Lessons from Over 30 Years of Business: Insights from Nate Berkus and a CRM Expert
On the surface, Nate Berkus and I couldn’t have more different businesses. He designs multimillion-dollar homes and commercial properties. I implement CRM and AI software systems and advise small businesses. But after talking with him, I realized we’ve learned many of the exact same lessons about growing a company, keeping clients happy and building teams that last.
Berkus founded Nate Berkus Associates — a design firm specializing in luxury residential interiors and select commercial projects — more than 30 years ago. Since then, he has catered to the rich and famous, frequently appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show, judged and hosted numerous TV shows on HGTV (most recently The Nate & Jeremiah Home Project), and has won numerous industry awards for his renovating, furnishing, and custom interior work.
I can’t claim to have such a storied career. But I write, speak, and consult. Berkus and I both built our respective companies — his has about 50 people, and I have about 10 — over roughly three decades. Here’s what we’ve learned.
Build Teams and Delegate
Great companies scale by not having the founder do everything. Before my father passed away in 2005, my company was just me and him. After his passing, I started to hire people, build teams, and delegate projects. That was when I began to make money. Berkus learned a similar lesson.
“Entrepreneurs eventually have to let talented people represent their brand,” he told me during a recent Paychex Thrive podcast. “The founder’s job shifts from doing the work to creating systems and hiring people who can deliver the same quality.”
Clients want Berkus just like they wanted me on their projects. But they can adapt. To Berkus, the owner or founder can still stay involved, but at a distance.
“The client knows that I’ve always looked at it before it goes out the door,” he said. “If somebody that represents me is suggesting something, it’s because I’m suggesting it as well.”
Keep Your Toe in the Water
Although my firm now has more than 600 clients and I spend much of my time traveling, I still retain one long-term client — a 150-person paper and film manufacturing company in Bucks County, Pennsylvania — where I visit just about every week for a few hours. I enjoy meeting with the three brothers who own the business (we’ve grown old together), chiming in on various issues, reviewing their financials, and being useful as an advisor. It keeps me in the game. The insights I gain there inform my work with other clients and my writing and speaking activities.
Berkus is the same. His media schedule is far more intense than mine. Still, he believes in staying close to his core business, even as the demands of his success pull him in different directions. He says the business that made your reputation should continue informing everything else you do, as it does for him.
“I was a designer first and will always be a designer,” he said. “I didn’t feel like I’d have the credibility that I wanted unless I was still very much involved in the day-to-day design process with my firm and clients.”
The Customer Isn’t Always Right
With more years spent implementing technology and advising clients on financial matters, my confidence has grown. Berkus shares this confidence. Both of us have learned that we know what we know, and what we know a lot of our clients don’t — regardless of how much they think they know. Both of us are adamant about saying “no” to a client when we don’t agree with an approach.
“Of course, we don’t just say no without a reason,” Berkus said. “But over the years, we’ve built a foundation of principles, and we require our clients to respect our process.”
It’s true: clients wouldn’t hire my firm or Berkus’s if they could just do it themselves. They pay us for our expertise and experience — to truly know what’s right.
Be Accountable
Despite our knowledge, both Berkus and I still make mistakes. One of the most important lessons I’ve learned is to be accountable.
When I was a young accountant, I made a major mistake on a spreadsheet for a client. He noticed and kept questioning me. I deflected, avoided his calls, and made excuses. To this day, I regret that behavior. People make mistakes. Grown-ups own up to theirs.
Berkus agrees and has found accountability usually solves more customer problems than excuses. Customers can accept problems but rarely accept defensiveness.
“I like accountability,” he said. “I found myself as a customer being diffused almost instantly when somebody says, ‘You’re right, and here are my ideas to navigate it.’”
Finally, It Truly Is All About Your People
I speak and write about AI and implement AI applications. You might think I’d say AI will replace humans and automate everything. Baloney.
My firm relies on our people more than ever before. I need solid, hardworking, committed professionals to help roll out solutions that help our businesses. I prefer to hire people smarter than me — a mindset I’ve embraced only in recent years. The brightest entrepreneurs — like Berkus — understand this much earlier.
“Strong entrepreneurs know what they aren’t good at and let others handle it,” Berkus said.
They also understand what’s important: treating people the way they want to be treated.
To that end, Berkus’s company offers significant flexibility and job recognition. He also recognizes employees for loyalty and dedication, giving gold watches and Chanel bags to longer-term workers on their anniversaries.
“I’m not a cheap boss,” he said.
He isn’t. Neither am I. We are business owners who have been at this a long time. We’ve made mistakes. But we care. And I think the results show for both of us.
Here is the full source article.
