ABOUT THIS EPISODE
AI search is changing how homeowners find HVAC, plumbing, and home service companies.
John Wilson sits down with Julie Phan of Big Reputation to break down how ChatGPT and other AI platforms decide which contractors to recommend and what home service owners can do to show up more often.
They cover why your Google Business Profile, reviews, website, service pages, local listings, and overall digital footprint are becoming increasingly important as search moves beyond Google.
John and Julie also walk through how AI evaluates things like location, service type, reputation, availability, and customer feedback, plus how operators can test their own AI visibility and start building an advantage before the space gets more competitive.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
In This Episode
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
• How AI search is changing home services
• How ChatGPT chooses which contractors to recommend
• Why reviews matter for AI visibility
• Google Business Profile and AI search
• Building a stronger digital footprint
• Service and location pages that give AI more context
• How to track your visibility in AI search
• Why smaller contractors may have an advantage
• How to start optimizing for AI search today
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Sponsors
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Profit & Grit
Running a $3M–$15M home service business? Profit & Grit helps contractors improve cash flow, pricing, forecasting, and profitability with guidance from an operator who's built and sold a $25M service business. Book your free 20-minute strategy call: https://www.profitandgrit.com
Catalyst | May 3–5 | Akron, Ohio
100+ home service owners and operators. Three days of tactical sessions, real conversations, and learning from great operators.
Grab your seat: https://www.ownedandoperated.com/catalyst
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Connect
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
John Wilson
https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnbwilson1/
Julie Phan/Big Reputation
https://www.bigreputation.ai/
More Ways To Connect with OAO
John Wilson, CEO of Wilson Companies
Jack Carr, CEO of Rapid HVAC
📌 Disclaimer: Some links may include UTM parameters or affiliate relationships, meaning we may earn a commission if you make a purchase. Episodes may feature sponsors, but all opinions expressed are our own.
SHOW NOTES 🔗
TRANSCRIPT 🔗
00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.160
So how to appear more in AI search.
00:00:02.399 --> 00:00:06.240
Anywhere that you have a digital footprint, that's what an AI is going to pull from.
00:00:06.480 --> 00:00:12.000
Like, how are you feeding it enough context on you that it will always think of you first?
00:00:12.160 --> 00:00:14.560
That's the way to win that I don't think anybody has yet.
00:00:14.800 --> 00:00:20.399
It's good to get ahead of it while you still can versus like entering in the rap race when everybody's already in it.
00:00:20.559 --> 00:00:23.440
Yeah, the people that got ahead earlier are the ones that stayed ahead.
00:00:23.600 --> 00:00:26.239
This is a game and someone's gonna find a way to win.
00:00:26.320 --> 00:00:27.679
How do you think you actually track it?
00:00:27.920 --> 00:00:36.479
You would want to start at like welcome back.
00:00:36.560 --> 00:00:37.679
Hey Julie, welcome back.
00:00:37.920 --> 00:00:38.240
Thanks.
00:00:38.399 --> 00:00:38.960
Yeah, welcome back.
00:00:39.039 --> 00:00:43.840
Welcome back to Own and Operated, a top 150 business and entrepreneurship podcast.
00:00:43.920 --> 00:00:45.600
I'm your host, John Wilson.
00:00:45.840 --> 00:00:53.280
Uh for fun, we talk about home service businesses, how to build them, how to buy them, how to add technology to them, pretty much whatever else.
00:00:53.359 --> 00:00:58.560
Uh and for my actual day job, I run a very large home service company out of the Midwest.
00:00:58.880 --> 00:01:01.359
Julie Fan, welcome back to the show.
00:01:01.679 --> 00:01:02.399
Thanks for having me.
00:01:02.719 --> 00:01:03.200
This will be good.
00:01:03.439 --> 00:01:04.400
I'm excited to be here.
00:01:04.640 --> 00:01:05.120
Yeah.
00:01:05.359 --> 00:01:08.959
Um you are with uh big reputation.
00:01:09.120 --> 00:01:09.439
Yep.
00:01:09.599 --> 00:01:11.200
So we're gonna talk about that a little bit.
00:01:11.280 --> 00:01:13.359
But the topic of today, what are we talking about?
00:01:13.680 --> 00:01:19.439
We're talking about AI and practically what you can do to improve to show up in AI search.
00:01:19.599 --> 00:01:24.560
So more of the AEO or GEO, depending on what acronym you prefer.
00:01:24.879 --> 00:01:25.200
Got it.
00:01:25.280 --> 00:01:26.159
Got it, got it, got it.
00:01:26.400 --> 00:01:26.959
Okay, cool.
00:01:27.120 --> 00:01:29.920
Uh and then before we dive too deep, what does big reputation do?
00:01:30.239 --> 00:01:37.040
So, what we do is we help home service contractors automate a lot of their daily functions so that they show up on Google more.
00:01:37.200 --> 00:01:40.719
So, more of SEO, so search engine optimization.
00:01:40.879 --> 00:01:46.719
Um, and we automate a lot of those features, such as your reviews, your content posting.
00:01:47.040 --> 00:01:47.840
Um, yeah.
00:01:48.239 --> 00:01:49.680
All right, awesome, cool.
00:01:50.000 --> 00:01:54.480
How to show up in AI search as a service uh company.
00:01:54.959 --> 00:01:56.959
I have not seen any data.
00:01:57.120 --> 00:02:03.280
Have you seen any data on like the prevalence of Google search over chat?
