AI Search Is Changing How Customers Find Your Business

A wedding venue hands over a bottle of champagne before you have paid a cent. It feels generous, it feels memorable, and it also raises a sharper question: how much of our “rational” buying is shaped by small moments of persuasion? We start with a real vendor search, from shortlisting a dozen venues to making the garden versus beach call, then we unpack why warmth, patience, and genuine listening can close a deal faster than any scripted pitch. Along the way we name the psychology at play, especially the law of reciprocity, and how it can subtly reduce your desire to keep shopping.

From there we shift into the practical chaos of booking wedding suppliers when time is tight: photographers, DJs, acoustic performers, and everyone in between. We talk about how people actually research under pressure, leaning on Google search and Instagram, filtering by availability first, and only then judging quality. That leads to a deeper look at modern online marketing: why page one rankings are not always what they seem, how affiliate marketing and lead referral deals can shape the “best of” lists, and why the internet can feel less organic than it used to.

We finish with reputation management and business development lessons that apply well beyond weddings. Fake reviews, coordinated one star attacks, and review extortion can put small businesses in a brutal spot, so we discuss why you need diversified channels and consistent outreach. The closing rule is simple and demanding: every day without fail, make offers at scale across the platforms you can sustain. If you found this useful, subscribe for more, share it with a friend who runs a business, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway.

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Charles Liu: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charles-liu-042b9124/
Nathan Tripolone: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathan-tripolone/

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Transcript

Wedding Venue Hunt Begins

SPEAKER_00 0:00

You got married recently, didn't you? I did. I did. Correct. Congratulations. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. How many suppliers and vendors did you go through? Good question. In order to get one wedding up and running in Australia.

SPEAKER_02 0:13

Okay, so the wedding venue we looked at probably well, I'd say we inquired with about a dozen online. And we went and saw That's a lot. Yeah, I thought, well, I don't know. I I feel like so. I didn't think it was. Yeah. But we then went and saw two. And the first one we saw was on a beach. The second one we saw was more of a garden estate type venue. And the decision was, okay, do we want a garden or do we want a beach? And we said, we're at the beach pretty often, so let's go and do the garden one. So we ended up doing that and we decided, okay, we're gonna do it at a garden. So anyway, we found a place which looked good, wasn't too far from home, easy for guests to get to. So we said, let's go and have a look, let's go and chat to them. They did one thing which I think could be interesting to you, Charles, because they did one thing in the initial conversation when we sat down and had a chat about, you know, what are we looking for, what kind of day are we envisaging, that kind of

The Champagne Gift And Reciprocity

SPEAKER_02 1:05

thing. What's the picture in our heads? They did something which is very interesting around persuasion that the other venue that we saw didn't do. They gave us a bottle of champagne. So congratulations. Oh, that's off the bat. Like you haven't paid them anything. Haven't paid them a cent. Wow. The only thing we paid them was a visit. That was it. Wow. So we rocked up, had a chat, sat down, and they said, congratulations. Here is a bottle of champagne for you to take.

SPEAKER_00 1:27

And the feel good vibes would be off the charts at that point in time.

SPEAKER_02 1:30

Off the charts. And I know, you know, listening to a few people speak about persuasion and that kind of thing, that the law of reciprocity is either subconsciously applied or consciously.

SPEAKER_00 1:43

That's kind of unfair to be honest. I mean, if you go into a venue thinking of making a purchase and then giving me an extravagant gift, that's cheating in a way.

SPEAKER_02 1:50

Well, in a way it is, or in a way it's good marketing and good business. And obviously, by the at the same time, you know, the price was good, the people were great, the people that we were dealing with were fantastic. They were very, very welcoming, very kind, very genuine. Family business, communicative. There you go. Family business, long-running family business, and you know, ticked a lot of boxes, but at the same time, we didn't even look at another venue. That was it. So we we we saw the one at the beach, then we went to the one at the estate, and we said, that's it.

SPEAKER_00 2:18

Mine was the bottle of champagne from a Pearl League customer service. Were they at that stage even, Stephen? Or was it the bottle of champagne that pushed it over the edge?

SPEAKER_02 2:28

I don't think it pushed it over the edge, but it certainly helped stop us look at other alternatives. Because yeah, we we looked at the beach venue first and then we looked at the uh estate or garden venue second. And at that point the decision was okay, garden or beach, and we said garden, but then I think just the way that they've welcomed us, yeah, and the way that they were patient, they listened, you know, they weren't just talking over the top of us, they weren't just trying to sell, sell, sell. It's more about, hey, we get it, we understand that this is a stressful period of time for you, and it's also an exciting period of time, and you know, everything that they did, which it just stopped us. That's it. We're done.

SPEAKER_00 3:03

Did they did they ask any so-called strategically placed questions? Because it it is a thing in the sales world where you go, oh, this is a strategic question if I ask that, and I simply need to sit back and I listen. And then normally it would just kind of sell itself toughly. Did you feel there was a strategic question there?

