Outside of psychology, the field of sales is arguably the career where the need to understand the human mind is the most pivotal. Body language, creating trust, and knowing what motivates consumers are some of the few factors that come into play at the moment of closing a deal.
Throughout his years-long career as a salesman, Ali Mirza, president of the Atlanta-based consulting company Rose Garden, has come to appreciate the importance of critical thinking in sales to dissect consumer behavior patterns.
“In my career, one hard skill that I’ve benefited from is the fact that I am very critical,” said Mirza during a recent interview. “I actively analyze and understand why people say yes versus why they say no.”
Mirza is one the preeminent experts in the art of sales and revenue generation nationwide. Over the past nine years, he and his team at Rose Garden have aided hundreds of companies in streamlining their sales operations and achieving consistent revenue growth. Mirza’s vast experience in the sales industry has led him to be featured in numerous business magazines, including Forbes, Business Insider, and Entrepreneur Magazine.
In August, Mirza connected from his office at the Rose Garden Consulting’s headquarters for an exclusive interview. This sales expert reflected on some of the factors that have been essential for his career success and the importance of critical thinking to succeed in the hypercompetitive sales world.
Mirza credits the analytical thinking he has developed over the years as a pillar of his personal and career success. Analyzing sales negotiations through the lens of human psychology has allowed him to acquire an acute understanding of consumers’ decision-making processes.
“It is consumer psychology,” said Mirza. “The more you comprehend why someone is inclined to say yes, the more you will be able to reverse engineer those decisions.”
Mirza learned to translate this critical assessment from his work as a salesman to all other areas of his personal and professional life. For this sales expert, this constant self-evaluation of his life was an essential factor in his personal growth.
“This not only applies to sales,” explained Mirza. “I also learned to be very critical of myself instead of lying to myself, which is what most people do. Most people lie to themselves about why they have not achieved what they wanted.”
Back in Mirza’s early career, when he used to work as a sales representative for a distinguished insurance company, his long commutes back and forth from sales trips provided him time to reflect on his time in the field. Mirza still recounts the lengthy trips to distant towns in the middle of the country and the hours of driving during which he gained valuable insights about how to sell.
Those long commutes “allowed me to evaluate what I was doing well, what I was doing poorly, and what I should improve,” said Mirza. “It was an immediate feedback loop that helped me improve in many areas.”
Mirza exhorts others to develop critical thinking as a fundamental tool to succeed in the sales industry and life. Without conducting a thorough and honest self-evaluation, Mirza believes it is impossible for people to attain their desired goals.
“A great part of what I have achieved is thanks to the fact that I’m very real and very realistic with myself,” said Mirza. “I think that as soon as you start telling yourself the truth, you can start improving your life.”
Over the past years, Mirza and his team at Rose Garden Consulting have assisted hundreds of companies in identifying the barriers deterring their growth and the steps they must take to scale. The same critical thinking method Mirza constantly applies to his professional life allows him to analyze the underlying issues that cause a company to stagnate.
Today, using his vast experience in sales and business, Mirza continues to help CEOs and multi-million dollar companies overhaul their internal structures and build teams capable of achieving predictable explosive growth.
By Juan Sebastian Restrepo,
With Artistic Initiative Agency
