AI Is Rewriting How Customers Choose Your Business  🔗 **Source:** [AI Is Rewriting How Customers Choose Your Business](https://share.snipd.com/episode/d094a09d-4b80-41de-a781-c3c1afd11e87) ## Highlights - **Found Via ChatGPT Changed The Sales Call** - Sara Nay was discovered for a speaking gig via ChatGPT, and the organizers compared speakers inside the tool before contacting her. - That pre-call research made the initial conversation shorter and more advanced because they already knew Sara's topics and services. Transcript: John Jantsch Maybe that's true. Maybe that's statistics, but how are you seeing it actually happen? Are you seeing it in behavior, you know, not just research? Like, are people coming to you and say, I found you on AI? Anecdotally, are you feeling it? Or when did you start feeling it? Yeah. Sara Nay Well, I think that stat, something to consider is there's a lot of people that are using AI search without even really realizing it. So maybe they're going to Google and they're reading the AI snippets. So that's being counted in that statistic. So they didn't start within an LLM, but they're still using AI to have those searches. So I think that's an important piece to note in that stat. But for me, just from a personal experience story recently, I hired for a speaking opportunity that's coming up next year. And the person came to me. And when I asked, how did you find me as a potential speaker? They said that we went to ChadGPT, I think was their tool of choice. And we looked for practical marketing speakers that can speak in a range of industries like that was specifically what they were looking for. But then they had a conversation within ChatGPT because I wasn't the only name that came up. And so they had a conversation there comparing the different speakers that they proposed and getting deeper on their topics and probably reading different reviews and things they Could find about duct tape marketing online. And so then when they came to me to have the initial conversation, it was very different from someone that maybe would have Googled me and then booked a call. Like they were like, okay, we know you talk on these specific topics to these different audiences. And then you also support clients beyond initial conversations and these are your services. So they knew so much more about me. ([Time 0:01:50](https://share.snipd.com/snip/638c943f-5e3d-4501-8761-afcd13d83076)) - **AI Rewires Every Stage Of The Hourglass** - The Marketing Hourglass still applies but buyer behavior at each stage has been rewired by AI self-guided research. - Buyers now complete know–like–trust–try steps inside AI tools before direct contact, shifting where influence must happen. Transcript: John Jantsch You know, the marketing hourglass, I'm going to pin it about 2005. So over 20 years old, I've been talking about this idea. And it really came about from so many people talking about the funnel. So the hourglass was like, hey, what happens after somebody buys? That was kind of the idea of the shape. It has evolved. I mean, as many things have evolved. And I think it's interesting because over that 20-year period, a lot of new things have come along. AI is the new thing that's come along. But what I always tell people all the time is what's changed. I mean, marketing has clearly changed if you want to look at platforms. But what I think the marketing hourglass demonstrates is that the thing that's changing the most is the buyer journey. I mean, if you think about it, the seven stages, no like trust, try, buy, repeat, and for, we used to kind of guide those. We used to think about, okay, now you move person and this stuff. Well, what you just explained, they were like through five stages before they even came to you. ([Time 0:03:34](https://share.snipd.com/snip/02fc1409-79f0-489b-88eb-8007c7c09ca8)) - **Optimize Beyond SEO For AI Visibility** - Do optimize for visibility in AI by producing thought leadership, collecting reviews, and getting on other platforms and directories. - AI pulls trust signals from reviews and supporting sites, so diversify presence beyond just traditional SEO. Transcript: Sara Nay And so there's things that you should be focusing on in business as a business to be showing up in these searches. Because if we weren't doing things like optimizing our website, producing thought leadership content, getting on review sites, having like I saw on LinkedIn, like PR is back. And so exploring, you know, getting on other people's platforms. If we weren't doing all of those things I wouldn't have shown up even as a recommendation and so it still does start with the no phase ultimately because you need to show up there when before AI recommendations but then from there a lot of the as you said the journey is happening within the platform so you don't even know necessarily that someone's going through your customer Journey because it's happening within ChatGPT or Cloud or the tool they're working in. But we can help influence what AI is serving in those things. And so what