Think back to the last time you made a big purchase... you probably spent hours researching before talking to a salesperson. Your buyers are doing the same. And now, much of that research is happening on AI platforms like ChatGPT, not Google. AI recommends the companies it trusts and knows best, the ones consistently publishing helpful content. To be seen as a trusted source, you need to produce a steady stream of articles and videos every week that answer real buyer questions that influence buying decisions. If you’re not consistently creating and sharing content that addresses your pricing, problems, and comparisons (we call these The Big 5), you’ll struggle to get picked up by AI.

YouTube is the second-largest search engine and one of the key places AI pulls from when choosing which companies to recommend. In fact, 70% of people use it to research before making a purchase. What this means is, your buyers are watching YouTube to decide who to trust, and video builds trust in ways written words cannot. If you’re not treating your YouTube presence like a core part of your digital strategy, you’re losing visibility, trust, and future buyers before they ever reach your website.

Short-form video is exploding across social platforms and is a major factor in how brands are discovered and recommended today. These quick, engaging videos meet people where they are and deliver answers fast in a world of short attention spans. Posting short-form content regularly also sends powerful relevance signals to AI. If you’re not showing up in social feeds, you'll be invisible to AI and to your buyers.

As mentioned in question 1, there are specific topics that influence the buying decision most called “The Big 5”. They include topics such as how much something costs, how it compares to other options, and what could go wrong. Those that are researching this information are the same people that are ready to make a purchase. If you’re avoiding these topics, you're losing the trust of serious buyers and staying hidden from AI recommendations that prioritize helpful, transparent content. When you discuss these topics openly and transparently online and on your website, that’s where the money is made.

One of the fastest ways to build trust with a buyer is to say, “This might not be right for you.” When you’re clear about who you’re a great fit for, and who you’re not, you make it easier for buyers to make confident decisions. That same clarity also trains AI to understand your ideal customer, which increases the chances you’ll be recommended to the right people. Think about when you're in the market for a product/service and the messaging about who it's really for is overly vague. You become skeptical, and AI does too.

Before someone ever talks to your sales team, they’ve often spent hours doing their own research. If your website doesn’t make that research easy, they’ll move on to someone who does. A well-organized learning center shows buyers, and AI, that your business is committed to teaching. Over the next 5 years, the brands with deep, helpful learning centers will be the ones buyers trust and AI recommends first.

For example: Does your website offer self-service tools, such as pricing calculators, interactive recommendation tools, and other types of assessments? According to Gartner, 75% of buyers would prefer to have a “seller free” sales experience. In other words, they don’t want to work with a salesperson until they feel they’re ready. Self-service tools like pricing calculators and assessments help them explore on their own terms. These tools also position your brand as helpful and relevant to AI.

We’re driving home the importance of discussing cost/price because this is what buyers care about most before making a purchase decision. Think about when you're in the market for a product/service. You always want to know, "How much is this going to cost me?", right? Yet pricing is still one of the most avoided topics in business. If your website doesn’t help buyers understand what drives cost, how you compare to others, or where your prices fall, they’ll either assume you’re hiding something or go get answers elsewhere (like your competitors). Talking openly about price builds trust and speeds up buying decisions. It also gives AI the kind of clear, helpful content it needs to recommend your business over others.

Most buyers won’t just take your word for it anymore. They want to see who they’d be working with, how things actually work, and what to expect before they ever reach out. Video helps people feel like they know you, which builds trust in ways text alone can’t. It also tells AI that your site is helpful, human, and worth recommending. If your key pages are missing video, you’re likely missing connection, clarity, and sales conversions.

The leads you drive from your marketing are only as good as your ability to close them. That’s why the right sales activities are critical to the long-term success of your business. Using content before sales calls positions your sales team as trusted advisors and educates your buyers earlier in the sales process, allowing bad-fit leads to disqualify themselves sooner and good-fit leads to close faster.

A documented process brings consistency, accountability, and clarity. The most successful sales teams are the ones that ensure everyone on their sales team is following the same process, keeping it sharp and relevant to the buyer’s needs and the realities of the market.

