Source Your Inner Iron Man

It's the age of heroes. I love how the adventures of Iron Man, Captain America and Thor all link together in the blockbuster Avengers movies. Plus we've got the X-Men and Spider-Man raking in box office gold this summer, and now it looks like Superman and Batman are on track to meet up with Wonder Woman in 2016, which will lead to a Justice League movie in 2018. Heroes are everywhere.

In fact, if you are Bold, Different and Memorable, I can direct you to a hero right now. Go look in the mirror. There. A hero. You're looking at one.

I had lunch today with a friendly competitor and picked his brain about what makes him successful. My sales force at HALO Branded Solutions is fortunate to have a massive marketing department to help with an annual marketing activity plan, regional sales managers (like me) across the country to mentor and problem-solve, a programs department to respond to RFPs and help land the bigger opportunities, and so on. But my pal works for a small regional distributor and doesn't have this firepower behind him. He told me two years ago when he shifted over from the supplier side to the distributor side that he'd be wildly successful, and he booked $800 thousand his first year. He told he he'd hit more than $1 million in his second year ... and he did. This year, his third, he is on target to exceed that $1 million by a few hundred grand.

How did he do it?

What makes him such an amazing superhero?

First off, it's his attitude. It's how he's wired and how he thinks. Last year he was at LAX waiting for a flight and saw a woman at the bar in the American Airlines Lounge being clumsily hit on by some drunk. He didn't turn away—he saw a damsel in distress! He walked over and said to her, "I'm so sorry I'm late, have you ordered my drink?" She smiled at him and he leaned in and whispered, "You looked like you needed some help!"