In a world that is becoming increasinglyglobal, local connections are more coveted thanever before. Consumers want to shop local. They want to eat local.They want to invest in products and services that are part of theirlocal community.

If you're shopping for produce, that's not all that hard to do.But if you're shopping for insurance, especially if you start thatshopping process online, it can bevery difficult. The competition for online real estate is fierce,with most of the top search results going to large financial firmsthat have the money and resources to invest heavily in SEO. If yourun a small, independent advisory firm, you're facing a number ofobstacles simply to give consumers what they want — a trusted,local agent.

Enter Agent Review. Based in Bellevue, Wash., the company wasfounded to give clients a better buying experience and to giveagents the increased visibility and credibility they need tocompete in today's marketplace. The Agent Review platform — aYelp-style directory that allows consumers to search for agents intheir zip code, and view biographical information and clienttestimonials — is a virtual matchmaker, designed to letconsumers find an agent that meets their own uniquecriteria.

After a soft launch last summer, Agent Review currently claims276,000 enrolled agents and is actively growing their database. Wespoke with co-founder and CEO Jonas Roeser to get his thoughts thestate of the industry, the opportunity ahead and the one thingconsumers really want.

LifeHealthPro: Tell me about the vision behind AgentReview.

Jonas Roeser: Yelp is a great comparisonfor Agent Review. What we’ve created is a dedicated platform that’sforward-facing to consumers. As theInternet has obviously grown — you have Care.com, you have Houzz,you have 1-800-DENTIST — many industries outside of the restaurantindustry have resources that allow consumers to find trustedprofessionals. We wanted to bring that same type of platform to theinsurance consumer.

We know that consumers have buying challenges right now, and sowe wanted to be an educational resource first, as well as acredibility-building service foragents. We have a whole education section for the consumer; we dothis to a) give them an education and b) create a non-carrierfocused place where consumers can find agents they want to buyfrom.

On the agent side, there are a few different membership options.The free membership level is very basic. An agent enters his or hername, state, phone number, one state where he is licensed, and oneinsurance type listing. The next level up, the basic level, is afairly substantial profile that looks very much like a LinkedInprofile. The basic profile allows agents to include three listings.So, if they’re licensed to sell life insurance, health insuranceand LTCI, all of this will show up on their profile. With the basicmembership level, you also have the ability to include clienttestimonials, a photo and video gallery and social media links.

The next level up is a verified subscription. The big differencebetween basic and verified is that verified agents areindependently vetted by a third party. There’s a level of authoritywith a verified subscription; it shows, for example, that the agentis licensed in the states they say they are. It also gives a gooddeal of information about the person’s backgrounds and interests.We have come to find that people want to work with those they havethings in common with. We all want to have that extra layer ofcredibility.

Another thing our platform offers is that it can be translatedinto 72 different languages, a great resource for consumers.

We truly believe that insurance isn’t simple and that agents domatter. Agents are our customers. We’re looking to showcaseeverything that makes up their professional credibility. It’s hardfor an independent agent to compete with the SEO power of atraditional finance firm. Our goal is to get our platform largeenough that our site will be pulling up at the top of a searchresults page, even before an agent’s LinkedIn profile. There’s realprospecting power in that.

LHP: How do you collect clienttestimonials?

JR: Our new app is really a tool that wecreated for the agent, in order to collect the type of testimonialsthat are so important for building consumer trust in today’smarketplace. I’ve worked with agents for 13 years now, and thebiggest challenge I’ve seen them face is technology. They’re toobusy keeping up with product releases and other information that iscritical to their business. With Agent Review, we decided to designan app that would empower agents.

Say you’re in a client meeting where you have a chance to sell aproduct. With our app, at the end of the meeting, you can simplysay, “Would you mind speaking into a camera for 15 seconds, sharingabout your experience today?” With a smartphone, you open thecamera in our app and take the recording right there. Once thevideo is shot, the client signs a digital permission form, you hitsubmit, and the whole thing automatically uploads to your profile.If your client doesn’t feel comfortable speaking on camera, we alsohave a number of non-product specific, non-gender specific writtenproposals. The client can select the one that best fits theirexperience and, with client permission, that will also populateyour profile page as a written testimonial.

LHP: How does Agent Review make the buying processeasier for consumers?

JR: What it does is make choosing theright agent easier. It helps consumers quickly find an agent thatthey at least connect with digitally; then hopefully when you meetthem face-to-face it continues down that path. Our app providesinsight into insurance agents that is otherwise hard to come by.It’s nice to see where someone went to school, if they have afamily, what sports they like, before you ever meet with them. Youare predisposed to feel more comfortable working with that personif you have something in common.

LHP: Last year, Andreessen Horowitz named insurance oneof the biggest tech trends to watch for, and Lemonade recently madewaves with its $13M fundraise. Do you think institutional investorsare more interested in investing in early stage insurance companiesthan they have been in the past? If so, why?

JR: I think it’s a pretty solid market;the product’s been around forever and a day. There are differentsegments, of course: You have products, you have support servicessuch as ours, etc. We have a number of firms that have contacted usthat don’t necessarily want to come in and invest in a newinsurance product. Instead, they’re looking for ways to bringexisting products to the consumer more efficiently, but notnecessarily via direct-to-consumer distribution. Direct-to-consumermight work for auto insurance or for a small term plan, butanything more complex really requires agent involvement. As aconsumer, you just don’t get the information you need from acomputer if you’re looking for anything more complex than a verysimple term plan.

LHP: What do you think is the No. 1 thing consumers wantfrom an insurance purchase experience?

JR: Transparency, I think. That’s what I’dwant. Obviously, consumers want great products and great rates, butI think equally they want transparency from their agent andtransparency from the company that’s underwriting theirproduct.

LHP: How do you think the insurance landscape will bedifferent five or 10 years from now?

JR: I think it’s just going to be moredigital, more virtual. My experience in insurance has beenprimarily with long-term care insurance (LTCI). I was a young guyselling a product to an older market. Now, even with a product likeLTCI, you have 40 percent of sales done over the phone via webinarto a senior client base.

Adaptability will also be increasingly important. The agentsthat connect with people at the time they want to connect, via aprocess they feel comfortable with, are the agents that willsucceed. We’re all 24-hour people these days. To stay competitive,I think flexibility is a huge thing that we need to bring toconsumers.