Client calls me by the wrong name. Can I correct him?

Is it a name that sounds close to yours or could be confused with yours?

@chyna Yes, it’s very close to mine.

You boyfriend is giving you poor advice. I’ve worked with clients my entire career, and I can tell it’s always better to “set things straight” and define work boundaries from the outset.

For one thing, imagine how you and your client might feel if he learns your correct name, either accidentally or by your telling him, sometime in the future. But more importantly, if you politely correct him with a fact as benign (yet necessary) as your name now and he reacts badly—which, by the way, I can’t imagine—how secure of client will be as time goes by?

Don’t make it a big deal just remind him of your correct name.

I would not correct him directly, but politely repeat your name.

Always spell out your name in response to emails. Or even remind him of it in the opening line: “Hi Jim, it’s me, Emily”

When he calls, if you have caller ID, always answer with your name: “Emily speaking, is this Jim?”

When calling him, always repeat your name with your business. “Hi Jim, It’s me, Emily, at Leave No Trace.”

@zenvelo That’s exactly what I do. It sets him straight without being awkward or potentially confrontational. He’s not from this country so I want to be sensitive to him as well.

@LeavesNoTrace Well, in that case, I think it is just something you will have to tolerate.

@zenvelo Maybe. I’ll try your approach, and if it doesn’t work, I’ll just have to let it go.

The other thing is that he is kind of irksome in general because I’ll send him a requested piece of content, usually several days early. I’ll get an alert that he’s opened the email. (I have an extension that tells me who opens my Gmails and from where) And then two days later, I’ll get an urgent voicemail saying he didn’t receive the piece as if I’m late with the assignment—usually with weird admonishment on his part.

I’ve seen this behavior from clients in the past, and it’s not a good sign—it usually means they are going to have some made-up problem when it comes time to pay, which means a nice headache for me getting to choose whether to avoid conflict or get paid. A lot of people don’t respect freelancers and want something for free but that’s a different topic I guess.

This happens to me a lot. Last time I received an email with the incorrect name I sent one right back and said ha, it’s chyna not Chinese! They responded right back with an apology and said they were embarrassed. I told them not to be and said I got a chuckle out of it.

Is this a language barrier problem?

I think the best thing is to flat out face it with him, and give him a good reason why, which gives you a solid reason fir bringing it up.
“You have my name a little wrong. Since I hope you like my services enough to recommend me to others, I feel compelled to point this out.”

If it was the very beginning of your working relationship I would correct him. If it’s been going on for a while, which it sounds like it has, I’d probably let it go, especially if he is foreign. Is your name difficult to say in the language he speaks?

I certainly wouldn’t let it irk me. Why not just find it endearing or cute. I don’t know the exact situation obviously, or the exact mistake being made, but if someone is ESL I understand some pronounciations are really tough.

People struggle with my last names and I spend time immediately helping them if I will have an ongoing relationship with them. My maiden name has a letter that is silent. Both names have two consonants together that are never together in English, and people get tripped up.

Teachers used to really screw up my nephew’s name at the beginning of the school year, and my SIL used to get really annoyed, which led to her son getting annoyed, and my response was write it out phonetically for the teacher. They didn’t want to do it, they felt the teacher should try harder. Well, some names are difficult when they look very unfamiliar to the person trying.

I like the idea suggested above to always answer the phone “this is Leslie” so the person hears it from you. If you answer usually with your business name also, drop all of that if you see his caller ID. When some answers with a real long fast sentence with the name of the business and their name it can all much together.

Of course you correct him. Politely, smoothly, and with humor.

Sounds like you need to give them an updated “Contact Information” .

I’d continue to gently correct on your name each time.

In regard to the weirdness about him asking for things you know he has, I’d set something automatic up in my system that sent him a note an hour or so after receiving confirmation of receipt. Something along the lines of glad to see you had a chance to look at (my email/report/whatever) – look forward to reviewing it with you on (actual due date).

I don’t think I’d alert him to you tracking his interaction with your emails. He may just be busy and has opened the email but not responded. If he uses Gmail and gets a lot of mail, perhaps your mail has just got buried and been forgotten when he’s queried non-sent items before. He may just not be very organised.

I get so much mail and things do get buried and sometimes I read things, mean to respond and then get sidetracked. So as I said, I wouldn’t alert him to you tracking his interaction with your mail. I usually get asked to approve the sending of a receipt, but if you’re using something else that doesn’t tell him you’re tracking your mail and how people respond, he may feel your actions are invasive. I wouldn’t like to find out people were tracking whether I’ve opened my mail unless there was something that told me they would be doing that on their mail and gave me the option to opt-out. It feels like an invasion of privacy. I know many marketing companies use programs that do this, and that my activity online is scrutinised and tracked all the time, but someone mentioning they know I opened their email but haven’t responded would not appeal to me at all.

Definitely correct him gently.

Since the name is similar, ask him how did he figure your nickname was eg. Betty when your actual name is Bethany? He may play it off and say he probably heard it somewhere or he knew a Bethany once who was also called Betty. Then ask him to call you Bethany instead since that is the name all your clients call you and you don’t want to seem like he is favored over the rest.

I also have a name that was often mixed up with one very similar. I would often correct them and tell them it’s no big deal because I was so use to people mixing up my name with the one they called me, but if they call my office asking for me, people who do know my correct name won’t give me the message, thinking it was a wrong number.