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Elden “Gus” Gustafson has been pleased with
Michigan’s snowy winter, but he also looks forward to a busy spring.
Lots of snow has meant more sales of snow blowers and snowplows at D &
G Equipment, his chain of seven stores that sell outdoor equipment both
to the general consumer and to Michigan’s farming community.
“Everyone has to move that snow out of the way,” he said,
smiling.
 The
spring, of course, is when Michigan’s farms get active and in need
of equipment—tractors, tillage, planters, sprayers, combines, balers
and more—for the agricultural work that stretches from March until
the harvest. In recent years, agricultural clients have become the mainstay
of the business, but it still does a good volume of sales in lawn and
garden equipment.
The business has grown substantially in the 15 years since Gustafson bought
his first two stores, in Williamston and Mason, within just a few days
of each other. The D and G in the store’s name stand for dirt and
grass.
The Williamston store is the business’s main office, while the Mason
store offers the largest sales floor space at 40,000 square feet. With
new locations added every few years, the chain now has additional locations
in Charlotte, Corunna, Howell, Rives Junction and Highland.
Gustafson—a former tool-and-die business owner and the son of a
fruit farmer—was honored last winter at the Greater Lansing
Business Monthly’s 2007 Entrepreneur Awards. He won both the
Retail Entrepreneur award and the Master Entrepreneur award, the latter
given to the most outstanding businessperson among the award winners in
the nine categories.
Gustafson attributes his success to great service and great employees.
He hires the best he can find, offers excellent benefits, including health
and dental insurance and a retirement plan, and pays well.
He also must invest in education and training, as farm equipment becomes
increasingly technical and complex. The latest large tractors and equipment
have GPS systems, computerized tracking and sensors that prevent reseeding
or over-application of chemicals.
“The younger farmers, or the sons in farming families, love the
new technology, but the older ones aren’t as interested. They appreciate
reliability and getting the job done.”
John Deere—by far the leader in farm equipment—offers annual
training on its new lines at its regional training center in Columbus,
Ohio. When Gustafson has enough employees who need training, he brings
in the trainer and does it onsite—much more affordable than sending
employees to Columbus.
“Frankly, I congratulate the new hires who stick with it,”
said Gustafson. “More than once we’ve hired someone who didn’t
stick around when he realized just how intense the training is. You’ve
got to love it and be determined to be good at this work.”
Gustafson spends nearly $5,000 per year on training for a full-time key
employee and nearly $3,000 per year for other employees.
“With the investment we make in our employees, we work hard to keep
them,” he said. “But we also know there are many places who
would love to hire them away from us, and that happens occasionally, too.”
As for good customer service, all dealers that sell John Deere equipment
are required to use a customer satisfaction survey. D & G routinely
scores better than 90 percent.
“We give great service from that first contact on through the long
relationships with our customers, on sales, repairs, trade-ins, everything.
We express our sincere appreciation to every customer, new or old, and
they seem to appreciate that attitude.”
In addition, Gustafson and his wife, Jolene, make a point of keeping meticulous
records in every aspect of the business.
 “I
couldn’t do it without her,” Gus said of Jolene, who also
works with customers, manages back-office tasks like payroll—whatever
is needed.
A large part of the business is selling used equipment taken in on trade.
Trade-ins lead to a broad inventory, but some pieces are so specialized
that they would not easily resell in Michigan, so it is necessary to reach
beyond the borders to other states—and sometimes other countries.
Internet listings for used equipment at sites catering to farmers, such
as John Deere’s MachineFinder.com and TractorHouse.com, and auction
sites such as eBay are good ways to find customers for used equipment.
He can often get much more for a given unit from a customer in North Carolina
than one in Michigan.
While Internet listings reach out-of-state farmers, local radio and television
ads are effective in Michigan, he says. He also has a standing full-page
ad listing his current stock of used equipment in the Farmer’s
Advance, a farm and auction weekly that serves Michigan, Indiana
and Ohio.
Gustafson must be careful what he takes in trade. He balances carefully
his new and used stock, not ordering much new equipment if the supply
of used is high.
“I keep perfect records on every piece—not only what we’ve
taken in on trade but on repairs on all equipment we’ve sold,”
he explains. “We know exactly what we’ve done with everything
we’ve serviced, so there are no surprises or problems.”
Gustafson is committed to accurate and thorough descriptions of each used
item’s condition.
“We always tell it like it is, revealing everything we can think
of to prospective customers, so, again, there are no surprises,”
he said.
“Some customers who have bought sight-unseen from us have remarked
that the equipment was in much better shape than what we described. We’d
rather have that reaction than disappointed customers.”
The store’s redesigned website—www.dgequipment.com—lists
information about upcoming events sponsored by the store—a John
Deere seeding clinic, for example—and shows a selection of used
equipment. A full-time employee maintains the site.
Every store also carries parts and performs service on the equipment which
is almost a necessity in this product line. His service technicians work
on all manufacturers’ equipment, not just the brands the store sells.
To aid customers who are farther removed from the stores, D&G has
added an innovative service that has become popular with farmers in Michigan’s
southern section. Called “Parts OnSite,” the service allows
a farmer to keep an inventory of repair and maintenance parts at the farm
shop, in a parts cabinet supplied and stocked by D&G. Then the store
drives a route that includes all those farms to replenish the stock, billing
customers only for what they have used.
The program saves farmers much time, fuel and frustration, says Gustafson,
and allows them to get back into the fields faster at times when timing
is critical to success. The store also provides customers in the program
with a maintenance parts breakdown that lists all the filters, belts and
required maintenance items.
“It’s another way of giving customers great service, and that’s,
as I said, what keeps us going.”
This article was written by Amy Buttery, Michigan Retailer staff writer. |
