Can You Win More Customers by Talking About Pricing? [Endless Customers Podcast Ep. 152]

This transcript has been generated by AI and not checked for accuracy. 

00:00:00:01 - 00:00:19:10

Steffany Aye

I realized that we were asking these moms to give their babies to a piece of paper. They were literally given a piece of paper to look at, to choose a family. And I was interviewing babysitters for our first child, and we interviewed like 15 babysitters. And I'm thinking, how can I ask a woman to place her child with a piece of paper?

00:00:19:12 - 00:00:38:01

Stephanie Baiocchi

You're listening to the Endless Customers podcast, brought to you by the team at IMPACT. Endless Customers is the proven system to become the most known and trusted brand in your market. If you want to learn the principles of Endless Customers and how you can implement them in your business. Pick up a copy of Endless Customers, a national bestseller wherever books are sold.

00:00:38:02 - 00:00:59:16

Stephanie Baiocchi

Ready to start implementing Endless Customers in your business? Talk to IMPACT about how our coaching program can help you implement Endless Customers to success. And if you want to experience Endless Customers in person, don't miss our upcoming event! Endless Customers lived in Hartford, Connecticut, October 5th through the seventh, 2026. Registration is now open. And now on to the show.

00:00:59:18 - 00:01:02:11

Stephanie Baiocchi

Here's your host, Bob Ruffolo.

00:01:02:13 - 00:01:23:22

Bob Ruffolo

We have an incredible episode coming your way today. Every once in a while, you sit down with someone whose work is not just impressive, but deeply meaningful. Someone who has built a business around one of the most emotional, life changing journeys a family can go through. Today we're joined by Steffany, a founder and director of Adoption & Beyond.

00:01:24:00 - 00:01:48:16

Bob Ruffolo

Steffany and her team have supported more than 7000 families through the adoption process. Think about that for a moment. More than 7000 families whose lives have been changed. More than 7000 stories of hope, trust, patience, uncertainty, and ultimately, family. And what I love about Steffany's story is that she didn't just build Adoption & Beyond by simply doing what every other adoption agency in her market was doing.

00:01:48:16 - 00:02:12:20

Bob Ruffolo

From the very beginning, she made bold decisions. She educated differently. She communicated differently. She built trust differently. And because of that, she created a thriving business that has made a massive IMPACT on thousands of families. In this episode, we talk about how Adoption & Beyond came to be and what Steffany did early on that set her apart, and how now she's self implementing Endless Customers inside of her business.

00:02:12:23 - 00:02:31:07

Bob Ruffolo

We spent a lot of time talking about our pricing page, which is just incredible, and why it matters so much in building trust with families. We also talk about the other parts of our Endless Customers journey, such as how she's using assignment selling and the things that she's doing to make sure that her firm always shows up when anyone's searching for an adoption firm in her area using AI.

00:02:31:11 - 00:02:35:02

Bob Ruffolo

Steffany, welcome to the show. I'm so happy to have you on here today.

00:02:35:03 - 00:02:37:13

Steffany Aye

Thank you so much for having me, I appreciate it.

00:02:37:14 - 00:02:57:10

Bob Ruffolo

Now, Steffany, I, like I just said to you before we start filming, I was rereading your bio and I was getting choked up and emotional. You have an incredible business and incredible story. I thought maybe we start there. I'd love for you to share with our listeners your story and how you got to be where you are today.

00:02:57:14 - 00:03:14:15

Steffany Aye

Yeah. Thank you so much. I started Adoption & Beyond 28 years ago. I used to work for another child placing agency in maternity home, and I didn't know anything about adoption. When I came, I wanted to work in maternity home and they said, well, come and interview. And I said, okay, I will. And I did, and I was hired.

00:03:14:15 - 00:03:32:16

Steffany Aye

And then from there I had to finish up my second master's degree, which is in social work, and I had to quit my job. And so I'm like, you know what? I'm going to start my own agency. So I did 28 years ago, and then a few years after that, we did end up adopting our daughter from foster care when she was eight.

00:03:32:16 - 00:03:36:19

Steffany Aye

And she's now learning how to adult on her own. And she was one of our five kiddos.

00:03:36:19 - 00:03:53:20

Bob Ruffolo

So that's incredible. And then one of the things I was picking up on both your website and your bio is that you didn't like the way things were being done for adoption, what you were seeing, at least when you were experiencing these young women that were going through this journey and you said, there's got to be a better way.

00:03:53:20 - 00:03:59:07

Bob Ruffolo

So talk to us about the decisions you made as you were starting your your adoption firm.

00:03:59:09 - 00:04:12:14

Steffany Aye

Yeah. So one thing that was just kind of really butting with what was called open adoption, where there's communication between the adopting family and the birth family before and after placement. And that was relatively new at the time. So I'm sorry.

00:04:12:17 - 00:04:14:03

Bob Ruffolo

What year would that have been?

00:04:14:04 - 00:04:15:08

Steffany Aye

That would be 1998.

00:04:15:09 - 00:04:17:22

Bob Ruffolo

Yeah. Yeah okay. Yeah. Wow. Yeah, yeah.

00:04:17:22 - 00:04:36:21

Steffany Aye

So then they I realized that we were asking these moms to give their babies to a piece of paper. They were literally given a piece of paper to look at, to choose a family. And I was interviewing babysitters for our first child, and we interviewed, like, 15 babysitters. And I'm thinking, how can I ask a woman to place her child with a piece of paper?

00:04:36:21 - 00:04:48:00

Steffany Aye

And so I was really instrumental in bringing what was originally called profiles, and then eventually meeting the families and everybody getting to know each other. So then the mom felt more confident about her adoption plan.

00:04:48:01 - 00:05:05:03

Bob Ruffolo

That's a game changer. Yeah. You know, when we talk about enlist customers, we talk about, you know, say whether or not willing to say show whether it's not on the show. But I think the overarching umbrella principle is, is do things with your business that no one else is willing to do, but it's what your customers, what your market, in this case, what families want and need.

