Timothy Zercher 0:00

All right. Well, Diana, thank you so much for joining us. We really appreciate you taking time out of your busy schedule and coming on here to share some insights.

Diana Wolf 0:06

Yeah, absolutely. Happy to be here.

Timothy Zercher 0:09

Yeah. So, real quick, I wanted to start off. I like I always like to start off with asking how you got into this field. I find everyone has kind of a unique story.

Diana Wolf 0:17

Yeah, I think people that have kind of gotten to this field around the same time that I did, we kind of all just like fell into it. ABA wasn't really known as well as it is now. And I just found out about it from a class that I took in my undergrad. And I never looked back. I love the science. I love what the possibilities, I love the life-changing work that it does. So it's very impactful. And I love every bit of it.

Timothy Zercher 0:45

Absolutely. I think that should be the reason I think almost everyone loves being in the space is the actual impact you get to have on the kids and the families that you work with.

Diana Wolf 0:53

Absolutely.

Timothy Zercher 0:54

So you've spoken a lot about sustainable growth in ABA. What do you think leaders in this space often get wrong when they try to scale too quickly?

Diana Wolf 1:05

Yeah, I think that a lot of people just go after headcount and locations and negate proper clinical and operational infrastructure. And when you chase the census and open centers, it puts a strain on people, creates burnout, it creates operational flaws and unsustainable growth. So really taking the time to build out the infrastructure, look ahead, but making sure that you're building today for tomorrow is really important.

Timothy Zercher 1:38

Absolutely. So I think part of that is a big part of kind of your ongoing message is about supporting both families and staff. How do you go about building a protective culture that really protects the quality of care while also helping your team stay energized, committed, be able to last long term?

Diana Wolf 1:56

Yeah. And I always talk to everyone about the fact that what makes a really strong culture is making sure that we have both the families and clients and also our staff at the forefront. That's why our mission is changing lives, one child at a time, one professional at a time. Because you really have to focus on both. And that client experience and employee experience coming together is what really makes the most impact. And an energized team is really how we protect the quality. So we make sure that we have clear career ladders so that clinicians can see what the future holds for them at verbal beginnings. We want to make sure that we have transparent compensation and making sure that it really ties to the real impact and opportunities for growth within that, whether it's an RBT or a BCBA, ensuring manageable caseloads because we don't want burnout and also support, leadership support. We do leadership trainings. We want to make sure that people are supported and trained in the roles that they're in. And the biggest thing I would say is we have a continuous improvement program. So we're always listening to our staff, putting things into action, and then reevaluating whether those actions made the impact. So that's been really important for us to continuously listen.

Timothy Zercher 3:17

I love that. It makes a lot of sense. And it sounds like, and I'm sure it is a lot of investment for both in time and money in order to build your people and build your team that much.

Diana Wolf 3:27

It is, but at the end of the day, culture doesn't become a perk at verbal beginnings. It really becomes part of our operating system. And that's just what, you know, sets us apart from others where this is just the way that we run the organization.

Timothy Zercher 3:42

Absolutely. Absolutely. And I think that's how it should be. What have you found is the hardest part of growing your organization?

Diana Wolf 3:49

I think that the first part is identifying the right seats. So when you're scaling from a small organization to a mid-sized organization, you really need to understand what seats you need to create for that scalable growth. And since Nick and I haven't done this before, you know, there's a lot of trial and error that goes into it until we get it right. We feel really comfortable where we are now. But to get there, we had to really identify which seats worked. And then making sure that we have the right people in the right seats. If you have great people, but they can't really execute on the outcomes, it becomes a strain on everyone else. And it might just be that, you know, that seat wasn't the right seat for them. Or if you have people that are misaligned with the culture, that's going to put a strain as well. So those two things, getting the right seeds and getting the right people are super, super important.

Timothy Zercher 4:48

I love that. I think a lot of people talk about how hard it is to get the terms that a lot of people use is good talent or finding good people to join the team. But I think you guys are approaching it in the right way that you think first, what are the actual roles we need to fill? Let's think about that strategically and thoughtfully and carefully before we start looking for people. And then it actually, I think maybe I'm putting words in your mouth, but I bet it's actually easier to find people because you've defined your seats so well. I'm sure it's still a struggle.

Diana Wolf 5:17

But yes, finding people is not a problem. I think that, you know, our culture draws a lot of talent to us, but it's making sure that we have those right people on the right seats that actually can come in and make that impact. And that's where it becomes tricky.

Timothy Zercher 5:33

Yeah, I bet. I bet. So because we're a marketing agency that specializes in behavioral health, we always have to ask some marketing questions in these interviews. What works best for you right now in terms of gaining clients outside of word of mouth?

Diana Wolf 5:47

I think that AI has a huge hole. It's starting to. So we're watching that closely. Digital marketing has always been good to us as well to get the word out. But AI is going to take that to a whole nother level. And we're excited to see where it goes. One of the things that we've recently implemented is AI at our front door. So we have AI intake that just answers the calls and talks to our families before they get passed on to our amazing intake team that can actually work with them on the specific questions and issues that they need to resolve to get services from us.

Timothy Zercher 6:30

That's very cool. How have you found potential clients interact with your AI system so far? Because I know that I have many clients that have had great success and them oftentimes great pain with any kind of AI implementation, their intake process.

Diana Wolf 6:45

Yeah. So it took about four months for us to get the system right and really train it to be not only knowledgeable, but also have that human on in a non-human world of AI. So we were expecting that families would be a little bit turned off by talking to an AI agent, but surprisingly, they feel really comfortable. And, you know, we're transparent. We let them know that they're talking to AI. So it's been very, very nice experience for them. And we've actually had a lot of families come through and convert, and then our human intake team takes over and closes, you know, the deal.

Timothy Zercher 7:26

I love that. I love that. Well, I mean, I think people they assume that the public always has some kind of predetermined idea of how they like to interact with a company. I think I find the reality is they want the fastest, simplest way to get what they want. And if that's an AI, then that's fine too. And if it's not an AI, then that's what I prefer. And but that makes a lot of sense. Makes a lot of sense. So last question then is what is one marketing tactic that you are either considering or just watching really carefully in the marketplace right now?

Diana Wolf 7:58

Yeah, I think AI ads are gonna come out really soon. And we want to see what that looks like in the ABA space as it's healthcare. So there's probably some constraints there. But if the possibility of using AI ads to get our brand out there even more, we're always game.

Timothy Zercher 8:18

Yeah. Okay, perfect. Well, thank you so much, Danna. We really appreciate you. We appreciate the work that you're doing, but we appreciate you coming on here and sharing and sharing some of your thoughts.

Diana Wolf 8:26

Yeah, thanks for having me.

Timothy Zercher 8:28

Absolutely.