Feeding the Pigeons

When I was developing my Soft Selling approach, I was taught to network as if I were feeding pigeons in the park. It is an analogy that I have followed with great success and I now teach to others that want help to generate more business referrals from networking. I have turned it into a little story to help make the point.

It was David’s sixth birthday and as a special treat his father had taken him to the local park to feed the pigeons. David had heard from his school friends that it was possible to have pigeons eat from your hand and that is what David intended to do today. His father handed him a few slices of bread and clutching tightly he began to run towards a group of hungry looking pigeons shouting ‘dinner time! dinner time! Come and get some lovely bread!’. As David approached, all the pigeons flew away. The more he tried the more pigeons left the park. David finally bowed his head, bit his lip and began to sob. His father came over and put his arm around the little boy and said ‘Here Dave, let me show you how its done’

His father broke of a few pieces of bread and slowly began sprinkling them on the floor and just ignored the pigeons. After a little while a couple of curious pigeons came forward and began to peck cautiously at the bread, all the time checking to make sure it was safe. Gradually the pigeons could sense it was safe and came a little closer eating the crumbs as they went, all the time checking for danger, poised to fly at any moment. The father gently lowered his hand very carefully opened his palm to display the crumbs. Before long one pigeon eased
forward and began to peck at the crumbs in his hand. Then another pigeon came forward followed by another and another. Soon the whole area before the father and son was covered in pigeons all flying in from the local neighbourhood.

If you want to develop great business referrals and business prospects then you need to make sure you do not scare people away by coming across as pushy. Be soft and you will not scare off the very people that could connect you to your biggest ever piece of business. The next person you meet could be the one!