The 60-second patient journey: Is your practice AI’s final answer?

Michael: I want you to imagine it's Saturday morning. Someone wakes up with a sharp toothache. Now, 10 years ago, what would they do? Well, they would open Google, perhaps type dentists near me. Scroll, cut that part out, perhaps type in dentists near me. Scroll through a list of offices, open a few websites, look at reviews, maybe compare.

Three or four dentists and then decide who to call. But today something different is starting to happen. Instead of searching through a long list of dentists, more people are simply opening an AI and they're asking, Hey, who's a good dentist near me? Who should I call for implants? Is there a dentist opening right now or is there one open right now near me?

And within seconds, this AI gives them a recommendation. Not 10 options, often, maybe just one max, two suggestions, and many people simply call the one that was recommended. Now, if that sounds like a small change, then listen to this. I wanna share something really interesting with you. Researchers recently studied almost 20 million phone calls made to businesses across the United States.

They didn't study website clicks, not searches, but actual phone calls, and they discovered something surprising. And the company that analyzed this data is call rail. If you're not familiar with them, CallRail is a platform that helps businesses understand which marketing efforts are actually driving phone calls and real conversations with customers.

So when they studied almost 20 million calls across the business in the US, they were able to see something incredible. A small but growing number of those calls didn't start with Google. They didn't come from ads, they didn't come from social media. They came from AI tools like Chat, GPT, Gemini, perplexity, and Claude.

In other words, someone didn't search a list of, they simply asked AI something like, who is a good dentist near me? Who should I call for implants? Is there a dentist open right now? And the AI suggested a business and that person picked up the phone and called. Now, according to the data, about 0.0 73% of all business phone calls are already coming from AI recommendations.

That might sound small, but remember this research. Looked at 20 million calls. So even that tiny percentage represents millions of real conversations between customers and businesses. And here's something even more interesting. One. AI tool is responsible for most of these calls right now. And you guess which one it is Chat, GPT.

It accounts for about 90% of them. But other tools like Perplexity, Gemini, and Claude are also starting to send people to businesses, which means something important is happening. People are slowly changing how they decide who to call, and it's happening a lot faster than we think. Instead of scrolling through a long list of websites, most people are just simply asking ai, Hey, who should I call?

And then they trust the answer. So today I wanna talk about a couple things. How often this is already happening, why these patients behave differently than normal marketing leads, and what dental practices should start doing right now because scratch that part out because AI isn't just helping people research anymore.

It's starting to help them choose. And when someone asks ai, who should they call? The practice it recommends often becomes the only practice. The patient contacts search used to give people options. Now AI gives them answers and the business that becomes the answer is the one that gets the call. So let's dive in.

And most of this research, actually, all of this research is coming from callrail.com/blogs. And it's an article there. You can click in the show notes below. Um, I'm gonna link, uh, I'm gonna put a link in the show notes below to the article, the articles called What 20 million Calls Reveal about the Future of Customer Discovery.

Incredible research article. I'd recommend you, you dive deeper and look into it, but I wanted to make it into an episode. Update you on what's happening and how you can be ahead of the game. Okay?

All right. So let's get into it. Let's start with numbers. AI is already sending real phone calls. The call rail study analyzed almost 20 million phone calls made to businesses across the us and what they found, like I mentioned, is 0.07. 3% of those calls came from AI tools, meaning the customer asked AI a question.

AI suggested a business, and the person called that business. Now when you're looking at 20 million calls, even a fraction of a percentage represents thousands and thousands of real conversations happening between customers and businesses. These aren't clicks. These are actual phone calls, real people picking up the phone because an AI recommended someone.

And what makes this interesting is that we've seen this pattern before. Think back to when smartphones first started becoming popular. In the early days, very few people searched for businesses on their phones. Most people still used computers. But then something changed within just a few years. Mobile search, scratch that part out.

But then something changed within just a few years. Mobile search became the main way people found businesses Today, most patients searching for a dentist are doing it from their phone, and something similar may be starting to happen with ai. More and more people are beginning to ask questions like, who's a good dentist near me?

Who should I call for an emergency? Who does Invisalign in my area? Who is the best cosmetic dentist nearby? And instead of opening Google and comparing five or six websites, AI simply looks across the internet, gathers information, and gives one or two suggestions.

And when someone gets a clear recommendation, many of them skip the browsing phase completely. They don't read five websites. They don't compare 10 dentists. They simply call the one that was recommended, which means something important is starting to happen. The journey from question to recommendation to phone call is becoming faster and shorter than ever before.

