Jesco business thriving in new location

It wasn’t too many months after Jesco Marine and Power Sports took over its new expansive facility south of Kalispell in January that it was breaking ground to add more space. 

“Our growth has been so fast that we’d outgrown our new building by the time we moved into it,” Jesco General Manager Chris Parrott said. 

Previously known as Jesco Boat Center, in the last few years Jesco has added lucrative product lines and found a number of strong employees, a combination that has resulted in enviable growth for the company. 

Jesco recently was recognized for its efforts by being awarded a spot on the Power Sports Business Magazine’s Power 50 list, which highlighted 50 standout businesses among thousands of power sports dealers nationwide. The dealers were recognized at an industry dinner in Orlando in October. 

“Managing a power sports dealership to high levels of customer service, sales and, yes, profits, is no easy task, especially in today’s market,” the magazine description said of the Power 50 winners. “Simultaneously creating an atmosphere that exceeds high consumer expectations can be even more difficult. For the most professional of dealerships, however, these tasks have not only become second nature, they are firmly integrated in the business’ day-to-day operations.

Jesco was recharged in 2011 when the company was sold to a former customer. Gary Spannuth had founded the business in Evergreen in 1984; it later moved to a spot on U.S. 93 South. (The Habitat for Humanity ReStore is now located at the old Jesco site.)

After the sale, the company purchased the Kurt’s Polaris dealership located in Kalispell, which brought the popular lineup of Polaris snowmobiles and ATVs to Jesco. Then Jesco added Bennington pontoon boats to its sales floor. 

“One of the big changes we’ve made is the breadth of our products,” Parrott said. 

Staff adjustments also were made, and the Jesco staff has grown from eight people in 2011 to 27 today. Sales have mirrored the growth in employees, with about a 200 percent increase in both in the last few years.

Parrott, who has been with Jesco since 2002, said some of the success can be attributed to economic recovery, but more important, the business has focused on creating a “great team of people,” he said.

“The attitude of the people who work here has made us what we are,” he said. 

That attitude is all about customer service and getting people “in and out,” he said. Because much the equipment the business sells is seasonal, Parrott said, Jesco has a short window in which to make sure people are using their equipment.

“We have to keep people out on the water or in the snow,” he said. 

Training is a big part of the Jesco culture, Parrott said, since keeping salespeople and technicians up to date on the product lines is an ongoing concern. At any given time, there is almost always a staff member out for product education, he said. 

Jesco has also developed its customer bases by adding services. 

A full-service detailing department and an outside sales program are fairly new to the business. One employee is a dedicated pickup-and-delivery person, providing customer service where it is most convenient for people — which isn’t always at the store itself. 

“It’s an example of us continuing to evolve and trying to be innovative,” marketing manager Lauren Bradley said. “We’re trying to get out there and working hard to reach people.”

Another Jesco innovation is its paved eighth-mile test track. Because customers often want to try out motorized vehicles that require special operator’s licenses, they aren’t allowed to take the vehicles out on public roads. The private track on Jesco’s 11-acre property gives them a chance to see if they want to make the investment in the machine before getting the proper driving credentials.

Jesco even received a visit from the president of Bombardier — the maker of Sea-Doo, Ski-Doo and Can-Am equipment — because he wanted to see the test track for himself.

“He hadn’t heard of anything like it,” Parrott said.

Bradley’s marketing position is also an example of Jesco’s new aggressive approach to finding and keeping customers. Jesco had no dedicated marketing department a few years ago, but now Bradley, who has been with the company for a year and a half, focuses on public relations, advertising, display and power sports events.

Though Jesco has a lot invested in its physical plant, which offers 12,000 square feet of showroom space, 10 service bays and thousands more square feet of cold storage area for boats, it also realizes that a strong online presence is crucial to sales. 

“Before, Jesco had a philosophy that they would wait for the customer to come to us,” Parrott said. “With the change in 2011, we added Lauren’s position. We wanted to reach the community and not wait for someone to walk in the door but put ourselves out there.”

Bradley said she was not an expert in power sports when she joined Jesco, but through her own education in the world of power sports she has helped the company learn how to appeal to everyone, not just the hard-core enthusiast.

“We’re an exciting store to enter,” she said, pointing out that the store sells clothing and accessories along with its power sports machines. “Our goal with this new location is to become a destination site.” 

 Business reporter Heidi Gaiser may be reached at 758-4439 or by email at hgaiser@dailyinterlake.com.