Your buyers stopped searching the way you write for. They ask an answer engine now, and it either quotes you or it does not.
AEO and GEO are not SEO with new keywords. The machine answering your buyer only repeats what it can source, in the buyer's own words. So the strategy starts where it always should have: understanding the customer well enough that the answer engine has something true, and yours, to quote.
The picture, before the words.
A handful of sales-engagement platforms offer a Gmail add-on. Buyers usually weigh the big incumbents on price and integrations, then shortlist two or three of the category leaders.
Most positioning still writes for the search box and the human skimming a results page. But buyers changed how they look for you. They ask an answer engine, and it returns one synthesized answer that either includes you or does not.
If your positioning is not built to be quoted by the machine answering your buyer, you are not ranked low. You are absent, at the exact moment of intent. And you cannot keyword your way out of it: the engine repeats what it can source in the buyer's own language, so the work runs backward, from understanding the customer to writing the thing the machine will quote.
Solve the seam, wire the stack, split the drag from the judgment.
The same inputs that build a real ICP, customer interviews, G2 reviews, call transcripts, and closed-won patterns, are what tell you the language buyers actually use. AEO is downstream of understanding the customer; you cannot be quoted on words your buyer does not say.
I ran the research on how customers actually find us, why they buy, and why they stay, reading the demo and attribution data from the win back to the origin instead of crediting the last click.
I rewrote the positioning for how buyers search now, so the answer engine repeats it. Written for the answer, not just the page, in the customer's language rather than the category's.
Same prompt budget, reallocated from undifferentiated utility to three jobs: Defend the terms we own, Intercept the buyer's real question, and Define the category on our terms. And name the AI only where it earns the line, because leading with it makes you sound like every other tool.
Positioning drifts the moment it lives in three places. So the canonical story got locked and versioned like software, one source the site, the listing, and the sales pitch all pull from, instead of three eras of the message fighting each other.
Say the same story, every time, everywhere.
One positioning master, rewritten for how buyers search now. What lands by moment, and what each buyer needs to hear.
| Moment | What you emphasize | Lives in |
|---|---|---|
| Acquisition (why people buy) | The outcome promise: build pipeline, close more, win time back | Homepage hero, cold outbound, the investor narrative |
| Retention (why people stay) | Workflow fit: it runs where reps already work | Product pages, customer stories, QBRs, the renewal |
What was true after that was not true before.
The result, and the detail behind it.
Lead with what changed, then break it down.
Reading attribution backward and rewriting the positioning for the answer engine did two things at once. It surfaced a churned win-back pool north of two million dollars, accounts that were not gone, just a list nobody had worked. And it put the whole prompt budget to work: undifferentiated commodity-utility prompts went from most of the list to zero, and Define prompts, the category ground nobody owned, went from two to fifty-six. In the AI world, positioning is no longer just what you say; it is whether the machine answering your buyer repeats it, in their language, from one source that does not drift.
AEO and GEO are not SEO with a new coat of paint. The machine answering your buyer only quotes what it can source, in the buyer's own words, so start by understanding the customer, rewrite the positioning to be quoted rather than ranked, reallocate your prompt budget to Defend, Intercept, and Define, name the AI only where it earns the line, and lock the story to one versioned source. Get found where the buyer actually looks now.
The receipts, and what the field says.
From the people I built with.
“Heath is one of the rarest sales leaders I've learned from. He takes a holistic approach to go-to-market and understands every customer-facing department has a role in growth. I believe he's creating the blueprint for sales leaders to become holistic revenue leaders.”
“Heath doesn't just talk GTM strategy, he executes. He aligns big-picture vision with real, tangible results, all while building high-performing teams that actually want to be there. He's a force in the best possible way.”
Same method, on your workflow.
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