And for practices that could change how patients find you in the future. Technology rarely replaces human decisions. It simply shortens the distance between a question and an action. And AI is beginning to shrink that distance faster than anything we've seen before. So, which AI tools are sending these calls?

Well, the researchers also wanted to understand which AI tools are actually leading people to call businesses. Because today there are several different AI tools, right? Some people use Chat, GPT, Google, Gemini, others use perplexity clawed. So the researchers looked at the data across 20 million calls to see which AI tools were influencing the cause.

Here's what they found. Right now, chat, GPT is responsible for the large majority of them. About 90% of AI influenced phone calls came from chat GPT. Then after that 6% accounted for perplexity, Gemini accounted for about 2%, and Claude accounted for about 1%. So clearly chat, GPT is leading the way right now.

But the bigger takeaway is this ev, every major AI is already sending people to businesses. Even though the numbers are still somewhat small, the pattern is already visible. People are starting to use AI the same way they once used search engines. Instead of typing a search into Google, they ask AI a question.

And when the AI gives a recommendation, many people trust that recommendation enough to act on it. Just think about it. How often do you do this now as opposed to Google, which is why this matters for dental practices because as more people begin using AI in everyday life, the number of patients who ask ai, Hey, who should I call for a dentist, is only going to grow.

So this isn't some future trend that might arrive years from now. It's already begun. And practices that understand it early will be in a much better position when AI becomes a normal part of how patients choose a dentist. Every generation has a moment when the way people choose businesses quietly changes.

First it was word of mouth, then it was Google. Now a new voice is entering the conversation, and that voice is ai. Now why these patients are different, we gotta understand it. Here's the part. Most need to really understand patients who come from AI recommendations behave differently than most patients who find you online.

Normally, when someone is looking for a dentist, the process looks something like this. They search Google. They open several websites. They read reviews. They compare a few offices. Maybe they think about it for a day or two, and eventually they decide who to call. It's a longer decision process, but when someone asks AI who they should call, something different happens.

They skip most of that entire process. Instead, it looks more like this. They submit a question, a recommendation happens, and then a phone call. Sometimes all of that happens in less than 60 seconds. For example, someone might ask, who is a good dentist near me? Who does dental implants nearby? Is there an emergency dentist open right now?

The AI searches through information across the internet, looks at businesses, reviews, services, and other signals, and then it gives a clear recommendation. Once the person gets that recommendation, many of them simply call right away. They don't open five different websites. They don't compare 10 dentists.

They trust the suggestion and act on it. That's why these calls tend to be very high intent. These patients are not casually browsing. They are already close to making a decision, which means the phone call often becomes the first real interaction with your practice. It's not the last step in a long research process.

Now it's becoming the very first step. That's important for practices to understand because when AI becomes part of the discovery process, two things start to matter even more. First, well being recommended by the ai, and second, what happens when that phone rings. Because if someone calls after getting an AI recommendation.

That patient is already expecting to speak to a practice that can help them, and the way that call is handled could determine whether that patient becomes a new patient for life or simply moves onto the next recommendation. In the past, patients searched until they felt confident. Now patients ask AI and confidence is delivered in a single answer.

Now let's look at why this matters for you. You may be wondering, is this something that really affects dentistry yet? Well, the study found that some industries are seeing this happen earlier than others. The industries currently seeing the biggest influence from AI recommendations include law firms, manufacturing companies.

Marketing agencies, and the reason is actually pretty simple. These are industries where people often ask questions like, who should I hire for this? Who is the best company for this job? Who can help me solve this problem? AI tools are very good at answering those type of questions. They look at information across the internet, reviews, websites, services, reputation, and then suggest a business.

That seems like a good match. And when you think about it, dentistry works in a very similar way. Patients ask questions like, who is the best dentist near me? Where should I go for my dental implants? Who can fix a broken tooth today? Who does Invisalign in my area? Those are actually exactly the kind of questions AI is designed to answer.

So even though dentistry wasn't the very first industry to see this shift, it fits the pattern almost perfectly, which means over time we will likely see more patients asking AI who they should call when they need a dentist. And when that happens, the practices that show up in those recommendations will naturally receive more of those phone calls.

Every patient begins with a question. For years, the question went to Google. Now, more and more often, the question goes to ai.

So what should you start doing right now? If AI is starting to recommend businesses, the natural question becomes, what should dental practices scratch that part out? The natural question becomes, what should dental practices actually do about this? Well, the good news is you don't need to do anything complicated, but there are a very, scratch that part out.

