In Paris

There is no one way of doing business in Europe.  You can’t characterize by region.  Every country and every city is different and our client visits in Paris prove they don’t want to do business like the Brits, unlike the US, bifurcated from the Belgians.

Calling on a client for a visit is often not worth their time, unless you have something new to say.  Checking in, how is the service, anything more we can do, does not suffice.  While Parisians love their cafes and their lunches, they do not spend a lot of time socializing after work, they work and they go home.  They do not head out to the Pub and “get to know each other.”  This is not an observation, this is the message from our French customers who are often exasperated at themselves.

While the French do not play to type, Paris does.  The romance of the city is borne of Robert Doisneau photographs of lovers on a bench, women in cafes.  And you can’t walk a corner without this scene playing out.  The city was going through a spot of Spring-like weather and you can’t not be taken in by the Eiffel Tower peering its head outside the window of a meeting or walking the Champs Elysee at night .

But once you get beyond that you realize that the French, of 35-hour work week fame, actually are putting in long hours to compete.  Maybe it’s because we were meeting with International companies, many with a US mindset, but either way, they went back to the office after our drinks ended well past 7 o’clock.

And while they are characterized as not being terribly US-friendly, the streets with names from every president since Wilson, are reminders of the war and the US presence.  Our meeting at the Publicis Group began with a tour of the lobby and the Eisenhower gallery, a tribute to the 34^th US President who used the building as his headquarters during the war while in Paris.

Two un-pleasantries that I might address, were I President of France for a day, after spending some time with Mrs. President of France:  Everyone in France has a dog and everyone’s dog has a digestive tract and everyone’s dog takes a crap on the sidewalk and there is absolutely no inclination or requirement to clean it up.  Everyone in the country is bumping into one another because they are looking at their feet trying to avoid the minefield of doggy doo.  Even New Yorkers curb their dogs.

And second, a small reminder that smoking is bad for you?  A message that does not penetrate the beautiful minds of the students as they walk the grounds of the Sorbonne.  The women are stunning as they sit on the steps and stoops drinking their Cappuccino, reading their Jung and smoking their lungs away.

The French were a surprise, Paris was not.