In business, we all know that it's vital to know your audience.In my case, I know that the lion's share of our readership isagents and brokers; those aren't the only segments that enjoy ourcontent, of course, but those insurance professionals, inparticular, are at the heart of what we do.

But I'll let you in on a little secret: I actually receivelittle feedback from our readers. Doing much of your work "in abubble" can make you sometimes wonder whether your message as aninformation provider is really resonating with your audience.

So when I decided last year to create an awards program designedspecifically to raise the profiles of independent P&C agencies, I had to wonderwhat the response would be. Everyone likes to have a win undertheir belt, sure, but would many agencies take the time to writethoughtful, comprehensive essays, fill out the entry form and takea shot at glory in the pages of NU?

As it turns out, they sure did — and we were floored by theresponse.

A ton of great entries

As the deadline approached, I began telling my staff: "Well, Ihave good news and bad news. The good news is, we got a ton ofgreat entries. The bad news is, we got a ton of greatentries."

Of course, the problem then becomes, who makes the cut and whodoesn't? Many hard decisions were made. For every one of the fourwinners of our Agency of the Year Award, another handful of entriescame very close.

Like Atlantic/Smith, Cropper & Deeley in Willards, Md.,which in its own words is "relentless in the pursuit of meeting ourcommitments." Its investments in technology and current re-brandingprocess, along with its annual departmental and agency-widestrategic plans, have the agency well-positioned to meet its 20/20Vision for the year 2020: to be at $10.4 million in totalrevenue.

Or Linnfield, Mass.-based agency SoderbergInsurance Services, which puts its money where its mouth is inattracting smart junior talent to the P&Cindustry by offering internships for college students. Thesemillennials acquire real-world experience while performing in agrowing enterprise, and a team of MBA students from EndicottCollege launched the agency's digital marketing and social mediaplatforms.

Related: Insurance agents are retiring. Can millennials fillthe void?

Or Capital Benefits LLC, a Main Street agency inGaithersburg, Md., that acquired a sizable book of business in 2014from another agency at which sales were declining rapidly andmorale was at an all-time low. After empowering those staffers witha raise and changing their compensation structure to give them avested interest in seeing the business succeed, the agency wastransformed into an award-winning, fast-growing business with ateam ranging in age from college students to staffers in their70s.

Or PostInsurance & Financial Inc., located in the smallsoutheastern town of Port Saint Lucie, Fla. A second-generationfamily business built on a foundation of relationships, trust andcommunity spirit, the agency carries on the tradition of personalservice on which it was founded. It embraced a cloud-basedmanagement system in 2006 ("before anyone really used the term'cloud,'" their entry reads), and has been paperless since 2009.Additionally, the agency devotes approximately 40% of its marketingbudget to community causes. "Insurance and volunteerism gohand-in-hand," wrote CEO/Owner Kathy Post. "They're both aboutserving people."

I couldn't have said it better myself.

Related: NU Agency of the Year Award, Town & CountryInsurance: Writing it right

Valuable lessons

The thing that truly impressed me — and in hindsight, Ishouldn't have expected anything less — is the fact that there areso many inspiring stories worth telling about this country'sindependent agencies and best practices to share that have madethem successful that you can apply to your own business. I've longbelieved that you can learn something valuable from every singleperson you meet if you're willing to listen, and there are manyvaluable things indeed to be learned from America's independentagents.

I look forward to sharing more of those stories with you in theyear to come.

Related: 4 ways to do things your way as an insurance agencyowner . . . and succeed