Using a virtual classroom, you will log on to the course via computer each week to get the training you need. No travel, no interruption to daily agency activity and no time out of the office.

You can connect with other rookies and bounce questions off the facilitator, just like you would in an in-person class setting.

You'll spend no more than three hours per week working on the course. During these hours, you'll:

• Read a chapter or an e-lecture
• Perform at least one activity a week, using the agency as a "learning lab"
• Post your observations about the activity
• Participate in a weekly discussion question
• Take occasional quizzes and a final exam

The first week of each program is an orientation week, which gives new users time to get a feel for how their online course will work. Students will need a desktop PC with Windows technology and Internet access with a current Web browser.

Approx. weekly course time per course: 3 hours

New Employee Orientation for Agency Personnel

If you have less than 12 months experience and do not have your insurance license, this course is for you. You will build a foundation of insurance knowledge, explore the "big picture" of insurance (including terms and key concepts), discover how the agency delivers service to customers and learn the importance of errors and omissions prevention techniques. Includes textbook.

Orientation week: (If first online course)

• Week 1: How We All Benefit from Insurance
• Week 2: General Concepts of Insurance
• Week 3: An Overview of the Insurance Industry
• Week 4: The People Behind the Promise
• Week 5: The Insurance Contract
• Week 6: Personal Lines Insurance Policies
• Week 7: Commercial Lines Insurance Policies

Personal Lines Coverage Basics is designed for unlicensed employees with less than 12 months' experience in the agency. Employees log on to the course via the computer each week to get the training they need. There's no travel, no interruption to daily agency activity and, best of all, no time out of the office! Personal Lines Coverage Basics is designed for new employees with 6-9 months' experience. Includes textbook which can be used for Personal Lines and Commercial Lines.

Orientation week: (If first online course)

• Week 1: Introduction to Property Insurance
• Week 2: Introduction to Liability Insurance
• Week 3: Dwelling Insurance
• Week 4: Homeowners Insurance
• Week 5: The Insurance Contract
• Week 5: Personal Auto Insurance
• Week 6: Misc Personal Insurance

Attend this course to learn how to develop relationships through active listening, take ownership of customers' problems, speak positively in negative situations, help confused or irate customers, and clarify expectations. You'll also learn to minimize errors and omissions risk through proper documentation and consistently follow standard agency procedures. This program is an excellent follow-up to the New Employee Orientation for Agency Personnel Online Course, but it can also be used as a stand-alone program. It is designed for unlicensed employees with less than 12 months' experience in the agency. Includes textbook.

Orientation week: (If first online course)

• Week 1: What is Quality Customer Service?
• Week 2: Professional Customer Communication
• Week 3: Commitment to the Customer Relationship
• Week 4: Homeowners Insurance
• Week 4: Exceeding Expectations of Internal Customers
• Week 5: Overview of E&O Prevention
• Week 6: Agency’s Standard Operating Procedures

Over this eight-week course, you'll study the commercial package policy, business owners policy, commercial property insurance, ocean and inland marine insurance, commercial general liability insurance, commercial auto insurance, commercial crime insurance, workers' compensation and miscellaneous commercial insurance. Includes textbook which can be used for Personal Lines and Commercial Lines.

Orientation week: (If first online course)

• Week 1: The Commercial Package Policy & the Business Owners Policy
• Week 2: Commercial Property Insurance
• Week 3: Ocean & Inland Marine Insurance
• Week 4: Commercial General Liability Insurance
• Week 5: Commercial Auto Insurance
• Week 6: Commercial Crime Insurance
• Week 7: Workers' Compensation
• Week 8: Miscellaneous Commercial Insurance

View the NEO Series schedule to register. Links take you to the annual education schedule.

• New York
• New Jersey
• Connecticut
• New Hampshire
• Vermont

The concept of distance learning seems to throw everyone for a loop. For good reason, perhaps, because there are so many different ways that on line courses are structured.

MERG courses follow a tried and true method of distance learning called Computer Mediated Distance Learning (cmdl for short). Think of a CMDL course like you would a professional continuing education seminar which meets weekly. What would you expect if this was live: Lecture? Discussion? Reading? Homework? Quizzes? Exams? Comradery? Yep! CMDL has almost the same structure. The difference is that MERG courses are not held in real time. Instead, the classroom interaction takes place over an easy to use computer network over a period of time, usually eight or nine weeks.

The first week of each program is an orientation week, which gives new users time to get a feel for how their online course will work. Students will need a desktop PC with Windows technology and Internet access with a current Web browser.

Click Here for a quick snapshot of what to expect.

Quality training for employees with less than one year of industry experience. This series of programs is designed for unlicensed employees with less than 12 months’ experience in the agency. Employees log onto the computer each week to get the training. Since there is no travel, there is no interruption to daily agency activity.

Participants read assigned textbooks, complete comprehensive exercises, share information through online discussion groups, complete weekly quizzes and complete a final exam. Select a program below for additional information and registration.

Need tech. support? Contact John Shaheen at MERG: (800) 472-9404.

Testimonials

“The New Employee Orientation course was more beneficial than I expected. The workbook was very helpful and resourceful. What I liked best about the course were the questions we had to answer each week. It got me interacting with my supervisor and other CSRs in the office and I was able to learn things I wouldn’t have just answering questions our of a book.”

“I felt the NEO course was quite beneficial. I do not come from an insurance background and I found the material very informative. It was presented in an easy format and the wording was descriptive in laymen's terms.”

“I really enjoyed the NEO course. It was easy to pick things up and neat that we could read other people's responses to the activities and discussion questions. It was very beneficial and gave me a better understanding of the industry.”

“What I liked best about the NEO course is that you let us read the text book, gather what info we got from it, discuss it with our fellow employees, and underwriters, get different observations from everyone and let you know what we thought.”

“I feel the NEO course should be taken as the initial step in insurance education. I had already taken the three week crash course of 8.5 hours a day and passed the state test so this was all really the same thing, but it did help as a refresher. I told my advisor that this should be taken before the crash course because it does give the basics to insurance which at the time I hadn’t a clue.”

“I liked your e-Lectures and Discussions, and believe it or not, I liked the assignments – it gave me a reason to ask the people that I work with, detailed questions about how they do things here. I also liked the textbook because it didn’t assume that I knew anything about insurance.”