00:05:05:03 - 00:05:12:04

Bob Ruffolo

And you found that and you filled that, which is incredible. So, so, so you said 98. That's around the time you started the firm.

00:05:12:05 - 00:05:14:00

Steffany Aye

It is. Yes. Right. The agency.

00:05:14:01 - 00:05:25:11

Bob Ruffolo

So talk talk us through your early years. So so getting something like this that's very different than what's out there. I have to imagine getting an adoption firm off the ground. That wasn't pretty wild. So what was that like?

00:05:25:14 - 00:05:45:20

Steffany Aye

Yeah. So what was interesting is that there were other three other single person agencies here in the Kansas City area. So I had I had a model to know that this could be done. And I also had the four years in the industry of adoption to know the connections with the attorneys and other agencies. And I just tapped into them and was just going to do this on the side while I raised my kiddos.

00:05:45:21 - 00:05:56:07

Steffany Aye

I have too much of an entrepreneurial spirit, and the agency grew, and we're now almost the second largest child placing agency in Kansas City. So,

00:05:56:09 - 00:06:05:20

Bob Ruffolo

Wow. Okay, so what was the first few years like and what like how many how many adoptions did you complete in your first few years?

00:06:05:21 - 00:06:31:16

Steffany Aye

So we did more home studies and approving families. And then we started growing the agency through moms finding us and having our stuff in the Yellow Pages. Oh yeah. Back in the day is how moms would find us. And so we have done we've worked with approximately 7000 families, and we've done about 7009 Kloots birth mothers and adopting families as well.

00:06:31:16 - 00:06:57:06

Bob Ruffolo

So that's beautiful. It's so beautiful. Obviously in your own family as well. It's one of those 1000 families. Yeah, yeah. That's great. So now walk me through growing this this firm now through the, the early 2020 tens. You know, I guess how how were you reaching you said yellow pages. And obviously that was probably one thing you were doing.

00:06:57:08 - 00:07:04:22

Bob Ruffolo

But there's reputation. There's so much more that goes into that. How did you grow the business through those years?

00:07:05:00 - 00:07:29:21

Steffany Aye

Yeah, so it was word of mouth. So we got a lot of referrals from attorneys in the area, hospitals in the area, different things like that, and just going to networking events and just, you know, taking our stuff to hospitals, crisis pregnancy centers. So just bootstrapping it all together and just slowly growing it. And then of course, eventually getting we had a website was a very, a very, a very minimalist website.

00:07:29:23 - 00:07:47:03

Steffany Aye

You start out with what they used to look like. And so then we started getting into Google ads and things like that, and then also doing social media. But a lot of it was just going and speaking in different places and just letting them know. But and then also referrals. A lot of referrals came our way.

00:07:47:05 - 00:08:08:22

Bob Ruffolo

Well, no. And you know, looking at your website, especially your pricing page, which we'll talk about, which is very interesting and adoption firm has such a very robust pricing page, I have to feel like that's that's very unique in your industry. You clearly are doing what we talk about, what they ask you answer and endless customer. So when did that fall into your mix of of your strategy?

00:08:09:04 - 00:08:30:03

Steffany Aye

Yeah. So we've always had our prices visible on our website. That's since the very beginning. That's always been. So that was nothing new to us. So what was new to me was learning. Well, let me start back with how I found and how I fell into this world. Was they ask, you answer. So that's where it started. And that resonated with me and just filled my soul.

00:08:30:03 - 00:08:49:09

Steffany Aye

It just it just spoke to me. And so I knew this was the right content. And so eventually we started YouTube channel just answering questions and things like that, which we turn into a blog post and then social media and things like that. And then that just really helped people to get to know us. And so they felt like they knew us before they even came through that content.

00:08:49:09 - 00:09:11:04

Steffany Aye

So that's where it first started. And then that just naturally progressed into the Endless Customers and and then looking at the next steps and now taking what we're learning within those customers and implementing it, and we're slowly implementing different pieces of it. So not only the pricing page but also assignment selling. So we just implemented that this year and doing that ahead of time.

00:09:11:04 - 00:09:15:21

Steffany Aye

And so that's been interesting to see that along with the pricing page as well.

00:09:16:01 - 00:09:22:08

Bob Ruffolo

Now for those that are watching, Steffany is actually not a client of ours. So you are you self implementing or have you worked.

00:09:22:08 - 00:09:40:05

Steffany Aye

With someone self-employed. So yeah, I do have a team and I'll tell more about how I created the pricing page in just a little bit. But I do have a team, a virtual team that helps me do this. But yeah, it's me. I'm I'm still the only full time employee here. And so and then I have wonderful part time staff that helped me as well.

00:09:40:06 - 00:09:53:04

Bob Ruffolo

You've worked with 7000 families and you're the only full time. That's incredible. And talking about running a lean business, that's great. Yeah. All right. So what year was it that you discovered? I assume it was. They asked you answer first.

00:09:53:06 - 00:09:59:03

Steffany Aye

Yes. Oh, that's a good question. I, I think pretty much when it came out, when I discovered it.

00:09:59:04 - 00:10:01:11

Bob Ruffolo

Yes. Maybe 17 or so somewhere there.

00:10:01:12 - 00:10:03:07

Steffany Aye

Yeah. I had it on CDs.

00:10:03:09 - 00:10:04:01

Bob Ruffolo

Oh, wow.

00:10:04:03 - 00:10:21:02

Steffany Aye

Yes. For audible. So I had on CDs and I listened to it. So our son was having health issues. And so we were traveling to Minnesota to get him care. And so I got the CDs, put him in my rental car, listen to them on the way up. And I actually left one of the CDs in the rental car.

00:10:21:02 - 00:10:35:15

Steffany Aye

And so and I found out when I got back home. And so I called the rental car agency and a company and I said, can you please send me that CD back? And they did. And so I now have the full set again. But I was so crushed when I found out I left one of the CDs there.

