At The Whitehorn Financial Group, we sell a lot of insurance, but we're really in the business of giving advice. We focus on just one type of client: architects and engineers–the so-called design professionals.

The core of our market consists of design-professional firms ranging in size from 10 to 350 employees. For the most part, our clients are involved in traditional projects–i.e., preparing designs for buildings, roads and highways. We represent about 220 such clients in New York, New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania. Collectively, they pay us about $6.5 million in premium. Architects and engineers professional liability insurance is the only P&C product we sell. Our retention rate for this product consistently remains in the 96% range. We also market various life insurance, retirement and financial services products, which account for about 30% of our overall revenue. (See sidebar.)

I'm the agency's sole producer. I have two other employees, both of whom are critical to the success of our business. One submits and markets applications for architects and engineers professional liability insurance, researches claim issues, helps answer the phone and fulfills requests for certificates of insurance–a major job. More important than anything else, she ensures that we address all service requests as quickly as possible–typically the same day they are received. Our other employee performs pretty much the same service in regard to our life insurance and financial services practice–and also helps out with the torrent of professional liability certificate requests.