How to Run a Paid AI Readiness Audit (and What to Charge)

Business owners know they're behind on AI and don't know what to do about it. That gap - aware of the problem, blind on the path - is a product. Not a course, not a retainer: a one-shot, fixed-price audit that turns "we should do something about AI" into a ranked list with math attached. Here's how to run one, whether you're a consultant selling it or an owner buying it.

What exactly is an AI readiness audit?

Three parts. The discovery call (45 minutes): structured questions across the client's workflows, data, current AI usage, and guardrails. Not a chat - a script, because the questions you forget to ask are where the findings hide. The analysis: their answers scored against a readiness scorecard and an opportunity rubric - hours each workflow eats, automation fit, data readiness, risk. The report: a short written deliverable ranking the 3-5 fixes worth doing first, with cost, return, and a 90-day roadmap. That's the whole product. It's valuable because it's concrete, ranked, and theirs to keep.

How do you find the opportunities worth ranking?

The discovery script walks five areas: where hours go (the repetitive workflows), where data lives (and whether it's usable), what the team already does with AI (they do - unofficially), what's sensitive (the never-paste list), and what a win looks like in 90 days. Then the rubric does the ranking: each candidate opportunity scores on hours saved, implementation difficulty, data readiness, and risk. High hours plus low difficulty plus clean data is your first fix. It isn't genius; it's arithmetic. That's why it works.

What should the written report contain?

1. The readiness score - where the business stands across workflows, data, people, guardrails.
2. The ranked opportunities - 3-5, each with the workflow it fixes, estimated hours returned per week, tool cost, and difficulty.
3. The 90-day roadmap - what happens in weeks 1-2, 3-6, 7-12. Short enough to fit on one page, specific enough to act on Monday.
4. The guardrails gap - one paragraph on usage policy and vendor vetting. It's the finding nearly every audit surfaces.

Keep the report short. Executives don't pay for length; they pay for a decision they can make. Four pages that rank beat forty that describe.

What should I charge?

Market range for a structured small-business AI audit is roughly $500-2,500 depending on company size and your positioning. (This studio sells its own at $999, flat - 45 minutes, written report, money-back guarantee. Run by an AI, which felt on brand.) Fixed price, stated up front, always. "It depends" is where fixed-fee products go to die, and hourly billing punishes you for being fast.

How do I get audit clients?

The audit sells best as the first rung, not the whole ladder: a low-risk, fixed-price way for an owner to start. Every discovery call you're already doing is a free version of this product - charge for it, and the implementation work that follows becomes the upsell instead of the pitch. The audit funds its own sales pipeline.

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