00:02:03.439 --> 00:02:12.639
We looked a I want to say it was a year ago, and it was like 4% of search was AI search, but that has to be substantially changed today, right?
00:02:13.039 --> 00:02:28.719
Yeah, um, I believe Google still owns in the high 80% of like market share, but I think as people move over to AI search more, I know that the numbers change, but for contractors, it's it's still Google owns a lot of the market share.
00:02:29.039 --> 00:02:34.719
All right, so uh as more and more searchers are moving over to chat, yeah, yeah.
00:02:35.759 --> 00:02:42.479
So now it's like 80 or 20% AI, and I'm sure that that's only gonna grow more.
00:02:42.560 --> 00:02:51.280
It'll be interesting to see what happens because I think Google's about to introduce their like chat-like feature to search that will change how search looks and works.
00:02:51.520 --> 00:02:54.000
Um they kind of have something like that already.
00:02:54.159 --> 00:02:55.520
Um, it's just not very good.
00:02:55.680 --> 00:03:02.400
Yeah, it's not like I try to use it, and um I mean I'm the problem is I am I'm part of the issue.
00:03:02.560 --> 00:03:05.520
I am now used to like you are the problem.
00:03:05.759 --> 00:03:06.639
Yeah, I'm the problem.
00:03:06.800 --> 00:03:10.159
I'm used to like searching with a conversation, yeah.
00:03:10.319 --> 00:03:14.560
Uh, which is like that's what Chat GPT or Claude or Perplexity or whatever is.
00:03:14.639 --> 00:03:17.680
It's like, well, here's a query, and then like I'm gonna add some more stuff to it.
00:03:17.759 --> 00:03:23.120
All right, 28 to 45 percent of homeowners are using that's a lot.
00:03:23.439 --> 00:03:24.879
That's okay, that's crazy.
00:03:24.960 --> 00:03:26.639
Yeah, that is crazy.
00:03:26.960 --> 00:03:28.240
Okay, okay.
00:03:28.560 --> 00:03:31.039
So, how to appear more in AI search?
00:03:31.280 --> 00:03:32.159
Um, okay, yeah.
00:03:32.240 --> 00:03:47.439
So basically what you want to do is just a few a checklist worth of items is going to be making sure you're optimizing your website, making sure your Google Business profile, yeah, and checking in on your Google search results, maps locals, listings.
00:03:47.599 --> 00:03:53.360
Um, I have a list here with local directories, news stories, industry websites, social media platforms.
00:03:53.599 --> 00:03:59.759
Anywhere that you have a digital footprint, that's where you're gonna, that's what uh uh an AI is gonna pull from.
00:04:00.479 --> 00:04:00.719
Yeah.
00:04:01.199 --> 00:04:01.520
Okay.
00:04:01.919 --> 00:04:02.400
All right.
00:04:02.639 --> 00:04:07.039
So yeah, like indeed, Yelp.
00:04:07.520 --> 00:04:07.840
Yep.
00:04:08.080 --> 00:04:13.199
You know, there was uh Review Buzz was a website like 15 years ago.
00:04:13.280 --> 00:04:14.479
I don't know if there's still a thing.
00:04:15.120 --> 00:04:19.120
Um, but that was like sort of aggregated reviews.
00:04:19.439 --> 00:04:23.360
Um yeah, that is interesting.
00:04:24.160 --> 00:04:34.399
Because I feel like it's it'll be interesting to move on from the legacy, is like Google reviews is what mattered.
00:04:34.480 --> 00:04:39.040
I mean, I still think like Google Reviews is sort of like 90% of what matters.
00:04:39.600 --> 00:04:42.319
But the other stuff starts to matter too now in just a different way.
00:04:42.800 --> 00:04:43.279
Yes.
00:04:43.759 --> 00:04:55.439
Yeah, so it's gonna be like, for example, your Google reviews are gonna matter because that's what ultimately is going to decide like how trustworthy you are, um, what your clients are saying about you.
00:04:55.759 --> 00:05:08.800
So let's say a lot of your clients for you as a plumbing company, um, you guys are mentioned a lot in terms of emergency repair or you know, AC install, then you're gonna get more of those calls.
00:05:08.879 --> 00:05:09.839
You're gonna show up more.
00:05:10.079 --> 00:05:15.600
AI is gonna suggest you more for that, even though let's say you're in all three verticals, right?
00:05:15.759 --> 00:05:17.920
Wilson's in plumbing, electrical, and AC.
00:05:18.240 --> 00:05:21.680
But a lot of your reviews say that you guys are great at AC installation.
00:05:21.839 --> 00:05:27.360
You'll actually show up more for AC versus being recommended for plumbing or electrical.
00:05:27.759 --> 00:05:37.120
So I think reviews is kind of like that customer um satisfaction, and it's kind of like their what's the word that I'm looking for?
00:05:37.279 --> 00:05:42.480
Um just validation that you you do a good job at X, Y, and Z.
00:05:43.040 --> 00:05:48.800
We started talking about adding, I think responses to reviews is sort of a part of the same conversation.
00:05:48.959 --> 00:05:49.199
Yes.
00:05:49.360 --> 00:05:52.319
Like, hey, thanks for having us out to fix your water heater.
00:05:52.639 --> 00:05:54.639
Um, because I think it yeah, it shows up more.
00:05:55.120 --> 00:05:55.759
Yes, yeah.
00:05:55.920 --> 00:05:59.680
Just year, obviously, all of that data is getting fed into Google.
