Selling insurance is about finding the best price and coverage to fill a client's needs, while being a risk manager is all about identifying how a business can improve its loss experience and best cover its exposures, even if that means going to alternative markets. The challenge for most independent agents today is successfully combining the two approaches, regardless of whether the insurance market is hard or soft. A role model that vividly illustrates how to deliver such a one-two punch is Barney & Barney, LLC, which is why the San Diego-based risk management specialist was chosen as the fifth winner of National Underwriter's "Commercial Insurance Agency of The Year" award.

Barney & Barney is certainly not new to the scene, having been founded in 1909 by two brothers--Phillip and Lorenz Barney. But a commitment to risk management over the last five years in particular has certainly changed the way the agency presents itself to clients and how it positions itself against the competition.

Today, the firm--with 21 owners, over 200 employees and more than $250 million in commercial lines premiums--features a 10-person division of loss control specialists who can hit the ground running for any client, acting like a SWAT team to identify and minimize major exposures.