Growth Through Constant Evolution (2014 Summer NAMM)

Paul Decker of Music Villa has kept his business thriving by constantly changing and adapting to his customers' needs. Over the past three years, he's refocused his product mix, restructured his music lesson program and redesigned his showroom several times—and that's just the start.

During the NAMM Retail Summit at 2014 Summer NAMM, he sat down with NAMM President and CEO Joe Lamond to discuss how change has helped Music Villa continue growing.

"We're passionate about what we do and our store, so we're continually redesigning stuff and making new displays," Decker said. "And I think you just have to—to stay exciting."

Music Villa got involved in social media and video marketing early on. A few years ago, the company received attention for its Web series, The Music Store. Decker said Music Villa has two full-time Web specialists on staff to handle the workload.

"We do the fun music videos, and we do the websites that drive traffic to the store—community building," Decker added. "And that's a huge part of it. I'd say that's probably another 20 percent of our business, from social media.

"It's really just building a community. The same thing you've done in your brick and mortar, you've got to do it on your social media. It's got to be fun and exciting and not selfish."

More recently, Music Villa also restructured its lesson program, shifting teachers from independent contractors to employees. Decker acknowledged that the company lost teachers after the change, but "the new teachers love it and the old teachers ... many of them want to come back."

"It brings everything together. The parents are happy. I know what's going on. Before, you didn't know what was going on."

Lamond closed out the segment asking Decker if he could offer one last thought on business growth.

"I think change is the hardest part for some people," Decker said. "You have to be willing to change and say, 'Let's try that.' You've got to be positive."