New Business Name

Choose a new business name.

Set goals around the attributes of the new name.

Check if your chosen name is not taken.

Select a group of trusted customers and talked to them about the new business name.

Pass a resolution to change the company's name to the company's directors.

Register your new business name with your state attorney general.

Changing Business Name

Change the name on the automatic answering telephone.

Ask each employee to re-record their voicemail if they use the company name.

Change the name on the logo of the web site.

Update all the pages on the website.

Get the domain for the new name and redirect the old site.

Leave a 'trail' in the meta tag description and keyword of the old name.

Have a transition on the return address of the envelopes so you don't lose your cash flow when your customers throw away your invoices.

Make it into a celebration so the old time employees have closure.

Write a press release and post it on your website explaining why.

Update your listings in directories.

Post a press release on PRWeb, PRNewswire and the like.

Send a letter to all your customers: current, former and potential.

Make sure all the employees know, especially the ones off site.

Send a letter and email to all your vendors.

Order a new sign for out front.

Get a trinket: mousepads, tshirts, pens, baseball caps as appropriate.

Download or Print this Business Name Change Checklist

Get a printable version of this checklist in your preferred format: PDF, Word, Excel, or print directly from your browser.

Who it's for

This Business Name Change Checklist is for teams that want consistent execution, less rework, and clear ownership.

Standardize quality - run the same Business Name Change steps every time, regardless of who executes
Save time - reuse a proven Business Name Change workflow instead of rebuilding processes from scratch
Improve accountability - assign owners and see what's done vs. what's pending
Onboard faster - use the Business Name Change checklist as the SOP and training guide
Coordinate across roles - handoffs are clear and everyone works from the same source of truth

How to use this Business Name Change Checklist:

Start by saving it - save as a Template if you'll reuse it, or as a Checklist if it's a one-off project.
Customize it once for your workflow - remove what doesn't apply and add your team-specific steps.
Assign ownership and execute - set owners/due dates where needed and track completion as work happens.
Reuse without rebuilding - when Business Name Change comes up again, start from your saved version and run it with clear ownership.

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