Mike Peter
President & CEO
Campus Advantage

Journal Profile: Mike Peter - CEO, Campus Advantage Inc.

Austin Business Journal - by Kate Harrington

Mike is the founder of Campus Advantage and serves as its President and CEO. He is responsible for all strategic planning and financial operations.  Mike is responsible for initiating new and maintaining existing relationships with colleges, universities, private owners, and allied business partners.   He responds to, and customizes programs for schools and private owners looking for student housing management and consulting expertise.

Mike began his career in student housing in the mid-1980’s rising from Resident Assistant to Resident Director and, quickly, to Manager for Allen & O’Hara in Wisconsin and California. Michael then served in the U.S. Peace Corps in the West Indies before returning to earn a Law Degree at top ranked University of Minnesota. He returned to student housing full-time in 1997 as the Director of On-Campus Business Development for American Campus Communities.

Mike was a National Communications Coordinator (NCC) for the National Association of College and University Residence Halls (NACURH), and is an active professional member of ACUHO-I, National Multi Housing Council (NMHC) and the National Association of College Auxiliary Services (NACAS).  Mike has a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Wisconsin and a Doctor of Jurisprudence from the University of Minnesota.  He currently serves as Vice Chair for the Board of Directors of the National Peace Corps Association.  Mike is also the Co-Chair for the National Apartment Association Student Housing Committee.

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I recently met a CEO who was asking for advice on maintaining profit margins.  He was frustrated by his sales manager, who kept requesting permission to offer give-aways and discounts.  He wanted to know if Z3 Performance Development could train his people to become better negotiators.  After a bit of probing, it became obvious that this CEO possessed a popular misconception, one that had him believing that salespeople should be “negotiating” (aka: dropping prices or offering concessions in exchange for a promise to buy).

Negotiation includes built-in conflict.  It has potential to break down trust.  It occurs when salespeople (or principals) try to convince or “sell”.  If you are committed to helping your clients succeed, you will need information from them.  To gather information, you will need to ask questions and listen actively.  The intent of a person’s questions is a vital determinant of their effectiveness. Your clients and prospects are constantly making decisions about what questions are safe to answer.  As they make these decisions, they are continually sizing up your trustworthy-ness.  In this dialogue, intent is always more important than words.  So if you are a person who “sells”, I would suggest you look into the mirror and ask yourself this honest question.  “Is the intent of my questions to help our clients get what they want in a way they feel good about, or is it to help me get what I want in a way I feel good about?”  In other words: Whose agenda are you really on?

It is difficult to understand why anyone would intentionally choose to create conflict with a client.  However, I watch salespeople and businesspeople do it everyday.  Trusted advisors and superior salespeople do everything possible to AVOID negotiating.  They seek to facilitate the mutual discovery of costs (both tangible and emotional) of buyer’s problems.  They will then determine what level of commitment and resources are available to solve them before discussing the best solution.

The majority of people like to listen selectively and to avoid “tough” questions, the ones most vital to successful transactions.  They avoid selling properly because they are not comfortable talking about things like money and decision processes, so they defer any conversation of these topics as long as possible—forcing a conversation into a negotiation.  When trust deteriorates and they begin to feel separation occur, fight or flight takes over and they try to close the sale, setting up all sorts of problems.

Salespeople who find themselves in frequent negotiations likely possess one or more of the following (extremely costly) symptoms or blind spots:

• They are uncomfortable talking about other people’s finances
• They feel the product or service they sell is expensive
• They believe that buying is an intellectual process, not an emotional one
• They don’t gain an understanding of the costs associated with the problem.  If they do, it is typically far too late in the discovery process.

I’m not suggesting that great salespeople never need to negotiate.  However, if you, your partners or your salespeople are finding that price reductions and concessions are occurring too frequently, it is a good idea to evaluate your people to see if the blind spots above are present and to implement a system to erase them.  The results will fall quickly to your bottom line.

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Melynda Caudle
President
Cooper Consulting Company

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Three years ago Melynda Caudle bought Cooper Consutling Company. For fifteen years Cooper has delivered outstanding results in custom software development, software engineering, and staff augmentation in central Texas - focused primarly on the public sector. Caudle, who was an employee of the firm for four years prior to the purchase, has spun up three new practice areas for the company and opened a branch in Romania.  The new areas for development include engagements in the private sector, product development, and a structured project management offering.  The company has also moved into its own building to have space to grow.  Caudle’s spare time is taken up with several board positions, two wonderful grown kids and a grandson, along with being a jazz singer and a Reiki Master.  

TAB Austin has been a source and resource for Caudle.  She has benefited from the wise counsel of her TAB facilitator as well as from the other members of her TAB board.  They have experienced many of the challenges she finds in the day-to-day running of the business and in managing her staff and her time and have provided insight not to be found via other venues. 

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In today’s rapidly changing marketplace, it is becoming increasingly difficult to differentiate your company from your competition.  If you cannot differentiate, the only weapon that will be left in your arsenal is dropping prices, cutting deeply into your profit.  Ask yourself these questions:

Is My Company Differentiated? 

In 20 words or less, how would you say your company is differentiated in the marketplace?  (Better Service?  Best Pricing? Better Products? Highest Quality?)

If I asked your biggest competitors, what would they say differentiates THEM?

Are their differentiator(s) very different from yours? 

If not, is your company TRULY differentiated in the minds of your prospects?

If so, how long do you think you can maintain your differentiated advantages?

Are You and your Salespeople Differentiated?

How would you say you are different when compared to your selling opponents?

What do you think your PROSPECTS would say?

What do you think you can do today to improve your advantages and develop qualities so that you are ALWAYS differentiated and show up as the MVP (Most Valuable Person)?

For some specific guidelines to becoming a differentiated MVP, email GrowMySales@zthree.com and write MVP in the Subject Line.

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