Deciphering the designation: CISR
The certified insurance service representative designation was designed as an intermediate-level program for customer service representatives.
Editor’s note: This column is part of PropertyCasualty360’s Foundations of P&C Insurance series, which aims to bring new insurance professionals up to speed, while keeping industry veterans sharp. On Fridays, PC360 will offer up fresh content covering the nitty-gritty details of P&C insurance, tips for professional development, articles looking at the industry’s more niche concepts, and the history of certain lines and programs.
The certified insurance service representative (CISR) designation instills in its holders technical information for a range of coverage options, and teaches best practices for account management and customer service, according to The National Alliance for Insurance Education & Research, which reported there are some 28,200 CISR holders nationwide.
The designation “represents a benchmark for an insurance professional’s commitment to customer service and their client relationships,” the insurance education organization reported.
Designed for account managers, customer service representatives or any employee of an agency, insurance company, or related business, the CISR was originally developed in the mid-1980s by a group of Kansas-based certified insurance counselors who saw a need for an intermediate-level training program for insurance customer service representatives, the insurance education organization reported.
The first CISR designation was awarded in 1987 and the program was available in all 50 states by 1996.
To achieve the designation, applications must pass corresponding examinations of five of nine courses offered in the program within three years of enrolling. The courses cover personal and commercial lines as well as the latest forms for a range of “foundational insurance policies,” according to The National Alliance for Insurance Education & Research.
The CISR program includes the following courses, which each last one day:
- Agency operations
- Commercial casualty I
- Commercial casualty II
- Elements of risk management
- Insuring commercial property
- Insuring personal auto exposures
- Insuring personal residential property
- Life and health essential
- Personal lines miscellaneous
To keep the designation current, CISR holders must complete an annual update program. Courses that satisfy the annual update include:
- Any seven-hour, classroom or online, CISR, CSRM, or William T. Hold course.
- Any two four-hour, online, William T. Hold seminars, ethics or insuring flood exposure courses.
- Any classroom or online CIC, CRM, or CPRM course. (Satisfies up to two years of update credit.)
- Any Ruble Graduate Seminar, MEGA Seminar, ProFocus Seminar, or Dynamics Series course.
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