One of the most common questions we get from new users is "where do I start?" Closd has a lot of features, and it can feel overwhelming if you try to set up everything on day one. Here's the sequence we recommend, broken down week by week. This is the same onboarding path our fastest-growing agencies follow.
Days 1 through 3: Foundation
Your first session should take about 30 minutes. Sign in, complete your profile (headshot, contact info, license numbers), and connect your calendar. The calendar integration is important because it's how FirstTouch books appointments on your behalf.
Next, connect your carriers. Go to Settings, then Carriers, and link the portals for each carrier you're appointed with. We currently support direct integrations with the major carriers (National General, Mutual of Omaha, Americo, and more), and we're adding new ones monthly. For carriers we don't have a direct integration with, you can upload commission reports manually as CSV files.
If you have an existing book of business, import it now. You can upload a CSV with your policy data (client name, policy number, carrier, effective date, premium, commission). This gives you a baseline so GuardBot can start monitoring from day one. If you don't have a CSV export, you can add policies manually as they come in.
By the end of day 3, you should have: a complete profile, calendar connected, carriers linked, and existing policies imported.
Days 4 through 7: Start Producing
Log your first sales. When you close a deal, add it to Closd from the dashboard. Enter the client info, policy details, and commission amount. This populates your production tracker and puts data on your dashboard.
Set your goals. Go to the Goals section and set weekly and monthly targets. These show up on your dashboard as a progress bar so you always know where you stand. We recommend starting with a weekly goal that's achievable but slightly ambitious. You can adjust later.
Try PitchLab. This is our AI sales coaching tool, and it's one of the most underused features by new users. Open PitchLab, pick a product category (life, health, auto, home), and start a practice conversation. The AI plays a realistic prospect. It'll throw common objections at you and give feedback after the call.
Even if you're experienced, run through two or three PitchLab sessions. It calibrates to your style and gets more useful over time. For new agents, this is the single best way to build confidence before getting on the phone with real prospects.
By end of week one: you're logging production, tracking goals, and have run at least one PitchLab session.
Days 8 through 14: Turn On the AI
This is where Closd starts working for you while you sleep.
Set up FirstTouch. Go to AI Agents, then FirstTouch, and configure your settings. You'll set your available hours (when FirstTouch can book appointments), your greeting script (you can customize this or use our default), and connect your lead sources. If you're buying leads from a vendor, you can set up automatic lead ingestion via webhook or CSV upload. When a new lead comes in, FirstTouch will call them within minutes.
One important note: listen to your first few FirstTouch calls by checking the call recordings in the dashboard. Make sure the tone and script feel right for your market. You can adjust the personality settings (more casual, more formal, more aggressive on the close) until it matches what you want.
Configure GuardBot monitoring. Go to AI Agents, then GuardBot, and turn on payment monitoring for the carriers you've connected. Set your notification preferences: do you want to be notified every time GuardBot reaches out, or only when a policy needs human intervention? Most agents start with full notifications so they can see what's happening, then dial it back once they trust the system.
GuardBot will automatically start monitoring your book of business for payment failures. When it detects one, it'll text the client from your business number. If they don't respond, it'll call them. You'll see all activity in the GuardBot dashboard.
By end of week two: FirstTouch is calling your leads and booking appointments. GuardBot is monitoring your book and saving policies from lapsing. You're spending your time on actual sales conversations instead of chasing leads and chasing payments.
Days 15 through 21: Scale Your Team (Agency Plan)
If you're on the Solo plan, you can skip this section and jump to week four. If you're on the Agency plan, this is when you invite your team.
Go to Team, then Invite, and send invitations to your agents. Each agent gets their own login, their own dashboard, and their own production tracking. They'll go through a simplified version of the onboarding you just completed.
Set up the leaderboard. The leaderboard is visible to all agents and shows weekly and monthly production rankings. It updates in real time. In our experience, turning on the leaderboard increases average per-agent production by about 15% within the first month. Competition works.
Customize your white-label. On the Agency plan, you can brand Closd with your agency's name and logo. Go to Settings, then White Label. Upload your logo, set your brand colors, and enter your agency name. Your agents will see your brand when they log in, not ours. This is especially useful if you're positioning your agency as a tech-forward operation during recruiting.
Set up the recruiting pipeline. If you're actively hiring, go to Recruiting and configure your pipeline stages. Connect your job board postings through Agent Surge. Set up the automated calling for new applicants. Configure your onboarding checklist so new hires have a clear path from application to first sale.
By end of week three: your team is on the platform, the leaderboard is driving production, and your recruiting pipeline is actively bringing in new candidates.
Days 22 through 30: Optimize
By now you have two to three weeks of data in the system. It's time to review and adjust.
Check your analytics dashboard. Look at: lead response time (FirstTouch should be calling within two to three minutes of lead arrival), appointment show rate, conversion rate from appointment to sale, and persistency improvements from GuardBot.
Review FirstTouch performance. How many leads did it call? How many appointments did it book? What's the show rate? If appointments aren't converting, listen to some call recordings and adjust the script or personality settings.
Review GuardBot performance. How many at-risk policies did it flag? How many were resolved automatically? What's your current persistency rate compared to before?
Adjust your goals based on real data. Now that you have actuals, set goals that push growth without being unrealistic.
Explore advanced features. Commission analytics, pipeline forecasting, and team performance reports are available in the Analytics section. These become more valuable as you accumulate more data.
The pattern we see with successful agencies is this: weeks one and two are about getting the foundation right. Week three is about scaling to the team level. Week four is about using data to optimize. By day 30, the platform should feel like it's running half your agency for you. The AI agents handle the time-intensive tasks (lead follow-up, payment recovery, training), and you focus on closing deals and growing the business.
One last thing: if you get stuck at any point, use the help widget in the bottom-right corner or email support@getclosdai.com. We respond within a few hours during business days, and we're genuinely happy to do onboarding calls if you want someone to walk you through the setup live.