Business Spotlight: Palen family business experiences explosive growth

The second generation of Palens are taking their family's business to the next level.

Brett, Danny and Brad Palen began running Palen Music Center after their father, Dan Palen Sr., retired in 1996.

Since that time, sales have increased by 27 percent each year, a second store has been added in Columbia, and one of the company's divisions, PMC Sound, is experiencing explosive growth.

Brothers Bill and Dan Palen started the company in 1963 when they purchased a small sheet music store called Will James Music, which was located on East McDaniel Street. The two renamed the store Palen Music Center and immediately began selling and servicing band and orchestra instruments.

The Palens knew their target market. Dan Palen taught music at Parkview High School and Southwest Missouri State University, while Bill Palen took care of the business's day-to-day operations.

Within a few years, however, Dan Palen decided to resign his teaching post, and the company moved to a larger store on East Walnut Street.

In 1980, Bill Palen sold his interest in the business to his brother Dan. Five years later, Dan's sons Brett and Danny Palen joined Palen Music Center.

With two sons now working in the family's business, Dan Palen decided the time had come to diversify, and during the mid-1980s, Palen Music Center began selling and servicing electric guitars, amplifiers, percussion equipment, electronic keyboards and sound equipment.

This segment of the business grew quickly, and in 1991 Palen Music Center relocated to a larger building on East Raynell Place, just south of Battlefield Mall.

In 1993, Palen Music Center diversified even further. A contracting division called PMC Sound was started. Brett Palen was appointed to head up the division, which designs and installs custom audio, video and lighting systems.

When Brett Palen was appointed president in 1996, Garth Showalter was hired to lead PMC Sound.

By 1994, Palen Music Center had 15 employees. Brad Palen also had begun working alongside his brothers Brett and Danny, and together they began looking for new ways to ex-pand.

New divisions

Ultimately, they decided to divide the company into five divisions.

Selling and servicing band instruments, which comprised most of the store's business, fell under the band division that was headed by Bob Hopkins.

Robert Pitts headed the education division, which teaches customers how to play virtually any musical instrument, and Daniel Jobe was appointed to oversee the operations division, which handles day-to-day business functions.

Danny Palen headed up the marketing and purchasing division, while Paul Carson and Brad Palen headed up the retail sales division.

Paul Carson was put in charge of the Springfield store, and Brad Palen began running the company's new store in Colum-bia.

"Opening a second store not only allowed us to increase our sales, it gave our company more purchasing power," said Brett Palen.

"The most important thing it allowed us to do, though, was provide our employees with opportunities for advancement. That's important to us," he added.

PMC Sound is the fastest growing division within Palen Music Center.

Over the years, PMC Sound has installed custom sound systems everywhere from Price Cutter Park in Ozark to Ridgecrest Baptist Church in Springfield to the IMAX Theater in Branson.

To ensure future growth, Bill Fischbach was hired as PMC Sound's marketing director. Fischbach helped expand the scope of the division, which began selling custom video and lighting systems in addition to sound systems.

He also began marketing PMC Sound's services to area churches, schools and businesses, and he began talking with theater owners in Branson.

Although the Palens believe diversifying and segmenting the business helped Palen Music Center grow, they believe their business practices have played an equally important role in the company's success.

"We have worked hard to bring our personal values into our business practices," Brett Palen said.

"That meant dealing with our customers and suppliers as we would like to be dealt with. It meant gearing the business more toward our employees and their families and cutting back on hours of overtime. We also decided to use 10 percent of the company's profits to send employees to Brazil to build churches each summer."

The changes at Palen Music Center haven't gone unnoticed. Last year, readers of the Spring-field News-Leader named Palen Music Center the "Best Music Store" in Springfield.

"This really is a great place to work," Fischbach added. "The Palen family is able to make their customers feel like No. 1 because they make their employees feel like No. 1."