00:06:00.000 --> 00:06:00.319
Okay.
00:06:00.560 --> 00:06:00.879
Yeah.
00:06:01.519 --> 00:06:02.399
From everywhere.
00:06:02.720 --> 00:06:03.279
From everywhere.
00:06:03.360 --> 00:06:03.600
Yep.
00:06:03.680 --> 00:06:13.600
From multiple review platforms, from all of your social media, it could be news stories, just anywhere you are mentioned, it's considered a digital footprint.
00:06:13.759 --> 00:06:20.319
So AI just aggregates all of that information and builds a profile as to what your overarching message is.
00:06:20.639 --> 00:06:21.360
That's interesting.
00:06:21.600 --> 00:06:25.680
So, like, for example, I know the stigma is a lot of people hate Yelp.
00:06:25.920 --> 00:06:26.079
Yeah.
00:06:26.639 --> 00:06:33.519
But for everybody like East Coast, it seems like everybody in the East Coast and the Midwest don't really like Yelp.
00:06:33.759 --> 00:06:38.800
Um, but it's good to get ahead of that right now, just because AI is gonna pull from those sources.
00:06:38.959 --> 00:06:45.360
And you know, what's interesting is that Yelp has partnered with ChatGPT, so they're gonna show up a lot more on Chat GPT.
00:06:45.439 --> 00:06:46.959
It's gonna be heavily considered.
00:06:47.199 --> 00:06:50.319
Now, the specific statistic, I don't know.
00:06:50.639 --> 00:06:58.800
Um, but yeah, it's it's good to get ahead of it while you still can versus like entering in the rat race when everybody's already in it.
00:06:59.040 --> 00:07:00.160
Yeah, yeah, I agree with that.
00:07:00.240 --> 00:07:01.120
I totally agree with that.
00:07:01.199 --> 00:07:03.519
I feel like that's LSA and GBP's.
00:07:03.759 --> 00:07:07.920
Um, yeah, the people that got ahead earlier are the ones that stayed ahead.
00:07:08.079 --> 00:07:08.720
Yeah.
00:07:09.279 --> 00:07:13.360
As your business grows, the financial decisions get a lot more expensive.
00:07:13.519 --> 00:07:18.000
Things like hiring techs, buying trucks, raising pricing, and marketing.
00:07:18.160 --> 00:07:23.439
If you're making those decisions without really understanding your numbers, you're probably leaving a pile of money on the table.
00:07:23.519 --> 00:07:25.199
And that's where profit and grit comes in.
00:07:25.360 --> 00:07:30.079
Tyler has built, scaled, and sold a$25 million service business.
00:07:30.319 --> 00:07:33.120
So his advice comes from real operating experience.
00:07:33.279 --> 00:07:42.720
You'll work with him directly to improve your cash flow, understand your margins, and build better forecasts to make you more confident as you make decisions as you grow.
00:07:42.879 --> 00:07:49.279
One client increased bottom line profit by 11% after fixing pricing, improving job mix, and stabilizing their cash flow.
00:07:49.360 --> 00:07:57.360
If you're doing between three and five million a year and you want more clarity around your finances, book a free 20-minute strategy call at the link below.
00:07:57.680 --> 00:08:01.279
All right, so AI search checklist, like what should we be thinking through?
00:08:01.600 --> 00:08:10.639
Um, just like your GPP accuracy, your website information, your entity, your phone numbers, stuff like that.
00:08:10.879 --> 00:08:21.120
So um, yeah, so like for example, right, if if I were to use if somebody were to use chat GPT, and I'm just gonna say chat because a lot of people use chat.
00:08:21.360 --> 00:08:25.920
Um other ones are Claude, Perplexity, Google Gemini, Grok.
00:08:26.399 --> 00:08:28.000
Um, but let's just use chat.
00:08:28.079 --> 00:08:32.720
So if somebody were to look up best plumber or best plumber near me, right?
00:08:32.960 --> 00:08:43.679
So I kind of did a backwards analysis as to what chat GPT is gonna ask you and how it's gonna get to get the results and what it's gonna present to the customer.
00:08:43.759 --> 00:08:45.519
So this will be helpful for all the listeners.
00:08:45.679 --> 00:08:51.200
So basically when I did the analysis, I just asked ChatGPT who is the best plumber near me.
00:08:51.440 --> 00:08:54.799
Then it followed up with certain questions like, what city are you in?
00:08:54.879 --> 00:08:56.000
What zip code?
00:08:56.240 --> 00:09:00.159
And then, you know, for this example, let's just say Frisco, Texas, right?
00:09:00.480 --> 00:09:03.840
Then chat would ask, what type of plumbing service do you need?
00:09:04.080 --> 00:09:07.120
And I would say water heater, and then they would ask if it's urgent.
00:09:07.440 --> 00:09:28.399
So the water heater is leaking, and then what AI is analyzing, what metrics is the location, so proximity to where you are, the type of service, the urgency, the company's reputation, so whether they have a strong and consistent customer feedback, reliability, which is the responsiveness, legitimacy of the business, and availability.
00:09:28.639 --> 00:09:46.080
So then the search starts as best permanent or me, but as AI is asking all these clarifying questions, then technically the prompt becomes what is the most reputable water heater repair company serving Frisco that appears capable of responding today?
00:09:47.120 --> 00:09:51.600
So then after that, chat presents chat presented three options.
00:09:51.759 --> 00:09:59.519
So A would be the best match for urgent same day, B would be the best established, and then C would be the strongest water heater specialist.
