An Insurance agent is a person who plays the middle-man between the Insurance company and scores of people who need some kind of help with respect to selecting the best possible plans among those available for their lives, home, health, motor vehicles and property among many other things. Insurance agents are usually the primary contacts for individuals, small businesses and corporates and the agents most importantly help find these categories of people the best possible Insurance quote, the best possible plan or the most suitable plan depending on their client's needs. Insurance agents either operate exclusively for only one insurance company as a 'Captive Insurance Agent' or they might just be independent and help clients choose among all available plans from various insurance companies as 'Brokers' or 'Corporate Brokers'.

Insurance agents most commonly have to provide their services to clients based on their business types, but then, most of them have to acquire their own clients, serve them using their own resources, help find them the best possible insurance quotes, help them make claims and the like, prepare reports and maintain records like any other self-employed or business person. Some Insurance agents who are financially qualified or are plain savvy also venture forth to provide financial planning for their clients.

According to the U.S Department of Labour, Bureau of Labour Statistics, "An increasing number of insurance sales agents are offering comprehensive financial planning services to their clients, such as retirement planning, estate planning, or assistance in setting up pension plans for businesses. As a result, many insurance agents are involved in “cross-selling” or “total account development.” Besides offering insurance, these agents may become licensed to sell mutual funds, variable annuities, and other securities. This practice is most common with life insurance agents who already sell annuities; however, property and casualty agents also sell financial products."

Insurance Agents usually need to pass a few relevant exams as required by the Insurance governing body in every country and get licenses or permits as required by the state to get into business. The earnings in this business are usually good and the profits are attractive coupled with the fact that most insurance agents work with almost no overheads and also operate as sole-proprietors or self-employed persons. Agents who had Long standing records and have shown persistence, a good marketing mind, ability to dabble with sales and face rejection and a little bit of quirkiness in their approach to servicing clients, have moved on to earn some amazing profits. However, for beginners, persistence and the ability to rise from the ashes is an important entrepreneurial trait which is fairly uncommon. Most of these agents find some other career option and move on.