What’s the Deal with the Red Cap?

“A red cap? What’s up with that? What does it mean?” Lots of folks have asked me where I came up with the name Red Cap Sales Coaching, and why I always wear a red cap!  Well, here’s the answer!!

In 2009, when I lived up in Colorado and my coaching practice was brand new, I used to go to a networking group. I was coaching in person in those days rather than on the internet.  Zoom hadn’t been invented yet.  So, I wore a “uniform” consisting of black slacks and a black polo shirt with a red logo, or a red polo shirt with a black logo.  There was a guy in the networking group called “Santa George.”  He was a professional Santa in-season and a terrific magician in the off season.  He looked like the REAL Santa! One day he came into a meeting with a red cap on his head.  I thought Wow, that cap would go great with my uniform.

“Where did you get that cap, Santa George,” I asked.

He replied, “Oh, up in Estes Park at some shop.  I don’t remember which one.”

Well, it was just a few weeks before Christmas, and my wife, Priscilla, and I always go away someplace for a week between Christmas and New Year’s to relax and set our goals for the next year.  It just so happened that we had rented a condo in Estes Park for our year-end trip that year.  Now, for some reason, those weeks always include shopping.  Go figure!  We were walking around Estes Park checking out some of the shops.  We entered one shop and lo and behold, there was a stack of red caps on one of the tables.  I bought several and started wearing them everywhere all the time!

Another member of the networking group was the owner of a marketing business.  A couple of months later, he invited me out for coffee, and as we were chatting he said, “You know, Hugh, if you came into a meeting with no hat or a different colored hat on, no one would know who you were.  You need to brand that.”

We kicked around some different names for a Red Cap business and finally settled on Red Cap Sales Coaching.  We talked about the days when wealthy people owned railroad cars or portions of railroad cars and the Red Caps were the concierges who served them.  The term red cap became synonymous with great customer service.

Michael was about the same age I was, and I wasn’t too sure how well the concept would go over with the younger generation, so I went and talked to another friend in his 30s, who also owned a marketing business.  When I explained it all to him, his responses was, “Oh, that’s cool!  Retro is in.”  Well, I was so excited to be retro instead of old and in instead of out that it was a done deal!

It’s been a tremendous brand for me.  I didn’t realize how powerful a brand it was until I went to a “Get Motivated” seminar in the Pepsi Center in Denver.  25,000 people in the arena, and people I knew and didn’t know they were there, came up to me on the breaks and said things like, “We came in all the way across the arena and we saw you immediately!”  If the purpose of marketing is to be noticed and remembered, this red cap thing was it.

The only drawback is that when I go out to speak, people come up to me and say, “Hi, Hugh!”  They don’t really know me…they recognize the cap from social media.  And I have no idea who they are!

Having a brand that sets you apart from everyone else who does what you do is critical to your success.  So give some serious thought to whether the name of your business, your logo, the way you dress and every aspect of your business makes you noticeable and memorable.  If it doesn’t, change it!

Make it fun, make it profitable, and Good Selling!