Part of the effort to change any negative perceptions will be a new branding campaign she believes will not only raise the agents' stature in the eyes of the general public, but in the minds of the carriers they represent as well.

PIA's branding campaign–”Local Agents Serving Main Street America”–will be introduced Dec. 1, explained Ted Besesparis, the association's vice president of communications.

Agents will be asked to join the new branding program for no additional fee, as part of their membership. Carriers will be asked to endorse the program through a cooperative advertising campaign, he said, but the association will not seek payment from carriers for their involvement in the program.

“For our people, this will create a wonderful buzz and will be a wonderful asset for our members,” said Ms. Pile.

The most effective way agents can go about improving their standing and that of the industry in the eyes of consumers is to improve the insurance IQ of their clients, according to Ms. Pile, who is managing partner with the Lexington, Ky.-based A.G. Perry Insurance Agency.

In her travels, she said she will encourage agents to be more conscious of doing the things they may have taken for granted–such as making the customer understand that insurance is a legal contract.

“Insurance is a big hunk of a client's paycheck,” said Ms. Pile. “We need our consumers to understand what it is they are buying.”

Agents, she said, must make educating consumers about insurance a bigger part of what they do. Many do it, she added, but warned that in large agencies the education part of the personal lines side may tend to get lost in the shuffle. She noted the important role customer service representatives must play in making sure these lessons are taught.

Within the industry itself, Ms. Pile said, the respect for agents needs to be raised both among themselves and carriers.

Independent agents “work hard in their community and need more encouragement among them to say, 'You are not just an insurance agent–you protect people's dreams.' The whole attitude needs to be changed,” she remarked.

While customers do not view their own agent with the same jaundiced eye with which they view carriers, she believes, agents have been caught up in the backlash of the industry's reputation problems. Seemingly under attack with the elimination of contingency commissions through company settlements with attorneys general, agents should not feel discouraged, she added.

“I want to encourage local, Main Street agents and do not want them to be discouraged and believe they are not important,” she said. “We are pretty much the lifeblood of the insurance carriers.”

As she goes about speaking with independent agency carriers, her aim is to see how they embrace the association's marketing campaign and work with them from there. The primary objective will be to make sure carriers understand and appreciate the role of the independent agent as the advocate for clients, and to get the necessary support from carriers for that job.

“Our main goal is to serve the customer, and our customer is the public,” Ms. Pile observed. “We know we can do that well.”