit down for an hour. You're going to get to know them and their business. So them personally and their business and they're going to get to know you personally and your business. And by the end of it, you should be able to walk away and know what that person does, who their ideal client is and how to recommend them or if you would recommend them.

Ben: This is kind of going to be industry talk with networking groups because we are pretty heavily involved in a local networking group here in Oklahoma City, Edmond Metro it's expanding. But when it comes...

Channing: And I've been a part of a few different organizations as well.

Ben: And I used to cater to these kinds of things. So we've both been around them for a little while. But what we're going to kind of talk about in reference to one-to-ones is that's kind of like an industry talk for we're going to set up a meeting. And it can be whatever works for y'all. I mean, we typically meet at a local restaurant and we have our kind of...

Channing: Shout out to Edmund Louie's.

Ben: Right. It is off of Bryant and 15th Street is our location.

Channing: And our bartenders are...

Ben: Shout out to...

Channing: Mikayla, Capri, Jenna, and Jacob.

Ben: Yep. VIPs. So that's where we typically take those kinds of meetings because it's kind of a relaxed atmosphere. These aren't typically something I think that you would have because it's not a pitch.

Channing: Or it shouldn't be.

Ben: You shouldn't be necessarily having them to your business unless that's just the only option and there's no right or wrong way per se.

Channing: There should be something to drink and an option to eat.

Ben: Obviously that's depending on what time of day. We don't eat every meeting. Sometimes we do. Sometimes it's at two o'clock in the afternoon. Sometimes it's at five o'clock. You know, you don't take any in the mornings typically. So, um, but you know, and it could just be that that's what works best.

Channing: I won't meet you for coffee.

Ben: Two people meeting over coffee. But what it is, is basically like she said, you know, speed dating for business, but it's about how do you get to know each other? Where can you, and you should be looking in our opinion from a standpoint of how can I serve this person, where do I see a need? And it could be, I mean, you know, let's be honest, we're all in business. And typically, I mean, we do this with family members. You can't help, but when you're an entrepreneur and you have a business that when you are listening to somebody and they say something that is a trigger to your brain that says, I can help. Um, that's just natural. So I think thinking in that way. There's nothing wrong with that, but you should not lead with that. Um, when you hear a need say, Oh, I have a service that you can buy.

Channing: And typically we don't even try to ever pitch. Like we try to not bring up our business as the solution to whatever they are talking about in a one-to-one. Our goal is to recommend somebody else to that person in a one-to-one.

Ben: And so today with talking about this, we want to make sure that we're, um, we're going into this as this is our style. This is our way to do this. Again, there is no right or wrong way, but this is our opinion. This is how we do it. This is how we've seen success in doing it and how, I mean, there's some people that you have one-to-ones with and we will never have another one-to-one with them again because it was a pitch fest. And so...

Channing: Mentally exhausting.

Ben: Yeah. And I mean, you could just, you could tell that they were there for business not to get to know you. And that's okay, that's their style. And there are other people who will jive with that, but that's not us.

Channing: If you can do one-to-one successfully though, they can 100% fuel your business. Because for the insurance brokerage, I started with this networking group, I don't know, it's been two years now. But it was really just like three months after I launched the insurance brokerage when I went independent in the field of insurance And I found this group we had no clients outside of ourselves And it was I don't want to buy this client. I don't want to buy leads. We can't afford to buy leads The company can't afford to buy leads. So like what the heck and so this was free to attend so that's why I started going and in that meeting, they said one-to-ones is the best way to get referrals. I said, okay, I don't know what the heck a one-to-one is, but I'm willing to give it a shot. Now I've done like the BNI one-to-ones. That is not a one-to-one. That is a sales pitch and a required referral at the end. That is not how a one-to-one should be in this type of setting that I'm talking about. And so I went in with the complete objective of pitching and got me absolutely nowhere. And I said, you know what, after like two or three of those, I'm gonna try this a little bit different. So at that point, there was only three of these chapters in the Metro. So I went to all three chapters every single month, and my goal was to get six one-to-ones every single week. So that's literally all I did. Yeah. Was one-to-ones, one-to-ones, one-to-ones. And I let people get to know me, let people get to know us, even though you weren't there, our family, what I stood for. And it ended with me really not talking about insurance a whole heck of a lot. People didn't really care what I did. But what came from that is you compound that over two months and all of a sudden, BHM is getting two, three referrals every single month. And it's seeming to come from just random places and then find out that it's from this networking group. I had a one-to-one with somebody and two months later, they saw a need and they recommended me. And now that networking group is 17 chapters big. When you keep up that kind of consistency and you keep up that kind of transparency, then now there's, you know, 3,000 people that feel like they know me. And so BHM-

Ben: Which is Business Health Market.

