A new virtual alliance is encouraging independent agency owners to look more closely at personal lines business, where “unprecedented” opportunities exist, according to the group’s chairman.

Steve Brooks

Steve Brooks, director of the new group, Personal Lines Growth Alliance, said his intention is to shift independent agents’ thinking from a commercial lines focus.

“While it gets more attention, the commercial piece is not the sole driver of growth, stability and profitability for independent agencies,” said Brooks, president of Steve Brooks Insurance Services, a personal lines agency based in Westlake Village, Calif. “In fact, the personal lines opportunities for our distribution channel are unprecedented. Today’s agents and brokers can offer consumers strong carrier markets, fast service with real-time technology, choice of products and pricing, and overall superior value.”

Membership in the alliance is free and open to agents, carriers, service providers and trade associations, according to Brooks, who described the group, launched this month, as “a powerful and motivated coalition within the independent agency system.”

“Personal lines represents much more opportunity than a simple ‘accommodation sale’—and it is time for more independent agency owners to get excited about it,” Brooks added.

The personal lines segment is “ripe” for market share growth within the independent agency channel, Brooks said. While independent agents and their carriers command 80% of all commercial lines, they only write 34% of personal lines.

The prolonged soft market and recent economic worries have put downward pressure on premiums, with reduced payrolls, inventories, auto fleets and other soft conditions. Meanwhile, private-passenger auto, homeowners, umbrellas and related lines offer a tremendous growth potential, according to Brooks.

Using social networking and a website (www.personallinesgrowth.org), the PLGA will work to convince independent agency owners of the value and stability of personal lines insurance products in today’s market, and show how they contrast with the commercial lines activities on which most agents rely for their main revenue stream, Brooks said. The group also will provide agents with insight on personal lines marketing and sales strategies, as well as strategies to enhance customer relations; and educate them on the efficiencies of today’s personal lines processing and workflows.

Technology should serve as a “driver of change for the mindset of many independent agency owners,” Brooks said.

“Agency leaders 30 years ago began calling for more efficiency within the personal lines universe,” he said. “They said inefficiency was the source of the high expense ratios that prevented independent agencies from successfully competing with direct and captive writers. The playing field has now been leveled, and it’s time for our side of the industry to capitalize on our opportunity.”