AI is pulling in a lot of is trust components and so reviews on different websites. And so if you're actively gathering those, will ultimately be pulled into AI. And so there's things that we can do to help influence being shown there, but also the types of information that's being recommended about us once someone actually is having a conversation There. ([Time 0:04:51](https://share.snipd.com/snip/81d9f346-895c-4a79-bf07-b3aab5d77aa0)) - **Make Your Homepage AI-Readable** - Do restructure your homepage for AI by adding readable FAQs, testimonial stats, and descriptions of logos instead of only visuals. - AI often pulls content from the homepage, so include explicit text that conveys credibility and specifics. Transcript: Sara Nay But like, that's just one example of the things like hopefully as a part of your SEO strategy, you were doing things like already getting reviews and you were doing things like directory Listings and you're hopefully getting backlinks by maybe appearing on different podcasts or whatever the strategy was. So if you're doing proper SEO, that's a little bit more of a diverse approach, then those things should be paying off still. It's just how you're structuring content on your website, for example, that has needed to shift and change. And so I saw a study recently that AI is pulling in like the majority of the content from the homepage specifically. And so we actually had a conversation and one of the masterminds we're part of. And what does that mean? It means that we should be having like really helpful content structured in a very specific way on the homepage. And that always has been a good practice. But having things like FAQs directly on the homepage, because that's the type of content that AI loves to pull from. Or let's say you have really great testimonials. Before, we might just link to the testimonials from the homepage. Now you should put the actual statistic that is most impactful about the testimonial on the homepage, but then link to it. Or let's say you have logos. We've always talked about having like credibility logos on the homepage as well. Like instead of just having like the logos for awards you've won or associations you're part of, you should actually describe those logos as well. ([Time 0:07:18](https://share.snipd.com/snip/93b17a23-85dc-4fd2-bae9-d29704c397f7)) - **Test AI Searches Like Your Customers** - Try interacting with AI tools using likely customer queries to see whether your business appears and how it's described. - Test specific searches (e.g., niche + budget + location) to spot visibility gaps and content you should feed AI. Transcript: Sara Nay Of your choice and start typing in things that you think your customers might be searching for. So if you're a local business, like let's say you're a home remodeler, like best remodeling companies in Boise, Idaho, that's where I live. And so that might be something that you're searching for, but also getting more specific, as you said, that specialize in kitchens within this budget. Looking older homes, yeah. Yeah, exactly. These neighborhoods specifically, maybe even. And so like start interacting and asking those types of questions within your different platforms, ChagipT Cloud, and see what kind of results come back. Are you listed there? Are you a top result? If so, continue to act like interact and tell me more about this company. Like, can I trust them? Can you pull in different reviews and just go through the experience like your customers would. And A, if you're not showing up as one of the solutions, that's something to focus on. ([Time 0:09:25](https://share.snipd.com/snip/3a98161d-453b-4f53-a883-e8d16405c780)) - **Human Details Trump Polished AI Content** - Human, specific reviews cut through AI-produced perfect content because audiences crave authenticity. - Reviews that mention small practical details (jobsite cleanup, handling pets) become powerful trust signals when surfaced by AI. Transcript: John Jantsch So you see some of these home service companies, another three, four, 500 reviews. And dang, do those reviews talk about what's important to people? A lot of times, you know, they'll say exactly like they cleaned up the job site or they didn't let our dog out. I mean, that's the stuff that we don't think about, but is that the stuff that needs to start showing up on our homepages as well? Sara Nay Yeah, absolutely. And I think that's another thing, like when we're talking about the hourglass, one of the core stages is trust. So no like trust. And so that's a component that we're talking about right now. I think one of the ways trust has changed is creating content is easy, it's cheap, it's fast now in a lot of cases. So more and more people are just creating content. I'm not saying it's good content, but they're creating content. And a lot of the content is starting to like look the same, feel the same. Pictures are over edited, videos are done by AI and everything is perfect. And so when you can actually bring in like humans that have worked for like