A One-Stop-Shop for High Definition

When local television viewers watch Shawn Hutchinson and crew toss an old TV off his downtown-business roof, they probably don’t realize he is reliving a piece of his childhood.

His father, the late Tom Hutchinson, had always cautioned his sons to be careful with old TVs because the tube was equivalent to a half-stick of dynamite.

“So, my brother and I took a TV up into our treehouse and threw it off to see if Dad was right,” Hutchinson recalled. “He was. It exploded.”

Hutchinson is the founder/partner of Satellite Pros, 1520 Main, where the business’s television commercials are filmed. The recent ad re-creates that time when Hutchinson and his brother, Jason, put their father’s warnings to the test.

Spacious Showroom -Satellite Prose showroom features over 1000 inches of high definition television, including LED and projection screens, as well as the new 3D televsions from Sony.

And besides that, Hutchinson said, “we have to dispose of old TVs anyway and it is easier when they are in pieces.”

He also noted that he kept safety in mind during the filming, and the TV “popped pretty good. The ad was made only to get the public’s attention.”

Satellite Pros is the local dealer for Dish Network and DIRECTV. His in-house inventory includes televisions made by Mitsubishi, Hitachi, Sony and Panasonic.

Even before Hutchinson talked about his products and services with The Outlook, he emphasized that his family was the reason for the business’s success.

“Without the support of my family, my entire family, we would never have been able to do this,” Hutchinson said, noting the contributions of his wife Jamie, brother Jason and mother Joyce. “We all started it; this is most important to me.

Small but Mighty Pictured front and center are Shawn and Jaime Hutchinson, owners of Satellite Pros in Great Bend. Also pictured are their children Blayne and Elle Hutchinson and their two full time employees Trent Bauer and Bob Behrens. Their dog, Relic, is in front.

“Dad taught me about the business,” Hutchinson added. “He taught me the importance of doing a good job, treating customers right and hard work. This is a family business. Even our employees have been adopted into the extended family.”

His mother and brother both live in Salina, where Hutchinson was raised; he was born in Concordia. Hutchinson was working at Midwest TV in Salina in November 1998 when he sold his first satellite dish and installed it himself.

“It came naturally to me,” Hutchinson said. “And I loved the idea of how a dish signal is received by the customer from space.”
He enrolled in Kansas State University’s electronics engineering curriculum at Salina, and then joined the Air Force National Guard to help pay for those college classes.

“That’s where I met my wonderful wife, Jamie,” Hutchinson said. “She had been named director of the Heartland Cancer Center here and I was planning to start a business in Salina. But since I hadn’t started it yet and Jamie had a job here, we said ‘let’s go to Great Bend.’

Quality Installation & Service - What sets Satellite Pros apart from their competition is the high quality brands and their service before and after the sale. "We offer installation for TV's and new satellite customers," Hutchinson says. "And most times it's free."

“We have met 100 percent wonderful people,” Hutchinson said. “This is the best community I have ever been involved in. It is a great place to raise kids and you can be involved in the community. It was an easy decision to move to Great Bend.”

It could be said that the TV biz is in the Hutchinson blood. After all, his grandfather was involved in the transition from black-and-white to color when he sold his first color set in Jamestown, Ks. And Hutchinson is a fourth-generation business owner.

The infant Satellite Pros was born in 2003 in the Hutchinson home, where he began by offering sales, installation and service for Dish Network. The first move was to 2811 10th and then to 3707 10th; now the store is at 16th and Main. Hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday.

“These have all been expansions,” Hutchinson said. “We had to have bigger locations. We weren’t moving for the fun of it.

“When we moved from in front of Wal-mart, where tens of thousands of cars pass every day, I expected to lose a little bit of business. That being said, business has increased at least by 20 percent.”

Early Beginnings - In one corner of the Satellite Pros showroom sits a collection of the Hutchinson family's electronics history. Shawn Hutchinson, owner of Satellite Pros, and his family have been in the electronics business since the 1950s.

Satellite Pros has three full-time employees, including Hutchinson. It also employs several independent contractors. “Our philosophy is to do more with less,” he commented. “All of us work very hard.”

The downtown company serves both residential and commercial customers – anyone who needs a TV. Dish Network and DIRECTV are the two satellite options. “Why sell only Chevy when you can sell both Chevy and Ford?” Hutchinson asks.

The in-stock TV brands “are the best and we pride ourselves on selling the very best products available,” the business partner noted. “We want to stand behind our products. But if you are not selling the best, that is hard to do.

“A lot of businesses are trying to be a jack of all trades,” he continued. “They get into things that have no relation to one another. We want to be the best at what we do, which is TV entertainment from A to Z. We are not a jack of all trades; we are a master of one.”

The business has access to many brands, and its TVs range in size from 32- to 150-inch screens. Satellite Pros offers sales, installation and delivery. It maintains the satellite systems but works with Vision Video Lab at Hays for TV repair. Hutchinson noted this Hays company has been “a good business partner and treats us right.”

Satellite Pros’ prices are turnkey; they include delivery, set-up, cables, cords and surge protectors. The customer pays the quoted price, and there are no surprises at the last minute. The company also hauls away old sets at no extra charge.

Prices and promotions are set nationally but the local business takes care of all the customer’s needs.

After Hours Catch-Up - Satellite Pros owner Shawn Hutchinson works at his desk after hours. "When you own your own business, you end up wearing a lot of hats," he says. "I tell people that I am the owner, the salesman, the delivery guy, the bookkeeper, and the janitor."

“We hope people shop around and get to know about the products,” Hutchinson said. “We are good at answering their questions, and we educate them the best we can.”

One of the more unusual assignments was installing a TV on the ceiling at the office of a local dentist, Dr. David Hart. “It’s been a big hit with his patients.”

The big hit at the Satellite Pros store is Relic – a big, very big German Shepherd with a welcoming personality.

“Relic is the greeter,” Hutchinson said. “Most people are comfortable with him and he stays on his rug until he knows you want to visit. Then he will go right up to you and give a big kiss. Ideally, he would like to work as a Wal-mart greeter, but he hasn’t had a call-back on that yet.”