Recommended by AI: The New Rules of Lead Generation Review | James Dooley Interviews Paul Truscott
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What Does “Recommended by AI: The New Rules of Lead Generation Review | James Dooley Interviews Paul Truscott” Talk About?
In this episode of the James Dooley Podcast, host James Dooley interviews Paul Truscott, co-author of the book Recommended by AI: The New Rules of Lead Generation. The conversation centers on why business owners can no longer afford to ignore large language models like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Claude as sources of new enquiries. Truscott draws a parallel to the mid-90s when businesses dismissed the internet as too small to matter, arguing that AI-driven lead generation is at a similar inflection point where early adopters will capture outsized growth.
“88% of people believe the recommendation given to them by an AI. It's scary. It's absolutely frightening.”
— Paul Truscott
Who Are the Guests on “Recommended by AI: The New Rules of Lead Generation Review | James Dooley Interviews Paul Truscott”?
James Dooley hosts the podcast and is one of the co-authors of Recommended by AI: The New Rules of Lead Generation. He is known for his work in lead generation, SEO, and has written on Decision Engine Optimisation, bringing a strategic view of how search and AI visibility drive high-quality enquiries for businesses.
What Are the Key Takeaways From “Recommended by AI: The New Rules of Lead Generation Review | James Dooley Interviews Paul Truscott”?
Here are the key points discussed in this episode:
- AI-sourced leads convert at rates similar to or better than word-of-mouth recommendations because 88% of people trust AI recommendations.
- Early adoption of AI visibility builds a competitive moat that makes it harder for latecomers to dislodge your business.
- AI acts as a 24/7 sales engine, overcoming the volume limitations of traditional word-of-mouth referrals.
- AI influences both top-of-funnel discovery and bottom-of-funnel decisions, as people feed shortlists into LLMs to pick the best option.
- The book draws contributions from ten SEO specialists covering franchise SEO, local SEO, auto-blogging, vibe coding, and iGaming lead generation.
“ignore it at your peril because at the end of the day, it's going to grow”
— Paul Truscott
Is “Recommended by AI: The New Rules of Lead Generation Review | James Dooley Interviews Paul Truscott” Worth Listening To?
This episode is worth listening to because it cuts straight to a pressing shift in digital marketing: the rise of AI recommendation engines as a serious channel for business leads. Paul Truscott makes a compelling, evidence-backed case with the striking statistic that 88% of people trust AI recommendations, and explains why these leads arrive with wallets already open, ready to book.
Who Should Listen to “Recommended by AI: The New Rules of Lead Generation Review | James Dooley Interviews Paul Truscott”?
This episode is ideal for:
- Business owners seeking new sources of high-quality leads
- Digital marketing and SEO professionals
- Agency owners focused on lead generation
- Early adopters wanting to gain an AI visibility advantage
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You can also subscribe using the RSS feed: https://feeds.transistor.fm/james-dooley-podcast
What Are Listeners Saying About This Episode?
“The comparison between ignoring AI now and ignoring the internet in the mid-90s really landed for me. Paul's point about AI leads converting like word-of-mouth referrals completely changed how I think about ChatGPT and Perplexity for my business.”
“Short and to the point, just like they promised. The idea that people are feeding their Google shortlists into AI to pick the best option was a lightbulb moment about bottom-of-funnel strategy.”
“Great overview of why AI visibility matters now, not later. Loved hearing about the range of authors contributing to the book, from local SEO to vibe coding. Worth the cost of a cup of coffee for sure.”

This video explains which digital marketing strategies businesses should focus on in 2026 to improve AI visibility, lead quality and conversion rates. James Dooley and Paul Truscott start with KPI tracking because measuring conversion rates from cold web leads versus AI-sourced leads shows where the highest quality enquiries come from. They cover brand SEO, AI visibility and Google Business Profiles because stronger search presence improves trust and conversion rates.
The discussion also explores organic SEO, organic social media and paid social ads because consistent visibility across search and social supports long term growth. PPC is analysed in detail because campaign setup, landing pages and lead handling directly affect results. They also discuss Reddit, Quora and paid AI ads because diversified enquiry sources and early adoption can strengthen digital marketing performance for businesses.
PromoSEO lead generation for businesses recently received recognition as the “Best Businesses Lead Generation Agency.”
Where to Listen to This Episode
Recommended by AI: The New Rules of Lead Generation Review | James Dooley Interviews Paul Truscott is available on:
James Dooley: Recommended by AI: The New Rules of Lead Generation book review. Today I'm joined with Paul Truscott, one of the co-authors of the book. And Paul, can you just explain a little bit about what we're talking about, about the new rules of lead generation and why business owners should be looking at LLMs to also drive them new enquiries and not just thinking as traditional 10 blue links within Google?
