SHAUN Robinson knows a bit about Deutz Fahr.

Originally from Northumberland, in the United Kingdom, he did his apprenticeship as an agricultural mechanic and after moving to Australia 30 years ago, he has worked on Deutz tractors.

Now, as owner-dealer of SLR Tractors & Machinery, Baldivis, Mr Robinson has been awarded the coveted Gold Status from the Deutz-Fahr's Dealer Standards program.

"When the dealer standards were released two years ago," Mr Robinson said, "I compared our operation to what was required and went tick, tick, tick.

"I said to my wife and daughters, who work in the business, 'I'm confident we can achieve this'.

"It will give us an extra boost.

"For farmers, the fact that their dealer has been awarded Gold Status means they'll be inclined to show even more support.

"A lot of the small-to-medium farmers are happier to back a family business than a multi-franchise dealer."

Mr Robinson and his team sell a lot of six-cylinder tractors, with the Deutz Fahr 6G series especially popular.

"Deutz has always had a really good name in Western Australia," he said.

"The customers who know Deutz are strong on the brand.

"Then there are those new to Deutz who have followed them through our advertising and field days, already being aware of the reputation for reliability."

Most of SLR's customers live a reasonable distance away from the dealership but Mr Robinson finds that word of mouth remains a strong factor when it comes to referrals.

"It still counts," he said.

"Many of our customers are coming to us from different parts of the State.

"It's pleasing, because we have a huge focus on after-sales service and it's a real feature of our business."

Before COVID-19 struck things were ticking over nicely and after the expected dip earlier this year, Mr Robinson said he and his staff are now "run off our feet".

The other good news is that SLR is expanding.

"The workshop is going to triple in size," Mr Robinson said.

"We seem to be the go-to place to have a Deutz Fahr repaired.

"The spare parts and storage area will expand as well to complement the workshop.

"We've outgrown ourselves which is a nice problem to have.

"I'm really pleased with the acceptance of SLR tractors by the farming community over the three years that we've been running.

"On average we're about 150 to 200 kilometres away from our customers, but in a country the size of Australia that's not far.

"Whether it's more important in terms of brand or where to buy from, I'm not sure, but a lot of our business comes from referrals.

"In general, if you do a good pre-delivery and a good delivery, there shouldn't be any problems with the product."

"In terms of staff there's myself, plus another mechanic and three in administration.

"My daughter is washing a tractor at the moment and she's in admin, so it's a multi-purpose role.

"Access to technology, if anything, makes our job easier because farmers can do their own research and have a good idea what they're looking for before coming in.

"Going into the dealership was perhaps a leap of faith, but with my background with Deutz it made things easier.

"I thought if I'm going to service Deutz, work on them, I might as well do the whole kit and caboodle and sell them too."

Deutz Fahr is distributed in Australia by PFG Australia.