Blucora CEO John Clendening described Vest’s his historical approach to marketing to prospects this way:  “For many years, it was a mail room shipping spewing out tons and tons of mail.”

The company has also significantly changed the way it recruits and trains advisors. Clendening noted firms which have gone through the company’s new training program registered exam pass rates 20-percent higher than the historical rate.

Blucora has capitalized on a relationship established last fall with Drake Software. Clendening said Vest has received about 700 leads from Drake and some firms have already become advisors. In addition, those advisors who have undergone the assessment program are becoming productive much more quickly. They are hitting initial benchmarks in areas such as gross commission in 120 days instead of a historical rate of 800 days, Clendening said.

Additionally, there is work to improve communication with advisors, including answering their telephone calls more quickly. Vest showed a 50-percent improvement in this metric in February and March.