After growing up in a small town in Minnesota, Chris Berg founded Fully Loaded Deliveries, a moving company that is continuing to expand in the Arizona area. Let’s hear from him about what founders need to succeed.
Chris Berg worked his way up the ladder of success, having worked in retail for several years before starting Fully Loaded Deliveries. While climbing the ladder in retail, he learned “a lot about managing, delegating, importance of preparation, and hard work.” He applied these qualities and knowledge to his new task as executive, leading a team of employees to achieve a common goal. After eleven years in retail, he finally stepped away to “put [my] hard work into something for me.”
With a shot of confidence, Chris Berg started Fully Loaded Deliveries with a single truck and one employee. They put into practice what Chris learned at his former job, and began to create great first impressions with clients. They followed a strong work ethic, which covered maintaining the cleanliness of their trucks. Likewise, they made sure to give excellent customer service to their clients. Soon enough, Fully Loaded Deliveriesbegan to take off.
Several stores in the Valley introduced Chris Berg and Fully Loaded Deliveries to “architects, builders and wonderful list of clients.” After more than 17 years, these clients remain loyal customers. Today, the teams working at Fully Loaded Deliveries have become the best in the industry.
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Jerome Knyszewski: What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?
Chris Berg: With Fully Loaded Deliveries, we have several differentiating factors that make us stand out from the competition. One of the major factors that sets us apart is the fact that we make sure that all items received are photographed and logged into our custom database. From there, we ensure that all items have a printed label detailing what room the item belongs along with a photo of the item to ensure it can be placed and set in the new home as quickly and efficiently as possible. We really go the extra mile to simplify the entire process for our clients. On one project we were called to assist a local company that had been working with this design firm for years. We worked side by side with this competitor and when the job was completed next day we received a call from the design firm to have Fully Loaded go pick up all their clients inventory at the competitor warehouse and bring it to our facility. That was over six years ago and still one of our top clients to date.
Jerome Knyszewski: Which tips would you recommend to your colleagues in your industry to help them to thrive and not “burn out”?
Chris Berg: Realize you can’t do it all. Surround yourself with an amazing team and take care of them.
Surround yourself with an amazing team and take care of them. Chris Berg, Founder, Fully Loaded Deliveries
Jerome Knyszewski: None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story?
Chris Berg: I have had many positive influences and people that have pushed me to be better. The person that stands out the most is my father. My father had his own company and did very well to support our family and ensure we had an amazing childhood and upbringing. As a Vietnam veteran with two purple hearts, he has been through a lot in his life but he was always there for us. He has taught me a lot of valuable lessons in life. He is my hero, my mentor and is currently diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and is now fighting this battle but together we are going to fight this battle and win.
Jerome Knyszewski: Ok thank you for all that. Now let’s shift to the main focus of this interview. The title of this series is “How to take your company from good to great”. Let’s start with defining our terms. How would you define a “good” company, what does that look like? How would you define a “great” company, what does that look like?
Chris Berg: For me, a “good” company simply provides a product or service. On the other hand, a “great” company goes beyond that by actually solving real problems for their customers. Along with providing an innovative solution, they go above and beyond in delivering on their promises. For Fully Loaded Deliveries, we provide an innovative solution by offering a custom database that simplifies the entire process for our clients. Along with this, our team will go directly to the manufacturers and inspect items on the spot to ensure the quality is up to our clients’ standards before we pack it up to take to our warehouse. Then, on top of providing quality service, we also pride ourselves on being some of the most professional in the industry. We work with respected designers and architects so it’s important for us to look professional and we hold ourselves to a very high standard. You can see it in how we dress, from our moving trucks, as well as just how we hold ourselves when we are working with clients.
Jerome Knyszewski: What would you advise to a business leader who initially went through years of successive growth, but has now reached a standstill. From your experience do you have any general advice about how to boost growth and “restart their engines”?
Chris Berg: Push to be better. Don’t get too comfortable doing one thing one way.
Find more resources and opportunities to make your customers have an even better experience with your company in order to boost growth and help ensure your success.
Push to be better. Don’t get too comfortable doing one thing one way.
Jerome Knyszewski: Generating new business, increasing your profits, or at least maintaining your financial stability can be challenging during good times, even more so during turbulent times. Can you share some of the strategies you use to keep forging ahead and not lose growth traction during a difficult economy?
Chris Berg: Be involved with all day to day operations. This can be difficult to do as a business leader but it is pertinent in order to see what is working well and what needs improvement. On top of this, run numbers daily so you are not surprised by your company’s growth/loss and can spot issues before it becomes too late. Lastly, learn from some of the failures.
Jerome Knyszewski: In your experience, which aspect of running a company tends to be most underestimated? Can you explain or give an example?
Chris Berg: Business owners often overlook and underestimate the need to scale and plan before you outgrow. In order to avoid this, be sure you are collaborating, outsourcing, building credibility and automating processes.
Jerome Knyszewski: Great customer service and great customer experience are essential to build a beloved brand and essential to be successful in general. In your experience what are a few of the most important things a business leader should know in order to create a Wow! Customer Experience?
Chris Berg: In order to create a customer experience that is memorable and builds brand loyalty, you have to look at what your competition is doing and see how you can offer something different, efficient and impactful. For us at Fully Loaded Deliveries, not only do we deliver quality customer service, our team looks professional and clean even when they are working a job. Our black, collared and branded shirts are paired with clean khaki pants or shorts. Even our black and branded delivery trucks stand out with their fresh, luxurious look. Pairing quality, consistent service with a customer experience that goes above and beyond will propel you forward as an innovative leader within your industry.
Pairing quality, consistent service with a customer experience that goes above and beyond will propel you forward as an innovative leader within your industry. Chris Berg of Fully Loaded Deliveries
Jerome Knyszewski: What are your thoughts about how a company should be engaged on Social Media? For example, the advisory firm EisnerAmper conducted 6 yearly surveys of United States corporate boards, and directors reported that one of their most pressing concerns was reputational risk as a result of social media. Do you share this concern? We’d love to hear your thoughts about this.
Chris Berg: On company social media accounts you definitely need to watch what you post and have a qualified individual in charge of it. We do share some of our stories on social media but maybe not as often as we should.
Jerome Knyszewski: What are the most common mistakes you have seen CEOs & founders make when they start a business? What can be done to avoid those errors?
Chris Berg: When you are starting a business, as well as throughout your entrepreneurial journey, you need to focus on your ideal customer. It can be very easy to get caught up in the busyness of your new business and lose sight of what is really important and will help to ensure the overall success of your company in the long run. Build the business to give them the best experience possible.
Jerome Knyszewski: Thank you for all of that. We are nearly done. You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-
Chris Berg: If I could start a movement it would focus on my two biggest ideas which are staying positive and self love.
Jerome Knyszewski: How can our readers further follow you online?
Chris Berg: You can check out Fully Loaded Deliveries at:
- fullyloadeddeliveries.com
- Instagram: fldeliveries
- Facebook: @fullyloadeddeliveriesArizona
Jerome Knyszewski: This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for the time you spent with this!