Your next customer might arrive through an AI assistant that searched, compared and shortlisted on their behalf. To be on that shortlist, your business needs to be easy for the assistant to read, trust and act on.
What does an "AI customer" actually mean?
It means a real person delegating the legwork to an assistant like ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude or Siri, which then reads, asks and sometimes books for them.
The person still makes the decision. But the assistant decides what they see. If it can't find your hours, isn't sure you serve their area, or can't tell what you charge, it may simply move on to a business that's clearer.
What does an assistant need from my business?
Four things: clear facts, direct answers, consistency, and a way to take action.
1. Clear facts
Services, prices or honest ranges, hours, locations or service areas, and policies. Written plainly, on your own website, with schema markup so machines can label them correctly (Google's structured data guide).
2. Direct answers
Put the answer first. "Yes, we offer same-day service in the north end, Monday to Friday" beats a paragraph about your commitment to excellence.
3. Consistency
Your hours on your website, Google Business Profile and social pages should match. Conflicting facts make assistants hesitate or get it wrong.
4. A way to act
Online booking, quote requests or checkout. If the only option is "call us", the assistant can do little except hand the customer a phone number.
How do I check where I stand?
- Ask three assistants: "Who's the best [your service] in [your city]?" and "What does [your business] charge for [service]?"
- Note what's missing or wrong.
- Take our 2-minute readiness check.
What comes after the basics?
Your own business agent: an AI trained on your real information that answers deep questions and, over time, talks directly to customers' assistants.
That's where agent-to-agent comes in. Open standards like A2A let a customer's assistant ask your agent questions directly, instead of guessing from your web pages. It's early, but the basics above pay off today either way. Learn more in our plain-English guide, or see what we set up for you.