In his newly-published book titled, “Boom Boom Selling Skills: Real Life Sales Scenarios for Professional Personal Success,” Mushtaq Ahmed Sharief, a celebrated business expert and author, takes his readers into the world of sales and beyond. The book contains real-life scenarios faced by sales persons and details the sales process, as well as the personalities of patients, customers and owners using a comprehensive approach in professional selling skills. In this feature, Mushtaq shares his inspiration and experiences, including the preparation and challenges it took to make the book a resounding success.

As a columnist, author, presenter, business administrator, life coach and a kind father, Mushtaq has become a sought-after name in the optical industry in the Gulf region. He ascended the career ladder and is currently a senior manager. He has worked for Johnson and Johnson Vision Care and contributed immensely to the growth of contact lenses in the market. From his humble beginnings, having faced numerous challenges, Mushtaq never lets his circumstances hold him back.  But it was his passion to rise to the top of the corporate ladder that ultimately sets him on the path to success.

“As creative persons, we are always curious to know more and do more. At the same time, we look for triggers to execute our hidden skills. As a co-traveler in the journey of optics, my regular chats with Mr. Ali Hassan Banddor were the catalyst who triggered me to share my experience of my journey.  Thus, I started to write in Eyezone International Magazine, which by itself is a pioneering effort in Middle East, and still continues to serve the optical community with zeal and perseverance,” he said.

Speaking to Eyezone International, Mushtaq said that the book is based on his daily interactions with doctors, sales persons and owners while acknowledging their requests and serving their needs so that they can in turn help the patients to see better and look better.

“The book contains no hard and fast rules. Whatever I have written and said, it is my opinion based on my observations in the market. It has been shared in good faith to make our calling better and improve our business etiquette so that we can serve our customers and patients exceptionally well,” he explained.

Mushtaq is encouraging everyone to challenge his opinion and come out with their own best thoughts in the best interest of the business at large. For him, the ultimate goal remains the same for both sides, that is to serve customers and patients exceptionally well.

Moreover, Mushtaq also shared the book’s publishing process, which is self-published, print-on-demand and currently available on Amazon for a reasonable price. He is planning to collaborate with Eyezone International in the future to distribute the book in the GCC and other regions.

The book is an anthology of the various articles he had written over a decade in the magazine. The topics were chosen to stay in sync with his experiences during the time of recession, Covid-19, war, and other events which had caused vision anomalies such as incidences of myopia in children, which he said is expected to affect 50% of the world’s population by 2030. He added that due to this fact, the fundamentals in sales and business processes need to match this rising need to help patients see better.

“The book is full of anecdotes, humor, real life problems and customized solutions. I have full faith it will be enormously beneficial to our trade,” he added.

Mushtaq said his source of inspiration has been the people whom he has been associated with, as well as the experiences and stories they share. He was referring to the people who have left their home country to work in the Gulf.

“They pushed their devastated lives behind, albeit their war-torn sufferings and poverty-stricken households and still would put up a smile on their faces to meet their routine customers bravely,” he said. 

“While I have published this book now, in retrospect, our Gulf countries have come a long way since the boom started. The blood and sweat of these wonderful expatriates must have added enormous strength to the concrete pillars we see around. This is an absolute inspiration for me. I dedicate this book to all of them,” he concluded.

Mushtaq said that he is working on another book about upskilling the youth, especially the teenagers, to give them hope, as well as train them well to face the world after college.