It is true that each of us is a unique person. Some of us are employed doing the same kind of work and some of us work for ourselves, so to speak, doing the same kind of work that some other person does who receives compensation from an employer.
As a matter of fact, that employer might employ many people to do the same work that the self-employed person does for a living. Such is the main difference between insurance sales people, who we commonly refer to as insurance agents, and the services of what an independent insurance broker provides to the public.
An insurance company that employs a sales staff of agents usually pays each of those people a regular salary plus a small commission for every insurance policy that they sell to the public. In this example it really does not matter what kind of insurance protection is sold, for which each customer pays the stated premium amount each year for such insurance protection.
On the other hand, a licensed and fully independent insurance broker promotes the sale of many different kinds of insurances that are provided to the public by many insurance companies. As such, that insurance broker is usually aware of which insurance company provides the best protection to its customers for the least amount of money.
Insurance companies are no different that any other kinds of business, in that the management of each company wants to earn as much income as possible. That is how each company remains in business. As such, many, if not all, insurance companies seek out and authorize independent insurance brokers to markets their products to the public.
The buyers of any kind of insurance can contact any insurance company, or one of its agents, in order to get a quote, so to speak, in regard to what kind of insurance they want to buy and how much that will cost. Those same seekers of insurance can also seek the services of an insurance broker who will save the buyer a whole lot of time by getting such information from many insurance companies and then provide that information to the customer.
The end result is that the customer will pick the company and the insurance policy that most meets the requirements of the customer. Having made a selection, that insurance broker will then purchase the policy for the customer, acting as an agent for the selling insurance company in question.
If you have not already guessed, the income earned by the insurance broker is paid in the form of a commission, rather than a salary, by the insurance company to that broker. In that regard, the insurance broker has many employers, rather than one employer, from which he or she earns a living wage. Therein is the main difference between an insurance agent and an insurance broker.