Pay attention to how French service providers present themselves and their work—presentation is considered a genuine indicator of underlying quality. This includes professional appearance, properly formatted documents, appropriate communication style, and careful attention to how work is delivered. Don’t dismiss these as superficial concerns; the French understand that providers who care about form typically also care about substance. A lawyer who submits documents with errors, a consultant who dresses inappropriately, a tradesperson who leaves a worksite messy—these presentation failures signal that the provider may not be attending carefully to substance either.
Service encounters should proceed with appropriate formality and proper sequence, not casual informality. The greeting matters; the structure of meetings matters; how proposals and deliverables are packaged matters. This attention to form disciplines execution and demonstrates professional seriousness. Providers who present carelessly are telling you something important about how they approach their work overall.
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