Think about how much more connected you feel when someone sends you a quick video instead of a plain email. It feels personal. Human. Real. That’s exactly how your prospects feel too. 1:1 video helps buyers get to know your team and feel more confident saying yes. It also saves your salespeople time and helps your brand stand out. The more you show up like this, the more trust you build, and the more likely both buyers and AI are to pay attention.

Buyers don’t want to hear from a brand, they want to hear from a real person who understands their problems. That’s why your sales team should be in your videos. They’re the ones who talk to buyers every day, hear their concerns, and know what helps them move forward. When your salespeople show up on camera as educators, not just sellers, you build trust faster and create content that both buyers and AI see as authentic, helpful, and worth engaging with.

This is the outcome every business today should be aiming for. For many companies, web traffic from organic search is sharply declining. Google is not working like it used to. The future of how businesses are getting seen and chosen is in a world where AI is the gatekeeper. If AI isn’t recommending your brand, you’re falling behind in visibility, trust, and lead generation.

If you don’t have a CRM, it’s nearly impossible to run a scalable sales and marketing strategy built to last. You can’t track leads, see what’s working, or understand what buyers are actually doing. And as AI becomes more powerful, that missing data becomes a much bigger problem. Clean, centralized data is what allows AI agents to step in to automate tasks, personalize outreach, and help your sales team focus on real conversations. Without a solid CRM in place, you’re stuck guessing while others move quickly with data-driven decisions.

If the data in your CRM is inconsistent or incomplete, you can’t personalize outreach, trust what your reports are telling you, or leverage AI to automate effectively. Over time, small habits like skipping notes or logging deals incorrectly create big problems. Clean data keeps your team organized and is what powers the AI tools that will feed you data and shape how you grow in the years ahead.

If you don’t know what’s working, you can’t grow with confidence. AI tools today can help you spot patterns, optimize campaigns, and make faster, smarter decisions, but only if you're using them. The businesses that pull ahead in the next few years will be the ones using AI to measure, learn, and adapt in real time.

As we mentioned earlier, creating helpful, consistent content is essential for building trust with your buyers and for getting recommended by AI, but that doesn't mean it has to be time-consuming. AI tools can help you write, brainstorm, edit, and repurpose content faster than ever, freeing you up to focus on strategy and quality. If you haven’t explored or tested these tools in the last 6 months, you’re likely working harder than you need to. The companies that will grow fastest in the next 5 years will create more content AND use AI to do it faster.

As you’ve probably learned by now from taking this assessment, the way buyers make purchase decisions has changed and more and more buyers are doing far more research on their own before ever reaching out to a company. That means marketing’s importance in your organization will only grow, but great marketing only works when leadership believes in it. The tone is always set at the top. If leadership isn’t all in, your company won’t keep up with how fast the buying journey is changing.

Your sales team hears buyer questions, fears, and objections every single day. That insight is critical, but only if it’s shared. When sales and marketing meet weekly, they stay aligned on what buyers actually care about, which leads to content that resonates and converts. It also creates consistency in your messaging, which not only helps buyers feel understood but helps AI recognize your brand as a clear and trusted voice.

By now, you’ve realized just how much content it takes to stay visible and build trust. The companies winning today aren’t outsourcing this. They’ve built marketing teams in-house that can create content regularly, both written and video, in real time. When you have people in-house who understand your brand and your buyers, your content is faster, more authentic, and more aligned with what actually works. It’s also what gives AI the steady stream of signals it needs to recognize and recommend your business regularly.

AI is evolving fast, and so is the way buyers expect to interact with your brand. The companies that keep learning, experimenting, and adapting are the ones that will stay visible, trusted, and competitive. What worked last year won’t work next quarter, and training is what keeps your team fast, efficient, and ready for what's next.

AI can be a powerful force for growth or a source of confusion and risk, depending on how it’s used. Without a clear, documented process, teams often use it inconsistently or carelessly. This can lead to mixed results, "non-human" sounding messaging, lost time, or even serious issues like confidential data slipping through the cracks. When you have a shared approach to how, when, and where AI is used, you get better results, reduce risk, and build trust inside your company and with your customers.