Before a prospect ever lands on your website or schedules an introductory call, an invisible filter may decide whether your firm even deserves to be in the running.

Today's B2B buyers are bypassing traditional search bars and asking AI platforms like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini to curate custom shortlists of top service providers. This shift means the machine is secretly screening, evaluating, and filtering your firm long before you ever know that lead exists.

In this episode of Breaking BizDev, John and Mark explore what this behavioral shift means for marketing a professional services firm. They are joined by guest voices from SEO specialist Geoff Kerbis (Director of SEO at Assembly Global) and Austin McNair (Head of Marketing at Hinge Marketing) to break down how Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) is fast-forwarding the buyer's journey and what you must do to ensure your brand actually shows up.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• How AI search tools help buyers bypass the first 63% of the buying journey
• How a decade-old employee review can warp your digital brand
• Why your marketing team must focus on earning brand mentions and citations.
• Which platform is the most reputable, highly cited source domain for professional services AI engines
• Technical, practical steps you can take today, like adding organization schema on your website backend and claiming your Google Search Profile.

CHAPTERS:

00:00 Welcome
04:15 SEO vs GEO
15:00 Measuring AI Share of Voice
17:04 How Firms Should Evolve Their Marketing Strategy
25:20 The Role of Thought Leadership

Catch the full interviews with Geoff and Austin on the Breaking BizDev YouTube Channel

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