Certified Insurance Service Representative Institute Overview

Benefits of the Program The one-day structure of each CISR course gives you maximum benefits with minimum time away from the office. Course content is current, practical information that can be readily applied in daily use and helps meet your state's continuing education requirements.

Any employee of an agency, insurance company, or insurance related business, including customer service representatives, insurance agents and agency managers is eligible to attend the CISR program.

The CISR Program stresses the understanding and analysis of risks and exposure. This program is comprised of five one-day courses vital to meeting an agent's continuing education requirements. The five courses can be taken in any order and involve Insuring personal residential property, insuring personal auto exposures, insuring commercial property, insuring commercial casualty exposures and agency operations. An examination is administered at the conclusion of each course. Those successfully passing all five examinations earn the CISR designation.

At the end of each course you have the option to test but are not required to take a test at that time or - if you choose - you do not have to take the test at all.

CISR courses teach cross-selling and account rounding skills. The program and designation have national recognition within the insurance industry. CISR is a carefully structured, classroom-based continuing education program. The registration fee includes all course outlines and policy forms.

The CISR Program - Five Courses and a Future:

• Insuring Personal Residential Property (PR)
• Analysis of the coverage provided by your state's Homeowners Policy and all major endorsements.
• Comparison and contrast of the Dwelling Policies and Homeowners Policies.
• Insuring Personal Auto Exposures (PA)
• Analysis of the coverage provided by the Personal/Family Auto Policy.
• Endorsements to the Personal Auto Policy, including No-Fault and Personal Injury Protection where applicable.
• Analysis of Personal Umbrella coverage's. What are they and who needs them?
• Insuring Commercial Property (IP)
• The Essentials of Commercial Property Insurance.
• Analysis of the coverage provided by the Commercial Property Policy.
• Understanding Cause of Loss Forms.
• Endorsements to the Commercial Property Policy.
• Insuring Commercial Casualty Exposures (IC)
• Analysis of Commercial General Liability, Workers Compensation, and Business Auto Policies and endorsements.
• Qualifying the risk with specific questions and analyzing specific risk exposures.
• Agency Operations (AO)
• Developing professionalism and professional relationships with customers and companies.
• Functions of the independent agency, including:
• Agency systems, including: Applications, Certificates of Insurance, Cancellations, Policy Issuance, Claims Processing, Billing, Binders, and Renewals.
• Errors and omissions awareness and avoidance techniques.
• Ethics and Legal Obligations.

Advanced Courses - You must have a CISR designation to attend.

• William T. Hold Seminars - formerly Advanced Learning Seminars.  The course agendas are created from more than 40 topics ranging from personal lines to commercial likes to life and health.  These are one-day courses that may also be attended by CICs and CRMs.
  8 CE credits in Oregon, 8 CE credits in Washington, 7 CE credits in Idaho.

Who Are the Faculty?
The CISR Program utilizes the talents of insurance practitioners. These individuals may be agency personnel, company personnel or have other insurance experience, but all demonstrate depth of knowledge and possess presentation skills that make learning enjoyable. While all courses follow core curriculum, the faculty member is responsible for presenting state-specific material. The qualification process to become a CISR faculty member is rigorous, but it ensures that the faculty will remain participant-focused and outcome-oriented.

Must I Take the Exam?
The CISR Program is first and foremost a continuing education opportunity. Anyone may attend classes without taking the exam. However, if you wish to attain the CISR designation you must pass all five exams.

If I Fail the Exam, May I Continue the Program?
Yes. You may repeat any course at any time the course is offered. Furthermore, you may continue to attend any of the other segments since there is no prescribed order in which the courses must be taken.

Is There a Time Limit for Earning the CISR Designation?
Yes. One of the cornerstones of the CISR Program is the relevance of the CISR curriculum to current insurance practices. Therefore, the Society has adopted the following three-year examination completion rule: An individual must successfully complete the entire series of CISR examinations within three calendar years following the year in which the individual successfully completed the first examination.

Once I Earn the Designation, Am I a CISR for Life?
No. The constantly changing world of policies, forms, procedures, legal responsibilities and regulations makes it absolutely necessary that professional agents and practitioners continually update and expand their intellectual resources. To retain the designation, you must attend at least one continuing education session annually. However, no further examinations are required.

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