SPEAKER_02 3:23

I didn't feel it, but that doesn't mean that there wasn't quite one, two, or three. Yeah. So they may have been asking questions based on experience. They know that you know these are the answers that our best types of clients will say, and these are the answers that the ones that are probably not gonna go with us will say. So yeah, there were probably some of those in there, but I certainly didn't feel it, which helps. Certainly helps in the decision making because you can smell, as I say, you can smell commissioned breath a mile away. Yeah.

Mapping Out Vendors Beyond The Venue

SPEAKER_00 3:48

So that that was one supplier, and then how many others? So they were the catering when you took care of that or something.

SPEAKER_02 3:54

Then you took care of that, yep.

SPEAKER_00 3:55

Okay, and then there would be photographers, yep. There would be limousines, potentially. Yeah, that as well. Potentially, what else would that be?

SPEAKER_02 4:04

And there's also music acts, a couple of different music acts. So we had an acoustic performer there as well as DJ. So split that up.

Rushed Research With Google And Instagram

SPEAKER_02 4:12

Both of them, I would say, were we rushing to get this done. So in terms of our research, it was more about who appears first. Google, second, third. Oh, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:21

I stopped with that with a research. What tool do you use? I think our audience would love to know that.

SPEAKER_02 4:25

Well, Google Inst Instagram with the two. Google Inst. And then also talking to other people. Didn't use AI.

SPEAKER_00 4:30

Would you have used AI?

SPEAKER_02 4:31

Probably now I would. Yeah. Probably now because of how good Claude is. I probably would have We definitely would have asked some questions around not around specific vendors, but how do you do this or what should we do about this? Not around specific vendors, but now I probably would. Yeah. But yeah, in in terms of, I suppose, from a business perspective, I was looking because we're in a bit of a rush, we left things quite late. I was looking on the first page of Google, going and inquiring with them, and quite often I'd get knocked back because they were already booked, they're already booked, they're already booked. So I thought, okay, we'll go to the second and third page of Google, go further back, just keep going until we know. So I stopped looking for, you know, what music sounds good. I'm going to find someone that says they're available first, then I'm going to dive into their music and figure out, you know, do I like them or don't I? So I sent out a whole bunch of inquiries for that. And I think, I actually think there's quite a lot of first page Googlers that are actually just passing the leads on, particularly, particularly with the

Affiliate Leads And Biased Reviews

SPEAKER_02 5:27

photography. Yes, yes, yes. So using it as a as just a channel, business development channel.

SPEAKER_00 5:32

There's a terminology for it. Oh, what's it called again? It's an entire industry where people get links because they're on first page of Google and they're not going to be able to do it.

SPEAKER_02 5:39

Affiliate marketing. Yeah, affiliate marketing, and they would have, you know, joint venture deals. And so what could happen is, you know, let's just say this photographer costs $10,000 for the day. They get they might get 20 inquiries. They can only book one in and do one. But why not make a thousand dollars each time you refer off to one of your other recommended vendors? All of a sudden your $10,000 day becomes a $20 and you've only done half the work.

SPEAKER_00 6:04

The internet is filled with affiliate marketing. I mean, I just the other day I was searching for just for basketballs, basketball recommendations, anything along those lines. And then they're just filled with affiliates that you know because it says, Oh, here's a review, and you want to purchase it, click here, and then it takes you to Amazon. Amazon seems to be dominating the space, and Teen Movie for that matter. And you just realize none of these reviews are organic reviews. They really tried to like the product. It's all a matter of whoever gave them the largest kickback and largest sponsorship. It's kind of ruined the internet experience. I could kind of see why people are wanting to turn to AI to do searching just because there's an alternate way to search.

SPEAKER_02 6:44

Yeah, yeah. I think yeah, authenticity in reviews, I definitely question them more today than I would have, say, five

Review Scams And Reputation Blackmail

SPEAKER_02 6:51

years ago. Why can't you go on Amazon as the seller, but then acting as a buyer, purchase the product five times under different accounts and give it a five-star review? Why can't you do that?

SPEAKER_00 7:00

Yeah, oh absolutely. Oh, reviews are very nasty. This is side topic and it's a nasty industry. I've heard that, you know, Indian core center, not Indian, core center scams in general. Core center scams, they moved on. Instead of merely calling up people to scam them, they have been bombarding small businesses or medium-sized businesses with one-star and zero-star reviews where possible. And they will go hundreds and hundreds of these reviews and then they'll contact these companies and say, I just gave you a couple hundred bad reviews. If you want me to take them down, pay me this amount of money. And if you imagine, as a small business, your health hostage, especially if you're a food and beverage one. Imagine you open up a restaurant and you get a review and you say one stars, a couple hundred thousand. They have no choice but to pay. And the platforms are not transparent enough. To have owners call them up and say, Hey, this has happened, please help.

Sponsored Message From Cubic Promote

SPEAKER_00 7:51

A very quick word. My name is Charles. I run an agency called Cubic Promote. We are the leading supplier of promotional products and uniforms in Australia and also in New Zealand. We supply it to 3,000 organizations on any given year. If you're looking for a reliable partner to supply you with merchandise for your office or uniforms for your organization, trust us, Cubic Promote. And now back to the show.