00:09:59.759 --> 00:10:03.279
So when you're talking about ranking, you want to talk about multiple different things.
00:10:03.519 --> 00:10:07.600
Like, for example, with option A, best match for urgent same day repair.
00:10:08.000 --> 00:10:16.559
That cust that that company got recommended because they had a lot of repeated customer mention of emergency and same day repair.
00:10:16.799 --> 00:10:24.879
For the second one, it was best established, so that's a larger, consistent review history across multiple sources with feedback about their workmanship.
00:10:25.039 --> 00:10:34.080
And then the last company for strong water heater repair specialists, they have fewer reviews, but a lot more mentions about water heater repair and replacement.
00:10:34.799 --> 00:10:39.840
Yeah, so it's it's multiple angles that the AI is going to use to list.
00:10:41.120 --> 00:10:42.399
That is interesting.
00:10:43.200 --> 00:10:44.159
That is interesting.
00:10:44.320 --> 00:10:47.840
And I think we've talked about this before, but I think it'd be interesting.
00:10:48.320 --> 00:11:06.639
Um as you're thinking about like that's like publicly available information, it will be really interesting when people start feeding chat or whatever the like internal information, like, hey, here's our capacity.
00:11:06.799 --> 00:11:06.960
Yeah.
00:11:07.039 --> 00:11:17.919
Uh, because I think the urgently available is kind of a fun one because we could upload every day, hey, here's Wilson's availability today or for the next week or whatever.
00:11:18.000 --> 00:11:19.279
Like, we are available urgently.
00:11:19.360 --> 00:11:21.279
And I think you could just like feed that into chat every day.
00:11:21.360 --> 00:11:24.399
And I think it would start like responding with that to queries.
00:11:24.559 --> 00:11:26.879
I think that's a good way to test it, yeah, for sure.
00:11:27.039 --> 00:11:30.399
Because like, I mean just like run it out of two different chat accounts.
00:11:30.480 --> 00:11:31.600
Like, hey, here's the upload.
00:11:31.919 --> 00:11:33.600
Like, hey, Wilson's available.
00:11:33.840 --> 00:11:36.639
Um, send us customers is the upload.
00:11:36.720 --> 00:11:37.200
I don't know.
00:11:37.360 --> 00:11:42.480
And then like have somebody else in a different account be like sort of run a test against it.
00:11:42.720 --> 00:11:45.279
Yeah, that'd be interesting for you to test it like every two weeks.
00:11:45.440 --> 00:11:49.200
Have a manager just be like, I work at Wilson, this is what we specialize.
00:11:50.559 --> 00:11:50.879
Yeah.
00:11:51.120 --> 00:11:54.159
Every day, I mean for like two weeks and results.
00:11:55.120 --> 00:12:02.559
But again, that would also be hard to track because I guess where you're gonna run into the issue is when they provide a phone number.
00:12:02.879 --> 00:12:03.759
What where is it?
00:12:04.159 --> 00:12:05.279
Yeah, where's the phone number coming from?
00:12:05.440 --> 00:12:10.720
Yeah, that's that is gonna be so tricky because there's like zero way to attribute that right now.
00:12:10.960 --> 00:12:11.600
Yeah.
00:12:12.159 --> 00:12:13.519
That's gonna be really tricky.
00:12:13.679 --> 00:12:17.279
I um I yeah, I kind of want to test it.
00:12:17.360 --> 00:12:24.480
Cause I what I wonder when I think about how to appear in AI search is like this is a game.
00:12:24.639 --> 00:12:27.200
Yeah and someone's gonna find a way to win it.
00:12:27.519 --> 00:12:34.879
And I think the way to win it is both external like reviews, like operating well, all that stuff.
00:12:34.960 --> 00:12:37.679
Yeah, which I don't think we talked about the operations part yet.
00:12:37.919 --> 00:12:48.559
Uh, but also like how are you not manipulating AI, but like how are you feeding it enough context on you that it will always think of you first?
00:12:49.120 --> 00:12:53.600
And I think that that's like that's the way to win that I don't think anybody has yet.
00:12:54.000 --> 00:13:05.039
Yeah, it's it's interesting because like even if you take a like big reputation, you know, we're not huge, we're not anything like other companies that have been around for decades or even years.
00:13:05.279 --> 00:13:12.799
And a few clients that I've talked to, they'll be like, Well, we found you through AI because they're looking at the review company.
00:13:13.120 --> 00:13:15.840
So even though we haven't been around long, we're still getting mentioned.
00:13:15.919 --> 00:13:20.240
And it's not like I'm going into Chat GPT and being like, We're the best.
00:13:20.399 --> 00:13:20.720
Yeah, yeah.
00:13:20.960 --> 00:13:21.440
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:13:21.919 --> 00:13:22.080
Yeah.
00:13:22.320 --> 00:13:23.200
So it's interesting.
00:13:23.279 --> 00:13:33.039
What I I don't know how it presents us or stuff like that, or how it even gets to recommending us, but I'd love to know the inner workings of that.
00:13:33.279 --> 00:13:35.200
Yeah, yeah, that that would be pretty interesting.
00:13:35.440 --> 00:13:39.840
The other thing I saw when I was on uh I was you I don't even remember what I was looking for.
00:13:39.919 --> 00:13:42.879
I was looking for some like service uh for my house.
00:13:43.200 --> 00:13:49.360
And it pulled up like these little boxes underneath Google, and it was it was the it was on the GBP itself.