Channing: Yeah, I only operate in that company maybe four hours per week on average. Now, obviously I've got higher times when I've got a group going through open enrollment, but even still, it consistently grows 17 to 25% month over month over month over month. And that's because I put in the work and let people get to know me, which also meant that when we launched our company, it was a lot easier for us because people knew me. So it didn't matter if I was in BHM or if I was in Dallowry, they already knew what I stood for. They already knew you because they were getting to know you through me. And so it put us in such a strong position that Dallowry is a much healthier company only eight months old than BHM was at a year.

Ben: People want people not a company. So by you being known by people, what that allowed you to do is they remembered you. They didn't have to remember Business Health Market and what business health market does. All they needed to know is we know who Channing is, we like Channing. Channing does some sort of health insurance. So all I need to do is just remember who you are. And so at that point, they don't need to know all the details. They know that you are honest and ethical, hardworking, and have their best interests at heart. That's all they need to know. They don't need to know like, well, do you offer this? And does this, that? Like that's later. You get into the weeds later.

Channing: Well, and because of One to Ones, I realized people couldn't remember business health market. So we started going by BHM. Now we are still legally licensed as Business Health Market, but all our marketing pretty much is BHM because people can remember that. And so because of One to Ones, I got invaluable marketing feedback that has also helped us become more well known on platforms like TikTok and we're more searchable on just YouTube, just different random things that I never thought really mattered for what I was doing.

Ben: But it's hard to like... So for me... I have a hard time with taglines, for instance. When you're going to these networking groups, whether you like it or not, and whether it's 100% to do with your business, that's somewhat irrelevant. You need something because typically on these kind of things, you get 30 seconds to a minute to talk about who you are in front of everybody. How are you going to be memorable? They need, you need to like, basically there's like three, I look at it in three ways, or there's three steps. There's, you say your name, there's your tagline, and there's what industry you're in. So like for you, it's I'm Channing, I do insurance, and I am a business, Health Insurance Rebel. Those are the three things. I don't, you know, the other things in between there, I'm probably not going to remember, but I'm going to remember.

Channing: And really, our tagline was health insurance doesn't have to suck. We're the health insurance rebels. And so that was who we are, tagline, and then what we do. And because of the tagline, people are like, health insurance does suck. I'm like, a hundred percent. We don't ever hear people in the insurance industry talking about how insurance sucks. I'm like, it all sucks. Just pick your suck. I just had that conversation with a client yesterday. It all sucks.

Ben: Well, and so part of that leading into is when you go to have a one-to-one, how many times have you sat down with somebody? Because we're somewhat in this, Dallowry has gotten more of a tagline now and it will start to become more synonymous with it. But a lot of times when you have these one-to-ones and stuff, people are like, oh, okay, so what is it that you do? Right. You know? And so a lot of times people are just making these connections because, again, they're just trying to get out there. But I think it's beneficial that if you can have some sort of tagline in your pitch, it helps people align and be able to know, like we've gone into meetings before, or one-to-ones, where people have done research what it is that we do maybe because we have multiple companies maybe because they're genuinely interested or they're just good at this and so they have notes that they come with and they say like "hey I spent a little time looking at your website. I spent a little time with your social media. I see that you all have kids or I see that you all you know just got back from a trip or something." you know so having those kinds of things in life being memorable enough that people can look you up you know, um, and so, or just recognize your name when it's on that spreadsheet that gets emailed of all the attendees and say, Oh, that's, yep. Health insurance doesn't have to suck. I remember that person. That's someone I want to talk to.

