Changes to the forum

[Frank Stastny]

Speed has not been an issue. I can't get DSL or cable where I'm located so I went with satellite. It isn't really much faster than dial-up but the board loads very quickly.

I like your other ideas. An articles section would be great. However, if agents are going to refer consumers to the site I would suggest that the consumer only have the ability to access that portion of the board.

I really don't know how you could set that up without making every agent register and have to use a user name and password. It would definitely also prevent agents who are not a member of the board from viewing the posts. That would probably be a bad thing as far as increasing board membership.

The only reason I suggest that consumers not have access to everything is, do we want a future client reading everything posted here. I view this as a place where agents can speak freely about things they would not necessarily say in front of a prospect.

Just something to think before we start encouraging prospects to come here. Although I'm sure a lot do, I just don't know if it is a good idea to make it that available for them.

Maybe either copying and pasting an article to an agents website or just printing it out and handing it to a prospect might be something else to consider. It could have a real nice official looking header when printed or copied and pasted.

Just my 2 cents worth.

 

[Sam]

Frank,
When you google Frank Stastny, the forum comes up in the top 5 results. If any client of yours wanted to check up on you, it would be pretty easy. the same goes for those of use who either use our real names, or put them in the welcome post.

I don't think that we have much to be embarrassed by.

 

[Frank Stastny]

It was just a thought.

I haven't goodled my name in a while. Guess I better check to see what else is there.

Thanks

 

[retread]

Divide and conquer

Should not be a problem to divide the "Insurance Agent" section down into subcategories such as "Newbee", "Wannabee", Specific state questions, specific policy questions (Life/Health, Property/Casualty, etc).

Many other forums for various professions do this with theirs.

 

[L5tc]

Acronym Definitions

I'm new in the business and I've been trying to follow the threads which are interesting but there has to be someone to or somewhere to list the definitions of the abbreviations and acronyms. It's absolutely maddening it's like walking in a bar and hearing the same 3 career agents talking in code over and over again.

 

[cadylou]

Don't segment the board

I would hate to see the board segmented to heavily into specialties. as a relatively new agent, I"m always looking at the possibility of picking up new product sets & possibly more licenses. It's very interesting to me to hear banter from agemts in multiple areas of the business.

I think there's something to be said for "cross pollinating".

I guess if there are specialty questions about an area like "Health question", you can just start a thread with that title.

Thoughts?

 

[midwestbroker]

The board loading has never been a problem for me.

I like the idea about writing articles. I know that a lot of people read about selling (Zig, Brian Tracy, etc), and in one book by Jeffrey Gitomer he says that a sales person should write articles about what they do. The more you write, the more ideas you come up with, the more credibility you build, and so on and so on...

 

[furlover]

Mel,

In the last week I have been on the forum A LOT!! No problems on response time at all. I too am on DSL.

I agree with salpro22, an added recommended resources like books would be wonderful. Also a links page that connects to recommended resources sites.

Cadylou brings up a good point about the over segmenting of a forum. Another forum I belong to learned this the hard way. Segmenting a forum too much has a negative impact on member involvement. We re-did our forum a year ago and put a lot of time and thought into specialty forums. 6 months later we got rid of a third of them. We did successfully add vast amounts of resource materials and links through the menu feature, not through additional forums. We also did it with wiki pages accessed in the menu so the information could be saved, expanded upon and organized better.

The only thing I question about the current forum, as a new person, is the forum titles imply they are for the customer. In reality, they are used by agents, with conversation that are inappropriate for consumers, as discussed on another thread. Is the main purpose of the forum for agents or consumers?

Thank you again for this wonderful forum!!

Linda

 

[Sam]

Linda,
It is nice to have you here. There is no one specific purpose for the forum per se, but in general, the only people who are really interested in insurance are agents and the like. We have consumers stop by every once in a while, ask a question or two, get some answers, and then they don't come back. It would be like my going to an automotive forum and asking a transmition question. Once I get my info, I no longer need it.

Agents, and those looking to get into the biz, have a much stronger need for information about insurance. Therefore, it makes sense that most of the content is agent driven, and is mostly appropriate for agents.

The hope was to have a nice cross mix, agents who help other agents, and agents who help consumers. Until we get a lot of traffic from the search engines, it is inevitable that most of the threads will focus on agents.

Some other forums have very active moderators who move threads to the appropriate topics, and correct and edit spelling and do all kinds of work to try and make it very user friendly. We don't really have that kind of situation. John, STI, and myself, all have businesses to run, and that gets in the way of some possibilities.

 

[J.R.]

Linda,
It is nice to have you here. There is no one specific purpose for the forum per se, but in general, the only people who are really interested in insurance are agents and the like. We have consumers stop by every once in a while, ask a question or two, get some answers, and then they don't come back. It would be like my going to an automotive forum and asking a transmition question. Once I get my info, I no longer need it.

Agents, and those looking to get into the biz, have a much stronger need for information about insurance. Therefore, it makes sense that most of the content is agent driven, and is mostly appropriate for agents.

The hope was to have a nice cross mix, agents who help other agents, and agents who help consumers. Until we get a lot of traffic from the search engines, it is inevitable that most of the threads will focus on agents.

Some other forums have very active moderators who move threads to the appropriate topics, and correct and edit spelling and do all kinds of work to try and make it very user friendly. We don't really have that kind of situation. John, STI, and myself, all have businesses to run, and that gets in the way of some possibilities.

>>>What other forums are you referencing? The majority of the forums I have come across related to health/life insurance look an advertisement board you would see at a local grocery store.