(Minghui.org) I came across Falun Dafa in 1995 when I was fresh out of college. Even though I thought very highly of the practice, I deemed a career a higher priority and so put the Dafa book aside. I thought I would start practicing Falun Dafa again after securing a successful career.
I chose a job in sales. Learning various sales tricks enabled me to get some small gains, but it didn't last.
Without achieving the success I set out for, I resumed my Dafa cultivation in 2008. I tried my best to adhere to principles of the Fa in my daily work, and was happy to see my sales performance keep rising.
I used to believe that flamboyant and exaggerated words helped secure deals, but after practicing Falun Dafa I realized that “...one should tell the truth, do things truthfully...” (Zhuan Falun), as truthful words are much more moving.
I was involved in a project at work since its inception. It involved a good profit margin and several tens of millions of yuan in revenue, therefore it was a high profile case in the company. We had gone through multiple rounds of design, sampling, small scale test production, and many other steps to ensure that nothing would go wrong. Everything seemed to be on the right track.
To our surprise, the client requested another round of internal testing at the beginning of this year, right before the first scheduled delivery in large volume was due. One of the suggested tests had a long cycle, and it failed. I pondered over what to do with the results for a long time. If I informed the client that the test failed it would most certainly delay the delivery schedule, or even worse the client might cancel the order.
I struggled with this predicament for quite a bit. It would be easy for my company to issue a falsified test report or even pay a little for a third-party report to pass it. However, if I remained truthful about the test failing, several years of work might end up all for nothing. To my knowledge, no one in the industry has gotten good results for this type of test.
I eventually made up my mind: I shouldn't lie with a fake report, and sent the real test results to the client the next morning. The client was surprised, angry and then calmed down. They accepted my feedback, adjusted the testing parameters and the product passed.
Through this, we gained a great deal of trust from the client, who has now become a long-term partner.
This episode was a big test for me. I realized that the truthful path might seem difficult, but it was the simplest and the most effective one to take. More importantly, it was the right way to go.
People say that salespeople in China have to equip themselves with “three weapons:” banquets, gifts and kickbacks. The sales arsenal also includes taking prospective and existing clients to poker games, bars or salons that provide erotic services.
But I cannot do such things, as it does not comply with the teachings of Falun Dafa.
Master said,
“We have also said that if every one of us cultivates his inner self, examines his own xinxing to look for the causes of wrongdoing so as to do better next time, and considers others first when taking any action, human society would become better and ethical standards would again rise.” (Zhuan Falun)
Master's words have been very helpful to guide me in my work. When sales professionals emphasize understanding customers' needs, to me, this is about thinking of customers first and understanding their needs.
How can I market my product and services successfully, when in China's market today, much of the “marketing” comes from bribes, kickbacks and entertaining clients?
I don't like this approach, so I use my time to study my product and search ways to improve the quality and provide features that the customer actually wants.
I majored in the Arts, but often test products on our assembly line. Dafa has given me the wisdom to do this. I treat my product as a living being and understand many of its qualities and uses. I draw my own designs and share it with our product development manager, who has adopted many of my ideas and told me that my designs are quite unique. I have also taken the initiative to identify the real customer needs.
For example, suppose I sell large bottles of cooking oil. The common sales approach in China is to win orders from supermarkets, which I believe is rather short-sighted.
I want to look at the needs of all involved.
The procurement staff at the supermarket need to do a good job for the general manager. The general manager needs customers to shop at his store. Most of the customers who buy large bottles of cooking oil are men who buy for their wives.
After speaking to some housewives, I realized that they pour the oil from large bottles in to a small ones for easier use. However, the bottles currently on the market are difficult to handle and often spill. So I designed a better opening for the large bottles for the convenience of the end user.
When our new product comes on the market, I show the housewives our product, and tell them, “Our product is so good, but your local store doesn't stock it. Would you like to tell the general manager there to try it out?”
The aforementioned approach has proven to be very effective. I know such wisdom has come from Dafa and out of the kindness I have toward the end consumers.
Many customers who complain and ask for compensation do so because they fell that they have been treated unfairly. Ever since I started practicing Falun Dafa, I have learned to consider others first and take a step back to look at why the situation arose.
For example, I should have received much higher bonuses and commission from my sales performance. However, the company has revised the sales incentive plan several times. Some of these changes have affected me more than most.
My colleagues suggested that I go on strike and give my manager a hard time, because I was the top salesperson and the most disadvantaged by the revised plans.
But I am a Dafa practitioner and shouldn't fight with others. I should embrace my company's polices and simply work harder.
As a result, my sales performance rose from several hundred thousand yuan per month to over 8 million yuan a month. So I didn't lose anything, and even gained more.
Colleagues like to help me because I am tolerant of others, and clients like to give me more business opportunities. I know these are the blessings from Dafa.