How Pioneer Music Differentiates and Personalizes Customer Experiences

This article was originally published by Spiro’s CEO, Adam Honig, as a guest editorial on AudioXpress.

Regardless of the supply chain disruptions everyone is facing, your customers likely still want to receive their orders much in the same way they would receive products from Amazon. Fast. Easy. No hassle. “Give me the option to purchase my products on my own, please.” “Ship it to me the next day, please.” “Give me an instant refund on my returns, please.”

Let’s face it. You’ll never outcompete Amazon. You need a better strategy. And what is that strategy? First, you need to develop your differentiation. Next, set expectations with your customers. Lastly, personalize their journey and you’ll set yourself apart with your customers.

Spiro.AI combines automated CRM capabilities, sales enablement, analytics, and integrated voice-over-IP all into one powerful platform, driven by an AI Engine which makes proactive recommendations to decision makers in real-time.

I’ve always believed in differentiation and have been in tech for my entire career. I started in sales and then went on to be a consultant for different sales teams, finding ways to make them better. I went on to start three companies, one of them becoming one of the largest salesforce consultancies in the world focused on helping companies get the most out of customer relationship management (CRM). You know that terrible system that no one likes because of all of the manual work required to use it? However, even IT never “solved” the problem.

Before I started Spiro, I went to see the movie “Her” where Joaquin Phoenix, in the future, downloads a new version of his phone’s software, which is played by the voice of Scarlett Johansson. In the movie, Johansson is a computerized bot that gives the main character advice and helps him navigate the world more intelligently.

That movie changed my life. I thought to myself: salespeople don’t need CRM. Salespeople need Scarlett Johansson telling them what to do – through artificial intelligence!

Determined to make life better for sales teams, the Spiro.AI team got really excited at the idea of solving this problem of companies spending millions of dollars on CRM projects that were doomed. We built a broad platform from the ground up on AI, committed to the mission of killing CRM, and proactive relationship management was born. So many of our customers are experiencing the benefits of how Spiro.AI enables them to reach their differentiation, customer expectation, and personalization goals.

Spiro Fulfillment: Spiro helps teams go beyond sales and tracks the status of orders all the way through fulfillment. The power of Spiro’s platform is the proactive recommendations prompting users to take action, like alerting a customer to a fulfillment delay or reaching out about a missed order.

A great example of differentiation and personalization comes from our Spiro.AI customer, Pioneer Music, and its business model. Pioneer Music Company is a Midwest regional wholesaler that sells in Kansas, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, and Nebraska. The company has been in business for 150 years and prides itself in having products that have evolved, but a sales and service process that has not.

Pioneer Music sells high-end electronics from such companies as Samsung, Sony, and Yamaha as well as from QSC, LEA, Shure, Klipsch, Parasound, and Sonos. Their electronics are going into home theaters and in office buildings but are also used in commercial installations. Pioneer Music doesn’t supply the big box stores, but instead has an established network of custom integrators, who design and install the systems in a conference room or a house.

For Pioneer Music, local connections matter, and it proudly touts that face-to-face and handshakes is how it’s operated for six generations. Although it has some very long-standing relationships, it also has a number of new customers.

One way it is standing apart with its customers is by opening new locations. Pioneer Music was challenged by the Amazon effect, since as a retailer, Amazon has impacted its wholesale business. When Amazon offered two-day shipping, Pioneer realized it needed to be same day by opening pickup locations at its four warehouses as well as at all its major markets. By opening new locations – the most recent being in Minneapolis, MN, and Chicago, IL – it’s also seen an increase in its customer base.

Pioneer Music is the Midwest’s most recognized name in audio and video electronics.

Another way Pioneer Music is building customer confidence and personalizing their experiences is through its inventory portal on its website. Customers can buy online from its comprehensive website of more than 15,000 products but have grown to expect that when they need a person to assist with a purchase, the Pioneer Music team is there. Customers then can select their warehouse of choice and either pick up or have their equipment delivered.

Pioneer is also accepting orders through most other types of communication – it takes orders by phone, texting, and even fax! Pioneer jokes that if someone sent smoke signals, it would find a way to turn it into a sales too!

I know how important relationships are and so does Pioneer Music. The company knows its own customers better than anyone else and provides personalized service through its dedicated team of sales professionals who manage a fairly large territory, all thanks to Spiro’s AI-driven sales platform. Its team can place orders for customers on the spot without any long lead times and has an experienced support team on hand.

Pioneer Music has demonstrated that along with implementing technology and using a vast service knowledge to grow its business, it is able to set itself apart. By using Spiro, Pioneer adds value back to the people who are using it and ensures customer satisfaction.

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