For firms that win most work through referrals
Do clients really use ChatGPT to choose a firm, if our work comes from referrals?
More of them every year, and referred clients do it too. A referral gives someone your name, and many then check it, along with the alternatives, with an AI assistant before they call. A referral used to end the search. Now it often starts a short comparison, and the AI assistant writes part of it.
- Business buyers now ask AI before they shortlist. In a 2025 survey, nearly two-thirds said they use AI as much as, or more than, search when researching suppliers.
- Consumers too: 45% of US consumers use AI tools for local business recommendations. The clearest sector data is from legal services, where four in ten US consumers say they’d use ChatGPT to research a lawyer, up from 9% in 2023.
- A referral is a name, and names get checked. The questions people ask before they call are “how do I choose” and “what does it cost”, and those answers usually come from someone else.
- Whether you’re a law firm, an accountancy, a consultancy or an IT firm, you can see what a referred client sees in ten minutes. There’s a self-check below.
Do clients really use ChatGPT to choose a professional firm?
Yes, and it’s no longer a small group, whether your clients are businesses or people. In a 2025 survey of 350 B2B buyers by Responsive, nearly two-thirds said they use AI as much as, or more than, traditional search when researching vendors, and for a quarter it has overtaken search. It covered buyers across industries, regions and company sizes, not one sector. For many business buyers, the first shortlist now comes from an AI assistant, not a search page.
Private clients are moving the same way. BrightLocal’s 2026 consumer survey found that 45% of US consumers use AI tools for local business recommendations, up from 6% a year earlier. The clearest sector data so far comes from legal services: in a survey of 1,110 US consumers by iLawyer Marketing, published in July 2026, 41.9% said they would use ChatGPT to research a lawyer for an important legal issue, up from 28% in 2025 and 9% in 2023. Half (50.1%) said they would use at least one AI assistant. We haven’t found published figures for accountants, consultancies or IT firms specifically, so we don’t quote any.
Two honest caveats. These are mostly US figures, and the surveys were run by companies that sell marketing or software. They also measure what people say they would use, not what they did. Treat them as direction, not precision. The direction is the same in every study: more people ask an AI assistant, every year, before they pick a firm.
We get our work from referrals. Does this apply to us?
Probably more than you think, because a referral is the start of the check, not the end of it. Think about what a referral actually gives someone: a name, and a reason to trust it. Then they do what most of us do before we spend real money. They look the name up.
For years that meant your website, a few reviews, maybe LinkedIn. Now it increasingly means typing a question into ChatGPT: “Is {your firm} good for {their problem}?” or “Who are the best {service} firms in {city}?” The second question is where the referral turns into a shortlist, because the answer lists names, and yours may not be one of them.
The legal survey has a quieter number worth noting. In 2025, 94% of people who used ChatGPT to research a lawyer said they would also check Google. In 2026, that dropped to just over 70%. A growing share of people take the AI answer without checking anywhere else.
None of this means referrals stop working. A warm introduction from someone they trust still counts for a lot. But the person making the decision now hears a second opinion, and you don’t get to see it.
What does a referred client ask AI before they call?
Mostly the same few questions, in roughly this order, whatever the sector.
- “Is {firm} any good for {my situation}?” Checking the name they were given.
- “Who are the best {service} firms in {city}?” Checking the name against the alternatives.
- “{Firm} vs {other firm}?” If the second answer named someone else.
- “How do I choose a {service} firm?” Working out what “good” looks like.
- “How much does {service} cost?” Checking if the quote will be reasonable.
In practice that sounds like: “Is {firm} good for R&D tax claims for software companies?” · “Best IT managed services provider for law firms in Dublin” · “{Consultancy} vs {rival} for operations improvement in manufacturing” · “How do I choose an employment solicitor in Manchester?” · “How much does an outsourced finance director cost?”
The last two matter more than they look, because the assistant’s answer sets the buyer’s criteria before they ever speak to you. The sector we’ve checked in full so far is legal, so here’s a real check we ran on a national UK law firm (anonymised). Across four AI engines, we asked the questions buyers ask before they have a shortlist:
| What the buyer asked | Questions | Answers | Firm named |
|---|---|---|---|
| “How do I find / choose a personal injury solicitor…” | 2 | 8 | 0 |
| Fees and costs (“how much…”, “no win no fee…”) | 6 | 24 | 1 |
| All pre-shortlist questions | 8 | 32 | 1 |
Checked 13 October 2026 with AEO Engine’s report tool · ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Google AI Mode · each question asked once per engine · UK-wide questions · names withheld
Want to know what AI tells people who ask about your firm?Free AI Answer Report, by email within 2 business days. No call needed.
Get my free report →This is a well-known firm. It was named in 10 of 16 answers when people asked for the best or top-rated personal injury solicitors. But when people asked how to choose one, and what it should cost, it was named once in 32 answers. The sources the engines leaned on were a legal directory, a lawyer-ranking site and a competing firm’s website. The questions that shape a buyer’s criteria were answered by someone else.
