How Can Brands Be Seen by AI? Highlights from Singoo’s Customer Workshop

On the afternoon of October 27, Singoo welcomed its first workshop for existing customers at its newly relocated headquarters.

Originally planned for 30 people, the session ultimately attracted nearly 100 attendees.

As customers introduced their businesses, a common theme emerged: most already had experience acquiring overseas customers.

One machinery company, a Singoo customer for 13 years, had started with search engine marketing and came to explore new opportunities.

Another construction machinery business had tried its own website, SEO and platform advertising, and attended to discover new customer acquisition methods for the AI era.

They still valued traditional acquisition channels, but had noticed a change in how businesses reach overseas markets.

01 The Way Businesses Reach Global Markets Has Changed

Singoo CTO Jiang Lei led the session with a clear observation: overseas buyers now use AI to complete much of their preliminary research before contacting suppliers.

In B2B procurement, AI increasingly supports the entire process, from screening suppliers and comparing prices to checking the credibility of sales claims. By the time a prospective customer contacts you, they may already have assessed your business with AI.

Appearing on an AI-generated supplier shortlist offers more than visibility. For purchases worth tens of thousands to millions of US dollars, that shortlist can directly influence the buying decision.

02 What GEO Really Does: Building Trust

People hearing about generative engine optimization, or GEO, for the first time often assume it is simply a new name for SEO.

Previously, overseas promotion focused on improving a website’s ranking in search results. As users ask AI directly, answers draw on information from across the web. The new challenge is whether AI can find your company information, understand it and mention your business in its responses.

Jiang Lei stressed that AI considers more than a company’s website. It cross-checks information on LinkedIn, overseas media and B2B platforms. Conflicting descriptions across channels can undermine credibility and prevent a recommendation.

GEO is therefore a long-term effort to build trust: explain clearly and consistently who your company is, what it sells, which qualifications it holds and whom it has served, with information that can be verified.

Website data from Singoo customers already shows referral traffic from AI platforms such as GPT and Gemini, ranging from a dozen or so to 200 visits a week, alongside genuine inquiries. Being found, however, is only the beginning. Responding effectively when customers arrive is the next challenge.

03 Turning AI-Driven Discovery into Orders

In the second half, Singoo User Operations Director Liu Zhimin shifted the focus from being discovered through AI to engaging customers afterward.

She highlighted a common challenge: the top 20–30% of salespeople generate 80% of results, yet their expertise often remains in their own heads. Many companies have also purchased ChatGPT subscriptions without implementing the workflows needed to achieve a real improvement in efficiency.

One example involved a machinery company with 10–15 employees and annual revenue of RMB 40–50 million. Singoo analyzed years of customer and chat records to identify the top salesperson’s decision-making process, then trained three types of agents for product consultation, product recommendations, and negotiation and follow-up. AI handled immediate responses and initial qualification, with people confirming the final steps.

The team also introduced new AI outbound calling capabilities, including automatic calls, scheduled batch calling, transcription and AI summaries that maintain a complete communication record. On websites, AI customer engagement can already manage multiple rounds of follow-up, collect information and book meetings, often without customers realizing they are speaking with AI.

Liu emphasized that implementing AI means delivering a standardized workflow a team can sustain: diagnose, break down the process, train, launch and scale. This helps preserve top salespeople’s capabilities as staff change.

Final Thoughts

After more than two hours of presentations, customers and the Singoo team continued their discussions in the meeting room and over dinner.

From Google SEO and social media to AI search, each shift in how Chinese manufacturers acquire overseas customers has rewarded early adopters who steadily build trust. Those who arrive later face a greater cost of catching up.

For those unable to attend, there are two ways to get started:

First, register for a free AI brand visibility assessment to see how AI describes your brand and recommends your competitors.

Second, follow the Google Cloud eight-week AI training program. Each cohort accepts 10 businesses, including both new and existing customers, with the implementation team guiding participants through the workflow.

Tell us in the comments: has your business started using AI to improve efficiency?

Contact us: 400-7766-880