BodyShop Marketing CEO gives three tips for marketing to AI during IDEAS Collide

Daniel Burkholder, BodyShop Marketing CEO and founder, provided three steps collision shops can take to help AI apps recommend their business to consumers during the SCRS IDEAS Collide showcase at the 2026 SEMA Show in Las Vegas.

AI is changing the way that consumers find collision shops, Burkholder said. He said for 20 years or more, the game has been ranking.

This included getting on the map pack and learning search engine optimization (SEO), he said.

“I’m going to tell you right now that it’s not wasted,” he said. “That is the foundation. But we now have a new layer on top.”

He added that this isn’t the first time technology has changed marketing.

“How many of you remember the good old Yellow Pages?” Burkholder asked the crowd.

It was replaced with Google and search engines, he added. Another change happened with mobile devices and then Google and Apple maps revolutionized how people search.

“AI is the next big one,” he said. “I would dare say it’s bigger than all the others put together in how people are going to find your shop someday and how people are finding your shop today.”

AI is now doing the heavy lifting for customers, Burkholder said.

“They [consumers] don’t have to go to your website,” he said. “They don’t have to see your reviews. You have people that are calling you that may have never seen your website or your reviews. They might not even know your name. They’re just calling because their AI said that’s the thing to do.”

Answer engine optimization (AEO) is a new term being used, he said.

“SEO helps to get you into the list, AEO helps to get you into the answer, and you need both of those at this point,” Burkholder added.

Consumers are no longer asking simple searches, he said. He explained they are asking longer, conversational types of searches.

“Do I have to use the shop my insurance recommends?” he gave as an example. “I was just in an accident with my Honda Civic, what’s the best Honda repair shop near me.”

AI tends to ask for more information. This could include what insurance carrier they use and what vehicle needs to be repaired.

AI only knows what is written about your shop, he said.

“AI goes out and starts doing the research for these customers,” Burkholder said. “If your website has the answers to these questions, you become the authority.”

Burkholder provided an example of a statement found on a collision shop website: “We offer full-service collision repair with state-of-the-art equipment and a commitment to quality.”

AI learns nothing from the statement, he said.

In another example, the statement said, “We repair Honda, Toyota and Subaru vehicles at our downtown Las Vegas shop. Every repair follows the manufacturer’s procedures.”

The two sentences provide examples of makes that are repaired at the shop, the location and a repair standard.

“The best scenario is having a web page for each of your services, so you can give very thorough, in-depth content to AI so it fully understands what you do,” Burkholder said.

Audience members were asked to test whether AI can find them by telling their favorite app that they had just been in an accident and then asking what the best repair shop is in the city their shop is located.

Many responded that AI did refer to their shop.

For those whom AI didn’t mention, Burkholder gave these three tips:

Say it clearly

The answers to the questions that consumers are asking your front desk, should be on your website, he said. He said consumers are asking the same questions of AI.

“If you have those answers on your website, it gives the authority to your website when AI goes looking,” Burkholder said.

Say the same information everywhere

Information such as your business name and phone number should be the same on Google, Carwise, your website and Yelp, he said.

ABC Collision on one site and ABC Collision Center on another site look like two different shops to a machine, he said.

Let others say it for you

“AI trusts what others say about you more than what you say about yourself,” Burkholder said.

Automakers listing a shop as a certified shop on their website can help AI recommend a shop, he said.

Customer reviews also play a role in how AI sees you, he said.

“I’m not going to give you any to-do list,” he said. “You have plenty of those. But when you get back home, I’d like you to just pull up your website and find one big sentence and start with one sentence, and then rewrite it so a machine knows what you fix, where you fix it, and why you’re qualified to fix it.”

For a free AI visibility check visit https://aicheck.bodyshopmarketing.io/ 

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Daniel Burkholder, BodyShop Marketing CEO and founder, speaks during IDEAS Collide at the 2026 SEMA Show in Las Vegas. (Lurah Lowery/RDN)