with you and also humans that work for you, they're on your team. Like that's the type of stuff that people are craving. ([Time 0:11:12](https://share.snipd.com/snip/7d223918-135c-437f-8ffc-df3f158c9c1e)) - **Small ChatGPT Ad Test Yielded Big Sale** - A $500 monthly ChatGPT ad test produced an $18,000 sale with a shorter sales cycle for an artificial turf client. - The ad likely reached a highly specific intent searcher who then self-educated inside the AI tool before buying. Transcript: Sara Nay And the thing that was great about that is we were testing again $500 a month. He had one of his largest sales recently in the last few years, which was around $18,000 for that sale happened within a few weeks. And so there was two things that stood out to me. And that is, A, it was one of his larger sales. And then B, his sales cycle was shorter than any other recent sale. And so why do we think that happened? We don't obviously know for sure, but based on everything that we've talked about today, I believe it's because someone was searching for something very specific to what he did. His ad came up and then they continued to interact there and self-educate before they had a sales conversation with him. ([Time 0:13:45](https://share.snipd.com/snip/1783c036-9355-41c4-a5e6-4ffdd43d5554)) - **Turn On Referrals With Journey Design** - Do systematize referrals by mapping the entire customer journey, adding surprise-and-delight moments, and asking at the right times. - Onboard well, communicate clearly, and add unexpected bonuses so customers naturally refer without heavy prompting. Transcript: Sara Nay Yeah. I mean, it's something that I get asked all the time because a lot of times when people come to us, they're like, we just need more leads. And I'm like, well, are you nurturing the current leads? Are you moving them through the customer journey effectively? Are you selling more to them once they become clients? Are you turning them to referral sources? And as you said there, like the way you ultimately get referrals is you take care of someone throughout the whole entire customer journey. So I agree with you, like the referrals piece is getting more and more important, but you can't just be like, all right, let's get referrals. You need to have all of the other pieces in place. So people want to refer you ultimately. So I always talk about like, you know, really looking at the whole experience, how are you getting people to know, like trust, try, buy, repeat. So then when you ask for the referral, you maybe don't even have to ask at that point because they're blown away. And so I think some of the things that you can do, you know, when you're thinking about the referrals piece is obviously, as you said, putting structure and process behind it, like knowing When to ask and how to ask and how to educate people on like type of referral sources you're looking for. Like that's all really important. But I also think if you can think about, okay, let's look at our customer journey and how can we put things in place that will blow people away when they're not expecting it. So they just naturally tell friends and family about it as well. ([Time 0:18:14](https://share.snipd.com/snip/6283f835-958e-479d-8832-b002bbc29b59)) - **Map Your Hourglass To Find New Growth** - Do map your current customer journey by listing what prospects do at each hourglass stage, then list what you actually do to find gaps. - Most businesses over-invest in awareness and under-invest in trust, onboarding, repeat, and referral stages. Transcript: Sara Nay So whenever you're thinking about your customer journey or hourglass, the first step is to understand like what your current journey looks like today. And so an exercise we love working with clients is literally just sitting down and say, okay, how do people get to know your business or businesses like yours? Like what are all the things they could be doing? Would they be responding to an ad, receiving a referral from a friend, you know, whatever it might be. And so you're brainstorming like all the possible things that your customers or clients might be doing in each of the stages. But then the second part of that is saying, okay, what are we currently doing? Oh, we aren't running paid ads. Maybe that's an opportunity to explore and consider. So really just brainstorming what customers or clients are doing in each of the stages and then what you're currently doing and then identifying where your gaps might be. And all the time when we go to this exercise, we see people are doing stuff for no, like people know they need awareness in a lot of cases. They know they need to get in front of people, but then they kind of skip through like, trust, try, and then I hope people will buy. And then they hope people will stay and buy more. And then they kind of hope people will refer. And so that's just a bit of an extreme example, but that's where we see a lot of the gaps is after the no phase. ([Time 0:21:13](https://share.snipd.com/snip/ecc2b45b-6b67-495c-ba95-f9d63cad93d7))