Bad Reviews Doxxing And Damage Control

SPEAKER_02 8:14

Yeah, how do you get rid of a bad Google review if it's come from a random that you don't know anything about? There's a law firm that I was chatting to a few years ago, and they were saying that they thought one of their bad reviews was from competitor. And on a hunch, they sent them a legal letter, and all of a sudden the Google review really. Wow. Which is interesting. And then there was another law firm that they had a very popular, they had a very popular social media influencer working as one of their lawyers. She was a lawyer and then decided to create a channel. It took off. And she posted something that, you know, 20 years ago you wouldn't consider as anything controversial, but there's certain sectors of society that now would consider it controversial. It was absolutely something very uh very tame, right? And all of a sudden her law firm started getting bang, bang, bang, all these horrible Google reviews about her. Yeah. They then started picking up the phone and death threading over the phone.

SPEAKER_00 9:09

Yeah, it's just very nice. There's a term another terminology, I think that's called doxing or doxing, internet doxing, where the person's details or where they work, where they live, their phone numbers are revealed on the internet and they they get contacted and on the receiving end of haters actually. Yeah, it's awful.

SPEAKER_02 9:27

It's very awful. But it's yeah, it's it's amazing what the internet can do these days. It is people with it with the power.

SPEAKER_01 9:33

Um, Charles, what's been happening in your world? It's the latest. Let's see what else I've got here. Time now it's probably a good time check. 1150.

SPEAKER_02 9:40

But we have when you get me on a roll or when I get you on a roll, or when I get on a roll or when you get on a roll, I just Well, how about this?

SPEAKER_00 9:47

We've got a last topic. Did you want to go or do you want me to go?

SPEAKER_02 9:49

No, you go, you go, you go.

SPEAKER_00 9:50

No, no, my last topic is snippets. Did you yeah, I'm happy for you to do your thing if you're if you got something more interesting.

SPEAKER_02 9:55

Well, I'm

Make Offers At Scale Every Day

SPEAKER_02 9:56

gonna I was gonna talk about one of my rules, the rules of business development. It's one of one of my quotes. Do you want to do it? Yeah. Are you sure? Yeah. All right, okay.

SPEAKER_00 10:03

I I I'll introduce you. Show me some other quotes that you've you've come across this week.

SPEAKER_02 10:08

So this one I've I've had it for a while, but I I stick to it. And it is every day without fail, make offers at scale. Every day.

SPEAKER_00 10:18

Without fail, make offers at scale. So elaborate.

SPEAKER_02 10:22

So what that means is so when you're in business development, you're trying to grow your business, and what it means is promoting your business and what problems that your business can solve, and doing that every day, making sure there is an offer there at scale every single day to a wide audience of potential customers. Now, to me, that's mandatory in all the businesses that I work with because you've got to be in the market. You've got to be in the market, and all the businesses I that I work with are trying to grow. And you've either got, there's two ways to do it. Obviously, you've either got a big following on social media already, and you make offers through there, and they can be very, they can be very covert offers, you know, very, very gentle, or you can go about it in terms of paid advertising. So having ads running every single day that are making offers, and whether that is a direct to purchase, whether it's a free offer for more information, might be a special PDF report that you've created, have something out there in the market and have an activity that's running every single day. And if you can do it at scale, it's ideal. So you don't have to touch it.

SPEAKER_00 11:21

And I'll add to that one, which is you want to do that, but you want to do that on every single platform and avenue possible. If you have a slot to speak publicly, yeah, take that spot. But at the same time, you need to run the ad words, and at the same time, you need to run the social media, and at the same time, you need to make the phone call. So everything needs to happen at the same time. It's a lot different marketing nowadays because of the sheer volume of fragmentation. Long gone are the days where I could simply rely on my business to grow consistently based on word of mouth. You need word of mouth and a few other things. 100%. Long gone are the days of, oh, as long as I do well in my business, everything will take care of itself. No, you need that. And and then the ends keep on adding up. There's always something new. It's AI wasn't a thing a couple of years ago. Going back more than a couple of years ago, TikTok wasn't a thing a couple of years ago. And you might be thinking these are just over the night type of forums or platforms. They're not. That's right. They're not. Exactly. It's not a small platform. Like most people may or may not have, well, most people may not have heard of uh Reddit. It's not a small platform.

SPEAKER_02 12:28

It's enormous. It will rank so high on Google. Every time you put a question in, it's going to rank high on Google.

SPEAKER_00 12:33

Even if it doesn't rank high, the sheer volume of users that just enjoy using it organically.

SPEAKER_02 12:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:38

I don't have the numbers in front of me, but it is worth investing.

SPEAKER_02 12:41

Off the chart. I think it was Dan Kennedy that said, Do you think Dr. Phil is the best psychologist in the world? Do you think he's the best? It's not just about being the best at what you do.

SPEAKER_00 12:52

I think it's the best showman.

SPEAKER_02 12:53

Yeah, Phil, yeah. But you know, in terms of it's not just about having a good product or a good service, it's about who knows that you've got a good product and good service. Yeah, great point.

SPEAKER_00 13:02

Great point. So we'll let that end the show. Sounds fantastic. Thank you for your time. Thank you, Charles. Thank you for your time.