Yep and it’s no joke…
Get this. You spend good money on paid traffic. You expect phone calls and new patients.
Then what?
Crickets. Goose egg. Zippo.
What happened?
Your AI optimized competitor has taken your leads. The prospects called them and not you.
How’s that possible, especially since it was your ad?
It works like this. Your prospect has been thinking about dental implants for a while. Those missing teeth have been gnawing at them (so to speak) for years and they’re finally ready to make the move.
They see your ad for Dental Implants but they don’t type on their device anymore. They don’t click on things anymore. That is so 2024.
What they do is talk to their AI companion, on their phone and computer. They see the ad, they get reminded about the dental implants they want, they pay no attention to the name of your practice and the conversation with AI sounds like this:
“Hey AI (tool of choice—ChatGPT, Gemini, Grok, etc.) I’ve been thinking of getting some implants to finally fix my teeth. I’m kind of scared and need someone gentle with a lot of experience. Who do you recommend?”
AI responds: “Sure, I can help you with that. Let me take a look for you. Alright, you have a few options. The one that comes up first is Your Top Competitor Dental Care. They’ve been around for 28 years and have a lot of good reviews. It looks like they also offer a free consultation. Would you like to know more about them?”
Prospect responds: “No thanks. That’s all I need. Bye for now.”
AI closes the conversation: “You’re welcome. I’m here to help anytime.”
Prospect then speaks again: “Hey Siri, call Your Top Competitor Dental Care.”
And you’re toast. Your expensive ad just promoted your competition.
How in the world is that possible? That is so wrong.
Maybe. It’s also so very real. If you are not dialed in for AI and Your Top Competitor has done the work to optimize for AI engines, they are going to be recommended before you every time someone queries AI about the service promoted in your ad.
This is a wakeup call. It is happening right now, every day.
Here’s the good news. This is so bleeding edge new that most dental practices have no clue about it and have done virtually nothing to put themselves ahead of you. You have a chance to take a dominant market position if you act quickly.
You can be the practice that takes their prospects without them ever knowing.
Make no mistake. In the near future everyone will get clued in and scramble to react.
Guess what? If you’re first, you won’t even have a chance to thank all those folk who unknowingly promote for you. They will call your practice instead of theirs and you’ll never know where they came from.
It’s almost unfair.
All thanks to AI.