Channing: So we kind of like, I mean, I'm a little bit vocal as just a person. Um, and so I liked being confrontational before the fact. I don't like confrontation with people. But marketing style wise, I really like bucking industries. And so like for health insurance, it was the only way to get across to my clients that I'm in your boat. I could give two crafts less what carrier you pick. I'm gonna advise against some, I'm gonna advise for some. But I don't care at the end of the day it's your choice I'll do what you want me to do but I want you to understand I know it all sucks. And then for Dallowry, we're not a marketing agency, there's not really an industry, we're kind of creating a new one almost of business optimization, it's not coaching, it's not consulting, it's not marketing, it's a little bit of all of that, but it's very much in line with how do we optimize your business so that you can maximize your growth and your goals. And when you look at business coaching or consulting or marketing, a lot of times you find long-term contracts or you find things that are difficult to get out of. And so we've just kind of started telling people like we wanted to be so freaking easy to fire us that you never even think about it. We want you to trust us and trust what we're doing. We want that to be the furthest thing from your mind. But if you do, we wanna be able to leave this relationship in good terms. Like you should be able to walk away 100%. If it's not aligning, we don't want you trapped here. And that is completely different from a lot of what the industry as a whole does. Now you'll find some really great local people that this is not applicable to. But as an industry as a whole. That's typically what you see as long-term contracts and really difficult to get out of or things like that. And so, they don't always have to be that controversial though. Like one of the most memorable ones, we're playing a tagline game with the networking group in October, or we were in October, and one of the most memorable that most people guessed on was signs, signs, signs and that's one of the attendees taglines. And when he stands up, he says his name and I do signs and then the whole room finishes his tagline for him. It's very memorable. It's not controversial at all. But a one-to-one is a good opportunity to expand on that tagline. And you can talk about more specifics of what you do. My general rule of thumb is I don't mention anything that isn't asked. I want to do more of the question asking and I want to learn about the person and about their business. And quite honestly, if we don't ever talk about business, I'm totally fine with it. Because at the end of the day, you probably aren't my ideal client. I don't know, you might be, but I'm not going to pitch you the first time we sit down.

Ben: Well, I think because

Channing: I want to get to know you.

Ben: Right. Most of us are all relational business owners. We're not a Fortune 500 transactional company, so I think because we're all relational, I think it's important to know, can we have a relationship? So I need to know who you are. I need to know just a little bit of background before I... because again, they may say, oh yes cool you know yeah i mean it's beneficial for a lot of people anyway so what's what's been your you know what's a good book you're reading lately or you know are in your kids and sports yeah you know or just you know how did you and your husband meet or how'd you and your wife meet or how did you you know where'd you grow up and so and do a little conversational threading there and sometimes it's like circle away from business and make it a little more elusive because I mean quite frankly sometimes if people don't want to talk about something that typically makes the other person really want to know more, and I don't think that that's like a sleazy tactic or anything, but I think that sometimes people just want to skip the courting and the dating and just jump straight to marriage and it's like whoa whoa whoa. I don't know if I want to do that. We need to get to know each other a little bit. So see if our values align. So sometimes...

Channing: There using my husband's approach. He'd rather be drug into it.

Ben: Yeah. Well, I mean, then it lasts. I think that there's a lot to be said about if someone just says, oh, okay, yeah, yeah, okay. So anyway, what are y'all's pricing structures? It's like, wow. I mean, it varies. So, and then you just get back into it and because, you know, and it doesn't have to be that way.

Channing: And there's a graceful way to not be like elusive about it. Like answer the question, but then bring it back to the person itself. You know, that's, because that's what it's really about. Cause it, I mean, to be honest, at the end of the day, like if your morals don't line up, I probably don't want to do business with you. If you're not faithful to your spouse, I don't want your fricking money. You can take it elsewhere. I don't care how much you're bringing to the table. I'm not taking it. And, you know, there's just some of those really hard lines there that if you're crossing them, I don't care what you have to offer, I'm not buying and I'm not selling and if you don't get to know the person, you don't know about those things. And like, especially when I was first networking and you were still working. One, I meet in a public place where I sit in this little corner bar booth because the bartender knows me and they know my signals. So I know I'm safe. I know if anything happens or I'm uncomfortable, I know that they've got my back. I know several of the people sitting at the bar just because I work there so often that I know they've got my back. So if I need to go up and use the restroom and I leave my laptop, I know that they're going to make sure nobody walks out with it. But at the same time, it's going to be a public place because if I'm meeting with another man, like I need to make sure that he understands I'm married. This is not any kind of situation that you need to like tread on in that way. I'm here to get to know you but like one of the first things I mentioned is you. Always. My husband. You know, because it needs to be very clear. And so, that's why I think a one-to-one, it's more important to get to know who the person is and if you walk away not knowing anything more about their business, I don't think that's an unsuccessful one-to-one. I think it's a really good starting point.

