What to say to a client asking about AI when your agency doesn't offer it yet
There's a version of this scene that already has a script: the client asks whether they show up in ChatGPT and you arrive with the screenshots ready. That article already exists. This one is for the earlier, awkward scene: the client asks about "the AI thing" and your agency doesn't offer any of that yet. No service, no tool, not even a formed opinion.
The two instinctive answers are the two worst ones. Bluffing ("yes, yes, we've got that covered in the strategy") buys you two weeks and costs you your credibility the moment the client scratches the surface. And playing it down ("that's smoke, you focus on Google") is betting the relationship on the client not reading anything else about it — a bad bet: 76% of Spanish SMEs already use AI daily (II Hiscox Report, Dec 2025), and someone who uses ChatGPT every morning won't believe it's smoke.
There's a third way, and it doesn't require having the service set up. It requires four moves: acknowledge, set a date, check and decide.
Move 1: acknowledge without sinking
The line that works is honest and makes clear the topic is on your radar:
Key data
"That's a good question and I'll be straight with you: right now we don't offer it as a service. We are following it closely, because it's changing how people search. What I don't want is to answer you off the top of my head."
Notice what that line does: it admits the gap (impossible to catch you out later), positions you as someone who studies before selling, and sets up the next step. What it doesn't do is over-apologise. You're not "behind": the client's question is new to almost the whole market. Frequent ChatGPT use in Spain has gone from 4% to 28% in just two years (Funcas, III AI Survey, 2026); no agency service gets built at the speed that has grown.
Move 2: commit to a date, not a vague promise
"I'll look into it and get back to you" is where relationships with clients go to die. The alternative costs one sentence:
Key data
"Give me ten days. I'll prepare a basic check of how you show up today in the main AIs and present it to you along with what I'd do. No cost: it's work I need to do anyway to form a view."
The specific date transforms the conversation. You're no longer an agency caught offside; you're an agency that turns a question into a deliverable with a deadline. And the client, who probably asked because they read something or because a competitor is showing off, now has a reason not to call anyone else in the meantime.
Move 3: the basic check (one afternoon, zero cost)
You don't need a tool or prior experience for the first snapshot:
- Write 5-10 prompts the way the client's customer would. Not "do you know Sonrisalud Clinic?", but "best dental clinic in Valladolid for implants". Natural language, buying intent.
- Try them in ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity at least. The answers don't match across AIs: in the study we did on 9,865 Spanish SMEs, 91% only appeared in 1 of the 4 main AIs (full study). Testing only ChatGPT is half a snapshot.
- Screenshot everything with the date. It's your baseline and your presentation material.
- Test their 2-3 competitors too. The "your competitor appears and you don't" slide (or the other way round) is the one that decides the meeting.
- Note the errors. If the AI gives an old phone number or describes the business wrong, you have legitimate urgency to present.
With that you get to the ten-day meeting with something 90% of agencies don't have: data on the specific case. The presentation is short: this is what we asked, here you appear, here you don't, this is said wrong about you, and this is what I recommend.
Move 4: decide quickly whether to offer it or refer it
The basic check has a second purpose: forcing you to decide. Because the question is going to come back — if one client has asked it, the others are thinking it — and you can't give away an afternoon of manual auditing every time without taking a position.
Path A: you bring it in. You don't need to hire anyone or spend six months training. The basis of the work is quality SEO with a new layer (citable sources, structured data, prompt-based measurement), and the heavy part — querying the 4 AIs every week for each client, comparing, generating the report — is exactly what a tool automates. With Surfeo for agencies the cost of serving a client is €35-79/month depending on tier, on a base account of €20/month; equivalent services are being charged in the range of hundreds of euros a month, here are the real ranges in Spain. If you go down this path, the email and the meeting for offering it to your SEO roster are already written.
Path B: you refer it. If your agency is niche (paid only, design only) and you don't want to open a new line, refer with judgement: find a partner who does it, introduce them yourself and keep the relationship. Referring well adds trust; silence subtracts it.
The only indefensible option is path C: not deciding, answering vaguely and hoping the question doesn't come back. It will, and the second time the client may already have another agency's answer on the table.
Why honesty wins here (and it's not a slogan)
On this specific topic, honesty is a competitive advantage for a mechanical reason: AI answers are volatile and nobody can promise guaranteed results. The competitor who promises your client "we'll get you into ChatGPT in 30 days" is planting a disappointment with a date on it. You, who came in saying "I don't offer it yet, let me study it with your data", have built exactly the credibility that market is going to reward when the inflated promises start to fall.
Frequently asked questions
What if the client needs an answer now and won't give me the ten days?
Shorten it: the basic check fits in 48 hours if it has to. What you mustn't do is answer in the meeting itself without data. "I'd rather show you with your own case than answer with generalities" holds up under any urgency.
Don't I look bad giving the check away instead of charging for it?
You're not giving it away: you're paying for your own training with a real client's case, and buying the next meeting. Once the service is set up, that same audit will be your sales hook for closing new clients, at a different price and a different depth.
What do I do if the check comes out well and the client appears in all the AIs?
You show them anyway, with a warning: it's this week's snapshot, and the answers change constantly. The proposal shifts from "getting you to appear" to "watching that you keep appearing and that what's said is correct". It's still a service.
How long does it really take to be able to offer it as a serious service?
If you already do SEO: weeks, not months. The first month of service has defined deliverables even before there are results (what to deliver in the first month), and the tool's learning curve is short because it automates the repetitive part, not the judgement.
The ten-day check starts with the client's website and the free AI visibility test: in minutes you know where they appear and where they don't, and you've got the first slide of the presentation done.
