For Dan Moore, president of RW Moore Equipment Co., taking the helm of a 42- year-old company has meant adjusting his perspective.
When his father, RW Moore, died on July 20, 2003, Moore realized that to continue thriving in the market he had to make the company’s transition as smooth as possible. Even after having been involved in the company for much of his life, he readily acknowledged that when the founder and owner of a family-run business passes away the road to success is difficult.
To facilitate a successful transition, Moore returned the focus of his eastern North Carolina equipment dealership to the customer.
“The biggest thing that I have done is refocus on the customers’ needs,” said Moore. “I don’t want to give the customer a reason to go anywhere else. We have a wonderful relationship with our lenders and manufacturers, which affords us the opportunity to really focus on what is important, our customers.”
In order to do this, the John Deere dealership uses something called a “value proposition,” a business philosophy that focuses on uptime, low daily operating costs and productivity. Every service the dealership offers falls under the value proposition umbrella and is geared toward the customers’ profitability.
For example, RW Moore’s target machine down response time is four hours –– a goal Moore said falls under the uptime principle of the company’s philosophy.
“We obviously won’t make this all the time, but it’s a number we strive for.”
With six fully staffed, full-service locations in Ahoskie, Fayetteville, Greenville, New Bern, Raleigh and Wilmington, RW Moore has more local presence than anyone else in its market.
The company is the principal John Deere dealer in eastern North Carolina and also carries Sakai rollers, TimberJack, CSI and Interstate Trailers. Moore said the company is currently working on adding complementary equipment lines to broaden its offering to existing customers.
RW Moore’s staff is factory-trained and certified at all levels, including its sales, parts and service personnel.
“We’ve had a full-time in-house trainer since 1976,” noted Moore. “We offer full training, not only to our mechanics, but also to our customers.”
RW Moore has a 30-truck service fleet and three mobile air-conditioning repair trucks. The company also offers a preventative maintenance service, where an RW Moore service technician will come out to the job site to perform regularly scheduled maintenance.
Among its six facilities, the company has 45 service bays; three locations are equipped to handle track work on nearly every piece of equipment on the market, said Moore, noting the company’s extensive $2 million parts inventory.
RW Moore also has a broad range of used equipment and a dedicated rental department that focuses on the needs of its rental customers.
Focusing on the customer is not a new concept for the dealership, which prides itself not only on its success in equipment sales but also for its community involvement.
The company’s feats have not gone unnoticed by Deere.
“We won the highest level of John Deere’s Mark of Excellence the first three years it was awarded, which resulted in an appointment to the Excellence Roundtzable –– something that, to my knowledge, was only awarded to a couple of other dealerships in North America,” said Moore.
Still, despite its success, RW Moore does not aspire to be the big kid on the equipment block.
“Many people in this industry are interested in consolidation, growing in geography and economies of scale. We want to grow with our customers right here at home in eastern North Carolina by serving them better than anyone else.
“Our customers can pick up the phone and call the owner directly and get an answer. That’s a personal touch that mega-dealers can’t offer. Also, with all the turmoil in our industry with consolidations and closings, we offer a very stable, long-term dealership that customers can rely on to be there for their needs now, and in the future,” said Moore.
For more information, call 919/772-2121.
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