Stop Painting Seagulls in Their Picture

The Girl, the Sky, and the Lawsuit

She was six years old, and her masterpiece was almost done.
A blue sky, a crooked house, a sun with too many rays.
Every brushstroke was hers-imperfect, but honest.

Then her teacher leaned in.
“Let me help,” she said, and with a few quick flicks, added a perfect seagull to the sky.

The girl stared at her painting.
It was still blue. The sun still shone. But something was off.
The seagull didn’t belong.
She didn’t put it there.

She went home in tears-not because her painting was ruined, but because it wasn’t hers anymore.
Her parents saw how upset she was. They didn’t just complain-they sued the teacher and the school. In court, the little girl was asked why she was so upset. Her answer was simple: “Because I didn’t see it there.”

We do this in sales, too.
We ask a question.
The buyer starts to answer.
But the silence gets heavy, so we jump in:

“Is it more about the process, or the reporting, or-?”

We fill the gap. We finish their thought.
We add our own seagulls to their picture.

It feels helpful. It feels efficient.
But it’s not.
It’s theft-of ownership, of clarity, of trust.

Why do we do it?
We hate awkward pauses.
We want to prove we get it.
We want to show we’re smart, prepared, “on their level.”
And yes-we want to be liked.

But every time we fill the silence, we’re telling the buyer:
“I know your story better than you do.”
We’re making their world smaller-one borrowed seagull at a time.

The Cost
When we paint seagulls, we lose the real picture.
We get compliance, not honesty.
We get polite answers, not the truth.

And then we wonder why the deal vanishes, why the buyer ghosts, why we never really understood what mattered.

The Move
Next time we feel the urge to “help” the buyer finish their thought,
Don’t.

Let the silence stretch.
Let the answer be messy, incomplete, or even wrong.

Because when the picture is truly theirs, they’ll fight for it.
And if we’re lucky, they’ll invite us to help finish it-on their terms.

P.S.
The best sales conversations don’t look perfect.
They look honest.
Leave your seagulls at the door.

🛋️ The Buyer Shrink
Guilty until proven innocent.