Now that the personal lines industry is finally seeing some relief with upward rate adjustments after a prolonged soft market, the time has never been better to align the agency workforce toward the power of consultative selling. The industry is fraught with references of personal insurance as a commodity and price driving sales. Never has the adage been more true than if you sell on price, you will lose on price. The way to eliminate this is to educate and train your staff to provide constructive consultation to their clients.

The amount of work you'll need to do in each area will be determined by the size of your agency staff and their levels of experience. Whatever the situation, it is well worth the effort and best done systematically. The outcome will be an agency with better market penetration and rounded accounts. We have all heard how expensive it is to attain a new customer, so this is a great way to improve retention.

To summarize, you must:

1. Know what your clients need
2. Know your own markets
3. Know your competition
4. Round accounts at the initial point of sale
5. Provide training and promote professionalism.

Know what your clients need