Community Building: Kickin' It "Old School"

There's a retired life insurance salesman in my neighborhood whose success in a 40+ year career was largely based on his ability to build a community of trust. He built trust by being committed to helping people first and selling insurance second.

Walking his Lower East Side Manhattan territory, he knocked on many doors, made many acquaintances and accepted many requests for advice and help

When the merchant marine's wife was short on cash and her husband wouldn't be back in port for several weeks, the insurance agent would offer a $50 loan which would always be repaid. When someone needed a plumber or other trades person, the agent offered a recommendation to someone he trusted.

Bottom line, his territory wasn't a territory - it was a community filled with real people with all manner of life issues. This agent was there to help in whatever way he could.

The community trust he earned brought value to him in several ways:

• Sales - he was consistently in the top 5 in sales for his national company
• Referrals - family and extended family members became clients as did friends
• Life-long loyalty - policies were renewed for years and decades
• Personal safety - on those occasions he ventured into a more crime ridden part of the community or was working late at night, one or two of those merchant marines would walk with him

Building communities today requires the same efforts. The voice of the community must be heard, trust must constantly be earned, content and information must be keenly relevant and offered with no strings attached, and community members must supported by each other and the host.

Per usual, here come's the financial caveat. It's clear that if the community wasn't buying insurance from this agent he would've asked for a new territory. While his efforts required little to no monetary investment, his real investment was the time he spent listening to people and learning more about their lives. Once he had a sense for the community, then he could sell. He had earned the right to do so.

So how are you kickin' it old school to build online communities?