How customers find you has changed.

Yes, and it's not a small group anymore. A growing share of people now ask ChatGPT, Gemini, or Google's AI for recommendations the way they used to type a search into Google — "who's the best HVAC company near me." The AI hands back a short list of named businesses, not ten blue links. If your business isn't one of those names, you're not in the running — and you'll never know the customer existed.

They ask a question in plain language and the AI hands back an answer. Instead of scrolling results and deciding for themselves, the customer asks "who should I call for a kitchen remodel near me" and gets a few specific businesses, often with a reason attached. AI search doesn't show options — it makes a recommendation. The businesses it names get the call. The ones it doesn't are invisible.

Because AI assistants build their answers from what they can find and trust about you across the whole web — not from your website alone. If your business shows up inconsistently across directories, has thin or scattered reviews, or your site doesn't clearly state what you do and where, the AI has no confident reason to name you. It's not personal and it's not random. Most businesses were simply never set up for this — it's a new game.

You make your business easy for an AI to understand and confident-making to recommend. In practice: your website plainly states what you do, who you serve, and where; your business information is consistent everywhere it appears; you have genuine reviews on the platforms AI assistants pull from; and trusted sources mention you. This work has a name — Answer Engine Optimization, or AEO. It's the new version of what SEO did for Google, and it's the core of what Sparkul does.

Probably yes, because they're not the same game. Ranking on Google means your page beats other pages for a search term. AI recommendations work differently — the AI isn't ranking your page, it's deciding whether to say your name, and the signals it uses aren't the ones that win a Google ranking. Strong Google presence is a real head start. But it doesn't automatically carry over — AI search is a separate, wide-open front.

No — and any agency that promises they can control it is selling you something that doesn't exist. Nobody controls what an AI says. What you can do is strongly influence it: AI assistants recommend businesses based on signals they can find and trust, and those signals can be built, corrected, and strengthened deliberately. Sparkul can't guarantee an AI says your name — but it can make your business the obvious answer to recommend.

Sparkul helps local service businesses get found, get leads, and turn those leads into real customers — all organized around one funnel: clicks, to leads, to qualified leads. It runs through four offerings. AI Visibility gets your business recommended when customers ask AI assistants for a local provider. Paid Media runs disciplined advertising on Google and Meta to drive real prospects to you. Conversion captures, responds to, qualifies, and routes those leads. Growth Partner runs all three as one system — the flagship. Start with one piece or run the whole engine.

You can start with one. AI Visibility, Paid Media, and Conversion each stand on their own, and plenty of businesses begin with the single piece that fixes their most pressing gap. They work best together — that's the Growth Partner engine — but Sparkul would rather start where you actually need help and earn the rest than sell you a bundle on day one.

Local service businesses — the companies people hire in their area for a specific job. Home services, repair and maintenance, cleaning, contractors, professional and specialty services. The common thread: your customers are looking for a provider, a real lead is worth real money to you, and your own team closes the work. If one new customer is worth hundreds or thousands of dollars, how customers now find providers through AI matters a great deal to you.

No. Sparkul works with clients anywhere in the country — the work is done remotely and location is no barrier. "Local service business" describes the kind of client Sparkul serves, not where Sparkul operates. Your customers are local to you; Sparkul doesn't need to be.

Pricing is custom, and that's a deliberate choice, not a dodge. What a business needs varies — full visibility, advertising, and lead conversion is a different engagement than starting with one service — so Sparkul prices to the actual scope instead of forcing you into a tier that doesn't fit. One honest specific: you only ever pay Sparkul for Sparkul's work — ad budget is paid by you directly to Google or Meta, never marked up. The clearest way to get a real number is the free AI Scorecard, which shows where you stand and what's worth doing. From there you get a straight quote.

Most agencies sell you activity — impressions, clicks, posts, "engagement" — and leave you to figure out whether any of it became money. Sparkul sells one accountable number: qualified leads in your pipeline. Everything is built around that, and Sparkul holds itself accountable all the way through the qualified lead. It's clear about where that ends, too: your team closes the sale. Sparkul owns getting qualified leads to your door — and measures itself on that, not on activity that looks busy but never gets counted.

It depends on which work you're doing, and an honest answer separates the two. Paid Media can produce leads quickly — once campaigns are live and tuned, prospects come in within weeks. AI Visibility is slower and compounds: building the signals that get your business recommended takes a few months to fully take hold. The right expectation is near-term leads from paid work while the visibility work builds underneath it. Anyone promising instant AI-search dominance is overselling.

A qualified lead is a real prospect who is genuinely interested in what you offer and is a real fit for your business — not just any form-fill or phone number. The difference matters because "leads" is an easy number to inflate with junk. A qualified lead has shown real intent and matches the work you actually do. That's the number Sparkul holds itself to, because it's the one connected to your revenue.

The honest answer starts before you ever sign anything. The free AI Scorecard shows where your business stands in AI search at no cost — so you're making an informed decision, not a blind bet. Once you're working with Sparkul, the whole model is built on accountability: it measures itself on qualified leads in your pipeline, a real number you can see. If the work isn't producing, that shows up plainly and fast, and it gets addressed. Sparkul won't promise you can't fail — it promises you'll always know exactly where you stand.

Sparkul works month-to-month — no long contracts, no lock-in. The work should earn the next month, every month. You'll see clear terms in writing before anything begins, and if Sparkul isn't delivering, you're never trapped. That's deliberate: a model built on an accountable number only works if you're free to walk when the number isn't there.

Usually not. Most businesses can start with the website they have. Sparkul will tell you honestly if something about your current site is genuinely holding back results — a page that's too slow, missing information an AI needs, a contact path that loses leads — but that's a specific fix, not a reason to rebuild. Sparkul isn't in the business of selling you a website you don't need.

Less than you'd think. To begin, Sparkul needs a clear picture of your business — what you do, the customers you want, the markets you serve, and what a good lead is worth. Practically: access to the relevant accounts and a short conversation. Sparkul never asks for passwords, and onboarding is built so a busy owner can answer everything without a technical background. The one thing that stays with you is closing the leads — your team does that.

The AI Scorecard is a free check of how your business currently shows up in AI search — no cost, no commitment. It looks at whether AI assistants can find and trust your business, where your information is thin or inconsistent, and where the real gaps are. You get a clear read on where you stand and what would actually move the needle. It's the easy, no-risk first step — useful on its own even if you never become a client.

Start with the free AI Scorecard at sparkul.ai/scorecard — it shows where your business stands in AI search and what's worth doing about it. From there it's simple: Sparkul walks you through what the Scorecard found, recommends where to start, and gives you a straight quote. No pressure, no obligation. If you'd rather just talk first, reach out at sparkul.ai/contact.