creative werks’ Jürgen Peters appointed to Executive Vice President 
BENSENVILLE, Ill. – When Jürgen Peters was asked to leave his home country of Costa Rica, relocate his family and set up roots in Chicago, he was, admittedly, a little hesitant. However his entrepreneurial spirit and good-gut-feeling, led him and his family to Chicago to join founder Steve Schroeder and start growing creative werks.
Peters recalls his decision, saying, “Ultimately I believed in Steve and I believed in the company. I was nervous about leaving my life in Costa Rica, but I knew we could start something exciting, and my gut told me this was going to work out.”
Now, almost 14 years later, Peters’ leadership, business acumen and devotion has been integral in building creative werks’ brand and driving the company to be one of the 20 fastest growing companies in Chicago in 2013. The interview below provides a more intimate glimpse about his role with creative werks.
What has been the most exciting part of seeing creative werks grow?
It’s incredible to see where we are today compared to where we were 10 years ago. There have definitely been hard times, but we always figured it out. I think staying focused on steady, responsible growth has been key for our business.
You have perfected the art of customer service. If you could give some advice on how to respond to a customer need, even if its not the most desirable, what would you tell someone?
Customer service is instinctive. When I hear from a customer I respond immediately, I let them know that they’re in good hands. Then, I take their concern and we figure it out. I think keeping a calm mind is key because if we think the world will end, then it will. But we have to tackle it straight on, figure it out, and give the customer the peace of mind that we will take care of it. The communication is so important.
What do you get most excited about in your role?
The nature of our business is always changing, which is exciting. And in my role, I get to be an entrepreneur. I’m an entrepreneur at heart and winning business, growing segments, interacting with clients is a lot of fun. Personally I’ve grown so much as a business person; I think developing relationships into partnerships has been really important for creative werks and I’ve really enjoyed playing a role in that.
Where would you love to see creative werks in five years?
Given our current track record, I want us to be doing something we can’t even imagine doing now. Doing something that we don’t yet know how to do, and figuring out how to do it.
What aspect of creative werks has changed the most?
By far, the caliber of our team. It’s been so cool to see our team develop and we’ve found some great talent.
How do you stay motivated, inspired and optimistic when orders fall through or our clients go in a different direction and not with us?
The way I see it, failures make us stronger. Part of me loves it when I hear “no” because at some point if we continue to work hard, other opportunities will come our way. It’s important to show the client that we care we lost, because eventually we will win the business and do it so well they’ll wonder why we didn’t have it in the first place.
What’s been the most challenging part of all this growth? Is there anything you would do differently?
Capturing the window of opportunity with our clients and the retailer can be difficult. We can’t provide solutions too far ahead or be too far behind. We don’t always know when they’re looking for something that we can provide, so getting the timing right is important. We have to be forward-thinking and anticipate trends.
When will we establish an office in Costa Rica – or, more realistically, take cw more international?
Of course, I would love for creative werks to have an office in Costa Rica, and Steve and I have some curiosity and interest to take us outside the states, but it has to be the right opportunity. Going back to what I said earlier, we have grown so responsibly and taking a step like this has to follow that pattern. We are still exploring and I think someday it could happen, but now we have to stay focused on our business here.