Online Agent Forums: High Speed Networking And Know-How

Online discussion forums are nothing new. People were using these electronic bulletin boards to post discussion topics, ask specific questions, and add their two cents to ongoing conversations years before the World Wide Web even existed.

While professionals in other industries are no strangers to using the Web to network and share expertise, the insurance community has been a little slow to create their own online information-swap.

Two new agent forums are looking to change that: AmericanInsuranceBroker.com and Insurance-Forums-net .

Fighting Burnout, Finding Your Mentor

"I think mentorship is something everyone in the insurance industry would say is very important," says Sam Melamed, webmaster of Insurance-Forums.net, a 7-month old online forum.

At Insurance-Forums.net, "newbies" can find much-needed mentoring. Experienced members freely offer advice, and even speak with rookies outside of the forum to guide them through the rough early days.

"It's tough to make it in the business," Melamed adds. "A lot of the mistakes can be corrected very easily with a little bit information in the beginning."

Experienced agents are walking away with valuable ideas to give their agencies a shot in the arm, too.

Says Melamed of a typical visit to his site: "You can encounter a new aspect of insurance or new products or new marketing ideas that you've never thought of. You'll find answers to questions you didn't think to ask. Seeing what other people are doing and what they're successful with stimulates you."

Open, Honest, Self-Promoting?

The world of discussion forums can be a little wild. Mixed in among the serious discussions are overenthusiastic self-promoters seeking exposure for their products or services. Most forums have rules to rope in this kind of behavior.

But at AmericanInsuranceBroker.com, webmaster Glenn Cooke welcomes it.

Cooke, who has half a decade's experience running a high-traffic actuarial forum, takes a different approach to monitoring posts than your average webmaster.

"Most online forums define their rules and then censor or moderate posts that bend them," says Cooke. "I prefer to see the community actually do their own policing and determine what they want to see."

Cooke, who's had success with this "self-policing" technique in the past, leaves it up to agent members to give self-promoters a big thumbs up or down.

This candid review process strengthens the community, says Cooke. Agents and vendors get a place to promote their goods, while forum members can freely share their opinions.

Posted comments live on in the forum, helping future visitors navigate between the quality products and the garbage.

Those with poor offerings will be quickly called out by users, says Cooke. "If people are posting to try to promote products or services to insurance agents, and those services are garbage, the community is going to say that loudly and clearly."

But strong offerings will benefit from positive feedback. "If the community likes your product or service, they'll talk you up. You'll get good promotion and even make some sales without having to do anything. No other forum I've seen works this way."

The Buzz

So what are agents talking about online? Turns out just about everything. Online sales methods, purchasing and working leads, the pros and cons of popular products and working niche markets - these are just a handful of the hundreds of insurance topics that are covered.

Can't find what you're looking for? Just start a new "thread" to begin getting opinions and advice on your favorite insurance subject.

But don't worry - you don't have to be a "tech geek" to participate in the conversations. Both AmericanInsuranceBroker.com and Insurance-Forums.net encourage agents to share traditional sales methods along with internet techniques. Anything insurance-related is welcome.

And you can take a break from learning and socialize a bit, too. "You get a sense of who people are and their personalities, says Insurance-Forums.net's Melamed. "There's really a lot of interaction so you become friendly. It's more than just dry professional advice."

"It's definitely not just an insurance area," agrees Cooke. "It's also a place where agents can communicate with their peers about non-insurance related topics."

Joining A Valuable Community

Which kind of online community should you look for? Not all agent forums are worth your time, according to InsuranceForum.net's Melamed. "If you search for insurance forums you may find 10, and half of them are 99% spam and no real content."

Melamed, who is also an insurance broker, advises agents to look for communities monitored by those directly involved in insurance.

Brokers can easily identify a valuable forum by the quality of the marketing or product advice, and how quickly they can find answers to their questions, says Melamed.

Joining a forum is free and just takes a couple clicks. As a member, you can browse through and comment on the topics that interest you most - from open, spirited discussions on products and sales methods, to marketing strategies that are working for brokers in real-life and the latest politics.

You won't find this type of choose-your-own education in any CE class, says Melamed.

"There is nowhere else where you can ask a question and receive 100 answers from different parts of the country, from different agents and brokers who have different perspectives, and really get a sense of what works, what doesn't work, what sort of objections you might face. It's a valuable resource."

AmericanInsuranceBroker.com's Cooke agrees. "Agents are posting all the time in an active forum like this. If you come back every couple of days or even once a week, you'll find new posts, new ideas and new topics to discuss. There is always something to learn."

Go online to learn what's really working for brokers around the country. Join the conversation at www.AmericanInsuranceBroker.com - where this month you have a chance to win 20 free health leads - and www.Insurance-Forums.net.