Here’s something really bizarre that will blow your mind, but only goes to show that strange things do happen in the on-line world. What if you have spent years growing a following, establishing an on-line reputation, growing your social capital to find out one day there’s an impostor with your same name that can change your social graph from one day to the next?
What would you do if someone in your marketplace had your same name and people were constantly getting you confused?
Well….there happens to be an Ines Garcia in South Florida who is also a Realtor- luckily for me, she is no impostor and is a really nice person. The similarities are quite shocking, she is also from Venezuela and she also has an architectural background….what are the odds?
I know I go out of my way to be known as “Ines Hegedus-Garcia”, but some people just choose to drop the “complicated surname” and remember the Garcia. Ines has been nice enough to email me when someone confuses us or she will clearly just tell them that they have the wrong “ines”. We even joke in the background about the fact that we both have good reputations, because it would suck if one of us dropped the ball.
Sometimes I think it would be so much easier if she was obnoxious, that way people would identify us on the spot.
So how can you address a situation like this? There is no malicious intent and we may be sharing social capital simply because we share the same name. From a business ethic point of view, it can get us into trouble if we couldn’t identify a client or potential customer that was making a mistake.
I’m throwing it out there to get some suggestions because I am truly at a loss. Neither of us intends to change our name – or to call ourselves “the other ines” or “bizarro ines” ….although THAT would make things so much easier.
What do you do if someone with your name in your market pops up?
Vicki Lloyd
May 11, 2009 at 1:21 pm
Everybody already knows that you are the “Mojito Ines!”
I don’t have any other Vicki Lloyds in my area, but there is a gorgeous 21 year old European model with my name. Knowing that, it kind of helps me understand the bounce rate on my website! (People searching for European models don’t have much interest in California real estate agents!)
"The Other" Ines Garcia
May 11, 2009 at 1:44 pm
Thanks for the kind words…
I prefer to be known as “the other” Ines Garcia than be obnoxious.
I don’t know how many doors have openned to me already for having the same name as a real estate on-line celebrity!
Lani Rosales
May 11, 2009 at 2:01 pm
I asked Jason Falls what he thought and here was his priceless response over Twitter direct message:
Rob Hahn
May 11, 2009 at 2:06 pm
Is assassination completely out of the question then?
-rsh
Lani Rosales
May 11, 2009 at 2:07 pm
Ines, my personal take is that this is tricky. I don’t happen to know Other Ines but I’ve seen you very graciously handle this situation you’re both in. It seems to me though that proper etiquette would be for the person latest to the party to alter their public branding to set themselves apart. This is better PR for her because what happens if you go on a killing spree? She’s then also known as the whack job who lost it (or vice versa).
There’s not much you can do other than continue being gracious and kind as it is your nature to do so and hopefully Other Ines will brand herself away from the name “Ines Garcia” or she is taking a big risk that (1) your reputation will remain golden and (2) she won’t be ostracized for unintentionally being an imposter.
I recommend she garner a following based on something unique about her, maybe change her online identity to “SoFloRealtor” or something clever excluding the name Ines. It’s not her fault, it’s not your fault, but it would be impolite to go ignored.
Lani Rosales
May 11, 2009 at 2:08 pm
Good gawd, Rob! For those of you who don’t personally know Rob, he is kidding. Seriously, he’s joking.
LOLing in my insidey voice
jfsellsius
May 11, 2009 at 2:14 pm
Interesting situation. And I thought the John Smiths had a problem. Hmm.. maybe that’s why agents put their photos everywhere.
@Rob Hahn…. kidnapping perhaps?
Lani Rosales
May 11, 2009 at 2:19 pm
also, if you don’t know joe personally, HE TOO is kidding!!! poor Other Ines 🙁
still LOLing in my insidey voice
Rob Hahn
May 11, 2009 at 2:22 pm
Okay, if assassination and kidnapping are completely off the table…
I think this is simply a matter of brand power. In a sense, you two have competing personal brands within your market. If yours is stronger, then the other Ines will ride your coat-tail for a bit, but eventually end up becoming just a shadow in your bigger brand. If the converse, then the other way around.
You can cooperate, but when it comes to names, that’s a little tricky because one of you two will need to give up the name or at least social market identity.
If I were you, personally, I’d investigate making Miamism a far bigger brand than your name. At least on Twitter, I don’t think I know half the names of people I chat with on a daily basis. @jeffx, @heyamaretto, @laniar, @respres, @tyr… I have to stop and think what the person’s actual name is. Dustin’s “brand” is Tyr, as far as I’m concerned.
