Q. What steps did you
take to choose a new
name?
We listed out the
things that needed to be
in the name. It was
probably a monthlong
process. First, we wanted to hold onto some of
the company history
because we’ve been
around for 80 years. It
was General Metals
Powder Co. so we decided to
keep the GMP in there.
Second, we wanted to have
something in our name that
told people what we do. If customers could see what we did
right in our name, then as we
began to kick off a marketing
campaign and started to get
our name out there, it would
be a big benefit for us. We had
this scenario where some
buyer’s sitting at his desk, and he sees our name and says to
himself, ‘Oh my gosh, I buy
friction products. Who are
these guys?’
We also didn’t want the company name to be excessively
long, where people were going
to lose interest in us before
they even finished reading our
name.
Q. How did your employees
get involved in the process?
Everyone had an idea of
what they wanted the company name to be. As part of the
rebranding, people here are
getting used to sharing their ideas. They understand that if
they have an idea, they should-n’t wait to be asked; speak up
or forever hold your peace.
Giving everybody their due
and really considering what
people had to say was more
difficult than we originally
thought it was going to be. We
weeded things out, and even
then, we had 10 submitted
names that would have fit the
bill, so that’s when we ran into
a problem.
At one point, we finally said,
‘We need to pick a name and
get moving on this because
we’re holding up everything
else.’ So GMP Friction
Products was one of the
names that somebody submitted, and everyone agreed more
on that one so we ran with it.
Q. How have your employees
responded to the rebranding
campaign?
It was almost like they were
waiting for it to happen; everybody wanted to be a part of it.
Every time we get something
finished, we pull everybody
together to hear the news, and
everybody’s clapping and
cheering. Sometimes it’s as
simple as, ‘We have a new customer who’s coming to visit
us,’ and it gets everybody all
worked up. They’re so excited
that we’re on the move, and
everybody’s able to be a part
of it. That part’s easy.
The management team here
wasn’t used to having everybody involved because that
wasn’t the way it was here.
My advice to them was this:
People support what they help
create, and that’s how you get
them to buy in. Let them help
in the creation of it.
HOW TO REACH: GMP Friction Products, (330) 633-1226 or www.gmpfrictionproducts.com
