It's a no-brainer: Cross-selling insurance improves retentions, increases profits, and strengthens relationships by offering customers everything from life to pet insurance. But while there are no statistics on how many independent agencies are actively cross-selling to their customers, many experts say they're not doing it as often as they should—in spite of the fact that their survival in today's customer-driven environment may depend on it.

“With commoditization of personal lines auto and the coming assault from the direct channel on small business, agents must realize that it is difficult to position themselves as efficient and profitable when operating as an insurance vendor who takes orders and quotes business rather than as a professional trusted advisor providing guidance,” says Tom Barrett, president of the Midwest and Southeast regions of the SIAA Inc. agency network. ”The majority of agents are not cross-selling, but the informed ones serious about their future are.”

Convincing the average agency owner to cross-sell is still an uphill climb—even though failure to do so can result in your competitors stealing your lunch, says Shirley Lukens, principal at Reagan Consulting. More to the point, effective cross-selling can retain business, even in tough times. “At a workshop I did for Central Insurance Co., one of the agents said they had lost the commercial lines business of a large account when the economy tanked but was able to keep the personal lines business of several of the key people in that company,” Lukens recalls. “Once the economy improved and rates began to harden, that agent was able to come back and win the CL business they had lost just because they kept that door open through the PL business.”