Total CSR’s onboarding and training platform
speeds up the learning process with a focus
on retaining coverage knowledge and information
By Christopher W. Cook
Before stumbling through the front door of the Rough Notes Company, I spent a dozen years in the food service industry. While I waited tables at a handful of establishments during my career, one thing was constant: the training.
For each company and location, there were table numbers and the logical zigzag pattern they followed around the room or rooms to learn, ingredients to memorize like the ones in the special dipping sauce for the bread, and which wine bottle best pairs with each entrée—a challenge for this writer, who can’t distinguish a difference in taste from one red wine to another.
Training is key for a new employee to get their feet wet and head toward what will hopefully be a successful career. In waiting tables, a server who struggles with the training and processes—even tending a small section on their own—will most likely not be around long enough to have “regulars.” In the insurance industry, a lack of quality training can lead to frequent employee turnover—wasting an agency’s time, money and resources.
For this reason, Total CSR was created by former agency owners and brothers Justin and Jordan Goodman. “After years of personally onboarding new hires at our agency, we recognized that existing industry training systems were inefficient and wasted time, so we set out to build a better solution,” says co-founder Justin Goodman.
“The broader industry problem is significant: Only 4% of millennials and Gen Z even consider a career in insurance, yet 80% of them say structured onboarding and training is their top priority in a new job. Traditional insurance onboarding, which typically involves shadowing a veteran with a workflow binder, takes months or years to produce a productive employee and has historically suffered from an extremely high failure rate.”
With the help of CTO and co-founder Trenton Berry, Total CSR was created to solve that problem and launched publicly in 2019; the brothers’ own agency was used for product testing. In the years that followed, new features continued to be added.
“In 2021, we rolled out H.A.T.S. (Hire, Assess, Train, Support), a complete onboarding solution for new hires,” he continues. “The platform has since expanded to include the Ask Ellie AI assistant, the LicenseTRAQ license-management module and, most recently, Retain—a gamified microlearning product launched this past October.”
“Our product tackles the reality that even well-trained employees forget most of what they learn within weeks. Modern learners live in an environment of constant notifications and fragmented attention that makes traditional long-form training ineffective.”
—Justin Goodman
Co-Founder
Total CSR
The platform
The software as a service (SaaS) platform, which was specifically designed for independent insurance agencies, handles the entire lifecycle of hiring, training and retaining talent.
“It sources and matches candidates through an AI-powered advanced technology service (ATS), runs pre-hire assessments to evaluate fit and competency, delivers interactive training courses and designation programs, and provides real-time support through a searchable knowledge base and the Ask Ellie AI assistant,” Goodman says. “As new hires progress through the interactive modules and assessments, managers track their progress through reporting dashboards with course completion and assessment scores. The platform also manages licensing through LicenseTRAQ and allows agencies to author their own custom courses.”
Reports by the firm show that the platform compresses the onboarding time and cost for independent agencies when making a new hire: a 95% reduction in training time versus traditional onboarding, and $10,000 to $15,000 in savings per new hire.
“Total CSR transforms new hires into fully skilled insurance professionals in less than 30 days,” Goodman says.
“The wide range of training modules that cover various aspects of the insurance industry make it easier for new hires to get up to speed, and managers can adjust the training programs to fit what their organization needs.”
—Heather Long
Training and Development
Leavitt Group
The platform is organized around the H.A.T.S. framework:
- Hire—an applicant tracking system with AI-powered job-board matching
- Assess—unlimited pre-hire compatibility, competency, and insurance-knowledge assessments
- Train—interactive courses leading to Qualified Employee Benefits Specialist (QEBS), Qualified Commercial Lines Specialist (QCLS), and Qualified Personal Lines Specialist (QPLS) designations; four in-depth new hire programs covering commercial lines, personal lines, and employee benefits; plus advanced and career-development programs
- Support—a searchable knowledge base, custom course authoring, and the Ask Ellie AI assistant for real-time coverage, writing, and workflow help
The training program is rounded out by its latest offering: Retain, which is “the most research-driven piece of the platform,” Goodman says, noting that the offering was inspired by his recent book Retain: The Future of Learning in a Distracted World. “Our product tackles the reality that even well-trained employees forget most of what they learn within weeks. Modern learners live in an environment of constant notifications and fragmented attention that makes traditional long-form training ineffective.
