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The French Issue

by Luca Filigheddu on November 2, 2009



The French Issue
Bilingual stop sign in Ottawa, Ontario

Image via Wikipedia

I know this post will upset many of my French readers and maybe some of my French friends, but I wanted to share this point of view in order to better understand if I’m doing something wrong.

The “issue” is this one: anytime, I repeat, ANYTIME my company deals with a French prospect, we always get into problems. The main problem is that, unlike any other client/prospect, French ones usually tend NOT to believe that my company can deliver what it promises.

You can understand that the premises are not good. The first task is long and painful and it is to make them comfortable that everything will be fine and will work great, as other THOUSANDS customers can confirm and guarantee. The point is that the only case histories they trust in MUST be French!

You can keep showing them this or that successful case, but if those are not French, the value given is close to zero.

Ok, now you know the problem. I’m ending up choosing not to accept French customers/prospects anymore. Or, at least, we will charge them 30% more because of the additional, painful, stressful activity involved in the sale process.

Any help? Is the world champion soccer final Italy vs France one of the issues? :-)

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Tagged as: French

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  • Well the problem is a north/south issue. French trust blind folded anything that comes from northern Europe and show great skepticism for business coming from southern Europe.
    Same with West and East.
    My 2cts.
  • Interesting point. I thought it was more a French-Italy issue...
  • Facebook User
    Most interesting observation, Luca. When I managed Quarterdeck software company in Canada, Hydro Quebec ordered a few hundred copies of QEMM. And we went to great lengths to get them the manual in French (Quarterdeck had just completed printing of a French version ... and this was pre-Internet days with Adobe-published manuals).

    So a few days after delivery they phoned to ask if they could have a few English copies of the manual, just in case there were any juicy tidbits of information in the English manual that had not been included in the French manual.

    Go figure ... in the only part of the world where internationally recognized STOP sign is replaced by ARRET signs, except in the primarily dominated town of Hudson, Quebec.
  • yes, that image has been chosen on purpose... :-)
  • You will never see this stop sign in France. It's purely Canadian.
  • Requesting local references vs. foreign references is not a behaviour that is specific to France. Here is Japan, most companies will want to see that you have Japanese customer references before buying...
  • Hi Luca, despite not having much experience with French customers I can still advise you to avoid wearing the shirt of Materazzi during a working meeting :D
  • Is the world champion soccer final Italy vs France one of the issues? "
    No, wrong idea... because french still remember '98 world cup quarter final and '00 Euro final ... ;-)
  • Touchè... :-)
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