Y. L.

Greetings Master, greetings fellow practitioners, my name is L. Y. and I started practicing Falun Gong in 1998, and have been practicing for 18 years. Today my sharing is entitled Cultivate solidly in Epoch Times sales.

Right after Shen Yun shows in Atlanta in 2010, I received a phone call from the director of Epoch Times, “You should work as sales for Epoch Times." However, my major field of study was radar in mainland China, and I had been working on it for nearly 10 years. My major in the United States was also radar, and I engaged in research and development in electrical engineering after my graduation, I never worked as a salesman, and never thought about it. I was not prepared, then I replied, "Why do you call me to do sales?" I meant to find someone else to do it. She said, "I saw you sell Shen Yun tickets well, so you should have no problem in sales, you come to work tomorrow." "Wow, I have not even committed to doing it yet, how can you ask me to come to work tomorrow?" Despite what I thought, I felt she was firm, and I knew there was nothing accidental, so I agreed.

I pondered over that for quite a while after the phone call. I was about to find an ordinary people job with high salary, so my wife would stop complaining. But I was hesitant to do so, because I would have no time to do Dafa projects that way. I hoped to do more Dafa projects and save more people. But if I really work as sales for Epoch Times, a Dafa project, can I do it well? I had no experience, so I was not sure about the results.

It was still difficult for me to make the decision. Then Master’s lectures I studied a few days ago suddenly flashed into my mind: "Dafa disciples all have in mind the thought, ‘We will rush to the front lines, no matter how hard or exhausting it may be or if it means long nights without sleep--we can, and will, do whatever it takes.’ But, when it comes to management, they falter." (Fa Teaching at the 2009 Greater New York International Fa Conference)

I immediately went to read it carefully again. Master said, "Didn't you say that you could do whatever it takes? (Audience laughs) Didn't you all go from not knowing how to do something to knowing how? Then why is it that you can't do this part well? Only by running a media entity well can it grow stronger and have more of the desired effect. Right now how much time is wasted figuring out how to keep it going and scrounging around for money to sustain it--how hard it has been! If you really put some thought and effort into this, then I think the outcome will be great. Whether it's seeking sponsorships or getting ads, all of that behind-the-scenes work done to get capital for the media companies is the same as that of those who act as the public face of the company--the mighty virtue is exactly the same." (Fa Teaching at the 2009 Greater New York International Fa Conference)

After reading it, I got enlightened all of a sudden. I had been rushing to the front line, staying up late without sleep in current Fa-rectification projects. But what Master needed most were those who could find sponsorship, advertising, and collect sufficient funds for the media. I should be such a disciple. Although it was hard for me, but could it be harder than clarifying the truth in China where your life was in danger?

So the next day, I did not hesitate to go to The Epoch Times office to work.

In the beginning, I just went out with veteran sales every time, learning on the job. I had a technical background, in which the object was fixed and test results could be repeated with experiments. But in sales, the subject is a live person, who could be happy for a moment and angry in another moment, all out of my control. In order to let others place ads with us, we must continue to try to figure out the meaning of every word the client said, then try a variety of ways to convince them. It is really not an easy thing for me, so I must have a comprehensive change. As a scientist, I am accustomed to staying at home or in the office or laboratory to conduct research and experiment quietly by myself. But now the job requires me to wheel and deal every day, making contacts with all kinds of people to introduce our newspaper, so it is really out of my comfort zone. Usually I talked to people for a long time with our newspaper in hand, but they would know immediately that I was a rookie, and did not know much about selling. Then they would tell me, sometimes impatiently, that I should be doing something productive and making some real money, instead of wasting time there.

Despite all the difficulty, I persisted and continued. In a few months, I visited almost all the car dealers in Atlanta, large and small. During that period, I took every opportunity to clarify the truth to everyone. Finally, one day, after a month long effort, I signed a contract all by myself for a black and white ad for three months, with a Honda dealership. Soon after, that ad turned into a half page color. In the end, I even invited their sales manager to watch Shen Yun.

