What an AI consultant actually does for a small business, the three ways they charge, what you should get for the money, and the red flags to watch for.
If you have searched this, you have probably found two kinds of answers. One says AI will change everything and you need a strategy yesterday. The other is a sales page with no price on it. Here is the plain version, from someone who sells this work and has spent 30 years running businesses on the other side of the table.
A good AI consultant does three things.
They look at how your business actually runs. Not the org chart, the real day: who answers the phone, what gets typed twice, where work waits on one person, what falls through the cracks on Friday afternoon.
They pick the few places where AI will pay off for you. Most businesses have one or two tasks where AI saves real time and a dozen where it would be a distraction. The consultant's job is to tell you which is which, including “not yet.”
They leave you with something that works. That can be a written plan, a trained team, or a system that is built and running. If you finish an engagement with a slide deck and nothing has changed on Monday, you bought a presentation.
By the hour. Fine for a second opinion or a short review. Hard to budget for anything bigger, because nobody knows how many hours it will take.
By the project. A fixed price for a defined result: an assessment, a roadmap, a workshop, a built system. This is the easiest to compare, because you know what you get.
By the month. Ongoing support after something is built, or a set number of hours each month. Makes sense once there is something running that needs looking after.
We publish our training prices: a half-day executive briefing from $3,500, a full-day workshop for up to 12 people at $6,500, and the workshop plus 30 days of support at $9,500. Strategy consulting and custom builds are quoted after a free 15 minute call, usually the same week, because the size depends on the business.
We publish what we can because a price you can see is the first sign someone is being straight with you.
If the answers are vague, keep looking. That includes us.
They find where AI saves your business real time or money, plan how to put it in safely, and either build it or train your team to.
It depends on the scope and how they charge: hourly, by project or monthly. Ask for a fixed price on a defined result whenever you can.
Not always. If you have one clear task and someone willing to try, start with the tools you already pay for. Bring in help when the task touches your phones, website and records at once, or when your team has the tools and nothing has changed.
Book a 15 minute call. If it is not worth doing, we will tell you.