Ben: Right. Well, I think that again, it just goes back to if I know you, I like you. I don't know what is it. I'll find out what you do and then it's just if I have something for you, awesome. If not, I have a friend or I have an acquaintance or I have somebody that I can reach out to and i just i don't know if I ever will have a need for what you have but I'll see you on face I'll see someone on facebook asking so i'll recommend you or so i mean at the end of the day the way that we look at it and the way that we believe it should be but again this is just our two cents is that it should all be done from a relational standpoint and so making sure that um you know, your values are going to align, make sure that your morals, make sure that your timelines, because if you know, if you're super busy and this person is over here saying like, yeah, I really need to do this and I need to get up and running. Oh, I can help you with that. But you actually, you can't because, you know, your girls timelines don't align and you just told them, oh, we can help you and we can do all this stuff. Like you need to get to know.

Channing: Well, knowing people's personalities does help with referring. Because we know a lot of photographers. But because I know the personalities of the photographers, when I get to know the personality of others, I can better align them with people, because I know how both these people are. And so, referrals that are given that way are gonna be appreciated even more because they're more likely to end in a close instead of just recommending everybody to everyone when you can personality match, especially when it's a service-based team kind of focus thing. Like every coach is not a good recommendation for every person, but I know exactly who I'm gonna put strong females with that are ready to make an impact in their life. Like, I know exactly who to put them with.

Ben: Yeah, well I think it's that way with a lot of things. Like, you know, because you typically hear a lot of, you know, I need a realtor. Okay, cool. Here's John. Just so you know, John is very assertive. He's very direct. He will get you taken care of and da-da-da-da, but here's a disclaimer. Well, you may not recommend that person if you have someone who's super timid and offends easily in the terms of like, they talked really mean to me. That may not be a good fit. You may need someone who's like, hey, this is Karen and she's very helpful and she's going to hold your hand through the whole process and she'll make sure that, you know, no one takes advantage of you. This is a protector. And so when you know people, you're able to do that instead of like, I mean, how bad would you feel if you recommended, you know, Steve, the pushy guy to someone who's like this? Well, that person's probably not going to come back to you for anything if every time like man you've referred me three times to people and We died it not they were jerks. Or, this person was so lazy.

Channing: That's why the closed networking groups are not a good fit for me personally. I need more people in my Rolodex and I don't need a group limiting me to you refer to this person because they are in your group and because you're required to refer or you get kicked out. That doesn't jive for me because I also, I am not ever okay with just giving a referral to give a referral. Unless that person is actually interested in the services and looking to sit down or has legitimate questions, I'm not just going to like bug and bombard business owners with false leads. I don't want it. Why would anybody else? You know?

Ben: You should talk to my friend, Susie. Susie's not looking for anything.

Channing: Yeah. I didn't ask for Susie.

Ben: Right. So, yeah. I just there's a lot there that it's more about human psychology and behavior than I think just about anything and just business ethics.

Channing: So on your next one-to-one, try to not talk about your business or give any information. Don't volunteer any information that isn't asked of you. And if there's awkward silence, you ask more questions. And see where it gets you at the end of that meeting. Because we're very I-focused as just like, it's how we're designed, it's me, it's me, it's me, it's fight, flight, you know, fight or flight. And when you shift that and you can focus 100% on somebody else, you will be amazed at the reaction and the connections that you can make. And it's really difficult to do, honestly, to not just want, says something you're already thinking about what you want to say because it's me me me focused and like I even do it with you you'll be talking sometimes I'm not listening at all I am literally just thinking of how I'm gonna respond yeah or what subject I'm gonna change it to cuz I don't want to talk about that anymore

Ben: not active listening exactly

Channing: and so and I just challenge everybody anyone listening your next one to one don't volunteer information and fill the silence with questions about them yeah But don't be elusive. Don't be weird about it.