00:10:35:15 - 00:10:38:08

Steffany Aye

So that's where it started. Was with that.

00:10:38:09 - 00:10:47:08

Bob Ruffolo

Yeah. No. Good, good. So and obviously, you know you're fully on the journey. This is great. Now you said you had a team. So talk to us about the team that you built.

00:10:47:10 - 00:10:53:15

Steffany Aye

So I have a story brand website. So that's what I started with. And so Angie Schultz is our story brand guide.

00:10:53:16 - 00:10:57:23

Bob Ruffolo

I know Angie, we worked with her in the past. Oh, she's so sweet. Yeah. She's incredible. Yeah.

00:10:58:00 - 00:10:59:07

Steffany Aye

I love her. I love she.

00:10:59:07 - 00:11:00:14

Bob Ruffolo

Is brilliant.

00:11:00:15 - 00:11:21:22

Steffany Aye

She is. Yeah. So she's she's our brand guide. And so she helped us create our website. And so when it came time to do the pricing page, it of course I just so what I did is I took the 16 elements of the perfect pricing page and I put them through Claude and I said, Claude knew me and I knew our brand and wrote about 167 pages.

00:11:21:22 - 00:11:24:21

Steffany Aye

And I handed it to Angie and I said, here.

00:11:24:22 - 00:11:25:17

Bob Ruffolo

There you go.

00:11:25:20 - 00:11:46:07

Steffany Aye

Take this. And so she took it. She changed it into our brand voice. She took the elements that she thought was applicable because she'd been working with us for a long time, she thought would be applicable to our families. And then she put the wireframe together. And then I handed it off to my VA team, WP wellness, and they are the ones who helped do the branding on our website.

00:11:46:07 - 00:11:54:21

Steffany Aye

And they put it into place. And I was so excited about this page, I could not wait to get this page published. I was just so proud of it.

00:11:54:22 - 00:12:17:20

Bob Ruffolo

So it's such a well done page and I got pulled out as we're talking here too. So now obviously you're serving two different audiences and you have to do essentially marketing on both sides. Yeah, that's that's got to be a little bit challenge. So very hard. So how how are you so obviously you mentioned about the networking events, but how are you creating content for adopting parents and how are you creating content for.

00:12:17:22 - 00:12:32:20

Bob Ruffolo

Because a lot of people listen here, they do have multiple audiences. So that's actually a very common challenge. So you have the you know, the parents want to do it and the parents that want the birthing parents. So how is your strategy handling two very different markets.

00:12:32:22 - 00:12:55:18

Steffany Aye

Right. So that is really challenging because it does split our marketing dollars and where we're where we're going to spend it. And so what I ended up doing is really focusing more on adopting families and getting content out to them, because there are so few moms who are considering placing their children for adoption, and I'm up against million dollar agencies, I'm up against for profit agencies, and we're not for profit.

00:12:55:18 - 00:13:14:11

Steffany Aye

And I just can't play in that sandbox, you know, for the the amount that they spend on marketing to attract expecting moms to their agency. So I decided to focus primarily on adopting families. And then we receive expecting moms still find us and they still because a lot of the content is the same between the two and talking about adoption.

00:13:14:11 - 00:13:22:10

Steffany Aye

And so in then we also get referrals from hospitals and things like that. So so moms do eventually find us. But that's what I decided to do.

00:13:22:11 - 00:13:40:08

Bob Ruffolo

Primarily that makes sense. And the, the adopting families, you know, they they that's that makes a lot of sense why they want to make sure that they're going with somebody that's going to help control the entire process for them. That's. Yeah, I could see that.

00:13:40:08 - 00:14:04:04

Steffany Aye

So yeah, they're just trying to figure out who to trust because this is a very, not only costly process to adopt privately through a private agency, but it's also an emotional. And, you know, it's highly they just need to know who to trust for this process, because the information out there is very overwhelming and it all contradicts. So families come very confused and overwhelmed, and they just want someone to tell them what to do.

00:14:04:06 - 00:14:05:16

Steffany Aye

What's the next step to take.

00:14:05:20 - 00:14:12:15

Bob Ruffolo

When you're working with these families? You're probably working on them in many cases for a long time. Right. If it's sometimes is it. Yeah.

00:14:12:16 - 00:14:26:00

Steffany Aye

It can be. It can take it take a year or two to go through the adoption process because there's 100 right now, as of today, there's 100 families looking to adopt versus children of infants available for adoption. So yeah.

00:14:26:01 - 00:14:38:05

Bob Ruffolo

That's incredible. All right. So let's go back to this pricing page. And we're going to pull it up here on the podcast. You won't see that on your end I'm just going to do it for the episode.

00:14:38:07 - 00:14:39:10

Steffany Aye

I'm going to take a quick drink.

00:14:39:11 - 00:14:44:18

Bob Ruffolo

Oh yeah. Go ahead.

00:14:44:20 - 00:15:01:10

Bob Ruffolo

So so this is one of the the best examples. And while we're going to start scrolling through here, you said it. You've had costs on your site the entire time. So why did you make that decision to make sure you had costs on your site even from the beginning.

00:15:01:10 - 00:15:30:21

Steffany Aye

So to me transparency is really important because that's just builds trust. And plus also adoption is very expensive. And I didn't want to be deer in the headlights families figuring out how much adoption cost, meeting with me for the first time. And so I felt it's important for people to know. But I've just always felt, you know, we've offered free consultations to families from the very beginning because, I mean, regardless of whether someone works with me or not, I want them to be informed and I want them to be educated.

00:15:30:21 - 00:15:56:10

Steffany Aye

And so and that came also with pricing. So what our pricing page look like before was just our fee schedule and a video of me at the top explaining the fee schedule. And it was still confusing because there was different fees for different things and families didn't know what applies to me, what doesn't apply to me. And so that's why when I came across the 16 elements for the perfect pricing page, I was like, this is this is perfect.

00:15:56:10 - 00:15:58:14

Steffany Aye

This is it. And so I was super excited.

