Company Spotlight: Pioneer Music Company

At Dispatch, we love highlighting the diverse businesses we partner with. In this Company Spotlight, we had the opportunity to connect with Pioneer Music Company and Operations Manager, Brett Robertson. Read on to learn more about this Lenexa, KS, business and how their humble origins began with a few plows 151 years ago.

Tell us about Pioneer Music Company. What is it that your company does?

Pioneer Music Company is a regional wholesale distributor of audio/video, security, and surveillance products. We supply our dealers in the MINK (Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas) states with cutting edge technology, knowledge, solutions, and services. We have four locations in the four biggest metro areas in that region (Kansas City, St. Louis, Omaha, and Des Moines).

How did Pioneer Music Company get started and when? 

We don’t often reminisce on the year 1869, but when we do it is about our company’s founding.

Originally opening as a brick-and-mortar retail store in Burlington, Kansas, we like to think the first (of now six) generation knew exactly what it was getting into.

The founding family bought out an existing store selling sulky plows and other things we don’t know anything about today, and began moving forward the now 151 year history. Take that store, add in some World Wars, a Great Depression, and a few other things and now here we are today selling PTZ cameras, wallpaper TV’s, and everything in between. 

Who does your staff consist of?

Sales, warehouse, and administration personnel. Sort of similar to the renowned TV show “The Office”, only rather than selling paper we troubleshoot Gigabit Accelerators. 

What is the culture of Pioneer Music Company like?

Pioneer takes pride in over servicing and over delivering to our dealers. Our job is to make their lives as easy as possible. We are here for, and more importantly because of our dealers. We wake up every morning to work hard and truly care and love what we do. Personalities are welcomed, production is required.

What makes Pioneer Music Company unique, especially for your area?

We have four fully stocked warehouses in the four biggest metro areas (KC, St. Louis, Omaha, Des Moines). We are able to deliver same- or next-day solutions in an efficient and customer-centric manner. Customers can order via our website, email, phone, fax, or in person. Any PMC employee our dealers may deal with, they can expect the same customer service and knowledge making their experience a smooth one every time.

What is the long-term goal for Pioneer Music Company?

We get excited about this question, in particular. When you take a look at where the technology industry is going as a whole, and compare it to our core business, opportunity exists in about any area you can think of.

The differentiator for us is to let our excitement for technology take a backseat to only one other thing: our customer. Long term, our vision is to be as integrated as possible into our customer’s business model to keep them doing what they love. And boy, do they love getting same-day deliveries from Dispatch.

How did you get started at Pioneer Music Company?

What started as an unexpected job in shipping and handling in the summer of 2014 quickly evolved. After graduating college, I relocated to Omaha, NE, to lead the opening of our first satellite location and spent three years growing and refining it. Since then I have moved back to Kansas City to replicate our business model across several locations, all of which have become much happier after finding out that Dispatch is coming to their market.

How did you hear about Dispatch?

We have one of those default “sales@“ emails that rarely get used and, when they do, it is generally for spam.

Our chief salesman monitors this folder and, at second glance, thought a cold-email from Dispatch might look halfway legit. He sent it on for company review and before you knew it we were getting doughnuts and wearing Dispatch t-shirts.

What was your process for sending and receiving inventory prior to Dispatch?

Before Dispatch, same-day deliveries were handled via a local courier service, our customers stopping by one of our four locations, or us hopping in a company vehicle and personally delivering the product.

Any special instance where Dispatch came through in a pinch or went above and beyond what you expected? ‍

The customer service displayed by the Dispatch drivers when we have only just once or twice fat fingered a delivery address has been spectacular. No whining, no complaining, just a “No problem, I’ll take care of it!” We share that mentality in our company’s culture and is a big reason as to why the Pioneer/Dispatch partnership is such a great one.