The good news is you don't need to do anything complicated, but there are a few very important things that help AI understand and recommend your practices. So let's go through a few simple ones. Number one, make sure your information online is correct everywhere. AI gathers information from many different places as online.

They look at things like your website, your Google business profile, online directories review platforms, and they use that information to understand your practice. So one of the most important things you can do is make sure your basic practice information is consistent everywhere. That means your name.

Address, phone number, office hours, all need to match across the internet. If one website says you close at 4:00 PM and another says five, and another says 6:00 PM that inconsistency can make it harder for AI systems to trust the information about your practice. The clear and more consistent your information is.

The easier it becomes for AI tools to understand your business. Number two, clearly explain what your practice actually does. Another thing AI tools rely on is clear descriptions of services. AI doesn't read websites the same way people do. It scans the content to understand what problems you solve. So if a website simply says, we provide quality dental care, that is way too vague.

But if your website clearly explains things like emergency dentistry, dental implants, cosmetic bene Invisalign, teeth whitening, now AI can easily understand what your practice offers. And when someone asks a question like. Who does Invisalign near me? Your practice becomes much easier for the AI to recognize and recommend.

The clearer you are about what you do, the easier it is for AI to connect you with the right patient. Number three, answer the phone fast. This may actually be the most important part because when AI recommends a business. Many people immediately call the business. They don't browse websites. They don't research 10 offices they call, which means that phone call may be the first real interaction that patient has with your practice.

And if the phone isn't answered, many patients will simply go back to the AI and ask, who else should I call? Then AI suggests another office. That office gets the opportunity instead. The CallRail research also pointed out that businesses that succeed with AI driven discovery tend to have fast response times, fewer missed calls, and sometimes after hour coverage for urgent needs.

Because when someone is ready to call, they usually want help right away. Four, make it easy for patients to understand your practice. Another simple thing that helps both patients and AI is clarity. Patients want to quickly understand things like what kind of dentistry you focus on, who your practice is for, what problems you help solve.

For example. Are you great with anxious patients? Do you specialize in cosmetic dentistry? If so, hyper focus on what kind of cosmetic dentistry do you focus on? Families? Do you handle dental emergencies? The clearer your message is online, the easier it becomes for AI systems and patients to understand why someone should choose your practice.

Technology doesn't reward the business that shouts the loudest. It rewards the ones that are the clearest about who they help and how they help them. And this is actually where tools like CallRail become really useful because they help practices understand where phone calls are coming from. Was it Google?

Was it an ad? Was it a referral or now. Was it an AI search recommendation and call role actually tracks this so you can see what is really driving patients to call your office over 220,000 businesses already Use it to understand which marketing efforts are actually producing real conversations with customers, and I'll link this whole report in the episode.

Scratch that part out and I'm gonna link, like I said, this whole report in the show notes below, but I'm also gonna put in the show notes below a free 30 day trial that CallRail is giving you right now. You can utilize CallRail for free for a whole month, see everything they have to offer. You can track everything.

See the incredible power it gives you and information and so much more.

Actually Leland scratched that part out. I'm probably gonna put in Paul Row ad separately. Okay. So after that, over 220,000 businesses already use it to understand which marketing efforts are actually producing real conversations with customers. And we're gonna put a link, uh, in the show notes below of this whole report.

You can read it and check it out yourself, and if you wanna see the data behind what we're talking about today, you can check that report out now, the bigger change that's happening, the most important thing to understand with all of this is the way people discover and choose business. Is changing. For a long time, the process looked like a patient searched for Google, saw a list of dentists, opened many websites, read reviews, compared a few offices, and eventually they chose one to call.

But AI is the beginning to cha scratch that part out, but AI is beginning to change that process instead of searching and comparing. The process looks more like this. They ask chat GPTA question, they get a recommendation and they call immediately. That's it. It's a much shorter path from curiosity to action, and when that path becomes shorter, the business that receives the recommendation often becomes the business that receives the call.

Now, this doesn't mean Google disappears. It doesn't mean marketing disappears, but it does mean that AI is starting to sit in the middle of the decision making process. They are becoming the place where people ask, who should I call? And when someone trusts the answer they receive, they often don't keep searching.

They simply act on the recommendation, which means. The practices that show up in those answers will naturally have an advantage because in the future, patients may not scroll through a list of 10 dentists. They may simply ask a question and whatever name the AI gives them, that's the practice they call.

So for years, the internet helped patients gather information. Now, AI. Is helping them make decisions and the practice that becomes the answer to a patient's question will be the ones whose phones ring first. AI is already helping patients decide who to call. So the real question for you is when someone asks ai, who should I see?

Will your practice be the one it recommends?