00:15:58:18 - 00:16:03:00

Bob Ruffolo

Hit all those now.

00:16:03:02 - 00:16:24:04

Bob Ruffolo

As I freeze, I'm about to ask my question. Oh, I know exactly what's inside. So now going back, so you were the first one to do this in your space. That must have shocked the market. So? So all those you said there's 3 or 4 other competitors when you had started, your firm did. None of them were addressing price on their site at the time.

00:16:24:05 - 00:16:26:03

Steffany Aye

Oh no. Absolutely. And still don't still don't.

00:16:26:08 - 00:16:27:08

Bob Ruffolo

They still don't do this day.

00:16:27:13 - 00:16:47:02

Steffany Aye

No. So nationally, there's about a handful of us who have our prices out on our website, but far majority of them don't. And I think for like most service based industries, they feel like they have to get in front of them. They have to explain the value of their cost and what everything is. And, and, and a lot of families just say how we're fresh.

00:16:47:05 - 00:16:55:13

Steffany Aye

It is that we have our information on our website because it's usually agencies hide it behind not not a paywall but an email wall. Yeah.

00:16:55:14 - 00:17:16:08

Bob Ruffolo

So yeah. Incredible. Now from a business standpoint, obviously you have to get these families and you have to get these adoptions completed. From a business standpoint, having this on your site first, not having it. Can you quantify the IMPACT in your business of addressing price as thoroughly as you have all these years on your site?

00:17:16:10 - 00:17:41:21

Steffany Aye

So the the one thing I found, well, I can tell you the difference between our previous pricing page and this new pricing page and what I've seen the IMPACT to be is that, number one, our AI trust score shot up when a new pricing page went out there. So I saw that results. And then also it was it's just explained so much more like here are the different kinds of adoption agencies.

00:17:41:21 - 00:18:01:20

Steffany Aye

Why are some more expensive? Why or not? It was just more education based around the pricing and and what can drive a cost up. What could drive a cost down and just explain how we fit with everything. And so that it's been more educational than just numbers on our website. And so that's the element that we've seen.

00:18:01:21 - 00:18:07:09

Bob Ruffolo

Have you seen any increase in increase when you switch the page over by any chance.

00:18:07:10 - 00:18:29:02

Steffany Aye

We did not. But we found families came to us more informed. Yes. So when we started talking about the fees, they understood them. I didn't have to explain them again because they knew. And another thing that I did before I did the pricing page is I went to an all inclusive model. So instead of niggling diming, which a lot of agencies do, they nickel and dime families to death.

00:18:29:02 - 00:18:51:07

Steffany Aye

And so I was really, really scared to go with an all inclusive model, because if you're comparing us to another agency, we're going to look more expensive, but we're not. We just wrapped everything up. And so families new with more confidence, how much it's going to cost. They don't. There's we take away the unknown. And I was actually saw it from another agency in Chicago who did this.

00:18:51:08 - 00:19:08:12

Steffany Aye

And so I spoke to the director and I said I'm really nervous about doing this. What do you think? And she says, oh, she goes, it's been fantastic. She goes, families know how much is going to cost. They don't have to worry about that. And she said they hadn't seen it decrease and we have not seen that decrease either.

00:19:08:12 - 00:19:10:01

Steffany Aye

So that's been nice.

00:19:10:02 - 00:19:34:15

Bob Ruffolo

And you know, and for a business owner like yourself or if you had a sales team, that's a lot of time that's being saved when you're not explaining the same things over and over and over. So that actually has a quantifiable IMPACT on the overall business and the fact that if you don't have to worry as much about human error, saying like, oh, I forgot to say this to the person, now we're having some downstream things we have to deal with because we forgot to say something.

00:19:34:15 - 00:19:47:09

Bob Ruffolo

So now when you have this and it's well thought out, and I'm sure you probably also refer people to if they don't look at it first and say, hey, why don't you go through this page first and then let's chat, right? Yeah. So that's a ton of time.

00:19:47:12 - 00:20:08:13

Steffany Aye

The biggest IMPACT we've seen is been the in terms of the quality of the consultations has been assignment selling. So we give we call it homework. We give them homework and we say do these homework. And I used to drip it out and they could only schedule an X number of days. And then while I was at Chicago, the Endless Customer Chicago Live, I got to meet with Alli and took advantage of that.

00:20:08:14 - 00:20:31:05

Steffany Aye

Oh good. Her coaching. And she after talking with her, we restructured it and now we give them the three pieces of homework right away. And these are the things. And so what those homework are is what are the five different avenues of adoption? What is the home study process like that it takes to be approved to adopt. And then also the cost, the going through the feast, going through the fee page.

00:20:31:05 - 00:20:37:13

Steffany Aye

And so one thing I still need to add to our pricing page is a video. And actually I'm going to be recording that today. Oh good.

00:20:37:15 - 00:20:41:07

Bob Ruffolo

Well good. So it's a perfect time. You're already ready to be on camera today.

00:20:41:09 - 00:20:59:07

Steffany Aye

So when families come to the consultation now, I thought it was going to shorten my time with them. That has not happened. It actually is the same amount of time. But we've gone deeper, deeper. We've gone deeper into answering their specific questions because I'm not doing the education during the call that come educated, and if they haven't done the homework, I make them reschedule.

00:20:59:09 - 00:21:05:14

Bob Ruffolo

The appointment. Yes, yes. Oh, can we hear your assignment? Selling script. How you how you sign this?

00:21:05:20 - 00:21:23:21

Steffany Aye

Oh, it's just it's just an email that is sent to them. Yeah. So when they schedule, they say, hey, you know, here's your homework. And if you can't get through it. And then so we have now made it to where they have to Mark. I've done my homework. And if they haven't there continued to automation email saying hey have you done your homework?

00:21:23:22 - 00:21:27:13

Steffany Aye

If not, here's your reschedule button. So that's what that looks like. We've automated.