“The mobile app (iOS and Android) pushes five- to 10-minute daily bursts of highly engaging content, using spaced repetition, retrieval-practice questions, confidence-based assessment, and gamification to move insurance knowledge into long-term memory. This daily reinforcement cadence continues indefinitely and keeps skills sharp well beyond initial onboarding.”
A benefit of Retain is its identification of false confidence. “The system tracks a learner’s confidence level while answering questions and notifies the agency admin when a user answers with high confidence but is wrong. This is a major driver of E&O claims among both new-to-industry hires and tenured employees who have taken prior knowledge for granted, so catching it early protects the agency,” Goodman says.
Agency perspectives
When Heather Long joined its training and development team in 2022, the Leavitt Group was already utilizing the educational platform. “Total CSR is super easy to navigate and rich with training resources, including FAQs and tutorials that are seamlessly integrated,” says Long. “Additionally, the team is both friendly and highly responsive to any inquiries or issues, and is committed to continuous improvement, regularly introducing new features and enhancing existing ones.”
Long, who oversees the implementation of Total CSR across the Leavitt Group, which includes approximately 90 independent agencies, finds value in the product’s offerings. “The advantages I’ve observed begin with the hiring process, where managers can evaluate potential candidates by assigning compatibility and expertise assessments,” she says.
“The wide range of training modules that cover various aspects of the insurance industry make it easier for new hires to get up to speed, and managers can adjust the training programs to fit what their organization needs. The platform also includes tools for tracking the progress of trainees, allowing managers to monitor development and identify areas that may need additional focus.
“The Retain program is invaluable for both new and existing employees, as it imparts essential skills and serves as an excellent refresher,” Long adds. “The Ask Ellie feature acts as a personal assistant, providing quick answers to any questions or assistance needed, simplifying complex coverage topics, enhancing productivity and reducing frustration.
“One of the other great things about the courses offered is that many count toward CE credits,” she continues. “LicenseTRAQ simplifies the management of license renewals for both employees and managers by consolidating all information in one convenient location. It also provides timely updates on upcoming expirations and highlights any regulatory actions that may be required.”
For agencies contemplating implementing the product, Long highly recommends it. “Total CSR offers a comprehensive and structured training program that covers all aspects of the insurance industry,” she says. “This ensures that your new hires are well-prepared and ready to contribute effectively.
“By standardizing the training process, Total CSR enhances efficiency and consistency, which means you’ll spend less time and resources on onboarding. Well-trained employees lead to higher client satisfaction and retention, and with Total CSR, you’ll have ongoing support and resources to keep your staff updated with industry changes,” she concludes.
George Lista, president of Provident Protection Plus, a New Jersey-based insurance agency, echoes Long’s experience. “The products are very easy to use, and their staff works very well with our staff. They are very responsive to our calls and constantly looking to improve their services,” he says.
“We use the platform to get coverage answers from Ellie, the AI piece of their program. We also use the employee testing piece to see if the person we are hiring is the right fit for the position they are applying for.
“Total CSR has made us more efficient and helped us close a number of accounts,” adds Lista, who was introduced to Total CSR a few years ago at Vertafore’s Accelerate conference. “I would recommend it and am confident that other agencies will see the benefits.”
Getting started
Interested agency owners can book a 30-minute demo on the Total CSR website (see below) and receive a customized quote. “Pricing is team-size based with full platform access included; there are no feature tiers or upsells,” Goodman says. “Teams are up and running on the same day they sign up, with white-glove onboarding at every step.
“The implementation team sets up role-specific learning paths, wires the ATS to the agency’s job boards, advises on any custom internal workflow courses, and provisions the Retain app to employees. The platform supports fully remote, hybrid, and in-office teams.
“Support is ongoing, with three coordinated channels available for the life of the subscription, namely the in-platform knowledge database, Ask Ellie for real-time AI help, and human customer success, along with continuous content updates and check-ins,” Goodman concludes.
We live in a world of constant distraction (squirrel!), and things we read and hear can easily be forgotten in time. If you’ve made it all the way through this article, you might be trying to remember what examples of restaurant training I used in the introduction. For me, I’m still sitting here asking myself, what were all the ingredients in the dipping sauce for the bread?
For more information:
Total CSR
totalcsr.com
“The products are very easy to use, and their staff works very well with our staff. They are very responsive to our calls and constantly looking to improve their services.”
—George Lista
President
Provident Protection Plus
