Becoming Superman
The Sales Origin Story You Didn’t Know You Needed
Before he wore the cape, he walked among them.
Before he saved the world, he questioned his role in it.
Before he flew, he learned.
And this is the story of the 2025 Superman.
Three years after his debut, Superman isn’t the fresh-faced hero trying to prove himself. He’s in the middle of the trust crisis. He’s powerful, but polarizing. Capable, but questioned. He’s stepping into the real challenge: not what he can do, but who he is in the eyes of the people he serves.
If that’s not the perfect metaphor for what it takes to become a trusted advisor in sales, I don’t know what is.
Let’s break it down.
Krypton = Corporate: You Were Built Somewhere Else
Superman wasn’t born here. He doesn’t carry the biases, habits, or politics of Earth.
Sound familiar?
A lot of us entered the sales world trained in a specific methodology or system, one that prioritized volume over value, metrics over meaning, activity over authenticity. We were taught to follow the script. Hit the checklist. Qualify fast. Move on.
That’s Earth thinking. That’s BANT.
Budget. Authority. Need. Timeline.
It’s about what you, the seller, want to extract.
But Superman doesn’t think like that. He wasn’t built to take. He was raised to serve.
For Superman, it’s CHIRP™.
Challenge. History. Impact. Risk. Priority.
It’s not about getting the deal, it’s about understanding the problem.
BANT asks, “Are you ready to buy?”
CHIRP asks, “What do you actually need?”
One pushes for the pitch. The other earns the right to offer help.
Trusted advisors don’t just adapt. They redefine what success looks like.
They build trust first, then offer to save the day.
Power in Restraint: What You Could Do Isn’t the Point
Superman could’ve crushed the conflict between Boravia and Jarhanpur in seconds, but he didn’t. His intervention, while well-intentioned, ignited a global debate. Not about what he did, but whether he had the right to do it.
This is every seller who walks into a conversation thinking, “I can fix this,” but forgets to ask, “Is this what they want from me?”
You might have the perfect solution. But if you skip trust, context, and consent, you become the villain in someone else's story.
In sales, restraint isn't weakness. It's wisdom.
The Lex Luthor Problem: When Influence Is Threatening
Luthor doesn’t just hate Superman; he hates what he represents. Power without permission. Admiration without lineage. Solutions without strings.
In your world, Luthor is the legacy mindset: “If they didn’t climb the same ladder I did, they don’t belong here.” It’s the bias that resists change, doubts intent, and assumes anyone doing things differently is dangerous.
Trusted advisors don’t play that game. They stay focused on service, even when someone tries to spin their value as threat.
Ultraman = The Temptation to Fake It
One of Luthor’s weapons? A Superman clone, Ultraman. Looks the part. Mimics the voice. But empty inside.
Sound familiar?
This is the AI-generated outreach that has zero soul. The pitch-perfect persona with no presence. The rep who shows up as the idea of a solution instead of someone real.
The best sellers never try to be a version of Superman they think people want. They show up as themselves, just with better questions.
Justice Isn’t Solo: Even Superman Needs a Team
He’s not flying solo. Mr. Terrific, Hawkgirl, Metamorpho, Guy Gardner… they each play a role. And while Superman could’ve tried to do it all alone, he doesn’t.
That’s the power of collaboration, leveraging each other's strengths where the sum is greater than its parts.
Trusted advisors aren’t rugged individualists. They bring insight, then introduce others who elevate the conversation. They don’t gatekeep solutions, they build coalitions around the client’s needs.
Lois = Your Client’s Trust Anchor
Lois Lane doesn’t just love Superman. She holds him accountable. She grounds him in humanity. And she plays a critical role in exposing Luthor’s lies.
She’s the internal champion every great seller needs. She sees the truth and has the credibility to speak it out loud.
If you're building trust the right way, you’ll earn someone like Lois. And when you do? The resistance fades. The story shifts. The real work begins.
Black Holes, Broken Trust, and the Comeback
Luthor’s plan to destroy Superman ends in disaster, a literal black hole threatening everything. But Superman, beaten and doubted, steps in again. Not to win admiration. Not to prove anything. But because it’s the right thing to do.
Sounds like sales?
Sometimes, doing what’s right means not getting the deal. Sometimes it means walking away. Sometimes it means saying, “You don’t need me right now, but I’ll be here when you do.”
That’s how you become someone they trust.
So, What’s Your Sales Superpower?
Can you quiet a room with the right question?
Make someone feel heard in 15 seconds flat?
Cut through noise with one moment of clarity?
Drop it in the comments.
If you'd like help articulating your sales superpower, let's chat.
I’ll walk you through a fun, 15-minute exercise to help you clarify what makes you different and how to communicate it in a way that starts trust-based conversations with the right clients.