Ben: Well, I think that a good practice would be, so you're not having to think about it, is just answer the question. They say, how long have you been in business? Three years. We started in 2020. Crazy times. But it was awesome. Anyway, and then kind of go on. Answer the question. You don't have to, oh, a few years ago. No, just three years, this, this be factual, be to the point and then just try to get the conversation to a natural conversation. You know, do again practice conversational threading and give them options of you know, where'd you grow up? I grew up out here. I liked it because of this reason.

Channing: And if you want a pro tip, so like what I used to do is I book my meetings back to back. So again, I always had my meetings come to me, so it was in my space, so I didn't have to travel between one-to-ones, which was my husband's idea, because I was traveling all over the place

Ben: I'm an optimizer. She was like I'm in Edmond at this time but from this place in Edmond to to go here and then I gotta do driving it's not that for the whole day.

Channing: So I was in Oklahoma City one day, Edmond one day, Midwest City one day, and I was, I was different places throughout the week. And then now it's just, I'm in this one place and I'm here three days a week that I'm available. And if I'm not booked, I'm not there. But if you book your meetings back to back, so schedule them for an hour, hour 15. And then when that other person, because if you book up three, when that other person comes in before your meeting leaves, one, it's a really good way to naturally end the conversation without being rude. But when that other person comes in, now you can introduce the person that you're finishing the meeting with to the person you're starting the meeting with. Yeah. And it's a really good way to go ahead and make a connection before they've ever even left your meeting. And then the person you were talking with leaves, you get to have that one-to-one and then do the same thing when the other person comes in. It's a really natural way to end the conversation. And now before they've left your presence, you've already made another connection for them. And so those connections might not go anywhere, but I've had several people that literally on a project in a passing. So like, I've been meaning to talk to you. I just haven't had the time. And in passing, they book a one-to-one and even plan like a collaboration meeting or brainstorming session.

Ben: I mean, we've had one too where they sat down with us and then for 15 minutes and then they left. But yeah, and I think it's important too to tell people when you're doing that, let them know. Like, hey I've booked these out, I have another one coming in at this time, so that way they don't feel cut off. Or even 10 minutes before, say, hey, just so you know.

Channing: Yeah, I don't pay for Zoom, so it cuts off at 45 minutes.

Ben: I'm really enjoying our conversation. If we feel like there's more there, you want to book another one-to-one, you want to go have lunch sometime, but being able to then carry on to say, I have someone else coming. So I don't want you to think I'm cutting you off, but I'll introduce you to them and then basically a nice way to say go about your day. So those are just some little tips that may help your little meetings or one-to-ones and introductions and stuff. Hopefully be more profitable and prosperous.

Channing: And if you have a business partner, don't be scared to take the meeting with your business partner. We do one-to-ones together, so it doesn't have to be one person and one person. And honestly, I think people enjoy us better when we're together because we play off each other a lot as well. And there's times that you have a much more educated or thought out response to the question. Or maybe I'm just not in a real people-y mood up for that fact because this was a pre-scheduled meeting or you know vice versa and so if you have a business partner or you're in business with your spouse and y'all can show up together like I think people feel more important that both of us made time to be there right then they would if it was just one

Ben; yeah and I think that especially like in our scenario where I act you know quite a bit as a decoder or translator for what it is because once you you know sometimes if you get the weeds on how a product or how this works um once i can if i see their eyes starting to glaze over with not understanding what this looks like

Channing: because i can see the boxes

Ben: right i'll interject and just kind of try to put a real world spin on it that maybe they'll understand or it's just you know given my background and your background like i may have more in common with them because of my background and so then i'm like think about it like this and just give a different spin on it that maybe they're like, oh, okay, okay. So if you have someone in your life that or in your business that is that for you or you are that for someone, most of the time, I mean, you'll depend on what their needs are. If they just come right out, like this is a specific business meeting, it may be you heavy, you know, and you're just, you're taking it forward and I may not be there much or have much input, but I'm there for if it's needed, it's just support.

