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Tier 3: Dumpster Fire

How do you fix sending a proposal with another client's name in it?

The short answer

Resend the corrected document within the hour with a one-line note, then point to something in the proposal that is unmistakably specific to them. The apology fixes the etiquette; the specificity fixes the actual damage, which is the suspicion that their proposal is boilerplate.

What's actually at stake

  • 01Clients do not care about the typo. They care that you might be selling them a copy-paste.
  • 02A fast correction plus one bespoke detail resets the impression almost completely.
  • 03Grovelling makes the template suspicion worse, not better.

Do

  • · Resend the fixed file, do not ask them to ignore a page.
  • · Add one line referencing something only their team said.
  • · Keep the apology to a single clause.

Don't

  • · Do not explain your document workflow.
  • · Do not leak the other client's name further by discussing it.
  • · Do not offer a discount over a typo.

A draft you can send now

Corrected version attached — a stale name slipped through in the header, apologies. Everything in section 3 is built off what Priya raised about your Q3 renewal cycle, so that's the part I'd most like your reaction to.
Tailor this to my exact disaster →

Questions people actually ask

Do I mention it at all if they haven't opened it?
Yes. Assume it was opened on a phone thirty seconds after it landed.
Should my manager know?
If the account is material, tell them before the client does.

Take it further

Ask Cris about this →

Talk it through with the crisis bot using your actual details.

Grade what you already sent →

Incident Autopsy scores the damage and rewrites it.

Rehearse the conversation →

Spar with a skeptical manager, exec, or client before the real one.

Tier 3: Dumpster Fire explained →

A meeting will be scheduled about this. Possibly a recurring one.

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