Field Notes

I saw an ad promising to get ChatGPT to recommend my business. Here's the truth.

By Dell, certified electrician with 30+ years in the trades · October 2026

The other night an ad stopped me cold. A guy in a work van, looked just like me, promising he could get ChatGPT to recommend your business for twenty bucks a month. Guaranteed in thirty days.

I run a trades business, so my first thought was: is this real, or is it the same old song with a new name? I dug in. Here's what I found, and what every small business owner in Florence should know.

The ad is true about one thing

Your customers really have started asking AI instead of Google. Somebody needs an electrician, they type "who's a good electrician in Florence SC" into ChatGPT and go with what it says. If your name isn't in that answer, you don't exist to them.

Here's what they don't tell you

Nobody controls what ChatGPT says. It pulls from your Google Business Profile, your Yelp and directory listings, your reviews, and your own website. Get those right and the AI finds you. That's the whole trick.

Most of it you can do yourself, for free

• Claim your Google Business Profile and fill in every field.
• Make sure your name, address, and phone match everywhere online.
• Get a few reviews that mention your town and your trade.
• Have a website that names what you do and where you do it.

I set all this up for Handymandell myself. If you'd rather not fuss with it, that's a service I offer now through Handymandell Sites. But either way, don't pay somebody twenty a month for something you can mostly handle in an afternoon.