$400 and $500 credits on the books that they can use for parts or service.” And he’s seen the power of word-of-mouth advertising and a loyal customer base. Little likes to tell a story of how he was working with a potential customer but needed to respond to another situation. Rather than make the customer sit and wait until he could get back to him, Little asked other customers in the store if they could talk to him for a few minutes. “In a couple of minutes, he was surrounded by other cus- tomers. By the time I got back, he said, ‘I don’t need you. They just sold me a tractor.’”


Tim Phillips, Kioti territory manager, started working with Little in 2005 and has seen the enthusiasm and loyalty that the dealer has created among his customers.


“What James has done,” Phillips says, “is to create some- thing I call ‘compound interest.’ Everyone knows what word- of-mouth is all about, but compound interest explains it the best. When you start out in business and sell your first trac- tors and those people are taken care of 100%, they go out and tell 60 people and that just compounds year after year. “It amazes me when he and I work farm shows together. His customers or future customers come in and every one of them knows somebody that did business with and bought a tractor from James,” says Phillips.


“It was their cousin, dad, uncle, brother-in-law or someone who had sent them to see James or Jay Corzine. Each one has something positive to say about the other person’s experience and repeat what the person told them. That’s what drove them there. From my experience, the word of mouth from customers is what made Little Tractor successful.”


Community Commitment With his philosophy that “loyalty is a two-way street,”


Little recognizes the benefits in helping out his commu- nity. He admits that having lived in Metropolis his entire life makes it easier to be involved with local groups and activi- ties. From the time he opened his dealership’s doors, Little was there to help out when a community group needed a piece of equipment.


“If they need equipment, they’ve got it,” he says, “especially when kids are involved.”


He loaned equipment to one group for 6 years in a row. When they finally got some money together, they bought a tractor from Little. “I’ve never said no when they asked.”


Inventory is Vital


While he says he’s still learning the finer points of operating an equipment dealership, one thing Little figured out quickly is that “If you don’t have it, you can’t sell it.”


A full-time farmer might be willing to order equipment and wait weeks or months for it to be delivered, but the rural lifestyler wants it now.


Each year, Little Tractor starts out the selling season with at least 150 assembled


COUNTRY MUSIC STAR FINDS LITTLE TRACTOR TO HIS LIKING


James Little has seen the power of celebrity and it came by way of country music star Trace Adkins. Little had contacted Adkins’ manager about the possibility of doing some promo- tion for the dealership and before long they had a deal. “We worked with his manager and did it over the


Internet,” says Little, owner of Little Tractor & Equipment in Metropolis, Ill.


Adkins ended up getting a 65-horsepower tractor, loader, backhoe and trailer. “I got to meet him when we delivered the tractor,” says Little. “He uses it himself and he’s a good operator.” That should come as no surprise since the singer worked in construction as a pipefitter in Louisiana, Texas and Tennessee before hitting it big in Nashville in 1995. “We came to an agreement that if he liked the tractor, he’d do two TV spots for the dealership. If he didn’t like it, no one would know it and he’d keep the tractor. He had it for 3 or 4 weeks, called and said he liked it. Then he did the TV ads.” But it went further than that. Adkins also later volun-


teered to do a 2-hour autograph session at the dealer- ship, which he lived up to on August 30, the same day he was scheduled for a concert at the nearby Harrah’s Casino in Metropolis. “Trace got here a half-hour early and stayed a half-hour later than originally planned,” Little says. “We had to stop people coming half-way through because there were so many, but Trace stayed until everyone in line got to see him.” Little estimates that 800 people got Adkins’ autograph and had their pictures taken with the star. The dealership also purchased 2 tickets to Adkins’ con-


cert at Harrah’s Metropolis Casino and gave them away with the purchase of a new tractor. August turned out to be the dealership’s best month ever as they sold 57 tractors. “That evening during the concert, Adkins told his entire audience how much he liked the tractor. It’s unreal how much good that’s done us,” Little says. “Thank you, Trace.


Nearly 800 people showed up when country music star Trace Adkins appeared at Little Tractor & Equipment in Metropolis, Ill., to sign autographs. C.G. Kim, president of Kioti, and James Little, owner, were also on hand. (Photo courtesy of the Metropolis Planet.)


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