PureInsight | April 17, 2015
[PureInsight.org] I helped promote Shen Yun shows in New York this year and would like to share some of my experiences.
Firstly, one must put one’s heart into the job and cooperate well with other fellow practitioners. When we are standing at a ticket booth, we should act as Dafa practitioners, we pay attention to our words and deeds so that people can appreciate the beauty and kindness that Dafa practitioners possess. When a person hears about our show, he may not immediately decide to buy the ticket, but it’s quite possible that this same person would run into other Dafa practitioners later. This is very similar to the situation where Dafa practitioners go out to clarify the truth to the public. When a person’s predestined relation is reached, that person will finally decide to buy the ticket to see the show.
We should not neglect any passer-by and we need to treat everyone seriously. I went to the ticket booth every Saturday night this year. I ran into a person who wore very casual clothes and didn’t shave at all. It would seem unlikely such a person would buy a Shen Yun ticket.
When we were first trained to be sales persons, it was repeatedly emphasized that we should not pick people, we should treat everyone exactly the same; we just need to tell the good news about Shen Yun show to the people. So, when I saw that casually-clothed person coming close I started to talk with him warmly. I then learnt that this person was an artist and liked ancient Chinese poems very much, and he got a Chinese name called “Li Bai” (One of the most famously Tang Dynasty poets). This man asked many questions and then took about 5 or 6 flyers with him saying that he’d like to share the flyers with his friends. The man didn’t buy any ticket though, I asked him to read the flyer carefully and not to waste it.
Later, this same person came to visit the ticket booth twice, each time he would ask more questions. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to see the person; however, other fellow practitioners also warmly received this person, so his questions were all answered. The man then bought a Shen Yun Orchestra DVD, he also wanted to buy some Shen Yun gifts such as ties. The other fellow practitioner asked the man to see the show and buy Shen Yun gifts in the theater. This person agreed he would definitely go to see the show. The fellow practitioner also had this person’s telephone number. In the end, that artist indeed brought 5 of his friends together to watch the show. The day when the show started, the weather was not good, and the man then called a fellow practitioner to say that he might be a little bit late to the show. After learning about this, we all began to send forth righteous thoughts to eliminate any elements that were interfering with the salvation of sentient beings. The artist and his friends all arrived in time to watch the show.
After the show, the artist called me and we talked quite a lot. The artist said: “This show changed my life, the show was so wonderful!” The artist continued to tell me how his friends were amazed by the show, they kept applauding the show and they had never been touched so much.
Secondly, we need to have a strong determination to save people. Just like the artist mentioned above, we should treat everyone with the same dignity, we should never pick on people, and we should keep doing the follow-up work. When I expressed my appreciation to the fellow practitioner who kept contacting the artist, the fellow practitioner told me that she just did what she needed to do. I was touched by such words, I felt that I was not as diligent as that fellow practitioner, I was almost doing things without putting too much heart into them, I was not as responsible as that fellow practitioner, I didn’t seem to have such a strong determination to save people.
I asked myself, if I were the fellow practitioner, would I keep following up with the artist and repeatedly asking him to watch the show? Or would I call other fellow practitioners to contact the artist?
When I was standing beside the ticket booth, I had this strong feeling: we must put our hearts into this; we must develop a strong determination to save people and open our hearts and treat everyone just like friends with candor. In addition, I realized that we must learn the basic technique on how to sell tickets from the official Shen Yun website. It was simply not enough just to practice the online sale skills when we were at the ticket booth. We must read the flyers carefully ourselves. When introducing Shen Yun to the public, we can share our own experiences and follow people’s favorites to show the many sides of Shen Yun show. We have to use our hearts; it’s not enough just to talk about Shen Yun show.
Thirdly, we need to complement each other. Every fellow practitioner has his/her own good ways of promoting Shen Yun and we need to share with each other more often. When there is a better way, everyone should then start adopting such a way. For example, the fellow practitioner who I worked with had already had many years of experience in helping promoting Shen Yun show. She taught me how to open the heart of the people and how to sell the tickets in a step by step procedure. When we ran into people who complaint that the tickets were expensive, this fellow practitioner would say: “Hey, look, it’s just the cost of a coat, or two music lessons for the kid; this is the world class show, you will definitely benefit from such a show.”
When a person was showing interest in the show, she would then show the seat map to the person and then say: “Hey, look, the afternoon show is selling very quickly.” As a result, the person might be prompted to buy a ticket. She also told me to leave a kind and compassionate image to everyone passing by so that those people would have more chances to learn about Shen Yun show.
I really cooperated very well with this fellow practitioner. Whenever this fellow practitioner was introducing Shen Yun to someone, I would then silently send forth righteous thoughts, I would also get the seat map and other brochures ready. When we first started the work, we didn’t cooperate that well though. Whenever the fellow practitioner was talking to someone, I would leave her because I had thought that the fellow practitioner should be able to take care of everything. Later I realized that I had developed some kind of jealousy, showoff mentality and I was too selfish. I didn’t treat the ticket booth as a single unit, I didn’t want to cooperate. After I got rid of such attachments, I then began to cooperate well with the fellow practitioner.
One day, an old Chinese couple went by the ticket booth. The couple told us that they had already watched the show some years ago in the Radio City theater, they also kept watching the show now and then; the couple then said they wanted to buy the Shen Yun Orchestra DVD first and decide whether or not buy the Shen Yun show ticket later on. We ran into this same couple several times afterwards, each time we would greet the couple warmly.
Later, a fellow practitioner ran across the couple again; the fellow practitioner asked the couple whether they had bought the ticket or not, the couple said they still hadn’t decided yet. After that, the couple walked close to our ticket booth and then finally decided to buy the tickets.
After the show, they said: “To be honest with you, every time I watch Shen Yun show, I would feel very comfortable. I would always have a very good sleep after watching the show, and I would keep having good sleeps in the subsequent days, I don’t know why.” I then told her that I had similar experiences myself as well. I mentioned to the lady that some audiences had told us that they sensed that there were deities on the stage when the Shen Yun show was on.
Lastly, I’d like to mention that there won’t be too many chances for us to help promoting Shen Yun shows; we really should cherish such chances. At first, I didn’t think I would have anything to share with everyone as my cultivation level was limited, now that the show had just completed in New York, I wanted to point out those areas that needed improvements so that other fellow practitioners in other places could learn from such lessons and do a much better job there.
Translated from: http://www.zhengjian.org/node/142060
