Rural Lifestyle Dealership of the Year
Little Tractor & Equipment Earns Industry’s Top Honor
With customer service as its first priority, this southern Illinois dealer turned his hobby into the top-rated dealership serving the equipment needs of the rural lifestyle market. Dave Kanicki, Executive Editor
G
etting into the tractor-selling business wasn’t quite an accident for James Little, but to hear him describe how he transitioned from owning his own successful contracting business to opening an equipment dealership in 2000, you might think so. But once he got started there were no accidents in how Little Tractor & Equipment Co. in Metropolis, Ill., grew its revenues to $6 million through dedicated customer service and solid mar- keting to be selected as the rural lifestyle dealership of the Year for 2008 by Rural Lifestyle Dealer magazine. Little says he’s not quite sure why his dealership has suc- ceeded the way it has. Maybe it’s just because rural lifesty- lers and local businesses like to do business with someone they know and trust.
It was Little’s affinity for tractors, developed at an early age on his grandfather’s farm in southern Illinois, that led to his hobby of fixing up older tractors in 1994. He did it on the side while operating his home-building and remodeling contracting business.
“I had an old International tractor and got in a bind and needed some money. So I put an ad in the paper to sell it and got about 25 calls. I started thinking to myself, ‘There may be some opportunity here.’ So I started buying other used tractors, fixing up and selling them.”
Back then, Little says that he couldn’t understand why equipment dealers would sell him their used equipment when all he had to do was take it home, clean and fix it up. He could sell it and make $1,500 or $2,000 on each one. He learned fast once he got into the business full-time. After a few years, he says he began to understand why the
dealers were happy to have him buy their old stuff. “I don’t have time to do that sort of thing anymore,” he says. “And now I have overhead.”
Six years after taking up the tractor fix-up business as a serious sideline, he decided to make the leap and sell trac- tors as a full-time career.
A Competitive Challenge Little was well aware that there were plenty of other
LITTLE TRACTOR & EQUIPMENT CO. METROPOLIS, ILL.
Founded: 2000 Locations: 1 Brands Carried: Kioti, Grasshopper, Rhino, Land Pride, Gravely, Retco, Stens, Oscar Wilson, Red Max, A&I, TISCO Employees: 15 (3 service techs; 1 shop foreman; 2 parts people; 2 secretar- ies; 1 clean-up person; 2 assemblers; 1 truck driver; 1 IT/website and marketing specialist; 2 salespeople) 2007 Sales: $6 million ($5.4 million whole- goods, $250,000 parts, $225,000 service, $125,000 rentals) Market Share: 33% with- in a 50-mile radius, 16% within a 100-mile radius
18 RURAL LIFESTYLE DEALER DEALERSHIP OF THE YEAR SPECIAL REPORT JUNE 2013
James Little (left) and Jay Corzine accept the Rural Lifestyle Dealership of the Year award.
2008
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