00:21:27:13 - 00:21:55:09

Bob Ruffolo

The process. That's great. And for those that are listening assignments, selling is a strategic process of assigning content in hopes of of of shortening the sales process. And that's exactly what we're talking about in this case shortening the sales or the it's not even the sales conversation, just the consultations in general. And to do assignments selling really well, it does require having a very specific script, which you're doing in email, which is totally fine.

00:21:55:09 - 00:22:12:21

Bob Ruffolo

But the most important part of that is the ask at the end, which is, Will you take the time to do this before our call? And you're not just saying it would be nice if you did this before the call, you're again going to say yes or no because if they don't do it. Oh, I didn't get to that.

00:22:12:21 - 00:22:31:17

Bob Ruffolo

Then it didn't actually solve the problem of what we're talking about, of having this conversation that is just going to we're really starting from the beginning again. We're not saving much time. And being willing to reschedule is so smart because people are like, well, no, no, no. I'll do it right now. Right. And and now you're still saving that time.

00:22:31:17 - 00:22:54:12

Bob Ruffolo

And to your point, you're so much further along. And not that, you know, in your case this might not apply, but time kills all deals. And the the longer that we have to go through these calls and process, things get distracting and things fall off and deals don't close it the longer that you have to do that. So you're doing this really, really well.

00:22:54:13 - 00:23:11:10

Bob Ruffolo

Let's let's go through this pricing page. I want to I want to point this out because you guys so you're right. You're using the perfect pricing page formula. Marcus talks about this. And we're scrolling down the page and and really right off the bat you know our fees how adoption agencies differ what what costs go up and down.

00:23:11:10 - 00:23:20:23

Bob Ruffolo

And the answers to your your biggest cost questions all in one place. Beautiful. And birth parents never pay for adoption services.

00:23:21:00 - 00:23:27:11

Steffany Aye

So just in case that birth mom stumbled on our page, I wanted to know this doesn't apply to you. So yes.

00:23:27:11 - 00:23:51:02

Bob Ruffolo

We've been very clear. Done. And like. All right, I'm done. This is my company. I don't have to worry about fees. And, you know, even it's such a small thing, but a brilliant thing. Like, there are probably people that are thinking, you know, I have to give my child up for adoption. They might think this is going to cost me something, but by just saying that here, they might say, oh, okay, this is my company, this one's free.

00:23:51:03 - 00:24:15:16

Bob Ruffolo

And they might even think that, you know, other company. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. All right. And then you, you give the range adoption programs ranging from 25,000 to 85,000, depending on the MC. Yep. Families often wonder why is there such a huge difference? What's included? What's extra? Are we overspending or cutting important corners? And then you have a beautiful section right here where.

00:24:15:18 - 00:24:32:09

Bob Ruffolo

And these I think are all dropdowns on the page. Yes they are okay. So why fees are different where we fit our pricing, ways to reduce costs, common questions and cuts. Gut check. Are you ready?

00:24:32:11 - 00:24:38:10

Steffany Aye

Yeah, I actually takes them to different pieces and parts of the website of the page. It drops them down to those sections.

00:24:38:11 - 00:24:58:14

Bob Ruffolo

So perfect. And Marcus by the way showed this in those customers live. I mean this is this is really, really incredibly well done. And people are thinking, all right, I can't possibly address price because there's so many different things. This is even though you do have a fixed price, you just said, like, we have an all inclusive package and we have a certain price.

00:24:58:16 - 00:25:19:02

Bob Ruffolo

You know, a lot of people can't, but this is what you can do. You can answer the question, how much is this going to cost me? And you did it beautifully here. Thank you. So why adoption fees vary so widely. This this chart. Now tell me about this one. Obviously this is your way of addressing why are some so cheap and why are some so expensive?

00:25:19:04 - 00:25:22:22

Bob Ruffolo

So so talk to me about how this table came to be.

00:25:23:00 - 00:25:48:10

Steffany Aye

So I took three different agencies that are here in the Kansas City area and explained why our fees would be different from each other. And so it just explains that some, you know, a more expensive agency, you're going to probably they're going to do more placements because they're spending more money on advertising, and those dollars get passed on to adopting families.

00:25:48:10 - 00:26:10:17

Steffany Aye

And I think that's really important for families to know is that, yeah, they're going to do more placements, but they're also going to cost more. And so and then for the ones who are less expensive, they just, you know, they're relying on donations and they're relying on, you know, and in fact actually this is this is interesting to know that the agency I was actually using for the they've now closed.

00:26:10:19 - 00:26:11:08

Bob Ruffolo

Wow.

00:26:11:12 - 00:26:14:02

Steffany Aye

Yeah. So they're no longer.

00:26:14:04 - 00:26:25:13

Bob Ruffolo

How often do you actually lose opportunities to more expensive agencies in your space. And is there a reason why someone might choose them over you?

00:26:25:15 - 00:26:52:13

Steffany Aye

They they do more placements a year. And so some families feel that's the best thing. But here's the thing. They have hundreds of families and so they may do more placements, but you're still one of among 100 families. Yeah, exactly. So so some families just feel that, and they're also for profit. So they're able to do more advertising and charge more and things like that.

00:26:52:13 - 00:27:13:04

Steffany Aye

So but that's why someone would choose is they, they just feel like they would have a better chance of adopting from a larger agency. And that's just not true. Yeah, there's not true. There's avenues we have. We just dubbed it multi matching methodology. So we have it to where you can work with more than one adoption professional without having to pay a lot of fees upfront.

00:27:13:04 - 00:27:23:19

Steffany Aye

And therefore you still have a lot of opportunities to be shown. And so we find that you don't have to spend $80,000 to adopt. You just don't.

00:27:23:21 - 00:27:48:00

Bob Ruffolo

Have you said that very specifically like the way absolutely. Okay. On your site. Yeah. Okay. Good good good good. Yeah. All right. Now, and you obviously you address the higher cost ones, but there's also lower cost ones. And, you is there a reason why you would ever steer somebody to them and say, well, listen, you're they're actually a better fit for you than we are.

