You run a business in the Twin Cities, something in your operation keeps slipping, and you've finally decided to find someone who does AI automation. Good. The problem is that the search results are a mess. You get national agencies with slick decks, freelancers on the other side of the world, and software companies that call themselves consultants because it sounds better than "salesperson." None of that tells you who's actually going to help.
I do this work, so I have a bias. But I've also watched enough business owners get sold the wrong thing that I think the criteria matter more than who you pick. Here's what I'd look for if I were on your side of the table.
Someone who asks about your business before talking about tools
The fastest way to tell a good consultant from a bad one is to notice what they bring up first. If the first conversation is about a platform, a subscription, or "our AI solution," you're talking to a vendor. If it's a string of questions about how your business actually runs, where leads come from, what happens after you send a quote, how you collect documents from clients, you're talking to someone who's trying to find the real problem.
The tools are downstream of the problem. Anyone who leads with the tool is hoping you won't ask whether you need it. A consultant worth hiring should sound less like a futurist and more like a contractor walking your house before they quote the job.
Someone local enough to get the context
This one matters more than people expect. A business in Wayzata or Eden Prairie or St. Paul runs differently than a business in a market your consultant has never set foot in. Seasonality, the kind of customers you serve, how referrals move through the metro, the fact that half your clients know each other. A consultant who understands the Twin Cities doesn't need that explained.
Local also means accountable. If someone is twenty minutes away rather than twelve time zones, they're easier to reach when something needs adjusting, and they have a reputation in the same community you do. That's not a small thing when you're handing over a piece of how you talk to your customers.
Someone who will tell you to do less
Here's a test. Ask what happens if the audit turns up nothing worth automating. A good consultant has an answer, because it happens. Sometimes your scheduling software already does what you need and nobody turned the feature on. Sometimes the fix is a single follow-up sequence, not the bigger project you assumed you needed.
Somebody who only ever recommends their largest package is optimizing for their invoice, not your business. The person you want will sometimes talk you out of work, because their reputation is worth more than one job. I've told plenty of owners that the thing they came in asking for was overkill, and those are usually the ones who refer me later.
Someone who explains it in plain language
You should not have to learn what an AI agent is to have a useful conversation. If a consultant can't explain what they'd build for you in language you'd use to describe it to your spouse, that's a problem. Either they don't understand it well enough to simplify it, or they're hiding behind jargon so you can't tell what you're paying for.
Plain language is also how you stay in control after the work is done. You should understand your own systems well enough to know when something breaks and what it's doing. A consultant who keeps you dependent on them for every small change has built themselves a subscription, not solved your problem.
What to skip
You don't need someone with a famous logo wall. You don't need the biggest firm. For a business your size, a large agency usually means you become a small account managed by a junior person, and the senior people you were impressed by never touch your project. You also don't need someone who promises to reinvent your business overnight. The good work is specific and boring. A reminder that goes out on time. A lead that gets a reply within the hour instead of three days later. That's what moves the numbers.
If you're just starting to think about this, it helps to know what a free AI audit actually looks like and what to expect when you hire someone before you talk to anyone. And if you want a sense of what's worth doing in this market right now, I wrote about AI automation for Twin Cities small businesses too.
If you want to talk through what this would look like for your business, the audit is free and takes 30 minutes. Get in touch