Insurance has something in common with Agatha Christie and John Grisham novels: an intriguing and often inscrutable cast of players. You’re likely familiar with your insurance agent, but he or she is just part of a highly specialized group, each of whom makes the hidden engine behind an event liability insurance or special event insurance policy work.

Have you noticed a lot more insurance company commercials on television lately? Progressive’s ruby-lipped Flo, AFLAC’s sputtering duck, and GEICO’s gregarious gecko have become celebrities in their own right, joining the stalwart tropes of State Farm’s good neighbors and Allstate’s good hands. Madison Avenue is responding to a crowded and competitive insurance market at the moment, one with high stakes — according to a U.S. Treasure Department report, total direct written insurance premiums reached $1.27 trillion in 2015...

Between 60 and 90 days before the anniversary of an insurance policy, an insurance agent will usually sit down with their client to discuss any changes in the customer’s business or market sectors, to see if their insurance needs have changed, before drawing up a new policy quote.

We’re live-event and special-event specialists, but we’re also human, driven by a complex range of motivations. One of those is the understandable desire to make the best deals we possibly can. (Does that sound like someone else we know?) Psychologists have extensively analyzed our need to feel like we win every situation, from Black Friday sales to negotiating a raise at work. But the best outcomes are the ones where winning also produces a positive outcome for others.