00:27:48:02 - 00:28:08:22

Steffany Aye

So I think, yeah, it really just if they don't have the budget because, I mean, adoption is very expensive and the and the ways to be able to fund your adoption are rather limited. So there aren't a lot of I mean, what are they going to do, come back and take your child away? They're not. So there's there's not a lot of places where they'll give you loans.

00:28:08:23 - 00:28:30:22

Steffany Aye

There's a there's a handful of places that will they can do loans. So you're relying on your savings, getting grants, crowdfunding, fundraising and limited loan options. So so some families just don't have the budget to be able to, you know, work with a a higher priced agency. I guess you could say.

00:28:30:23 - 00:28:48:01

Bob Ruffolo

Yeah, that makes sense. And, and I think one of the biggest lessons, again, as people are watching this, that, that we should be taking away from this is just like Steffany here knows the answers to all these questions that I'm asking, which are probably not very different than what her potential families that she's working with would be asking.

00:28:48:01 - 00:29:15:23

Bob Ruffolo

Just no different than what your customers would be asking. It's just answering the questions on your website in a beautifully organized pricing page in a way people can understand it. So they're not asking you in the sales process, and they're going to trust you more because you've answered their questions and they know exactly what to do. And you say right here to for lower cost options, this can work for families seeking the most budget conscious path who feel comfortable with potential faith based requirements.

00:29:16:00 - 00:29:34:10

Bob Ruffolo

So that's a trade off that you have to fulfill certain requirements with them. And they and they they would have to be more hands on in the process that they're going to have to invest more of their time and energy, which is a benefit to working with you. So so by just answering that now, people know, like who's a better fit for me?

00:29:34:11 - 00:29:37:09

Bob Ruffolo

Is it, you know, working with Adoption & Beyond or going somewhere else.

00:29:37:13 - 00:30:04:10

Steffany Aye

Right. Yeah. So something that happens at the first of all, I was just so surprised and so proud that Marcus pointed out our pricing page because I was I was just so proud of this page, and I just felt I was beaming from ear to ear. But what was what was interesting is on the break after that presentation, I had a woman come up to me and she told me how much she loved seeing that, and she actually got tearful as he was going through the page because they adopted their daughter 25 years ago.

00:30:04:10 - 00:30:17:00

Steffany Aye

And she said, if we had had something like this, this would have been amazing. So to have her say that just really reaffirmed that this is absolutely the right thing to do is to have this page.

00:30:17:00 - 00:30:20:15

Bob Ruffolo

Amazing. Now, do you do you know how Marcus even discovered this page?

00:30:20:18 - 00:30:22:15

Steffany Aye

You know, I don't. And I want to know.

00:30:22:21 - 00:30:24:09

Speaker 4

I know too.

00:30:24:10 - 00:30:31:20

Steffany Aye

Because I wanted to ask him, but he was in and out very quickly during the conference. Yeah. So I didn't get to ask him. And so I'm dying to know.

00:30:32:02 - 00:30:45:19

Bob Ruffolo

I promise you, I will find out the answer to that question. I will text him right after this, and I will see if if he because I know what Marcus likes to do, though he does like at the conference, he wants to know who's going to be there, and he tries going through different websites. So he pulls examples from the audience.

00:30:45:19 - 00:31:02:13

Bob Ruffolo

So that would be my guess, but I will I will find out and get back to you. And you have my word on that. Thank you. And then just finish up the rest of the page here we're going through. And we see, here's a breakdown of our fees and all inclusive and domestic adoption. You have two different programs that seems like but they're.

00:31:02:13 - 00:31:02:21

Speaker 4

Both.

00:31:03:03 - 00:31:09:18

Bob Ruffolo

So okay so ones all inclusive. You can see exactly what the fees are and the schedule for these. Right.

00:31:09:20 - 00:31:28:05

Steffany Aye

Correct. So the two services our home study is that's that's the largest part of what we do is approving families. To adopt. You have to have a home study no matter what kind of adoption you do. And so and then that's also how we get a lot of referrals from other child placing agencies, because you have to have an agency licensed in your state to do the home study.

00:31:28:06 - 00:31:48:01

Steffany Aye

And so we cover Kansas in Missouri. And so if a family is working with a family, an agency and Illinois, they need to have a local agency. So we get referred. So home studies is approval process. And then if they want to join our domestic adoption program where they have expecting moms look at their profile and decide whether they're the right family for her baby.

00:31:48:01 - 00:31:51:22

Steffany Aye

Then we have our domestic adoption program. So those are the two programs that we.

00:31:51:22 - 00:31:52:19

Speaker 4

Have got it.

00:31:52:20 - 00:31:56:17

Bob Ruffolo

Got it. Now, do you actually personally do the the home studies yourself?

00:31:56:19 - 00:31:57:11

Steffany Aye

No, my.

00:31:57:11 - 00:31:57:23

Speaker 4

Team does it.

00:31:58:01 - 00:32:00:07

Bob Ruffolo

Your team does. Okay. Yeah. That's a lot of traveling going between.

00:32:00:07 - 00:32:03:20

Speaker 4

Kansas City. It is sorry. Big states very good.

00:32:03:21 - 00:32:06:09

Steffany Aye

We cover both states. So I have I have a team throughout.

00:32:06:09 - 00:32:14:15

Bob Ruffolo

So and then here we are. We're going to scroll down the page here and see when fees are due. And this is so the timeline is beautifully designed.

00:32:14:16 - 00:32:30:23

Steffany Aye

Yeah I and that's actually probably one of my favorite parts of the page is the timeline. Because now I'm able to not only what these but when are they due. So families can know when they can start the process, when they can expect the fees to be due and be prepared for that.

00:32:31:03 - 00:32:32:02

Bob Ruffolo

This is great.

00:32:32:03 - 00:32:32:22

Speaker 4

This is great.

