An insurance buyer in today's market has many choices, with online sales being marketed directly through social media, to the traditional independent agent in a local area, to the market-savvy broker service operating on a broad, perhaps national, basis. With so many options it is difficult for the buyer to know which is the best one to go to for seeking coverage and getting the best customer service.

All of these services are important to the insurance industry, but many buyers do not know the difference between an insurance agent, a broker and a producer. Each of these play different roles and offer different services.

A licensed insurance agent is also referred to as a producer, usually dependent upon how they are identified in the state of operation. An agent is someone who sells insurance on behalf of an insurance company. The insurance agent can be either a captive, or select agent (meaning the company they represent prohibits them from selling insurance from any other company), or an independent insurance agent (meaning the agent can represent more than one company and can sell from multiple insurers). Insurance agents work for the insurance companies they represent, and they sell products that the insurer(s) is licensed and authorized to sell in their state. Some companies may allow their captive agents to contract with other companies to sell non-competing lines of insurance that the company may not offer.