The No. 1 challenge I hear from personal lines agents is thatthe phone isn't ringing with new prospective customers.

The reason for that is obvious, most consumers initiate shoppingonline. Many agents try to generate or buy leads online, but theresults are dismal so they give up. There are agencies who buildbig books of business from generating or buying online leads, butthey don't treat that consumer like a yellow page or referralquote. The consumer changed so if you want to succeed online, youhave to rally your agency to change as well.

[Related: 5 things the fastest growing agencies have incommon]

Here are 4 tips to help you convert more online consumers:

People: If your office is full of gatherers,you'll need to invest extra time in getting them to believe thatthey can convert online leads. Helping them set goals for outboundcalls or hiring a part-timer to call for you is a great start.Personal lines has historically been reactive in the sense thatclients called us and then came to our office. We never left ourdesks because most quotes were inbound. A new hire doesn't needinsurance experience but should have sales experience or thepersonality to be a sales person. If your agency called 100 to 200prospective clients per day, the entire dynamic of your agencywould change and the phone would ring more than it does now. Whenthe phone rings, we write more premiums.

(Shutterstock/Dragon Images)

Speed: The No. 1 driver of conversion is speed.If you receive a quote request that sits in your inbox for an hour,then send to someone else that sits on it for an hour, you're notgoing to write that piece of business. If you have a process inplace that gives you the ability to contact that lead withinseconds of receipt, your chances of conversion increase by 391%,according to a study by Velocify. This is notguesswork, but real data taken from 4 million converted sales. Asyou build a sales process, focus on speed first and foremost.

(Photo: Shutterstock)

Process: Whether it's manual processes,spreadsheets, software or a whiteboard, you need to measure thespeed, cadence, contact rate, quote rate and of course conversionrate of your efforts. The initial focus is speed, but the rest ofthe process is follow-up calls, e-mails, text messages and what tosay when we make contact.

We can't print a lead, hand it to Johnny and assume it's beingprocessed according to agency best practices. This should bemanaged and measured daily to ensure we're maximizing our marketingspend. Overtime, you'll know how to distribute leads based on riskprofile, territory, line of business and so on. The goal with asales process is to eliminate guesswork and gather enough data tomake decisions moving forward. Automating the process is the bestway to go.

(Shutterstock/vgstockstudio)

Belief: This could easily be No. 1 because ifwe don't believe that we can convert online leads, we're 100%right. If we don't believe we can write policies from onlinesources, we're right. If you believe a certain segment of leadshave no chance of converting, you guessed it; you're right.

Let's focus on what we can do. We can sell insurance products topeople that are willing to listen. We also believe if someonerequests insurance online, that we should do everything possible tomake sure that person gets the best rate, service and experiencethey could ever imagine. We also believe that data doesn't lie soif we have the right people and processes, we will win.

Many agents are growing and writing profitable business fromconsumers starting research online. There are also agentsstruggling to find a formula that works so they can grow in thisever-changing market. Online shoppers are going to multiply in thecoming years and local agents can play a major role in finding themthe best coverage for the best price.

Stuart Ganis started his career as a producer in 1989 andlater co-founded an independent agency that grew to 20 million inpremium volume within 5 years. After the sale of the agency,Ganis started a consulting firm helping agents in areas ofsales, marketing, operations and M&A advisory services. Stuartcurrently serves as the VP, Strategic Partnershipsfor EverQuote. Follow Ganis onTwitter @StuartGanis.