Channing: Well, and there's also things that you hear that I don't hear. Right. And so then when we're reviewing like, how did you think that meeting went? Like I can then say like, how did I explain? Like are there things that I need to adjust? Did I talk too much? Was I making sense? Yeah. And then there's other times that like you hear things that I didn't and you're like, oh, what about this? I'm like totally went over my head. Like that would have just been a missed opportunity had you not been there.

Ben; Yeah. So I think that those are all all good things to maybe take note of, try it, tweak it, make it your own.

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Ben: So let's move into how we name companies and products and just kind of some tips and tricks that we have learned that have worked for us. And kind of how we've either come about doing it, kind of some of our strategies. But yeah, so if you want to kind of take

Channing: Yeah, so I mean, there's obviously several different strategies when it comes to naming a company. So when you look at like the insurance brokerage Business Health Market, that is literally an S what's called an SEO name. So when people are searching for business health, or health insurance for business, or health marketplace, it's going to pop up a lot. Now that also means that a lot of the traffic is not converting, but it does get a lot of hits. Most of the business for BHM comes from referral based businesses from clients or from networking and things like that. Yeah. But my website is really highly ranked because the business name. So there's pros and cons with that, right? And then for Dallowry, we wanted something that wasn't a thing. We wanted it to sound really luxurious. We didn't want it to tie us down to any one thing.

Ben: So why would you want to name something not a thing? Like in this scenario, why is that?

Channing: So, I mean, look at companies like Nike, eBay. Those are not things. Or not that I'm aware of. Yeah. Those are a series of letters put together that because it wasn't a thing, now it is a brand. The name itself is a brand. And that's what we wanted with Dallowry. We wanted it to not be a thing. We didn't want it to compete with any other word in the English language.

Ben: Cause what would you, well, I mean, since like what kind of name, if you were to follow industry, like if some other person didn't put that much thought into it, someone would have named or this company could be named. What

Channing: probably business optimize management, something like that, or it could be, you know, optimization station.

Ben; Right. Um, you know, you think of like marketing agencies, you know, that's kind of what that's some of what Dallowry does is, um, content creation, those kinds of things. It's also, you know, CRM and stuff. So like you could have named it some sort of blank CRM or technologies. And so something very generic that has zero recognition of its own outside of what it is. So that's kind of important sometimes whenever you're thinking about when you're in an industry that's very, there's a lot of people out there doing it, naming it some sort of, you know, having the name of what it is may not be beneficial for what you do. There are some instances where that you should do that. Sure.

Channing: So the reason why people used to name their businesses what they did and why there's so many companies with A's at the front is because of the phone book. So if there was an A towing, then the next towing company would be an AA towing. Or if there was already an A company.

Ben: It's AAA.

Channing: Then there's AAA and it would bump them to the front of the phone book based on the alphabet. First listing. Exactly. And so the same is true of any letter. So you've got some that are just C and then the company name. The C is literally just there. It doesn't mean anything. Now, some companies will find words that match that letter, but the purpose was to bump them to the top of the phone book. Now you have companies like BHM that are naming themselves to bump themselves to the top of the search history. But again, just because BHM is getting landed on a lot doesn't mean that it's converting a lot. And so with Dallowry, we wanted when somebody's searching for Dallowry, they are 100% looking for us. When they're landing on our page, they're 100% looking for us. And so, yes, that means we get less hits on our website, but our conversion rate is a lot higher. And so we did the same thing with Bensons. And honestly, with Bensons, we said, well, we didn't even put together two and two that his name is Ben. We just said, well, if I were to hire a home maintenance person, like what is missing? Like what I really want, and this is literally a conversation we had, what I really want is a butler. But we can't afford a butler. So, what if we named the company the sound of a butler? And so then we just started literally brainstorming with chat GPT names of butlers. And so we went through a few different names and then we landed on Bensons. Benson was one, but I was like, yeah, I don't know, that's just not right. Bensons fit, it sounded right, and we've been super happy with the name. And what's nice too is people are experiencing the emotion we wanted out of the name. We wanted it to feel like you can now afford a home maintenance butler. Like whatever you need, we're the concierge service of your home maintenance. You just have to call us and we'll figure everything else out for you. And so the name really matches the tone of the company. And with Dallowry, I also, I mean, I liked that it's kind of sounded like dowry, which is, you know, paying for your bride wife with goats or whatever. And I like that it was a symbol of honor to be given a dowry. And it was for wealthy people back in the day. Like you only have a dowry if you were from a wealthy family. And so that kind of falls in line. Like that's more a biblical term than anything, but I just liked the way that it flowed and the way that it sounded. And then same with Velvet Ventures, we brainstormed with ChatGPT. And there was a few different ones on the table. And it boiled down to, I was telling Ben, I want two letters that are the same. So V and V, C and C. So we were thinking about caffeine corner. There was a few different ones we were throwing around, but at the end of the day, Velvet Ventures didn't tie us down to any one subject. It allows us to be a little mobile and be a little flexible.

