Practical Sales Training™ > How To Lose The Sale> Aspirational Names
What is it
Aspirational names are names people feel proud to say and proud to join.
They signal progress, status, and purpose.
If you pick the wrong name, people will not want to be part of it.
How it works
Names shape identity. A strong name makes people feel they belong to something bigger.
A weak name makes people feel average or less than.
In sales and adoption, identity beats features.
People join movements and stories, not labels that feel basic.
Aspirational names work because they:
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Point to an outcome people want
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Carry status without sounding smug
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Are simple to say and easy to remember
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Make teams and customers feel good about association
How you can use it
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Name your offers for the destination. Example. Launch Plan, Momentum Plan, Scale Plan.
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Name your tiers for progress. Example. Explorer, Builder, Leader. Avoid Basic and Standard.
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Name your communities. Example. The Closer Collective, The Conversion Club.
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Name internal projects with pride. If the team would not wear it on a hoodie, rename it.
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Test aloud. Say “I am part of ___” and “We are moving to ___.” If it feels flat, change it.
Pick names people want to repeat.
When the name feels aspirational, adoption gets easier, pride goes up, and sales follow.
EXAMPLE
Early space suits used a condom-like urine collection device with sizes sold to astronauts. Official sizes were small, medium, and large. Astronauts disliked choosing “small,” so they jokingly referred to the options in more heroic terms such as extra large, immense, and unbelievable. That phrasing comes from Apollo astronaut Michael Collins, and it was a cultural workaround, not an official NASA relabel. Smithsonian Magazine
NASA documentation also shows the hardware was produced in multiple scaled sizes, which supports the context that sizing choice mattered, even if the playful names were informal. NASA Technical Reports Server
(You may have seen memes that claim NASA officially changed labels to “large, gigantic, humongous.” Fact-checks classify that as mixed or exaggerated. Snopes)
See also