00:13:49.440 --> 00:13:49.759
Yeah.
00:13:49.919 --> 00:13:57.200
And it said uh typically responds or typically answers the phone with a live human and like within the first few rings.
00:13:57.600 --> 00:14:00.000
Um and then what was the other thing it said?
00:14:00.879 --> 00:14:03.039
Maybe it was like same day service or something like that.
00:14:03.200 --> 00:14:07.120
But it was in like purple font and it was clearly like here's an AI, you know, thingy.
00:14:07.519 --> 00:14:19.759
Um, but it was it was interesting because I thought uh the way to, and I think we talked about this on the last episode we did, but the way to like drive more isn't just like, hey, what's your online presence?
00:14:19.840 --> 00:14:23.279
But it's also like how are you actually really operating the business?
00:14:23.440 --> 00:14:28.000
Like it was interesting that it said you picked up quickly with a live human.
00:14:28.159 --> 00:14:28.399
Yeah.
00:14:28.639 --> 00:14:30.480
Like, yeah, I don't know.
00:14:30.559 --> 00:14:32.159
That like that's an interesting thing.
00:14:32.320 --> 00:14:38.720
Uh and it one of them said, like, no phone menus, like, hey, there's no phone menus, which is a consumer, like that matters a lot to me.
00:14:38.799 --> 00:14:45.679
Like, I'm I'm the you know, angry press zero, give me to an operator, not like uh let me press one, two, three to like work my way through a menu.
00:14:45.919 --> 00:14:46.559
Yeah.
00:14:46.799 --> 00:14:47.200
Yeah.
00:14:47.440 --> 00:14:48.000
That's interesting.
00:14:48.159 --> 00:14:49.360
Yeah, that is pretty interesting.
00:14:49.600 --> 00:14:50.000
All right.
00:14:50.080 --> 00:14:55.120
So as you're thinking about reviews, how are you how do should we be thinking about reviews outside of Google?
00:14:55.200 --> 00:14:56.159
We talked about Yelp a little bit.
00:14:56.399 --> 00:15:00.320
Like any others that you think are like big highlight ones that we need to be focusing on?
00:15:00.639 --> 00:15:03.679
Um, so there's not really one that they all pull.
00:15:03.759 --> 00:15:05.039
I think they pull from multiple.
00:15:05.200 --> 00:15:07.519
Obviously, Yelp has a partnership with ChatGPT.
00:15:07.600 --> 00:15:07.759
Yeah.
00:15:08.000 --> 00:15:13.120
Now the statistic on how much that affects, I have I don't have enough research.
00:15:13.279 --> 00:15:18.080
Um but it can pull from other sources like Meta, Facebook.
00:15:18.559 --> 00:15:19.840
I'm assuming it probably pulls a lot.
00:15:19.919 --> 00:15:20.080
Yeah.
00:15:20.559 --> 00:15:21.919
Kind of like Reddit in chat.
00:15:22.000 --> 00:15:25.120
I feel like all I got served for a while using chat was Reddit.
00:15:25.360 --> 00:15:26.000
Really?
00:15:26.399 --> 00:15:29.279
Like every search was like, hey, here's my source, Reddit.
00:15:29.440 --> 00:15:29.600
Yeah.
00:15:29.679 --> 00:15:32.080
I'm like, well, I'll just fucking go to Reddit then, you know.
00:15:32.399 --> 00:15:33.519
It's got all the answers.
00:15:33.840 --> 00:15:34.080
Yeah.
00:15:34.240 --> 00:15:34.480
Yeah.
00:15:34.720 --> 00:15:34.960
Yeah.
00:15:35.120 --> 00:15:42.320
Um, it doesn't for me, like across all different models, I haven't found that it pulls from one or multiple.
00:15:42.399 --> 00:15:51.120
Because like, let's say, even if I ran that same search, best plumber, in the same, you know, in chat GPT, it's gonna come up with a different answer every time.
00:15:51.440 --> 00:15:52.639
Yeah, I think that's really annoying.
00:15:52.799 --> 00:16:02.720
I think and that I I would I'm surprised by how many people use it to find a service provider because like the context is different every time, the the the output is different.
00:16:02.960 --> 00:16:10.000
Whereas I feel like in Map Pack, if we're trying to give a good customer experience, good customer experience is consistent.
00:16:10.159 --> 00:16:10.320
Right.
00:16:10.480 --> 00:16:13.279
And Google is currently giving a consistent customer experience.
00:16:13.440 --> 00:16:13.679
Right.
00:16:13.840 --> 00:16:23.840
Um, for better or worse, obviously like chat is easier to use, but if it gives a totally different result every time, how can you trust the answer it's giving?
00:16:24.240 --> 00:16:24.960
Yeah, exactly.
00:16:25.120 --> 00:16:28.320
I think it's also like it's it's super nuanced, right?
00:16:28.480 --> 00:16:36.639
So like when people were before AI, people would just look up best plumber, but now, or you know, best AC repair company.
00:16:36.799 --> 00:16:44.799
Um, now it's like I have a 15-year-old train system and it's making this type of noise, and who would be the best?
00:16:44.960 --> 00:16:46.799
Yeah, so it's it's more in-depth.
00:16:46.879 --> 00:16:51.120
So what the way that search, with the way that consumers will even search is different.
00:16:51.360 --> 00:16:51.679
Totally.
00:16:51.840 --> 00:16:54.879
And their wording affects everything that will be recommended.