-rsh
Jay Thompson
May 11, 2009 at 2:44 pm
There is a guy named Jay Thompson who is a professional surfer (of waves, not the Internet) in Australia. I’ve offered a couple of times to trade jobs with him, but I’ve never gotten a response.
And when I lived in Austin, there was an attorney named Jay Thompson. That was kind of funny until I started getting calls at 3:00am from people wanting me to bail them out of jail.
What can ya do? Sounds like the dual-Ines’ have it worked out about as best they can.
Russell Shaw
May 11, 2009 at 2:48 pm
Rob was not kidding about assassination. If you are the “other Ines”, watch your ass.
I totally agree with Rob, Miamism, is the way to go.
There was another Russell Shaw, a very prominent blogger. russellshaw.com and russellshaw.net were and still are his domains. Once I started blogging he would get random emails intended for me. He was much better known than I was as a blogger, so I never got his email but he routinely got mine. I was blessed that he was an incredibly nice person so him forwarding my email was never an issue. We became friends and I was quite sad to learn of his passing about a year ago. I was fortunate that he was mostly a political and technical writer and only rarely wrote about real estate. He and I always referred to ourselves when signing off as “the other Russell”.
The other Ines may be a very nice person but as she is right there and in the same business I say run with the Miamism ball.
Ines Hegedus-Garcia
May 11, 2009 at 3:14 pm
OK – guys….I am laughing my ass off here reading Rob, Joe and Russell’s answers. The “other Ines” is a really nice person (Thank God for that) and as you can see by her comment, she even has a sense of humor!
Ines…..it took your google alerts a bit long to locate this post….I’m surprised!! 😀
As for Miamism, it IS our brand and definitely the way to go – although I don’t sign in to comment in people’s blogs as “miamism” (that could be considered overbranding) and then there’s the issue of the name “ines” – have you any clue how difficult it is for people to say the name? and how hard it’s been to make people remember it? (SIGH)
I do have the “miamism” handle on Twitter – I may start using it now just to throw everyone off. Thanks for the feedback, very much appreciated.
teresa boardman
May 11, 2009 at 3:21 pm
There is also another Teresa Boardman who is a realtor. She hates that I have all the domain names for the name but she has not participated in social media and when the name is googled the first zillion records are me. Honestly if your name were Mary Smith or John Jones neither of you would have any chance at the name recognition thing. Just be thankful there are only tow of you.
Benn Rosales
May 11, 2009 at 3:25 pm
You could always recruit her and start a new firm called Ines y Ines? The last thing you need is the miami CSI on your rear, although this would make a kick ass csi episode 🙂
Kevin Tomlinson
May 11, 2009 at 3:44 pm
Wow–I’d bring that other Ines Garcia DOWN—-Joan Rivers style!
I’m only joking.
My two cents: The time you spend on “switching” and protecting to another handle, when you already have such great momentum on the “old one”—I think your time would be better spent looking forward instead of protecting a fluke here and there.
Just my $.02.
Ines Hegedus-Garcia
May 11, 2009 at 3:46 pm
Kick ass CSI episode!! 🙂
Kevin…..I just spend about 5 minutes on twitter announcing my switch to miamism and I am already friggin’ exhausted!! you may be right….not worth the effort. (did I just agree with you?)
Ines Hegedus-Garcia
May 11, 2009 at 3:54 pm
ANOTHER “T”? say it isn’t so!! I can barely take one of you …. much less two! (you know I love ya)
Rob Hahn
May 11, 2009 at 4:44 pm
If my name were Mary Smith, I would go to court and officially have it changed to Ignacio von Rickensturmgerachten de la Mancha.
Or Borock Obama. Take advantage of that whole Americans-who-can’t-spell thing.
“Listen, honey, the PRESIDENT told me to buy this house! How can I say no???”
-rsh
Ines Hegedus-Garcia
May 11, 2009 at 4:56 pm
Rob, funny thing is that when I married Rick 17 years ago I refused to change my name to a common name like “ines garcia” which happens to be like John Smith in South America – I suggested changing his last name to “Garsha” or “Garci”…but he didn’t buy it ….hence the hyphenation.
