How to Choose an AI Consultant in South Florida: Questions to Ask Before You Hire

You've decided you want help with AI, and now you're comparing people who all say they can help. The websites sound alike and the calls go well. Here are eight questions that separate the options quickly, whoever you end up hiring.

The Short Answer

Look for someone who publishes prices, does the work themselves, and leaves you owning what they build. They should start by studying how your business runs, tell you when AI isn't the answer, and show you real work before you pay.

Eight questions to ask

1. Do they publish prices?

A published price tells you what the first step costs before you get on a call. If every price is a mystery until a sales conversation, you're negotiating blind. Not every job can have a fixed price, but the starting point should.

2. Who actually does the work?

The person on the sales call isn't always the person doing the work. Ask who will build your system, who you'll talk to week to week, and what happens when you have a question. A clear name is a good answer.

3. Do you own what they build?

Ask where the work lives and what happens if you part ways. If it sits in their accounts, leaving can mean starting over. Work built inside your own accounts stays with you.

4. Do they start by looking at how your business runs, and do you keep what they find?

Good advice starts with understanding how work moves through your business today. Ask whether there's a discovery step, what you get from it, and whether it's yours to keep even if you don't hire them for anything else.

5. Will they tell you when AI isn't the answer?

Some problems are better solved with a simpler process, a tool you already pay for, or by leaving things alone. Ask for an example of a time they recommended against AI. Someone who sells only one kind of fix will find a way to use it everywhere.

6. Do they work inside the tools you already have?

Switching software is expensive and disruptive, and it's often not the real fix. Ask whether they'll work with your current CRM, scheduling, email and spreadsheets before they suggest anything new.

7. Can they work in Spanish if you need it?

If your team, your customers or you work in Spanish, ask whether the consultant can too, and whether their reports and training can be in Spanish. Small gaps in language turn into big gaps in how a system gets used.

8. Can they show you real work?

Ask to see a real example of what you'll get, with private details removed. A sample report or a walkthrough of a working system tells you more than any description on a website.

How we answer these

Here's how we, Gabe and Danny at Finely Tuned Ops, answer each one.

1. Prices: published on our pricing page. The mini-assessment is free, the Operations Assessment is $999, We do it with you is $1,499 a month, and builds are priced before any work starts.
2. Who does the work: the two of us, Danny and Gabe. Read about us. We bring in specialists where the work calls for it, and you still deal with the two of us start to finish.
3. Ownership: you own everything we build, and it lives in your own accounts and tools.
4. Starting point: the Operations Assessment, a written report within 5 business days that you keep whatever you do next. See a sample report.
5. When AI isn't the answer: the Assessment will tell you when a fix doesn't need AI at all, or isn't worth doing yet.
6. Your tools: we work inside the accounts and tools you already have.
7. Spanish: Danny and Gabe work in English and Spanish, and your report can be written in Spanish. Alex, our AI assistant, speaks English for now.
8. Real work: our sample report is a real Operations Assessment with the private details removed.

Ask us the same questions

Put these eight questions to us too. The easiest way to start is the free AI assessment: a 15-minute voice conversation with Alex in your browser, a report by email within 48 hours, then Danny or Gabe follows up with one fix, its cost and the first step. Start Free AI Assessment