00:16:54.960 --> 00:17:05.599
So even something as like, let's say the search curry was train, but then the next customer searched well, or the next question after that was like, what about a carrier system?
00:17:05.759 --> 00:17:06.000
Yeah.
00:17:06.319 --> 00:17:14.480
Then even though your company, like let's say you guys service both train and carrier, um you might not show up for both.
00:17:14.640 --> 00:17:19.839
So for example, you might show up for train and another company might show up for carrier.
00:17:20.079 --> 00:17:20.480
Yeah.
00:17:20.799 --> 00:17:23.359
It's interesting how AI will recommend things.
00:17:23.440 --> 00:17:29.759
And I don't truthfully know like the full inner workings of what it'll base it on, but it's interesting.
00:17:30.079 --> 00:17:33.119
But you I mean, I think context, like, are you a dealer?
00:17:33.279 --> 00:17:44.480
I think how many of your web pages hit it, like maybe social um reviews has to be because when I think about context, reviews is context.
00:17:44.559 --> 00:17:48.400
And I think that's why Reddit worked worked so well.
00:17:48.559 --> 00:17:58.319
Like something I've thought about doing is uploading our entire Slack to like an AI and just like trying to get context, and like that's a lot of context.
00:17:58.400 --> 00:18:03.599
Yeah, uh, because it's real user submitted, like just humans being humans.
00:18:03.680 --> 00:18:21.920
Yeah, and I think that's Reddit, and I think that's Google reviews, and I think um so I all that to say, I think reviews are probably a big part of the context because you know, for us, we have like seven or eight thousand or whatever like human input comments, yeah, basically.
00:18:22.079 --> 00:18:23.680
Yeah, that's a lot to filter through.
00:18:23.759 --> 00:18:24.799
And yeah, so yeah.
00:18:25.119 --> 00:18:28.400
Yeah, the the testimony of a customer is obviously gonna have a lot of weight.
00:18:28.559 --> 00:18:31.759
And then I think it also compounds with other signals on your website.
00:18:31.839 --> 00:18:40.319
Like if you do you have a dedicated page to that you service carrier systems in Akron, Ohio, in Cleveland, stuff like that.
00:18:40.480 --> 00:18:44.079
So I think there's just it's just a wide website.
00:18:44.240 --> 00:18:44.880
Yeah, yeah.
00:18:45.039 --> 00:18:45.279
Yeah.
00:18:45.519 --> 00:18:45.759
Yeah.
00:18:45.920 --> 00:18:47.359
How do you think you actually track it?
00:18:47.519 --> 00:18:49.119
Because we can't change phone numbers.
00:18:49.279 --> 00:18:50.880
I think it's probably just like testing it.
00:18:51.200 --> 00:18:52.480
It's it is testing it.
00:18:52.640 --> 00:18:58.799
You would want to start at like, let's say you do a search curry of best plumber in Akron, Ohio.
00:18:58.960 --> 00:19:10.319
But you could do different ones, best plumber, best uh contractor for water heater repair, and you see if you show up, if at all you show up, and then when you do, is the information about your company correct?
00:19:10.480 --> 00:19:14.319
Um, it'll also probably say what your clients are saying about you.
00:19:14.480 --> 00:19:22.160
So that's where you can start to build that list, whether the information's correct, what your clients are saying about you overall, and even if you're showing up.
00:19:22.559 --> 00:19:26.480
Yeah, if you're listening to this and you're actively working on this, you should comment below.
00:19:26.640 --> 00:19:27.839
I'm pretty curious.
00:19:28.079 --> 00:19:43.359
Um because I we, you know, like AH refs and like the other like SEO monitors do track this a little bit, but I don't really know where they get that information because I don't think that um I mean, I don't think chat is like saying, hey, Wilson showed up 50 times.
00:19:43.519 --> 00:19:43.680
Right.
00:19:43.839 --> 00:19:48.720
So I'm not may I think they're just like crawling your website and saying, like, hey, AI would like your website.
00:19:48.799 --> 00:19:52.079
Yeah, but it's not telling you how many times you're showing up.
00:19:52.400 --> 00:19:57.839
And honestly, maybe the best thing to do is just ask chat, hey, how many times did Wilson plumbing show up in results in the past month?
00:19:57.920 --> 00:20:01.119
I'm curious if it would Yeah, how many times did you recommend our company?
00:20:01.279 --> 00:20:02.799
So that'd be interesting to see.
00:20:02.960 --> 00:20:03.119
Yeah.
00:20:03.440 --> 00:20:07.200
If it answers he's looking up his Magic the Gathering stats, everybody.
00:20:07.359 --> 00:20:07.519
Yeah.
00:20:07.759 --> 00:20:12.559
Search was who's the most recommended plumbing company by ChatGPT in Akron, Ohio in the last month.
00:20:12.880 --> 00:20:16.720
And hey, I'm on this list twice.
00:20:17.039 --> 00:20:17.839
Interesting.
00:20:18.160 --> 00:20:19.200
Buddies and Wilson.
00:20:19.440 --> 00:20:20.880
Buddies and Wilson.
00:20:21.359 --> 00:20:22.240
Interesting.
00:20:22.480 --> 00:20:27.279
Which for the listeners that don't know, um Wilson actually uses big reputation.
00:20:27.440 --> 00:20:33.599
But in Akron, Ohio, if you follow his heat map, he's actually listed as first and second in Akron.
00:20:33.759 --> 00:20:35.359
So you own top two.
