You partnered with Visionary Square because you wanted more. More support. More resources. More time to focus on your clients and your business.
But here is something worth being honest about. Most advisors are not using everything available to them.
Not because they do not want to. Because they do not always know what to ask.
Your Integrated Service Team exists to make your practice run better. Your IST are not just names in an email signature. They are your team. And the advisors who treat them that way are the ones who feel the difference.
Here are five questions you should be asking them that most advisors never do.
1. “Can you help me find a better way to do this?”
You have workflows that work. But working is not the same as optimized.
Your Director of Advisor Technology spends their days inside the same platforms you use every day. CRM tools, portfolio management systems, client portals, document management. She knows where the friction is and she knows how to reduce it.
Most advisors reach out to them when something breaks. The advisors who get the most out of the relationship ask them a different question. They ask them to look at how they are doing things and find a better way.
That could mean automating a process that is eating up two hours a week. It could mean integrating two platforms that are not talking to each other. It could mean simplifying something your team has been overcomplicating for years.
You do not have to know what the solution looks like. That is what your Director of Advisor Technology is for. You just have to ask.
2. “Are there protection gaps in my clients’ plans I should know about?”
Your clients trust you with their financial future. But if insurance is not a regular part of your planning conversations, there are gaps in that future you may not be seeing.
Your Director of Insurance and Advanced Planning, is available to work alongside you on exactly this. Not to take over the client relationship. To strengthen it.
The question most advisors never ask is a simple one. “Can you take a look at my book and tell me where the gaps are?” Disability coverage that has not been reviewed in a decade. Long-term care conversations that have never happened. Life insurance policies that no longer reflect what a client has built.
These are not just planning oversights. They are relationship risks. And your Director of Insurance and Advanced Planning can help you close them before they become a problem.
You can place the business yourself and keep 100% of the compensation. Or they can work side by side with you on every client call and handle the technical details while you stay focused on the relationship. Either way the conversation starts the same place. Just ask.
3. “What should I be thinking about that I am not thinking about?”
This is the question that separates good advisors from great ones. And it is the question your relationship manager is best positioned to answer.
Your dedicated relationship manager is your strategic partner for bringing clarity and alignment to your practice goals. That means more than checking in on how things are going. It means being a sounding board for where you want to take your business and helping you identify what is standing in the way.
Most advisors come to their relationship manager with specific requests. The advisors who grow fastest come with open questions. They share what they are working toward and ask what they might be missing. They use their relationship manager as a thought partner, not just a point of contact.
Your next call with your RM is a good place to start. Come with your goals and ask what you should be thinking about that you are not. The answer might surprise you.
4. “Can you review this before it goes out?”
Compliance is the part of your business that nobody wants to think about until something goes wrong. And by then it is too late.
Your dedicated compliance analyst is one of the most underutilized resources in your entire partnership with Visionary Square. Most advisors reach out when they have a specific compliance question or when something has already been flagged. Very few make it a habit to bring their compliance analyst into the process early.
The advisors who do sleep better. They send marketing materials knowing they have been reviewed. They have client communications that are clean and documented. They run their practice knowing that someone with deep regulatory knowledge has their back.
It is a simple shift. Before something goes out, ask. Before you try something new, ask. Your compliance analyst is not there to slow you down. They are there to protect what you have built.
5. “What does a more productive version of my practice look like?”
This is the biggest question on the list. And it is the one most advisors never ask out loud.
Your Integrated Service Team is not just a collection of specialists. It is a coordinated resource built around one purpose: helping you execute your vision. When you bring your Relationship Manager, Director of Advisor Technology, Director of Insurance and Advanced Planning, and your Compliance Analyst into the same conversation about where you want to go, the picture gets clearer faster.
Maybe a more productive practice means fewer administrative tasks eating into your week. Maybe it means adding a revenue stream you have been thinking about for years but never acted on. Maybe it means finally having a technology setup that works the way your brain works.
Whatever it looks like for you, your IST can help you get there. But only if you ask.
Start with one conversation
You do not have to overhaul everything at once. Start with one question to one person on your team this week.
Ask your Director of Advisor Technology to look at your tech stack. Ask your Director of Insurance and Advanced Planning to identify a protection gap. Ask your relationship manager what you should be thinking about. Ask your compliance analyst to review something before it goes out.
The resources are already there. The team is already yours. The only thing left is to execute your vision.
Reach out to your Integrated Service Team.