We’ve only published this check for a law firm so far. The questions, though, are the same in every sector, and an accountancy, a consultancy or an IT firm can be just as well known by name and still absent when a buyer asks how to choose one, or what it should cost. If you’d like the same check for your firm, the free AI Answer Report runs it across your services.
What happens when AI names someone else?
You don’t lose the referral automatically, but you’re now in a comparison you didn’t know about. The client arrives with a second name in mind, or a set of questions the assistant told them to ask, or a price range that came from a rival’s website. Sometimes they don’t arrive at all, and you never find out why.
It’s also not one comparison. AI assistants often disagree with each other. In legal services, where it has been measured, a July 2026 US study of 3,200 prompts by CLM Sequoia found only 2.9% of the firms named were named by all three assistants it tested (ChatGPT, Claude and Google AI Mode). Your referred client might use any of them. What one assistant says about you tells you little about what the others say.
This is the part referral-led firms find uncomfortable. You built your firm on people vouching for you. Now a system you’ve never checked is vouching for, or quietly against, you in the same conversation.
How can we see what they see?
Ask the questions a referred client would ask, on more than one assistant, more than once, and count. Ten minutes is enough for a first look.
| Question (use your client’s words) | ChatGPT | Gemini | Perplexity | Who was named instead? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| “Is {your firm} good for {your main service}?” | ||||
| “Best {main service} firm in {your city}” or “for {your type of client}” | ||||
| “{Your firm} vs {your closest rival}” | ||||
| “How do I choose a {main service} firm?” | ||||
| “How much does {main service} cost in {your city}?” |
Example for an accountancy: “Best R&D tax adviser for software companies in Manchester” · for a consultancy: “Best operations consultancy for mid-size manufacturers in the UK” · mark each cell named / not named · run each question 2–3 times, because answers change from run to run · use a private window so your own history doesn’t steer the answer
Three things to look for when you’re done:
- Does the first answer describe you correctly? Right services, right city, right kind of client. If AI can’t say what you do, it can’t recommend you for it.
- Who keeps coming up instead? The same one or two names across assistants are the firms the web agrees on for that question.
- Where does the answer come from? Perplexity and Google AI Mode show their sources. Directories, ranking sites and rivals’ pages tell you where the gap is.
If your firm is named for its own name but not for the “best {service} in {city}” question, that’s the gap a referral falls into.
Is this worth our time if we’re already busy?
If you’re full, your referrals convert well and you don’t want to grow a service line, it can wait. Not every firm needs to act on this now, and anyone who tells you otherwise is selling something.
It matters more if any of these are true: you want to grow a service that isn’t your best known; you’re opening or growing an office in a new city; a new partner needs work beyond their own network; or you’ve noticed referrals that “went quiet” after a first call. In each case, the person deciding is checking you against alternatives, and referrals stop at the edge of your network. AI doesn’t.
Either way, the check above costs ten minutes. Knowing what a referred client hears about you is worth more than guessing.
Questions partners ask
Do clients really use ChatGPT to choose a firm like ours?
A growing share do. In a 2025 survey of 350 B2B buyers by Responsive, nearly two-thirds said they use AI as much as, or more than, search when researching vendors. The clearest sector data is legal: in a US survey by iLawyer Marketing, published in July 2026, 41.9% of consumers said they would use ChatGPT to research a lawyer, up from 9% in 2023. Both are surveys run by companies that sell marketing or software, so treat them as direction rather than precise figures.
Do people who were referred to us still check AI?
Many do. A referral gives them a name, and most people check a name before they spend real money. Increasingly that check is a question to an AI assistant, and the answer usually lists other firms too.
We sell to businesses, not consumers. Does this apply to us?
Yes, and possibly more. In a 2025 survey of 350 B2B buyers by Responsive, nearly two-thirds said they use AI as much as, or more than, search when researching vendors, and for a quarter it has overtaken search. The survey covered B2B buyers across industries, not one sector.
Does it matter which AI assistant they use?
Yes. The assistants often disagree. In legal services, a July 2026 US study by CLM Sequoia found only 2.9% of the law firms named were named by all three assistants it tested. Check more than one, whatever your sector.
Can we pay to be recommended?
Not in the recommendation itself. Assistants don’t sell their answers. Some show labelled ads, which are separate. What you can change is what the wider web says about your firm.
Sources
- iLawyer Marketing, “What online sources do people use to research and find attorneys in 2026?”, survey of 1,110 US consumers, published 14 July 2026. ilawyermarketing.com (US data; stated intentions; the authors sell legal marketing).
- BrightLocal, Local Consumer Review Survey 2026. brightlocal.com (US consumers, all local business types).
- Responsive, “Inside the Buyer’s Mind: What Shapes B2B Decisions Today”, survey of 350 B2B buyers, 15 October 2025. responsive.io (the authors sell response-management software).
- CLM Sequoia (Custom Legal Marketing), “ChatGPT, Claude and Google AI Mode rarely recommend the same law firms”, data collected 28–29 July 2026, 3,200 prompts. custom.legal (US data).
Evangelos Pantidos, WhoAINames. Independent AI search advisor and AEO Engine Partner for professional service firms past €1M in revenue. I check what AI assistants say about firms before I say anything about them.
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