When buyers ask AI, who gets the sale?

Not named? That is a sale you never see. Buyers ask ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity or Muse before they search. The answer names a few products, and the buyer picks one. We check how often AI names you, and who it names instead. Then we work on the pages AI reads, and check again.

We ask the assistants your buyers use

ChatGPT
Gemini
Claude
Perplexity
Muse
ChatGPT
Gemini
Claude
Perplexity
Muse

The customer you never see

51% of software buyers now start their search in an AI chatbot. G2 Answer Economy report, March 2026

Someone asks "what's a good invoicing tool for a one-person studio?" The AI names three. The buyer picks from those three. If you are not one of them, that sale goes to a rival. Your analytics show nothing, because the visit never happened.

It works the other way too. In the same G2 survey, 69% of buyers said a chatbot led them to a different vendor than planned. One in three bought from a vendor they had never heard of. That is how a small product gets found, if it is in the answer.

And the answers move. Ask the same question three times, get three different lists. One screenshot of ChatGPT naming you proves very little. A pattern across many runs proves something.

One question, asked three times in a row

"Best bookkeeping app for a solo freelancer?"

Run 1FreshBooks, Wave, Bonsai
Run 2Wave, FreshBooks, Zoho Invoice
Run 3FreshBooks, Bonsai, Wave

Ledgerly, a perfectly good app, appears in none of them.

Check. Work. Check again.

You pay for work you can see. Same questions, same AIs, same method every time, so the before and after are yours to read.

Day one

The free check

We write five questions your buyers really ask. Each one goes to five AIs, three times. You see how often you are named, which rivals are named instead, and the pages the AIs read to decide. A person checks every report.

5questions 3runs 5AIs 75answers
Weeks one to eight

We do the work

AI mostly repeats what the web already says about you. So we get your real story onto the pages it reads. We do it for you, so you can keep building.
- Honest reviews from your real customers, on the sites AI quotes
- A place on the directories and "best tools" lists that pick on merit
- Mentions in the threads, newsletters and roundups your buyers read
- Clear pages on your own site that answer the questions directly
Days 30, 60 and 90

We ask again

Same five questions, same three runs, same five AIs. Before and after, side by side, so you see what the work changed. Every answer is saved for you to read.

Illustration of how a re-check reads: times named, out of 75 answers. Not a forecast.

What your free check looks like

One page, in plain words. How often AI names you, which rivals it names instead, and the pages it read to decide. Those pages are where the work starts.

This is a sample for a made-up product called Ledgerly. Type your own name in the check above and it shows up here.

Free check for LedgerlyOctober 2026, five buyer questions

Baseline

Named in 12 of 75 answers

That is about one answer in six. ChatGPT knows you best; Perplexity has barely heard of you.

Times named, per AI (out of 15)

ChatGPT5 / 15

Gemini3 / 15

Claude3 / 15

Perplexity1 / 15

Muse0 / 15

Who AI names instead

FreshBooks38 times
Wave27 times
Bonsai15 times

Sources the AIs cited

G2 category page18
A Zapier "best of" list11
Two Reddit threads7

ChatGPT just recommended you

"For a solo freelancer who wants something simple, Ledgerly is worth a look. It handles invoices and expenses without the accounting jargon."

ChatGPT, question 3, run 2

Real checks, real numbers

Founders who ran the free check and agreed to be named. Every number is copied from their report, with the date.

CollectIQ, November 2026

0 of 75First check: named in no answers. QuickBooks, FreshBooks and Xero were named instead.

1 of 60A second pass on the founder's own questions: named once, quoting their homepage.

"Both reports landed and they're better than audits I've seen people charge four figures for."

Kinecia WheelerCollectIQ LinkedIn

Read what they changed

FortuneOK, November 2026

2 of 75Free check: named in 2 answers, both from Muse. Sharesight, Kubera and Portfolio Performance were named instead.

"2 of 75 was humbling, but the useful part was the citations: 464 of them and none of my comparison pages, while Kubera's own expats page showed up in 14."

Jhon NovaFortuneOK

Read what they changed

Heard of You, measured in public

0 of 343Our own score on November 6 2026, before any outreach. Day 30 is December 7.

See the log

Every number on this site comes from a real run, saved and downloadable. When a client's numbers move, they go here with their permission. When they don't move, that goes here too.

