Archives for March 2026

One Family, One Month, Multiple Customer Service Failures. Many Insights.

Over one month, our family logged bad customer service experiences. Not quite a formal study, but we did it because the same kinds of friction kept showing up. We’re both marketers, one in digital product, the other a corporate brand manager. So we analyze things. For example, when we go to a store, it’s not just shopping, it’s consumer ethnography. Like anyone facing typical consumer issues, we usually just power through minor annoyances and move on. But then thought “For one month, let’s pay closer attention and see what happens?”

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Most people discussing agent optimization are talking about basic visibility or commerce mechanics. I’d like to go deeper: data structures, trust, identity, interoperability, and security. I’m not sorry about trying to coin the term BEO. Except, as it turns out after a search, I’m maybe a month or so from not being first with this, (so close!). Though I’d like to extend the concept anyway, based on my own experience building and what I’ve been seeing.

We shouldn’t use AEO, for “agent”, because that’s taken. We need something new because as we all know if there’s no acronym, it really can’t be a technology. And wouldn’t it be nice to have unambiguous names? I mean, “DaaS” can apparently be “Data as a Service” or “Desktop as a Service” and we have plenty of other ambiguous mess. We should try to do better with our naming. Why Bot Engines now? We’ve trudged through the cave-dwelling ancient history of Search Engine Optimization (SEO), evolved into Answer Engine Optimization (AEO), and now we’re managing Generative Engine Optimization (GEO). So, naturally, we need something fresh. I’d like to try out BEO for the win as an idea. It’s the art and science of tuning bots, agents, and autonomous systems to thrive in interconnected digital ecosystems; optimizing them not just for performance, but for discoverability, interoperability, and trustworthiness in a world where machines negotiate, transact, and collaborate on our behalf.

It’s SEO, (though much more), for the agentic era. Just as websites compete for search visibility, bots will need to stand out in marketplaces, integrate with protocols, and build reputations.

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The following goes over a fast way to get a jumpstart on a basic competitive analysis using Claude.ai along with the increasingly popular Skill function, complete with a slide deck and an Excel workbook. Spoiler Alert: Just skip down to “How to Install…” if you want to skip the explanations.

The catch: AI can accelerate the first draft, but it can’t replace judgment. Treat the output as a structured hypotheses, not truth. You’ll still need to validate claims, metrics, and positioning with primary sources and customer reality.

• Understanding Your Own Work: When doing strategic analysis, I believe part of understanding is in doing some of the discovery yourself. As great as AI is, it’s increasingly clear we sometimes lose at least a little something when we just have all the work done for us. That being said, the tools can help us get a big jump on things as a starting place.
  
• About Claude Skills: Claude.ai from Anthropic is one of many AI tools we have for generative language tasks. All these tools are bulking up with everything from training models, to agent tools collecting data, project organization and more. “Skills” are structured instruction files that shape how an AI behaves. It’s like an operating runbook for an assistant. They’re especially helpful for repetitive tasks.

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