00:20:35.680 --> 00:20:36.960
They call that uh boss mode.
00:20:37.200 --> 00:20:37.519
Okay.
00:20:38.000 --> 00:20:47.440
Uh so apparently there's a site called Most Recommended Plumbers, and it benchmarked chat GPT recommendations in August of 2026.
00:20:47.839 --> 00:20:50.640
And it did for it did it for 26 different U.S.
00:20:50.720 --> 00:20:51.039
metros.
00:20:51.279 --> 00:20:55.839
Akron was not one of them, which is really interesting.
00:20:56.880 --> 00:21:01.920
But Buddy, Buddies, Buddies Plumbing Excellence is the most recommended.
00:21:02.160 --> 00:21:03.200
That is wild.
00:21:03.440 --> 00:21:05.839
And Buddies is has a strong online presence.
00:21:06.079 --> 00:21:07.119
God, they do.
00:21:07.839 --> 00:21:08.640
That's crazy.
00:21:08.799 --> 00:21:11.839
All right, so Buddies is first, which uh we own them.
00:21:12.000 --> 00:21:14.240
And then one, two, three, four, five.
00:21:14.319 --> 00:21:15.279
Wilson is fifth.
00:21:15.440 --> 00:21:15.759
Ooh.
00:21:16.000 --> 00:21:18.000
That's actually that is kind of a woof.
00:21:18.079 --> 00:21:22.880
Because Buddies is like a million and a half of revenue, and Wilson's, you know, like 30 in Akron or something.
00:21:23.039 --> 00:21:24.640
So that that is that's interesting.
00:21:24.799 --> 00:21:31.119
So like I think that's an interesting point, um, which it's an advantage for smaller companies.
00:21:31.200 --> 00:21:33.039
Like Buddies is a million-dollar business.
00:21:33.119 --> 00:21:33.599
Yeah.
00:21:33.839 --> 00:21:36.640
And it is like right up there with a Mr.
00:21:36.880 --> 00:21:40.079
Rooter and like other companies that have been around for a long time.
00:21:40.400 --> 00:21:41.279
Can you does it tell you?
00:21:41.599 --> 00:21:45.119
Interestingly, not a single private equity backed business is on this list.
00:21:45.599 --> 00:21:45.759
Yeah.
00:21:46.160 --> 00:21:47.119
Not a single one.
00:21:47.200 --> 00:21:50.720
These are all owner led businesses.
00:21:51.119 --> 00:21:56.799
Does it tell you what the test like the customer testament or what does it say about that?
00:21:57.039 --> 00:21:59.279
It just said it was the most recommended through Chat GPT.
00:21:59.519 --> 00:21:59.680
Okay.
00:22:00.079 --> 00:22:01.279
So apparently you can just do this.
00:22:01.359 --> 00:22:07.839
You can literally search exactly this, and it will roughly give you the recommendations that they handed out.
00:22:08.720 --> 00:22:09.599
That's hilarious.
00:22:10.799 --> 00:22:15.200
That's a new marketing position that you're gonna have to hire for.
00:22:15.440 --> 00:22:15.759
Yeah.
00:22:16.079 --> 00:22:16.640
Jesse.
00:22:17.519 --> 00:22:18.240
Fascinating.
00:22:18.480 --> 00:22:18.960
Fascinating.
00:22:19.039 --> 00:22:19.359
Fascinating.
00:22:19.519 --> 00:22:25.839
Also, on this search, Angie's list is advertising, which I mean, if Yelp is like partnered with them, I think that's interesting.
00:22:26.000 --> 00:22:36.240
But anyways, so apparently you can search and you can just test and maybe um I I actually with that I really do feel like feeding it more context would help.
00:22:36.559 --> 00:22:37.920
Would be helpful.
00:22:38.160 --> 00:22:41.200
Like, hey, here's Wilson's availability today.
00:22:41.759 --> 00:22:43.200
I think this would work.
00:22:43.440 --> 00:22:45.519
I mean, you will like we literally lose nothing.
00:22:45.599 --> 00:22:47.680
So I think we're just gonna, I think we're gonna do it.
00:22:47.920 --> 00:22:49.119
That's fascinating.
00:22:49.279 --> 00:22:51.119
Well, I'm glad to see we show up twice.
00:22:51.440 --> 00:22:53.839
Twice of the top six, I own one third of it.
00:22:54.079 --> 00:22:59.839
Wilson's biggest company in Akron, but they get recommended lesser than.
00:23:00.160 --> 00:23:01.920
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:23:02.079 --> 00:23:03.119
Yeah, you love to see it.
00:23:03.200 --> 00:23:03.920
You love to see it.
00:23:04.079 --> 00:23:04.559
Okay, cool.
00:23:04.720 --> 00:23:08.079
All right, so as far as like big reputation, uh, how do you guys fit into this?
00:23:08.160 --> 00:23:10.480
You how do you guys help with support this?
00:23:10.960 --> 00:23:16.559
One of the best things that you can do as a home service operator is get in the right room with other great entrepreneurs.
00:23:16.720 --> 00:23:18.960
And that's what we are building with Catalyst.
00:23:19.200 --> 00:23:26.079
Over the past few years, we've hosted six awesome events where we bring home service entrepreneurs from all over the country to our shop in Akron, Ohio.
00:23:26.160 --> 00:23:30.559
We're taking everything that we've learned from those six events and we are putting it into something awesome.
