The Yes Trap: How French vs American business culture kills deals

A French founder I work with was sure his US deal would close. The American buyer kept telling him "we're excited, let's keep moving forward."Eleven weeks later, still no contract. Around the same time, an American sales VP walked out of a meeting in Paris and told me to write the deal off. The French team had grilled him for an hour. Three weeks later, they signed.Two opposite mistakes, same root cause. In this episode I break down why an American "yes" and a French "oui" are almost never the same word, how French vs American business culture turns the same signals into opposite meanings, and why the warm responses you're tracking in your pipeline are probably lying to you.Then I give you four questions you can run after any cross-Atlantic meeting to find out what's actually real.IN THIS EPISODEWhy an American "yes" is cheap and warm, and usually means "keep talking," not "we're committed"Why a French team that grills you with hard questions is often interested, not rejecting youHow each side prices risk and time differently, and why that shapes the language they useMENTIONED IN THIS EPISODEMedTech breakfast on a ground-breaking innovation in diabetes prevention: June 3, NYC at La Maison de l'Occitanie. Featured speakers: one of the world's leading doctors in the field and Bruno Aubert, founder of SoleCooler and inventor of WarnFeet. I'm moderating the event. If you're in med tech, health insurance, or the medical field and you'll be in New York, come join us.Save your spot here: https://partiful.com/e/pRGMGLY8pbqZl3qbuG9s----------My next book: working title False Friends. It's about doing business across the Atlantic and the gap between what looks similar in the US and France and what actually is. If you've had a transatlantic "false friend" moment, a conversation or meeting that hid rough patches due to cultural differences, reach out and tell me about it! I'm looking for stories and companies to feature in the book!SOURCES & LINKS MENTIONEDDiabetes Prevention Breakfast, June 3, NYC. Sign up: https://partiful.com/e/pRGMGLY8pbqZl3qbuG9sShare your "false friend" story for the book: [email protected] CROSSING THE ATLANTICCrossing the Atlantic is a biweekly podcast for business leaders expanding across the ocean. Hosted by Christina Rebuffet-Broadus, an American who has spent 20+ years in France and founded TransAtlantia, each episode tackles the cultural blind spots, strategic mistakes, and hidden dynamics that make transatlantic business harder than it looks. New episodes every two weeks.CONNECT WITH ME, CHRISTINA REBUFFET-BROADUSWebsite: transatlantia.comLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christinarebuffetbroadus/Email: [email protected]