Supporting Hunting and Fishing NZ to drive shareholder engagement

The challenge 

Hunting & Fishing New Zealand, the go-to store for outdoor enthusiasts, is a Cooperative with more than 40 stores spread across New Zealand. In 2021, following the adoption of a data-centric strategy, they partnered with us to run an engagement survey with their primary shareholder group; store owners.

With no internal HR / people resource, and a high workload, they decided outsourcing this project to a third party was the best approach to get this piece of work delivered to a high standard, and in a timely manner. 

Hunting & Fishing NZ CEO, Darren Jacobs, explains: “In recent years, we have begun to really prioritise capturing data that can help inform our decisions. I knew we had some work to do when it came to how we at head office engage with our shareholders, and we needed a benchmark to better understand our starting point. The survey data gave us this benchmark, enabling us to regularly measure the impact certain initiatives are having on improving shareholder engagement. I understood  the importance of doing our first survey well. I knew we’d lose shareholder buy-in if the first attempt fell flat, which motivated me to involve RYHR.”

When outlining the purpose of the survey, Darren described their need to better understand shareholders' perceived value of the support  head office provides and gain a better understanding of how their team and shareholders could work more closely to achieve better business outcomes. 

To capture authentic, unfiltered feedback, Hunting & Fishing NZ prioritised partnering with a third party who had a proven track record and could provide shareholders with the ultimate confidence in the anonymity of their comments. 

The solution 

Survey creation

Working with Darren, we designed a fully customised engagement survey. An initial meeting defined the project goals, and from there we got to work designing the survey from the ground up. It was important that the survey was easy and quick to complete, given the busy nature of shareholders day-to-day workloads. It was also important that the survey could be repeated to track how shareholder engagement changes, and hopefully improves, over time. 

Hunting & Fishing NZ plan on running this survey twice yearly, which creates real, usable information to support their long term and short-term plans. With the brief clearly defined, there was minimal input required from  Darren, who explained his time investment as no more than “a few meetings and a handful of emails”.

Communication 

Hunting & Fishing NZ is a brand for lovers of the outdoors, the people who are happiest reeling in a large snapper or stalking a stag. Their shareholders are just as passionate as their customers' about the outdoors, so sitting on their computer completing a survey was never going to be high on their to-do list. With this in mind, Hunting & Fishing NZ saw a major benefit in creating a customised engagement survey, compared to an ‘off the shelf’ option. 

The ability to tailor the tone of the survey to resonate with their shareholders increased the likelihood of participation, and helped demonstrate that the head office truly understands their shareholders. 

Darren Jacobs explains: “The style and tone of the survey was very important. The way the questions were worded, and the way we communicated with the shareholders about the survey had the ability to make or break it. We didn’t want something overly corporate that didn’t suit our culture, which made the ability to build the survey to suit who we are really valuable.” We worked with Darren on a tone and style of communication that would best resonate with shareholders, and created a survey that truly aligned with the Hunting and Fishing NZ brand. 

Confidentiality

Privacy is critical in any survey.  Shareholders needed to have confidence in the privacy and security of data collected. Darren knew the feedback would only be genuine and useful if it was unfiltered. Our involvement as a third party, one step removed from the head office, helped shareholders to feel comfortable sharing their honest feedback. 

The results 

Once the survey had closed, our team prepared a thorough and easy to understand report that provided Hunting & Fishing NZ with valuable insights. After sharing the report digitally and allowing some time for the report to be digested, we met with Darren to discuss the survey findings in greater depth. During this meeting, we analysed the results together and discussed some potential quick wins, as well as some medium and longer term projects. Armed with the right information and support, Darren felt equipped to create an action plan with their shareholders. The survey data gave them the benchmark they needed, and ensured they will be able to measure the success of their future efforts. 

Describing  how the business has already been impacted by the survey results, Darren said “At a local level, the survey gave each and every one of our shareholders a forum to voice their thoughts and ideas. That in itself was a win. Investing in something fully customised showed our shareholders that this wasn’t just a box ticking exercise. At head office, the report helped our team to better understand the challenges our shareholders are facing, and where we can add the most value. The survey has solidified the need to focus on building a strong partnership between our shareholders and head office, and the insights gained enable us to be proactive rather than reactive. 

In hindsight, we could have engaged in this work sooner. We had built it up in our own minds that it was this giant piece of work, but with the support of RYHR, it was an easy process. RYHR ensured the survey methodology was sound right from the start, so we could settle on a process that could easily be repeated over time. The cost benefit ratio was huge! I have no doubt that the insights gained from this piece of work will have positive impacts on our business for years to come”.

Are you interested?

If you think your business could benefit from the kind of insights an engagement survey offers, get in touch, we’d love to chat!

Phone: 06 213 7676

Email: hello@robynyoung.co.nz.