“ Sa f e a t  home ”  has mu l t i p l e mean i ngs  f or Mar k H i rschbec k . He has homeowners and au t o po li c i es  f rom The Har tf ord . He ’ s a l so a ma j or l eague baseba ll ump i re who spends more  t han a  t h i rd o f t he year away  f rom h i s w i f e and  f our ch il dren i n She l t on , Conn .  “ I wan t ed a qua li t y i nsurance company rep- resen t ed by a we ll -es t ab li shed i nsurance agency i n my area , ” says H i rschbec k . He  f ound t ha t  w i t h The Har tf ord and w i t h Br i dgepor t , Conn . -based Mer i t Insurance , Inc . The agency ’ s par t nersh i p w i t h The Har tf ord da t es bac k more  t han  50  years . We’re concentrating our expertise where property-casualty agencies need it most — at their fingertips. Our property-casualty field organization enables agencies to work with one local contact to sell all of our property-casualty products. We have also standardized our sales and service processes for regional and national agencies. The strategy has two very positive results:  One, we provide better service to agents when they work with a single decision-maker from  The Hartford. That person spends more time with the agent to select the right products to meet  specific customer needs. Experience shows that making it easier for agents to work with us helps them grow their business. It also improves our results.  Two, our relationships with the largest and most profitable agents grow stronger because we’re closer to them. We learn more about their needs—and respond to them more quickly—when we’re their top provider. And both of us gain economies of scale.  Our agency strategy clearly distinguishes us from competitors who aren’t as close to their agents. Over the past two years we’ve opened nine new branch offices, and we’ll continue to expand our local presence in 2004. Agents and their customers will benefit from our consistent focus on meeting customer needs, the innovative ways we make it easy to work with us, and the extraordinary service we work hard to provide every time and everywhere. Property-casualty agencies expect consistently excellent service from us, and we deliver it. 2003 Annual Report Thirty-one A full-court press in local markets