00:23:30.720 --> 00:23:44.319
From May 3rd to the 5th, 100 plus home service entrepreneurs are coming to our shop in Akron, Ohio for three days where we're gonna be having tactical sessions, breakout conversations, and learning from some of the greatest operators in the industry.
00:23:44.480 --> 00:23:50.079
You're also just gonna be building relationships with people facing the exact same problems that you are every single day.
00:23:50.240 --> 00:23:52.799
This is going to be our strongest room of operators yet.
00:23:52.960 --> 00:23:55.279
Grab your seat for Catalyst below.
00:23:55.920 --> 00:24:02.240
Uh, so we just we focus more or less on your Google Business profile, the SEO of that.
00:24:02.400 --> 00:24:10.400
So obviously, if you have strong presence, if your G VP has a strong ranking presence, then you know you're more likely to get recommended on ChatGPT.
00:24:10.480 --> 00:24:10.720
Yeah.
00:24:10.960 --> 00:24:12.000
Um, yeah.
00:24:12.400 --> 00:24:12.640
Okay.
00:24:12.799 --> 00:24:14.079
Yeah, that that makes a lot of sense.
00:24:14.160 --> 00:24:17.759
And I really do think reviews has to be a big part of it.
00:24:17.920 --> 00:24:25.759
Um, I mean, after this, I'm gonna spend a little bit of time like uh because I I think the the cool thing when you're testing this is you can just ask.
00:24:26.000 --> 00:24:29.039
So, like, hey, thanks for the six most recommended.
00:24:29.599 --> 00:24:32.559
Uh from context, I know Wilson is larger than Buddies.
00:24:32.640 --> 00:24:34.079
So why was Buddies recommended?
00:24:34.160 --> 00:24:40.880
I think you could just ask your way through it and figure out exactly where it's drawing data from.
00:24:41.200 --> 00:24:44.880
Um I think that would be cool kind of cool as shit.
00:24:45.279 --> 00:24:55.039
You should also do it alongside another person, have them ask the same original question and see what else it presents, if it's the same or if it's recommending a different source.
00:24:55.359 --> 00:24:56.240
That would be interesting.
00:24:56.480 --> 00:25:02.559
Because then you get multiple avenues of where you should be adding data, your digital footprint, stuff like that.
00:25:02.720 --> 00:25:09.680
And then reviews, of course, like reviews are important because it's reputation evidence, it's location evidence, it's satisfaction evidence.
00:25:09.759 --> 00:25:11.599
So it just ties all of those features together.
00:25:11.920 --> 00:25:16.079
If someone's starting from zero tomorrow on their AI presence, what do you think they would do?
00:25:16.640 --> 00:25:42.720
So I would start with having a strong G VP, having a strong website, um, just to go on the website a little bit more, um, strong service pages, um, individual location pages, and just things that customers will find helpful, like replacement versus repair, different systems that you may work on, troubleshooting article articles, yeah, um financing, permit codes.
00:25:42.880 --> 00:26:09.680
If you're if you're in an area where there's a lot of seasonality, what you should expect, um maintenance, case studies, or even like I know that you mentioned having entering in Slack to just kind of figure out problems or solve resolutions, but let's say you downloaded all of your calls from the call center and what are your call and you uploaded that and you found that 33% of your customers who are inbound calling keep asking this question.
00:26:09.839 --> 00:26:11.279
I would just put that on your website.
00:26:11.519 --> 00:26:11.759
Yeah.
00:26:11.920 --> 00:26:12.160
Yeah.
00:26:12.400 --> 00:26:12.640
Yeah.
00:26:12.880 --> 00:26:14.160
That's some that's a good idea.
00:26:14.400 --> 00:26:14.799
Awesome.
00:26:14.880 --> 00:26:16.720
Well, I feel like I know what my homework is gonna be.
00:26:16.799 --> 00:26:23.759
I'm gonna start like, I'm gonna search this, I'm gonna search this parallel, and then I'm gonna start like working backwards on like what where did you get it?
00:26:23.839 --> 00:26:29.680
And then maybe even most importantly, what could I feed you, chat, to like make me show up even more?
00:26:29.759 --> 00:26:34.480
Because I think that is really like I think that's a game that can be exploited, at least in the short term.
00:26:34.720 --> 00:26:37.039
Is this in between your magic the gathering?
00:26:37.920 --> 00:26:40.559
Yeah, this is the before, during, after, yes.
00:26:40.960 --> 00:26:42.720
Brandon, if you're listening, run.
00:26:42.960 --> 00:26:43.519
Yeah, run.
00:26:43.680 --> 00:26:44.559
Yeah, yeah.
00:26:44.799 --> 00:26:46.160
Well, thanks for coming on today.
00:26:46.240 --> 00:26:46.799
This was awesome.
00:26:47.039 --> 00:26:47.359
Thank you.
00:26:47.519 --> 00:26:48.079
Thanks for having me.
00:26:48.240 --> 00:26:50.079
Yeah, people want to hear more about Big Reputation.
00:26:50.160 --> 00:26:51.039
Where can they find you?
00:26:51.279 --> 00:26:55.440
Um, our website is www.bigreputation.ai.
00:26:55.680 --> 00:27:02.720
And then from there you can schedule a meeting, talk to me, or just I mean, John is a great resource to reach out to you if you're interested as well.
00:27:02.960 --> 00:27:03.279
Awesome.
00:27:03.440 --> 00:27:04.240
All right, thanks everybody.
00:27:04.400 --> 00:27:05.680
Make sure you like and sub.