00:32:32:23 - 00:32:43:06

Bob Ruffolo

And what makes the costs go up? And some adoption expenses can vary, but yours don't go up. And I think that's what you said here, right?

00:32:43:08 - 00:33:03:20

Steffany Aye

Yeah. There are some things that could vary. So okay our prices are all inclusive. But they also have to have an attorney. And they also there could possibly be medical bills, which is pretty rare. Most most moms qualify for Medicaid if they don't have private insurance. But if we have a legal issue with the adoption, then there could be more attorney fees.

00:33:03:22 - 00:33:27:08

Steffany Aye

The attorney fees is really probably more. And and then some agencies don't include. So when a mom's pregnant you can help her with things like rent and utilities and transportation back and forth. The doctor maternity clothes, some agencies, most agencies and we did two had families pay those separately. We decided to roll them into our fees so families don't have to have that unknown factor.

00:33:27:09 - 00:33:30:16

Speaker 4

Yeah that's great. That's great.

00:33:30:17 - 00:33:53:05

Bob Ruffolo

And then what keeps the cost down and you dress that very, very well. And oh, this is even cool too. I, I forgot about this part. Different scenarios. And that shows the different prices in different scenarios. Really. This is incredible. And you have your FAQs. And obviously, we know living in this AIO world, Answer rank.

00:33:53:06 - 00:33:54:22

Bob Ruffolo

And and.

00:33:55:00 - 00:33:58:00

Steffany Aye

I got my FAQ schema on there.

00:33:58:01 - 00:34:15:14

Bob Ruffolo

Yeah the schema on there. So FAQs if you're listening if you don't have FAQs all of your website that is a a absolute must these days. And yes, if you don't know a scheme is low and more scheme is, make sure you're applying that code to this page. That's the way you're going to be best communicating both the search engines and the AI platforms.

00:34:15:14 - 00:34:40:07

Bob Ruffolo

What this data is, what it means, how it's organized so that they can best understand it and present it. So these are going to be so, so when someone is going to say, chatbot and they might be asking questions in adoption of their typically hidden fees, there's a very good chance that it will find your content and answer with your answer and site.

00:34:40:07 - 00:34:57:21

Bob Ruffolo

You now. Well, will you get leads off of that? Maybe. Maybe not, but at least what it's doing is if it's recommending your answers things very highly of your brand. If it's thinking highly of your brand, then when it says, what firm should I go with? It will probably likely recommend you.

00:34:58:02 - 00:35:14:12

Steffany Aye

Well, I just had a consultation this week with a family who lives in Alabama, and she says, I don't remember how we actually came across you. And I said, well, you said you came across us through AI. And she said, yes, she came across this. And I do hear that from families that they're finding us through AI is.

00:35:14:15 - 00:35:26:08

Steffany Aye

And so that's kind of where we're really starting to focus. Our attention is making sure we're being picked up by AI as well. And so they just plug in the information of what they're looking for. And we're coming up.

00:35:26:08 - 00:35:30:12

Bob Ruffolo

So are you using any tools right now to measure your your AI visibility.

00:35:30:13 - 00:35:33:03

Steffany Aye

Yeah. So we use the AI trust signals.

00:35:33:03 - 00:35:36:08

Speaker 4

So we so we have that report that scores is your.

00:35:36:08 - 00:35:39:15

Bob Ruffolo

Primary factor. Do you use HubSpot as well.

00:35:39:17 - 00:35:40:03

Steffany Aye

No we.

00:35:40:03 - 00:35:41:18

Speaker 4

Do not. Okay.

00:35:41:20 - 00:35:58:23

Bob Ruffolo

So they have a new aiyo tool as well which can be very helpful. And measuring your traffic too. So either in Google Analytics or whatever, just seeing just how much traffic is actually coming from that that's going up. So those are some options as well. Steffany, is there anything I should have asked you today that I haven't asked yet?

00:35:59:00 - 00:36:09:04

Bob Ruffolo

We're very, very proud of the work that you're doing, and both from your company and obviously being an incredible example of doing Endless Customers, certainly on your own, too. But what have I not asked you to say that probably should have asked you.

00:36:09:04 - 00:36:17:11

Steffany Aye

So something else that we've done here recently, based on the the Endless Customers live, is that we now have our awards and recognition.

00:36:17:11 - 00:36:18:10

Speaker 4

Page up.

00:36:18:11 - 00:36:33:06

Steffany Aye

Yes. And we now have our author author bio page. And so because Marcus said do those. So I'm like, okay, let's do so. And then and then we're getting ready to join IMPACT Plus tier pretty soon and just start to start knocking things out and going on.

00:36:33:07 - 00:36:33:22

Speaker 4

Great.

00:36:33:23 - 00:36:57:09

Bob Ruffolo

Well yeah. Addressing both of those. So starting with the awards and recognition, what we've been seeing in terms of being recommended by AI, it's so much less like if you go to the old days with Google, it was all about your website and how well you're doing SEO and technical and content marketing. You can write an article.

00:36:57:10 - 00:37:16:03

Bob Ruffolo

And if there wasn't a lot of competition for that article, if someone is searching for it, it would just show up. And and it worked. The algorithm was always trying to get smarter and make sure we're recommending the best content, best answers, the best companies. But AI is just on a whole nother planet. It could just understand so much more information, so much more data.

00:37:16:04 - 00:37:40:01

Bob Ruffolo

And today, what matters more than anything is, is the quality of your overall brand. So people are saying, how do I get AI to recommend me more? And and content is certainly part of it, your first person or first party content. But awards and recognition, your reviews, your reputation, your BB score. We're seeing BB if you ever ask, like you know who is the best adoption firm and they might recommend somebody and you say, why?

00:37:40:01 - 00:37:44:09

Bob Ruffolo

Why did you recommend who? You did almost always says your BB, so.

00:37:44:09 - 00:37:45:09

Speaker 4

It just shows it. Yeah.

00:37:45:10 - 00:37:53:21

Steffany Aye

I find that interesting because I dropped my we have an A+ on BB, but I dropped the membership thinking no one's going to do this, but now I'm like, I may have to jump.

