When insurance agents and brokers are selling coverage and services to clients, relationships are critical. It is perhaps not surprising, then, that these same producers consider relationships carefully when seeking services themselves, such as premium financing.

Luther Grafe, executive vice president and chief operating officer of Bank Direct Capital Finance, a premium finance company based in Illinois, said relationships go a long way when it comes to courting agents' business.

“The insurance market is still a very relationship-driven business, so it's who do you know, or who can you get in to see in an agency?”