Business Lessons From Paris

Paris is the world’s number one tourist destination and receives over thirty three million visitors per year. The top three attractions for visitors are the Eiffel Tower, The Louvre Museum and the Notre-Dame Cathedral.

Paris is a very expensive City to visit and ranks as the fifth most expensive in the world to visit. Tourists spend an average of over $500 per day for a couple on accommodation, meals and attractions.

Paris is actually a very successful big business and can teach us two business lessons:

• Be remarkable – The thirty three million visitors visiting Paris do so as it is a remarkable place and there is no place like it on earth. Where else are you going to see the Eiffel Tower? Gustave Eiffel built the 300 metre Eiffel Tower in 1889 at a cost of two hundred and sixty thousand pounds. He could have built a 50 metre tower for a lot less money – but would that have been as remarkable?

• Focus on quality, not price – Everything in Paris is of the highest standards and quality. There are no exceptions whether it is the coffee, food, wine, fashion, or art. For example, a cup of coffee at a sidewalk café costs over $8, but customers queue up to drink the good quality coffee in the sun and enjoy the ambiance and experience.

Business owners need to think about how they can make their products, services or customer experience remarkable. Being remarkable is not easy, but if a business can nail it, their profits and growth will also be remarkable.