Walk onto any sales floor and you will hear the same worry about AI chat: that buyers will resent it, see through it, or feel handled. Equipment buyers told us the opposite. They are already using AI, and they engage more when a chat is honest about being AI.

Direct answer

Yes. In a 2026 study of 1,100 equipment buyers, 77% had used a chatbot on a website or app in the past 90 days, and 58.6% said they would be more likely to engage a chat that clearly stated it was AI and answered in free form, rising to 64.2% among commercial buyers. Only 6% said it would make them less likely. The modern equipment buyer is not resisting AI. They are waiting for a version of it that actually helps. These figures describe how equipment buyers feel about AI chat; they are not a measure of any single dealer’s traffic or pipeline.

The finding: buyers already live with AI

Buyers are not waiting to be convinced that AI belongs in the buying process. They already use it, they expect it to make things easier, and they trust it more when it is upfront about what it is.

The counterintuitive part: name the AI

The instinct is to hide the AI, on the theory that buyers want to believe they are talking to a person. The data points the other way. Buyers engage more, not less, when a chat is transparent about being AI, and they expect that transparency to come with genuinely better answers. Naming the AI is not a risk to manage. It is a reason to engage.

Why buyers want the first move to be low-pressure

When we asked what makes buyers hesitate to share their contact information, the reasons were consistent, and none of them were about the equipment.

• Worried about privacy or data security: 40.3%
• Want to avoid too many follow-ups: 36.6%
• Want to stay anonymous while researching: 33.2%
• Not ready to talk to a salesperson: 25.5%

Every one of these is a reason a buyer stalls at your contact form. An anonymous, no-pressure AI assistant removes them. It answers without demanding a name, it does not trigger a week of follow-up calls, and it lets the buyer stay in research mode until they decide they are ready.

Buyers are not put off by AI. They are put off by a form.

Where the modern buyer actually pays attention

Readiness only matters if you meet buyers where the decision is shaped. Among commercial buyers, the activities that most influenced the purchase were clear.

Most-influential-activity measured among commercial buyers only (n=565).

Two things follow. Video and search are where the decision is shaped, and the dealer interaction still ranks near the top. The dealers who win show up helpfully in both: in the research, where buyers watch and search, and at the moment of contact, where they finally raise a hand. AI search is emerging as an early but growing influence.

What a dealer does about it

• Name the AI. Label the assistant as AI and let it answer in free form. Buyers engage more when the chat is honest about what it is.
• Drop the form as the first ask. Let buyers get real answers anonymously, before they decide to share contact information.
• Meet them where they research. Show up in video, in search, and in AI answers, not only on your lot.
• Make the front door always-on. Most buyers have used a chatbot recently. The bar is a genuinely helpful assistant, not one that deflects.

The takeaway

The fear that buyers reject AI is costing dealers the buyers who prefer it. Equipment buyers are already using AI, they engage more when you are honest that it is AI, and the frictions that keep them off your form are the ones an anonymous assistant removes. The Lahzo AI Sales Engine is built for exactly this buyer: an always-on, honest AI assistant that answers the moment a buyer raises a hand, without a form and without pressure.

Based on our 2026 study of 1,100 equipment buyers. The most-influential-activity measure was fielded to commercial respondents only (n=565). Figures describe how equipment buyers feel and behave; they are not a measure of any single dealer’s traffic or pipeline.