Connected vs Seated: The Complete Guide

Policy Stack separates connecting (data sharing) from seating (paying for a client's Builder Pro access). Both are independent decisions with their own consent flows. Understanding how they interact is foundational to managing your practice.

The Three Connection States

Every contact in your CRM sits in one of three states, shown as a badge on the client profile:

| State | What it means | Badge | | --- | --- | --- | | Not Connected | A contact in your CRM (imported, added manually, or a prospect) without a Policy Stack account linked to your practice. You see your private notes, lead-source tags, and reminders, but no banking system data. | Not Connected in Policy Stack | | Connected | The client has linked their Policy Stack account to your practice and granted at least the basic connection consent. Banking system visibility depends on a second consent (described below). | Connected Client | | Seated | The client has an active advisor-paid seat. Their Builder Pro subscription is covered by your practice, and your visibility floors at policies + loans regardless of data-sharing consent. | Seated Client |

Connected and Seated aren't mutually exclusive — most active clients are both. Not Connected is the starting state and applies to contacts you haven't yet brought into Policy Stack, including imported leads and prospects who never signed up. Each state also has a Pending sub-state when an invitation is in flight (described below).

The Core Distinction

| | Connected | Seated | |---|---|---| | What it is | The client has linked their account to yours and granted data-sharing consent | You are paying for the client's Builder Pro access | | Who pays | Client pays their own way (or uses Starter) | You pay on the client's behalf | | What client gets | Their own plan (Starter or Builder Pro) | Builder Pro at no cost to them | | Consent flow | Two independent consents — connecting accounts and sharing data are separate decisions, granted (and revocable) independently | Client accepts the seat invitation; data-sharing remains a separate choice | | Default access | Read-only; data-sharing scopes default off until the client toggles them on | Read-only; policies & loans always visible while seated | | Cost to you | Free | Included in your plan's seat allowance, or $15/seat/mo overflow on Practice 10+ | | Cost to client | Their normal subscription cost | Nothing |

Pending Model

Connection requests and seat invitations don't take effect the moment you send them. Both sit in a Pending state until the client accepts (or declines) from their own account. Pending invitations show in your dashboard with an expiration date — you can resend, revoke, or set a custom expiration when you send.

A client who hasn't been invited at all shows as Not Connected in your CRM — the third state alongside Connected and Seated. That's the state for contacts you imported or added manually but haven't reached out to yet: they have no Policy Stack account linked to your practice, no pending invite, and no relationship beyond your private notes. Sending an invitation moves them to Pending; their accepting it moves them to Connected (or Connected + Seated if you also assigned a seat).

Two Independent Consents

This is the most important mental model. Connecting an account and sharing data are two separate decisions the client makes:

1. Connection consent — "Yes, I'll link my Policy Stack account to your practice." This alone gives you nothing beyond the link itself.
2. Data-sharing consent — "Yes, you can see my policies / deployments / goals / documents." Scoped category by category. The client can grant all, some, or none.

A client may accept the connection and decline data-sharing (so you can see them in your client list but see no data). Or accept the connection without enabling data-sharing today, then enable it later. Or never enable it. Both consents are revocable independently from the client's Settings → Advisor Access page.

Connected: Free Data Sharing (When the Client Allows It)

A Connected client has linked their Policy Stack account to your practice. Whether you actually see their data depends on the second consent — data-sharing — which they control category by category:

• Policies & loans — always visible for seated clients (floor enforcement). For purely connected clients, the client decides whether you can see these.
• Deployments, goals, tools, documents — client controls visibility for both connected and seated relationships.

New connections default to read/write access. The client can downgrade to read-only or choose no data access from their dashboard or Settings → Advisor Access.

Either party can disconnect at any time. Disconnecting and revoking a seat are separate actions — see "Can a Client Be Both?" below.

Seated: Advisor-Paid Access

When you give a client a seat, you cover the cost of their Builder Pro subscription. The client gets full Builder Pro — unlimited policies, AI Insights, document extraction, five live strategic tools, and access to additional tools as they launch — at zero cost to them.

• You're billed as part of your advisor plan (included up to your tier's seat allowance, then $15/seat/mo overflow on Practice 10 and above)
• The client's account runs at Builder Pro level for as long as the seat is active
• If the seat ends, the client keeps Builder Pro during a 7-day transition window before continuing on Starter unless self-pay or another seat takes over — see Seat Expiration and What the Client Sees
• The client does not see a Policy Stack charge on their card while seated

Can a Client Be Both?

Yes — and it's the most common configuration. A typical flow:

1. You invite the client. They accept the connection.
2. They opt into data-sharing for the categories they're comfortable with.
3. You assign them a seat (or you invite them directly to a seat in one step).

Each piece is independent. If you later revoke the seat, the connection remains and they drop to Starter (or their own paid plan). If they disconnect, your visibility ends but the seat — and their Builder Pro access — can continue.

Choosing the Right Relationship

Connected only when:

• The client already pays for Builder Pro and you want visibility into their banking system
• The client prefers to manage their own subscription
• You want a low-friction relationship without billing responsibility

Seated (almost always alongside connected) when:

• You want Builder Pro to be part of your service offering
• The client would otherwise use Starter and you want them on the full product
• You prefer centralized billing

What Your Clients See

The client sees a banner in their account indicating which advisor they're connected to and (if seated) that their Builder Pro access is covered by you. They never see your billing details, your other clients, or anything outside their own account.

See The Client Perspective for the full client-side walkthrough.