When I worked in sales, what struck me most was not how difficult it was to sell.
It was how difficult it was to establish legitimacy as a salesperson.
In France, salespeople often start from an ambiguous position.
They are not quite perceived as being "of service."
Their legitimacy is often questioned before the conversation has even begun.
They may even be met with a certain distance—or subtle suspicion.
Making a salesperson wait.
Receiving them with a hint of condescension.
Testing their persistence more than the value of their proposal.
These small interactions are commonplace—and deeply cultural.
In many Anglo-Saxon cultures, selling is approached as a partnership.
You exchange ideas, explore needs, and work together to find a solution.
The transactional nature of the relationship is openly acknowledged.
Money is not viewed as something suspect; it is simply part of the framework that enables cooperation.
In France, the relationship to commerce remains more complex.
French sociologist and management researcher Philippe d’Iribarne describes what he calls a "logic of honour." Professional legitimacy is often associated with maintaining a certain distance from money and commercial interests, as if true expertise should somehow rise above the transaction itself.
Within this cultural framework, the salesperson can easily be associated with commercial interests rather than a broader purpose.
What makes this particularly interesting is that this bias is often invisible.
I see it among many consultants, experts, and independent professionals—people who struggle to sell not because they lack expertise or value, but because they have unconsciously absorbed this deeply rooted French discomfort with selling.
This ambiguity becomes even more challenging when it comes to refusal.
In France, refusals are often communicated indirectly rather than explicitly.
It is relatively rare to hear a clear and direct "no." Instead, the answer may take the form of silence, postponed decisions, unanswered emails, or unreturned phone calls.
What follows is sometimes a dance of ambiguity where neither party explicitly closes the conversation.
For people coming from more explicit cultures, this can be particularly confusing. Is there still interest? Has the proposal been rejected? Is the discussion on hold?
The message may be "no," but the word itself is never spoken.
Paradoxically, this indirectness is often intended to preserve the relationship and avoid uncomfortable confrontation. Yet for those accustomed to more explicit communication styles, it can create uncertainty, frustration, and endless follow-ups.
Selling therefore requires navigating not only an ambiguous relationship to commerce, but also an indirect relationship to refusal.
Yet this discomfort with selling is not universal. It is cultural.
Selling does not mean compromising one's ethics.
It means creating the conditions for an offer and a need to meet.
It means giving structure to cooperation.
And it means recognising that value deserves acknowledgement—including economic recognition.
Rethinking the role of sales in France is not about embracing a purely market-driven mindset.
Selling is never just about an offer and a need. It is also about culture—our relationship to status, money, legitimacy, and communication.
Add comment
Comments