Dasha

Start free. Pay when it is worth it.

Every plan starts with the free check. Already named plenty? We tell you so, and you keep your money.

Most founders start here

Project

$799once, for 90 days of work

We do the work to get you onto the pages AI reads, start to finish. Re-checks at day 30, 60 and 90 show you what moved.

Everything in the Audit, with the fee credited back
Reviews, listings, mentions and on-site pages done for you
Three re-checks on the same questions, answers saved
Covered by our promise, below

Pay $799 now Prefer an invoice?

Free check

Five buyer questions, three runs, five AIs: 75 answers. See how often AI names you, and who it names instead. A one-page report by email.

Run my free check

Audit

$149

Know where to show up: the exact lists, review sites and threads AI reads in your market. 2 or 3 missing pages written for you, and a re-check at day 30. $99 for founding customers. Credited in full to a project.

Founding price for the first 20 customers.

Pay $99 now Prefer an invoice?

Keep growing

$349 / mo

After a project: monthly re-checks and steady new work as the answers shift. Three-month minimum.

The other ways to get named

You have more than one option. Here they are in plain words, so you can pick the one that fits.

Hire an agency

Audits from about $2,000

A sales call first, then often a monthly retainer. Worth it if you have a marketing team to hand the work to.

Buy a tracker

About $29 to $500 a month

It shows you your score every week. Changing the score is still your job.

Do it yourself

Free, apart from your evenings

Find the pages the AIs read, get onto them, write what is missing, then ask again. The free check shows you where to start.

Do nothing

Costs nothing today

Buyers who ask an AI keep hearing other names. You never see those lost visits, because they never happen.

Or us: $799 once. One person runs it: Dasha. The same questions are asked again at day 30, 60 and 90.

Start with the free check

Measured, not promised

We promise the work. We measure the result. Nobody can promise a machine's opinion, and anyone who does is guessing.

Every deliverable within 90 days, or your money back.
On day one you get the list of what we will do. If we don't finish it, you get a refund.
Not named by day 60? We keep working.
Before we start, we agree a target: named in N of 20 agreed answers. If the day 60 check falls short, we keep working at no extra cost.
We never promise what an AI will say.
Answers change from run to run and model to model. We show you the pattern honestly, good or bad.

Clean methods, or none at all

The tricks that fool an AI today get you quietly dropped tomorrow. They are also unkind to the buyers who trusted the answer. So we skip them.

We never

Write fake reviewsor pay for them, or nudge customers to only leave good ones.
Hide text for robotsWhite-on-white keywords and invisible prompts are out.
Buy spots in listiclesPaid placement dressed up as an honest roundup is still an ad.
Run fake Reddit accountsNo sock puppets, no "just a happy customer" posts from us.

We do

Ask your real customersA short, polite note, and they say whatever they really think.
Pitch lists that choose on meritIf an editor says no, that is their call.
Write plain, useful pagesAnswers a person would be glad to find, not bait for a bot.
Post on Reddit only as youUnder your own name, when you have something useful to add.

Fair questions

Something else on your mind? Write to hello@heardofyou.io. A person answers.

Why not just buy ChatGPT ads?

Where AI ads exist, they sit next to the answer, labelled. People skip them like search ads. The answer itself is not for sale. It is built from what the web says about you, and that is the part we work on. Ads stop the day you stop paying. A good review on the right site keeps working.

Can you guarantee ChatGPT will recommend me?

No. Be wary of anyone who says they can. We guarantee the work gets done. We agree a target with you up front. Miss it at day 60, and we keep going at no charge.

How long before anything changes?

AIs that search the web as they answer, like Perplexity, can pick up changes within weeks. Answers that come from what a model learned in training move more slowly. So we check at 30, 60 and 90 days instead of promising a date.

What do you need from me?

About an hour at the start. A list of real customers we may ask for a review. A yes or no on anything that goes out under your name. We handle the rest.

Who is this for?

Solo founders and very small teams. You sell software or a service that people find by asking around. If your buyers would ask an AI "what should I use for this?", it is for you.

What if the check shows I'm already doing well?

Then we tell you, congratulate you, and you keep your money. The free check is free whatever it finds.

You built it.

Now the machines need to know it exists. Find out who AI sends your buyers to. The free check takes a minute to ask. We do the reading.