00:37:53:22 - 00:38:14:08

Bob Ruffolo

It's a resurgence. It's incredible. But you know, your awards and recognitions and what your website is really good at is it ties everything back to the brand. So when you have this bidirectional linking, like the the awards pages are linking to you and your link to your awards page, you're basically the hub of saying this brand has all these awards, and then you're linking out to all of them.

00:38:14:08 - 00:38:28:19

Bob Ruffolo

And that's all the proof. And that is just so strong for your brand and so, so important. So Marcus is absolutely right. Everybody should have an awards and recognition page. We have ours in development right now. And I'm actually going back and finding all the words we won and forgot.

00:38:28:19 - 00:38:29:09

Speaker 4

All about those.

00:38:29:09 - 00:38:30:05

Bob Ruffolo

So I'm sure.

00:38:30:05 - 00:38:31:05

Speaker 4

You do the same thing.

00:38:31:05 - 00:38:57:02

Steffany Aye

My my my project manager. She was looking at this and she's like, wow, this is impressive. And I'm like pulling everything back together. And because, you know, we've been around for 28 years. And so exactly just remembering the different things and also the sorry I'm just my trust, our trust signal. I've been watching it go up as we've been implementing the different things that Marcus suggests.

00:38:57:03 - 00:38:57:15

Steffany Aye

So.

00:38:57:19 - 00:39:18:01

Bob Ruffolo

And what's, you know, how that tool probably got built. And I haven't asked specifically how he built a tool, but AI will just tell you, you ask me exactly what what is most important for a company like this in this market? What are the most important factors that will help you recommend this company more? It'll just tell you.

00:39:18:01 - 00:39:35:09

Bob Ruffolo

So for anyone out there too, if you're using trust signals, great tool. If not, that's the trick is just what? Just go into AI and saying here's my web address. What do I have to do for you to recommend me more? When people are looking for this type of company in this market. And I'll just tell you. Yeah.

00:39:35:14 - 00:39:36:18

Bob Ruffolo

And you mentioned.

00:39:36:20 - 00:39:47:19

Steffany Aye

We're just we're on the frontier of just I feel like it's the wild, wild West. We just we don't know what's going to do. So we just take one step at a time for what we do know. So yeah.

00:39:47:20 - 00:40:12:02

Bob Ruffolo

You know, I think my best recommendation, recommendation for most people is just build a great business that has a great reputation, that does great work, and then just do what you have to do to exploit it. And if you do that, that's rewards, that's reviews. It's people talking about you. That's what's going to win. But most importantly, you can't have great marketing.

00:40:12:02 - 00:40:30:05

Bob Ruffolo

And what I do love about AI is that you can't have great marketing anymore in a bad business. Yeah, that's it's the filters are incredibly strong right now. And, you know, you have a great business doing something that's very valuable. That's that's very different than what the market is doing. And there's a real reason to choose you over anyone else.

00:40:30:05 - 00:40:41:08

Bob Ruffolo

And many, many people have 7000 families have chosen you. And you've got the reputation for it. And that's what's going to win. Now, I do feel bad for people are starting businesses right now because.

00:40:41:09 - 00:41:01:07

Steffany Aye

That's true. Well, you know what the fascinating that you say that because not too long ago I was just like, oh my gosh, I could have used Claude when I was first starting my business. But I thought, you know what? I have years on top of everybody else who's starting, and so I'm able to use it, you know, AI to my advantage at this point in time to be able to do even more.

00:41:01:07 - 00:41:04:21

Steffany Aye

But I had the foundation in place. They don't. So yeah.

00:41:05:00 - 00:41:12:14

Bob Ruffolo

Yep, yep. And you know, the other thing you were talking about to is you were working on, I think you said your bio pages again those. Right. Or what was.

00:41:12:14 - 00:41:17:05

Steffany Aye

Yeah I have my I have my bio page. Yeah. Getting ready to be hooked up to our blog posts. Yeah.

00:41:17:07 - 00:41:47:06

Bob Ruffolo

And that's just another really important factor. It's e t I'm going to mess it up. It's it's expertise. It's it's authority. It's trust. I'm missing one of the ease. But that is just essentially what they're saying is that this person, when they speak or they publish things on the internet, here's all their credibility and space of connecting all your work back together to give you a so that AI platforms Google both of them, use this traditional search.

00:41:47:06 - 00:42:16:19

Bob Ruffolo

And AI is that this person's voice holds weight. So having a really strong bio page, just like we talked about your words. Pages. The hub of connecting everything online by directionally back and forth, adding authority to yourself so that people could say, oh wow, you know, when Steffany talks, we should probably listen. So great. Yeah. Steffany, you are doing just an incredible job running your business as one person with a.

00:42:16:19 - 00:42:19:13

Bob Ruffolo

I'm sure you have a great team that's connected, but it's a one person.

00:42:19:15 - 00:42:21:13

Steffany Aye

Wonderful team. Yeah.

00:42:21:15 - 00:42:35:13

Bob Ruffolo

And you're doing endless customer so well and you're doing just a really, really great work in the world too. So we are incredibly proud of you and thank you for everything that you're doing. Will we see you at Endless Customers live in Hartford.

00:42:35:14 - 00:42:37:02

Steffany Aye

Not Hartford. No.

00:42:37:04 - 00:42:38:03

Bob Ruffolo

Go again next year.

00:42:38:04 - 00:42:39:23

Steffany Aye

Maybe Chicago. Yes.

00:42:40:00 - 00:42:49:23

Bob Ruffolo

Awesome. Thank you so much, Steffany. Well, this has been another episode of the Endless Customers podcast. I'm your host, Bob Ruffalo, until the next episode. We'll see you soon.

00:42:50:01 - 00:42:56:08

Stephanie Baiocchi

If you liked this episode, please take a minute to leave us a review. Thanks for checking out the Endless Customers podcast.