Ben: Right. Well, and I think it's important to when you are thinking about naming, especially with the company, you don't. Is there a chance that you're going to be flexible at all or offer other things? You know, if you say that I am such and such shoe company, you know, and that's like your name is shoe company, you know, you might, you might not, but you run a higher chance of pigeonholing yourself into, well, what shirt are you wearing? Oh, I'm wearing a such and such shoe company instead of Adidas Nike. Like, it's just that. It's not Nike shoes or whatever. I mean, there's, there's divisions. But I think that when you're naming things, thinking what is your five year or your 10 year goal here? And are you naming something because it's kitschy now? Or for instance, a kitschy thing that I get, but to me it's just like, ugh, is because we live in Oklahoma and there's red dirt, there are so many companies named red dirt blank. And I'm not going to call any of that out specifically, but it's like, it's something that for like a 10 year span, everybody and their dog owned a company or something.

Channing: Well, with insurance, you'll see a lot of people's names agency. And so like BHM, most people don't know this, but BHM was first Channing Gardner LLC, and then. It was CG Agency because I just thought it was the coolest thing that my Paul Paul's agency was his name is the John Winblad Agency. And so I had always wanted that and we had absolutely no business. None. Because nobody knew who I was. And it's what's here's what's funny is it is harder to build trust as an individual running a company with your name than it is to build trust, even though you're still the owner and the sole proprietor, than it is to build trust of a brand. And I don't know why, it doesn't make sense, but CG Agency and Channing Gardner LLC, no business. BHM, 17 to 25% growth month over month. I'm the same person. I'm doing the same thing on the same platform in the same way.

Ben: Well, it's kind of like, I think if you attribute this to, you know, if we decide to build a car and you named it the Channing mobile, that sounds dangerous, you know. It does sound dangerous. But if you named it, you know, Channing Motor Company, and then you sold like, that just sounds more official. Like you probably have someone doing quality control.

Channing: We'd have a harder time landing clients as Gardner agency or Gardner marketing agency or Gardner business optimizing agency, then we would as Dallowry. Even though it's the exact same team.

Ben: Yep. And so I think the same thing goes with, I think there's, some things can be on the nose, but I think a lot of times it's creating those memorable words.

Channning: Or mascots. Mascots are great too. There's a company here that their garage store company, everybody else, all the competitors, it's something garage store, something garage store. They just completely rebranded, made a cartoon animal as their mascot or their logo. And they have super bright like comic strip colors. And their business has exploded because people remember who they are now. They don't just fall in the mix.

Ben: You want to shout them out?

Channing: Yeah, Jolly Goat. Yeah, Brittany Burton with Rose Media did a phenomenal job with her rebrand. Yeah, Jolly Goat garage doors.

Ben: But yeah, it's all like kind of a teal and orange and bright color. And I told him whenever I saw this truck wrapped with that, I was like, those colors are very calming. And again, it just goes into the branding because whenever I told him that I really like your color choices, they're not what I would have chosen at all. Right. Because they're not like, manly and they're not this. And so he goes, you know what's funny is he goes, I told him, I specifically told him. They seem very welcoming in a sense that a girl could call your garage door company and talk to y'all and not feel threatened that they're calling about a garage door that they probably don't know anything about, more than likely. And a lot of people, when they don't know what they're talking about, they feel intimidated. But your colors are very welcoming. And he, like, you could tell in his face, like his jaw just dropped, he goes, that is exactly when we were doing the importance of branding. When we were doing that, they found that in Oklahoma, specifically, these colors resonated most in this capacity and et cetera, et cetera. Like they spent the time and money figuring out what would work, what do people like seeing, and what are they going to remember and or call. And yeah, due to that, it's grown a lot, I believe. So that's just the importance of branding. And it's not that it's necessarily that you remember Jolly Goat, but you'll probably remember goat and bright colors. You know, so, and just if you see that truck driving down the road, it's so not intimidating that anybody would probably feel comfortable calling them.

