Last week, we explored how AI in B2B sales has drastically changed your buyer’s journey. We learned that 90% of B2B buyers use tools like ChatGPT or Claude to research vendors. We also learned that B2B buyers are putting their specific needs into AI engines which do the research and create their shortlist.
Buyers’ shortlists are complete before they ever visit your website or anyone else’s. In fact, since Google launched AI overviews, zero-click searches have increased from 56% to 69%. So, how do you make the shortlist?
WHAT IS SHORTLISTING?
There are two ways your prospects may come across you using AI engines. The first is through citations. That’s likely most of the information you’ve read about how to come up in AI search. Your potential buyers are asking questions. For example, someone might query, “What is a parallel dialer?” When I type this into Google and look at the AI response, I see the sources from which Gemini got its answers—Nooks, Orum, Nextiva, Trellus, and Koncert.
I get my answer to what a parallel dialer is, and these companies get their name in front of my eyeballs. It’s a good way for them to build awareness and position themselves as experts in the field. This is not, however, a shortlist. Right now, I’m still looking for general information. Is it important to come up in these citations? Absolutely. You can learn more about how to appear in these kinds of AI searches here.
AI shortlisting is what comes next. I’ve done my research. I’m now convinced that I need my team to use a parallel dialer. Now I need to figure out which parallel dialer is best for me. This time, I’m searching for “Best parallel dialer for quickly growing startup that integrates with HubSpot.” Gemini tells me that my best bets are Orum and Salesfinity, and that Kixie, Trellus, and Minari are others I may want to consider. This, my friends, is a shortlist. What happened to Koncert and Nooks? I don’t know, and I don’t really care, because I wanted my AI engine to narrow down my choices to the ones that are best for me based on my specific needs.
WHERE DOES THE SHORTLIST COME FROM?
Where did this shortlist come from? How do answer engines answer such specific questions? Part of the vendor list comes from training data. You have no power over that and, unless you’re a large, widely known company, you’re not included. For the non-big guns, the $5M to $15M B2B companies out there, you’re being found through real-time discovery. Will AI engines find the information they need on your site to answer the questions people are asking and land you on the shortlist?
You still want your website to serve as a destination for people, but you also want to start thinking about it as a database. AI engines are visiting your site on the buyer’s behalf, looking for data that answers questions to determine whether you’re a good match for what the buyer is looking for.
These are the questions AI engines are using your website database to answer on behalf of the buyer:
- Does this company solve the specific problem that I have?
- Do they serve other companies that are like mine?
- Are they credible? Can I trust them?
- Can they work with my existing tech stack?
- What do implementation and execution look like?
- What is their ROI or real-world impact?
Thinking of your website as a database helps you come up in AI citations as well. AI engines aren’t looking at your blog or case study holistically. Instead, they look for passages, or chunks of information that they can use to answer specific questions. It’s looking for clean, efficient answers in 300-or-so-word snippets. Can it find the data it’s looking for in your snippet database?
GETTING SHORTLISTED
In order to make it onto the shortlist, you need to feed AI engines the kind of information they are looking for in the format they prefer. Can they go to your website and quickly decipher what you are, what you do, and how you do it?
We’ve all seen the company websites with lots of jargon that leave you scratching your head and wondering, “What do you do?” Vague statements like “software for data-driven operations” or “where powerful AI meets practical business solutions” aren’t going to be well understood by AI search engines. They also aren’t well understood by humans, but so far, that hasn’t been enough of an incentive for companies to stop the ridiculousness.
Keep it simple. [[Company Name]] is a [[Category]]. As in, Maestro Group is a sales consultancy. Semrush is an SEO tool. Salesforce is a customer relationship management (CRM) platform. Next, what do you do? Maestro Group helps you sell more, faster through sales training, coaching, and go-to-market strategy services. Semrush helps companies measure online brand visibility. Salesforce helps you build and improve your customer relationships. This isn’t rocket science. (Unless, of course, you’re messaging for NASA. NASA is America’s space research agency. NASA explores the unknown in air and space.) If your purpose and value proposition are not clear to AI engines, you’ll be left off the shortlist.
Brands have to optimize their online content to become the answer AI is looking for. Think about the questions your ideal clients are asking and create the content that answers those questions. Craft succinct, citation-friendly pages, not only about your products and services, but also on pricing, integrations, security, and ROI. Use structured data and FAQs. Update your content quarterly with recent stats and customer examples. Finally, don’t do anything that could potentially confuse answer engines. Keep product and package names consistent across ecosystems. Use consistent messaging across channels.
B2B buying behavior has changed. What was once an arduous task of creating a vendor shortlist is now quick and easy for buyers. If you know what you need, AI engines can do the research for you. You may have noticed that prospects can now get quite specific in who they are and what they need when searching for a vendor. That means you need to get specific as well. That’s next time!
Are you interested in the science of higher sales? We’re on that shortlist! Reach out at mastery@maestrogroup.co to learn more.