Your Customers Are Asking AI About You

I want to talk about something changing fast that most local owners haven't noticed yet.

Your customers aren't only googling you anymore. They're asking AI. They open ChatGPT, or that AI answer at the top of Google now, and just type, who's a good plumber near me, or best place to get my furnace serviced. And the AI doesn't hand them ten links. It hands them a couple of names. An answer.

So here's the problem, blunt version. When AI answers that question in your town, is it saying your name, or your competitor's?

Why it matters. It's still early. Most businesses around here aren't thinking about this at all. Which means whoever pays attention now gets to be the default answer for years, the same way the businesses that took Google seriously fifteen years ago still benefit today. This is that moment, again.

The good news on the solution is you don't need some new trick. AI is just trying to recommend a business it can understand and trust. So make yourself easy to understand and trust. Three things. First, your information has to match everywhere, same name, same address, same phone, on your site, your Google profile, every directory. The second the AI finds two different phone numbers, it gets unsure, and unsure businesses don't get recommended. Second, reviews again, because these systems read reputation, and real recent reviews are a signal they lean on. Third, your website has to say plainly what you do, where, and who for. Not clever taglines. Clear answers. If a real person can find it in two seconds, so can the AI.

That's the whole solution. Consistent, reviewed, clear.

None of this is futuristic. It's happening in our market today, while a lot of people are still arguing about whether AI is a fad. It isn't, at least not for how people find a business. So be the answer that's easy to give. Somebody's getting recommended every time that question gets asked. Might as well be you.