Getting listed: the inventory and the ask, on one sheet

This guide goes with the article The format AI cites most is a list. That is the why. This is the how, ready to fill in.

How to use it: print this or copy it into a document. Part 1 gets filled once. Part 2 gets used every time you send a request.

One row per page. Do not look for the perfect one. Look for five.

The five families, for column 3

1. Industry directories. Trade associations, chambers of commerce, guild registries. Usually a free listing, usually half filled in.
2. Local press and media. The city magazine's "best of" pieces, and the service stories where they quote someone from the trade.
3. Niche round-ups. Blogs and sites compiling your category in your area. The ones AI cites most and the ones fewest people chase.
4. Review platforms and marketplaces, where your profile is an entry in a list even though it does not look like one.
5. Allies who don't compete with you. Whoever serves the same client before or after you do.

How to fill the three columns that decide

Updated this year? A list frozen in 2021 is not getting cited by anybody. Check the date of the last entry. If there is no way to tell, mark it and move it down.

Written once, used for every list. The only thing that changes afterwards is the greeting.

Sentence 1 - What you do exactly and for whom. In your client's words, not your industry's.

Write yours here: ______________________________________________

Marine sector example: "Maintenance and repair of recreational vessels from 25 to 60 feet, for owners who use the boat every weekend and don't want to lose one to a breakdown."

Sentence 2 - One verifiable fact. Years operating, annual volume, a certification with its full name.

Write yours here: ______________________________________________

If your details are not gathered and consistent yet, the prior job is your citable profile, which is the sheet where they live.

Sentence 3 - What you do differently when you decide. Not an adjective. A decision.

Write yours here: ______________________________________________

Works: "We don't hand back a boat without a sea trial, even when the owner is in a hurry, because 90% of what has come back to us shows up in those twenty minutes."

Doesn't work: "We're the best in the area." "Quality and service." "Over 20 years of experience."

Adjust the greeting and the first line. The rest you already wrote in Part 2.

Hi [name],

[One line of real context: how you know them, something they published, a client in common. One line, and make it true.]

I saw you maintain [name of the list or page]. I'm writing in case it helps to have our details ready, so you don't have to go looking:

What we do: [your sentence 1] Fact: [your sentence 2] What sets us apart: [your sentence 3] Web: [your link] - Contact: [phone or email]

Use it as is or cut it however you need. And if we're not a fit, no problem at all, I won't chase this.

Thanks for what you do with that page. It has helped us know who's who in the sector.

[your name]

One reminder, ten working days later, three lines:

Hi [name], I wrote a couple of weeks ago with our details for [the list]. Leaving them below again in case it got buried. If it's not a fit, no problem and thanks anyway.

The tracking sheet