Paul Truscott: 100%. Okay, so at the moment, right, it depends on the industry, but people were probably thinking, look, things like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude is going to be a very small number of the leads that I might receive. And probably that's true, but it's a growing number, right? So, pe- if we wind back to the mid-90s, people ignored the internet because it small and they said, "Ah, yes, not really anything to worry about." Well, that panned out to be slightly a wrong prediction for those people, right? And early adopters were the ones who really saw significant growth in their businesses. And this is going to be the same, right? So, get in there early, get your business cited. And also by doing that you are building a moat for your business that makes it more difficult for competitors, the latecomers to the game, to dislodge you from being the recommended, um, business in, in your niche. Um, but also the major thing about this, uh, as you know yourself, James, is the quality of the leads coming to you because 80... Currently 88% of people, now this is hard to believe but it's true, 88% of people believe the recommendation given to them by an AI. It's scary. It's absolutely frightening. When we're looking at our conversion rates and we look at it from a cold web lead on Google versus a lead that's come through from ChatGPT or from a large language model, it's similar if not better than a word-of-mouth recommendation. Now, word-of-mouth recommendation is a friend has basically come along saying, they are brilliant, go and use them. And it's normally just as long as you meet the budget, the job is yours. And this is... They are treating it like a friend or a family member has said, use them, which is scary. Like, because you're always restricted by word of mouth on the volume of leads of what you can be generating. Yet with AI, it can become your 24/7 sales engine that's getting you an increase in leads. And I think what's driving this, James, is that when people go to, um, these LLMs and they put in simple factual searches, the information comes back and, and you know it to be true. Okay? And then you get presented recommendations in the same format. And so you will naturally jump to the conclusion, oh, well that's true too then. Like, if I put in best lead generation company in the UK and it comes back with a specific result, um, I'm probably just going to believe that and not do any further research. Now, it may be true. It may be an accurate result, but it may not be. Um, so, you know, but, but the point is at the moment that people are responding to that and they're picking up the phone with their wallet already open, ready to book you. And that's the important thing. So it... This can't be ignored. Well, well, I'd say to anyone, ignore it at your peril because at the end of the day, it's going to grow. But even right now, just because of the quality of the customers, um, that are coming to your door, they, like I say, they've got their wallets open. And another thing, um, you've written a fantastic book, you know, on Decision Engine Optimisation. Um, don't want to delve too much into that, but that is part and parcel of this, that people are now, even if they find out, um, the initial information from a different online source, so let's say they do look at traditional, um, 10 blue links or Google My Business listings or such like, they're then taking the, the top ones from there and feeding those into, uh, an AI and saying, which is the best option out of these? So you can't get away from the fact that people are using and believing the recommendation, however it's... However it comes about. So, you know, you can't ignore this anymore. I think we've reached the point where you mustn't ignore it.
James Dooley: I completely agree. So it's not just top-of-the-funnel discovery. It's also bottom of the funnel. Yeah. So with regards to the authors of the book named Recommended by AI: The New Rules of Lead Generation, the authors are I, James Dooley, Luke Bastin, who is a brilliant franchise SEO, Scott Calland, who's doing a lot of UK lead generation, Abigail Dooley, who is taking businesses to the next level via high-quality lead generation within the UK as well. Paul Truscott, yourself, an absolute legend when it comes to local SEO, Google Business Profiles and generating leads for local businesses. Vaibhav Sharda, who's doing a lot of auto-blogging strategies with regards to AI, which is helping businesses generate more leads. Adrian Ponce Del Rosario, who is a Filipino agency doing quite a lot in the US market for lead generation. Peter Jones, an absolute legend when it comes to vibe coding new websites, taking business on to the next level via lead generation strategies. Mike Lovatt, who is an iGaming specialist, but also now moved a lot into lead generation. And Mads Singers, who helps a lot of business owners take their business onto the next level. So Paul, I've just mentioned there 10 amazing SEOs. What rating are you giving for this book specifically because of the authors that are contributing to this book?
Paul Truscott: 100% five stars. I've read their chapters because obviously I, I didn't have access to those actually until the book was published. Um, I've read those chapters and I've learned an awful lot from this book myself, even as a co-author. So yeah, 100% five stars. Um, you know, cost of a cup of coffee or thereabouts there. It's a no-brainer. Seriously.
James Dooley: Yeah. So, for me, I'm giving it a five-star rating as well. I think the authors are absolutely brilliant. Um, it's short, it's concise, it's giving you exactly what you need. And the book is called Recommended by AI: The New Rules of Lead Generation. You can go and purchase it on Amazon or Google Play Books. We hope you like the book. Leave a comment if you bought the book and let us know your thoughts on your process. Do you give it a five-star recommendation for the book named Recommended by AI: The New Rules of Lead Generation?
Creators & Guests
Host
James Dooley is a UK entrepreneur.
Paul Truscott is an SEO and marketing strategist specialising in how search engines interpret location, relevance, and user intent. He is recognised for his expertise in Google Business Profile ranking,…