A Hungarian washing-machine repairer says his online reach fell by roughly 80 percent over the past six months. He used to receive regular phone calls after customers searched for the fault, found his website or Google Business Profile, and booked appointments. Today many people still reach the search engine and get answers, but those answers often no longer lead to the repairer — the phone does not ring.
What is driving the change?
The article frames the problem around two factors. First, some users with basic technical skills now try to fix faults themselves using AI, which takes a share of demand away from service providers. Second, search engines and their interfaces are changing: AI increasingly provides direct answers inside the search experience, removing the incentive for users to click through to websites or business profiles.
International and domestic data
An OECD study of more than five thousand small and medium-sized enterprises found that 65 percent of firms using generative AI reported improved work performance; over 45 percent said AI saved them money, and 26 percent experienced revenue increases. The technology also affects labor costs and hours worked.
Pew Research browsing data showed that when an AI summary appears, users clicked a traditional result in 8 percent of cases, compared with 15 percent when no AI summary was shown; only 1 percent of cases involved a direct click on a source-listed site.
Sundar Pichai, CEO of Alphabet, said in 2025 that Google’s AI overviews reach more than two billion monthly users. Google Search and related services generated 224.5 billion dollars in revenue in 2025.
Within the EU, 20 percent of enterprises with at least ten employees used AI in 2025. In Hungary, the share was 7.4 percent in 2024 — double the previous year but still in the lower part of the EU ranking. EU measurements typically cover firms with ten or more employees, so micro-enterprises (sole traders, two- or three-person repair shops) often fall outside these statistics, even though they rely heavily on a single phone number, Google profile or website to find customers.
A simple economic illustration
The article provides a numerical example: if a repair shop previously received 100 inquiries per month, 35 percent converted to jobs, and the average repair value was 35,000 forints, monthly turnover would be 1.225 million forints. With an 80 percent drop in inquiries, 20 remain; at the same conversion rate monthly revenue falls to 245,000 forints. The monthly shortfall is 980,000 forints, nearly 11.8 million forints annually — for a micro-enterprise this could equal a full year’s salary for an employee or the cost of a service vehicle.
Double-edged technology: efficiency versus visibility
AI also brings benefits: a ten-person firm can now access tools for a few tens of thousands of forints per month that previously required hiring marketers, copywriters, designers or customer-service staff. AI can draft letters, create offers, analyze data, plan workflows and help process complaints. OECD findings show many firms improve productivity and cut costs. Yet these efficiency gains can coincide with declining incoming leads when users receive AI summaries instead of visiting specialist websites.
Practical steps for small businesses
The article recommends that companies move beyond the old ‘‘good website + basic SEO’’ approach. Particularly for micro-enterprises, it advises:
- building owned customer channels (email lists, direct repeat-customer communication);
- collecting and maintaining reviews and keeping Google Business Profiles up to date;
- clearly communicating areas of expertise, which machines they service and under what conditions;
- tracking where calls and searches originate, which queries lead to paid work, and adapting communications accordingly;
- paying attention to data handling and GDPR requirements.
Highlighting real expertise matters because an AI can give a generic explanation of why a machine is not spinning, but it is less able to determine the specific cause for a particular device (clogged filter, failed pump, electronics fault) or whether repair is economically sensible.
Conclusion
AI technologies exert a twofold effect on local service providers: they can save time and money, but they also reshape customer journeys and reduce inbound leads. Firms that do not actively measure and rebuild customer acquisition in the changing search-and-AI landscape risk finding they have the skill and capacity but no incoming requests. The article is authored by Kovács Sándor, business consultant and member of Piac & Profit’s expert team, with over 25 years of practical experience in developing SMEs.
