Internet Offers Major Training Inroads

It’s often said that learning is not a spectator sport. For the insurance profession, this concept is right on target. The days of classroom-style training seminars, many of which may border on being spectator events, are beginning to give way to online training. Insurance agents are becoming interactive participants in an interesting, versatile and effective education process.

With the rapid growth of wireless connections, online training is a true 24/7 classroom. Agents can take classes at the office, during lunch, on the patio or at any other place where an Internet connection is available. Bookmarking technology allows them to start a training program, log off to do something else and log back on right where they left off.

Insurance carriers, agents, trade associations and other educational providers can take full advantage of this technology because most agents today are technically savvy. A recent survey of independent agents revealed that more than 90 percent of them use some sort of broadband Internet connection and that 84 percent prefer to work with carriers that are aggressive in their use of technology.

Online insurance training largely got its start with continuing education. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, independent companies, publishers and associations began to offer CE through the Internet. Some provided totally online courses and tests while others offered text and computer disc courses for sale over the Internet.

The technical robustness and reliability of these approaches, especially online courses and tests, have generated the confidence to broaden the use of this training technology. At the same time, agents have become more proficient in using their computers as electronic classrooms.

Today the need for training is burgeoning. Carriers are constantly introducing new products with which agents must become familiar. Carriers and general agents alike are launching informational and transaction-focused Web sites that agents must learn how to navigate. As a result, the flexibility and cost efficiency of online training has become even more attractive.

In most cases, training also requires keeping records. Carriers want to know which agents have taken specific product- or process-related courses. Agents want to document the training they’ve taken. The software used by online training companies gathers and stores this information. Within minutes of taking a training course, the agent’s name and course information goes into a computer file, and, if proficiency is required, the record will include test or pass/fail scores.

A carrier’s inventory of online courses can increase rapidly because they don’t need to create online classes from scratch. The technology exists to convert existing classroom text materials into online format with corresponding tests. This is good news for companies that have a considerable investment in courses that have already been proven to deliver the information they believe is important.

Insurers who wish to approach online training more cautiously can do so. For example, they can continue their classroom-style training but turn to the Internet to handle the tedious task of administering and grading tests and recording exam scores. Online companies can review the carrier’s materials and create an online test which agents can take by logging onto the Internet from the classroom or on their own. The test can be hosted on the insurer’s Web site or on the training firm’s site. Agents can be assigned an identification number which will be used to report back on the test grade and to allow them to also access their training record files.

The geographic reach of Internet training can certainly influence an insurance company’s product roll out strategy and get a product to market more quickly. Rather than incur the expense and time cost required for a coast-to-coast series of product introduction and training seminars, carriers can leverage the Internet to simultaneously prepare agents throughout the country to begin selling a new type of policy.

With products becoming more sophisticated and customers more demanding, carriers are taking steps to be certain that agents marketing these products are highly knowledgeable. One company has an in-depth, interactive, 50-question certification course that agents must pass before they can sell a specific group of its products.

The course, which normally requires 45 minutes to an hour to complete, consists of a series of real-life scenarios an agent may encounter while gathering customer information or presenting the policies’ benefits. A multiple-choice test question follows the end of each scenario. After selecting one of the choices, the program immediately tells the agent if the right answer was selected. If it was not, the agent is then presented with the right answer. Agents whose correct answer rate falls below a specific level are not authorized to market the products.

The Internet is also being used to deliver other critical training programs. One of the things that agents must understand are the new regulations under the 1996 Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) that govern both insurance portability and the privacy standards for patients’ medical records and other health information. One carrier recently developed an online HIPAA course that agents can take through its Web site.

During recent years, a bright public spotlight has been focused on the personal and professional behavior of people working for or representing large corporations. Carriers recognize that an agent’s reputation, and in turn its own reputation, are in large part determined by the agent’s business and personal behavior.

Encouraging talented individuals to become agents and motivating them to stay in the profession is another issue that the insurance industry must continue to address. The better-trained and more professional agents are in the industry, the higher the public regard will be for the business. The importance of focusing on this need is revealed in the results of a recent study showing that today’s four-year agent retention rate is only about 11 percent, the lowest in 30 years. Agent recruiting is down as well.

Beyond the conclusion that better training may increase agent success and retention, many in the industry view the Internet as way to help them select or screen potential agents. Some agencies are considering online screening/aptitude tests that prospective agents would take before they are hired. Prospects could be given instructions on how to take the tests on their own or they could take them on the agency’s premises. Test questions can constantly be changed and undated to reflect current industry conditions and to be certain prospects do not all take the same test. The results can then be accessed by the agency before conducting the hiring interview.

Other agencies, recognizing the value of early training, have explored the concept of creating an online, pre-licensing training course and tests which prospective agents would take before seeking their license.

The need for more and better training will always be with us. The growing power of the computer and the Internet to help them develop and deliver this content in a creative, time efficient and cost-effective manner will continue to make it the training medium of choice for a growing number of training initiatives.

Ed Zurek is president of Northbrook, Ill.-based InsuranceStudy.com, which provides online CE courses in all 50 states, as well as customized training programs for insurance companies and agencies.