Mr. Reagan noted the symbiotic relationship between doing more for employees, being better able to serve customers, and preserving and enhancing agency value in a marketplace where consolidation is becoming the norm.

His message: by hiring and retaining the best staff, an agency can provide better service, increase revenues, and boost its value.

To do more for employees, Mr. Reagan suggested four things: give them the tools they need to do their jobs; invest in their training, career development and personal development; provide the most attractive compensation that is feasible; and provide perks and benefits, such as equity in the agency, that will make them more loyal and more likely to stay.

"The quality of your employees is one of the biggest assets you've got," Mr. Reagan said. "One of the best things you can do for your customers is to have energized, high-quality people."

Mr. Reagan said better service elevates independent agents and brokers, and while it is important to provide competitive prices, one of the keys to getting and retaining business is simply to do more for customers than competitors can.

"It's about being a consultant and business partner to your customers as opposed to a peddler, changing the paradigm, creating a situation where people are going to look at you as an advisor," Mr. Reagan said. "You are there doing more for your customers than simply peddling insurance."

He warned his audience that, "If you're providing the same level of services to your customers in 10 years that you are today, you're in trouble. People are going to expect more, and they're going to get more from somebody."

Mr. Reagan also noted that the retention and growth of an agency's customer base is critical to maintaining and increasing its value, which is crucial to shareholders and also crucial in the event that an agency looks to sell or consolidate.

Ms. Sutton discussed six critical skills her firm has identified as necessary to sales excellence: presence, relating, questioning, listening, positioning and checking.

Using the notion of the "1-percenter" popularized by author Tom Peters?the idea that successful businesses do not do one thing 1,000 percent better, but do 1,000 things one percent better?Ms. Sutton asked the audience members individually to focus on one of the six skills they could do better and start with that.

"You don't start huge," Ms. Sutton advised. "You start small. You take any one of those bullet-points and chip away one percent at a time. You're looking for one thing to take back and implement right away."

Big "I" Chief Executive Officer Robert A. Rusbuldt congratulated attendees for taking part in the symposium and making an effort to improve their business practices to become more successful.

"For those of you who want to be Best Practices agencies, frankly, I think it's the best thing you can do for your agency," Mr. Rusbuldt said.