Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - November/December 2014 - 2

photo-Jeff Decker

Straight

TALK
by John A. Arway

Executive Director
Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission

Customer Service
As a fisheries biologist growing up on the Resource First
side of our agency, I continue to have a passion for making
sure that our resources stay protected, are managed
according to sound scientific principles and are regulated
to ensure that they are carefully conserved. As Director,
I also have to pay close attention to the business side of
the agency since fishing and boating are "Big Business" in
Pennsylvania and a tremendous economic driver in many
parts of our Commonwealth. If you don't believe me, just
ask the restaurant, bait and tackle shop and hotel owners
in rural Pennsylvania about their business activity in and
around the opening day of trout season. Although angler
interest peaks in April and May, after all we are a trout
state with over 70 percent of our license customers buying
a trout stamp; fishing is a sport that we can practice all
year long. Pennsylvania's waters supply recreational fishing
opportunities by supporting a wide variety of fish species
that are the target of our sport anglers. These include black
bass, our second most popular sport fish, along with an
assortment of fun and delicious panfish species including
Bluegills, crappies and perch, a catfish fishery that we are
still learning about and continues to grow in popularity
and Common Carp, which attract common anglers
and specialists who enjoy using traditional European
fishing techniques along with our bow anglers and their
tournaments. We also can't forget about some local
favorites including the stripers and American Shad in the
Delaware River, Hickory Shad in the lower Susquehanna
River and the monster Walleyes and steelhead in Lake Erie.
I must admit that I have fallen into the trap of
measuring our agency's success by monitoring sales
and costs. I receive a weekly sales and marketing report
that tracks fishing license sales. And, I receive a weekly
financial statement that reviews our expenditures and
revenues and compares them to the prior year. I know
that most businesses track spending activity, so they can
optimize sales as the opportunity arises. Some major sport
store retailers track sales in four-hour time periods, so they

2

know when we enter their stores and how much we buy
during a particular time of day.
The most recent estimate of fishing participation in
Pennsylvania shows that 1.1 million anglers spent $485
million as reported in the 2011 National Survey of Fishing,
Hunting and Wildlife-Associated Recreation. The 2006
national survey results showed that 994,000 anglers spent
almost $1.3 billion. So why did 106,000 less people spend
$815 million more in 2006 than they did in 2011? It appears
to be an artifact of the survey methods since the sample
size was too small to estimate special equipment (including
boats) sales in 2011. These sales were reported out as
$705,829 in 2006. My personal concerns about the results
of the 2011 survey caused me to volunteer as the Chair of
the National Survey Technical Workgroup charged with
improving the accuracy of the 2016 national survey. Stay
tuned. It's obvious, at least to me, that we need to better
understand the spending and buying habits of you, our
customer, in order to meet your needs and expectations
with the goods and programs we provide. That is my
definition of what a public service agency should do.
A friend of mine recently posted an article on the
social media site LinkedIn. The article was entitled
"Measuring the ROI of a Good Customer Experience"
by Don Peppers and caught my attention since we were
preparing to head into roundtable discussions with our
fishing license sales agents. The intent was to open up a
line of communication with our 900 plus agents, so we can
better serve our license-buying customers. A novel idea for
sure since we have never done that before at least in recent
history. The article suggests "The overwhelming majority
of businesses measure their financial success based on
current sales and costs, while customers are focused on the
customer experience they anticipate." The author advises
that the Return-On-Investment (ROI) associated with a
"frictionless customer experience" isn't necessarily reflected
in current customer sales but should be measured by the
customer's current lifetime value. Therefore, my worrying

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Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - November/December 2014

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