Channing: Yeah. Well, and marketing agencies traditionally have very bold, bright colors, and ours are more pastel-y and dark magentas, and like we've got a dark teal, a dark magenta, and a pink. And most of the time, marketing is blue, red, white, black, gold, like it's very...

Ben: Government colors.

Channing: Yeah, yeah. And there's nothing wrong with that. It's just what messaging do you want to put across? And those are bold marketing agencies. And so that's what their colors are. That's not how Dallowry is. Dallowry is very much like, we want to be your friend through this process and we're gonna bring luxury at an affordable cost. And so, same with Velvet Ventures, our colors are very moody and warm and much more reflection of our home and our style. And it's a very good representation of our personal brand, our purple brand.

Ben: Yeah. And so, I think that It is.

Channing: There's no real rules when it comes to naming your company. You should be proud of the name that you pick. And you should be proud of your logo. Because at the end of the day, if you're not happy with your logo, you are probably not going to put it all over the place. And you need to put it all over the place. You should have several different styles as well. A rectangle, a square, a wording, and then just an icon. So if you don't have a mascot or an icon, you need to, in my opinion, you need to get one. Because you're missing out on a ton of cool, unique branding opportunities like favicons. And if you don't have an icon that's a small square that's legible, then you can't utilize them.

Ben: Yeah. I think it's, you know, there's different genres, if you will. And so yeah, I think that figuring out, you know, are you a brand that you want your name to be part of the service. Because I mean, like, realtors, for instance, like most of those, no one's just gonna say the Smith Group. What is the Smith Group? You typically have someone's name or some word, Salt Realty, or whatever. And so I think that you can, there's certain things and certain professions that that's a must. So then it probably plays more on font and colors than it does the name. Because a lot of those are fine with being last names or, you know, something.

Channing: I would love to know, I've been pondering this actually the last few days, I would love to know, maybe somebody could drop it in the comments, if lawyers have to name their place after their last names. I can't think of one law firm that isn't named after somebody's last name. And if it's not a legal requirement, somebody's missing out on a really big opportunity. Change the freaking game. Put a name out there that isn't somebody's last name. Become a jolly goat and see what happens.

Ben: I think finding your category, finding are you a one word? Are you a multi-word?

Channing: Are you a made up word?

Ben: Or are you like, I put this, my service is in the name. So I think that finding that out is step one, essentially. And then utilizing agencies or Google or, I mean, you can find what are people searching when they're searching for your industry. So, are you easily searchable? And just the biggest thing I would probably recommend to people is can you spell it? Because there are companies-

Channing: And is the domain available?

Ben: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, there's a lot of things to check on. I mean, does it-

Channing: Yeah, we checked domain, we checked business registration, EIN registration before we picked any of our names.

Ben: And because I think too, it's like if you picked ours is velvetventurepodcasts@gmail.com, it's good to put podcast or your industry right there because if it's just like we'll use Oklahoma's example, red dirt, red dirt what at this or if it's a generic you know, hardworking blank, well, what are you? And so I think that, you know, sometimes it's okay to have that in the name because you are, they could wind up down a different road that you didn't want them on. Because that's something that someone would just go to hardworking.com or reddirt.com, Red Dirt blank. Well, put what you are and see if you can get that domain. So if you're a carpenter and you want to have-

Channing: And your domain doesn't have to exactly match. Business Health Market, our website's privatepaybenefits.com. Completely different.

Ben: But anyway, so yeah, I mean always feel free to reach out to us or like I said, there's tons of free resources out there. Chat GPT, Google. There's plenty of other agencies.

Channing: If you're already using a marketing agency, you've been thinking about rebranding. Reach out to them first, because they know your brand a lot better, so they're going to have a quicker jump start than bringing somebody new in. Yeah. But get it done. Bye.