Geordie Romer
May 11, 2009 at 5:23 pm
I met some great folks at the Seattle RE Bar Camp because of a similar confusion. Apparently folks thought that Geordy Rostad and I were the same guy. Since we work for the same big regional franchise we have very similar emails. Since we don’t work the same market I know we will forward any emails that go to the wrong Geordy / Geordie.
"The Other" Ines Garcia
May 11, 2009 at 5:49 pm
I knew you had a fan club but I didn’t expect they will get so pasionate!
I promote mostly mywestonblog but I am sorry for your friends… I won’t change my name. I was married to a guy with a french last name (very glamorous) and I used it at the beginning of my RE career…I don’t even use that last name for my son’s school’s now.
By the way Kevin…I work for your same company!!!! can you make it a 5 cents and add something nice???
LOL
I have had fun so far and I guess I can expect much more!
Ken Brand
May 11, 2009 at 8:11 pm
Check, check, double check….I’m voting for “Miamism”. It’s the first thing I thought of…after “mojitos”. No doubt it’s a pain in the ass to change everything, I’d start including it everything and of course use you’re picture everywhere.
1.5 cents worth.
Ines Hegedus-Garcia
May 11, 2009 at 8:51 pm
ken – anything that is “formal” marketing is miamism – but then a conflict arises – if social media is about presenting yourself as a human being and not a business, if it’s about making connections and engaging people and showing your personality – how can I do that without a name?
Everyone knows that “ines” is behind Miamism – everyone will have to pay attention now and make sure they are talking to the right person. I will be try to figure out the miamism bit.
Louise Scoggins
May 11, 2009 at 8:52 pm
Hi Ines! I am new to AG and have thoroughly enjoyed reading this post…I definitely had a few LOL moments! Luckily I don’t have another “Louise Scoggins” in my marketplace, but I will tell you that many people in my area know me by my slogan / website. So, I agree with many of the comments on here that branding is the way to go. Do you have a logo for the Miamism? Maybe that’s a place to start…I know my logo was something that really helped me out a lot. It incorporated both my slogan and my website and was posted everywhere that I could think of…websites, cards, email, mailouts, etc etc.
Whatever you do, GOOD LUCK! I’ll be following along 🙂
Ines Hegedus-Garcia
May 11, 2009 at 9:18 pm
Hey Louise – welcome to AG and thanks for the compliments. Branding is my thing so you better believe miamism and the logo appear in everything we do – even our mojito reviews – but when it comes to Facebook, Twitter and other sites…….hmmmm……..many would consider it a hard sale.
I’m not 100% convinced – but I will keep branding Miamism….it’s what we have always done.
Dan Connolly
May 11, 2009 at 11:57 pm
Ines,
Maybe I am a little slow, but I have been reading your posts and following you on twitter and have rarely gotten past the Hegedus all the way to garcia. I know you are Ines from Miami with three names, and I definately wouldn’t think that someone named Ines Garcia was you. I don’t really think its a conflict. I have always seen the three names (one which I can’t pronounce) and that is the brand I remember…
Ines Hegedus-Garcia
May 12, 2009 at 12:27 am
Dan, that makes me feel great and I’m thankful for my unpronounceable maiden name – thank you!!! 😀
Jay Thompson
May 12, 2009 at 12:33 am
Dan – don’t feel bad. I can pronounce “Ines” three or four different ways and they are probably all wrong!
But I love her! (and “the other Ines” is a super good sport too!)
Ines Hegedus-Garcia
May 12, 2009 at 12:46 am
Do you still want that mojito Jay? come on!! you know how to pronounce “INES” remember the lesson? the shampoo “Finesse” without the F
Joe Loomer
May 12, 2009 at 5:56 am
I never thought I had a problem with my relatively rare surname, until some of the jokesters around the office started calling me “J-Lo.”
Don’t know how to take advantage of THAT in the real estate world – any semblance of advantage would be short-lived once my Navy Chief mug got on their screen! Maybe I should change my profile picture 😉
CMDLR – hope you got that one Ines!
Ines Hegedus-Garcia
May 12, 2009 at 8:45 am
J-lo!! 🙂 you will never hear the end of that one (good move combining CDLR and MDLR)
Susie Blackmon
May 14, 2009 at 3:51 am
Just go by INES … like Cher. You know, like ‘Ines Does Miamism’ and the like. 😉
ines
May 14, 2009 at 9:52 am
I like that Susie – ….not DALLAs……Ines does Miamism 🙂