Seeing an opportunity for growth in the Ontario grounds care industry, Clint and Bonnie Duke acquired distribution rights for several lines of power equipment and founded G.C. Duke Equipment in 1948.
Their business grew rapidly carrying equipment that could maintain anything from a
homeowner’s backyard to a military base. In 1999, they acquired Jacobsen products and refocused on only golf, municipal and landscaping equipment. They’ve earned multiple “Dealer of the Year” awards from suppliers for their outstanding sales and service performance.
We sat down with their controller Blair Gentle to find out which tools they use to help them secure their spot as one of the top dealerships in their area.
Top ASPEN Features:
• Intuitiveness of the interface
• Ability to access companywide information
What are some of your favorite features in ASPEN?
I like the intuitiveness of it. Once you get used to the interface, the links are there, and you can move from module to module fairly easily. You can dig down and drill down on detail and information very easily.
I like the ability to move around quickly without having to exit. If you’re in a certain module and you want it to link and go in and look at different sets of data or different, invoices or whatever, it’s easy to do that.
“It’s the ease of use and it’s the interactivity, the global functionality of it in terms of companywide information being able to be shared.”
What are some long-term goals for the dealership and how do you envision ASPEN helping you achieve them?
Blair: One’s always looking to grow the business and improve profitability and things like that. Specifically, when the COVID pandemic first hit, we were coming up with strategies on how to get through the pandemic and what our goals would be for that because there was so many unknowns at the time.
We utilized ASPEN to identify units that had been around for quite a while and were able to identify those pretty quickly and make the determination to sell those for whatever price. So, I really like that part of it, where we had an external challenge to the company that sort of threatened our position, threatened our profitability, and we were able to turn it around and make it something positive.
What’s something no one tells you about working in a dealership?
Blair: Things change almost daily. There always seems to be some urgent matter that comes up, that throws everyone for a loop.
You would think it’s fairly routine, but I guess that’s the fun part of work, right? It’s not strictly routine every day. You come in and there’s a different challenge, or a different problem, or a different issue, and you sort of expect that.
Fun Fact:
Blair: To me, the dealership’s significant because it has been around for so long.
A lot of businesses fail in the first generation and this business has seen three generations already, and potentially another one. That speaks volumes to the nature of the business and the nature of the people that are running the business. It’s just a great environment to work in and it’s easy-going, but it’s challenging.