As Dafa disciple, the biggest advantage of working in sales for Epoch Times is to clarify the truth to save people, especially Chinese people when many of them still do not understand us, or even dislike us, thinking that we are anti-China, etc. This requires a long and enduring process of truth clarification. In the past years, I used the opportunity in sales for intensive truth clarification, and many Chinese people had changed their views. Once I met a Chinese salesman at car dealership, although he did not like CCP, he did not identify with our newspaper either. In the beginning, when I was telling him the truth, he refuted almost every word I said. But he slowly changed after a long period of time and many times of my chatting with him. In the end, it was me who did the most talking, and we would discuss quite a variety of issues in life, and he became more and more willing to ask for my opinion on some issues. Later on, he even printed a lot of adages of traditional Chinese culture and posted on the wall of his office.

There is a Chinese tycoon in Atlanta, we met once, and I found that he had a very negative view towards us. He never read our newspaper and was stuck to the brainwashing of the CCP. After I clarified the truth to him persistently and over a long period of time, gradually he started to change. The last time I met with him, he told me that he started to read Epoch Times every week, and was very pleased to make friends with us.

There is a Korean car dealership with a Chinese manager. I clarified truth to the manager every time I met him. Later on, he told me that our newspaper was completely different from others, and those people just asked for money, would take the money and leave, and never chatted with him so much like I did. We are good friends now.

To be in sales, I must persevere in difficult time and continue. There is a largest Honda dealer in Atlanta, and I have been contacting them for years. They had a rule that they would never do newspaper ads, but only TV and online ads. So every time I met with the sales manager, he told me that after we had a television, he would come to us for advertising. A few years passed, it was still the same. But I did not give up, and continued to meet with him whenever I got a chance.

Early last year, I suddenly found that they placed an ad in a Korean newspaper, so I went to see him, and he was promoted to general manager. I saw their business goals affixed everywhere- to become the world’s largest Honda dealer. I felt it promising this time. He told me that they still did not need us, maybe someday in the future if I could convince him. It was very different from the past. I seized the opportunity to tell him the truth, and went back to visit him very often. Once, he was on the phone when I arrived, and I waited for him for more than an hour. When he finally came out to see me, I told him that, and he said, oh, I see you, I’m very busy now, just come over later. Then, after some time I went to see him again. He was again on the phone, but when he saw me, he signaled me to his office to wait. When he got off the phone, I was thinking about how to talk to him, he started first, "I like you,” and told me that a salesperson of World Journal just came, and he asked her to leave in less than 30 seconds. He did not like that person, but he liked me, saying that I was very patient and very decent. He had decided to do it with me. Then in less than five minutes, he signed a one-year contract of full-page ad with Epoch Times.

In 2012 and 2013, Epoch Times and NTDTV North America created an automobile magazine during North America International Auto Show, or NAIAS, and Atlanta was included. At that time, I did not have any experience, but had an idea of simply clarifying the truth to general managers of all the dealerships. There was a manager in a Lexus dealership, I went a few times but did not see him. Finally, one afternoon, I met with him. He was very gentleman-like and very happy to talk about China related issues with me. After listening to the truth, he immediately signed a full-page ad. I did not expect him to sign it so fast. After clarifying the truth, an Audi dealer and a Mercedes-Benz dealer also signed full-page ads with us.

During my contacting with the dealerships, I got a lot of help from a fellow practitioner in New York. She knew I was without any sales experience, and did not even know how to contact clients. Almost all communication emails I sent were drafted by her, and she also taught me how to deal with clients, how to solve a variety of issues. We cooperated well. She was in charge of Automobile Magazine in several cities. In other cities, salesmen were more experienced, and some cities even had a team to work on it, but most of them still lost money. She told me that I was the only one with no experience, but signed three full-page ads, and made profit for Atlanta automotive magazine. She said she must come to Atlanta to meet with me.

Later on, she really came. We talked a lot. I told her that, by working for Automobile Magazine, you can tell I am not very suitable for being in sales, even our general manager at Atlanta Epoch Times said I was not suitable for the job, because I don’t have much of a sense in sales. I was very clear of that, and my results were not due to my capabilities, but due to Master and Dafa that showed the miracles. So no matter what results I have, I will be sincerely grateful to Master and Dafa.

Thank you Master and Dafa, for saving me and giving me everything.