I run an AI implementation agency. So take everything I say here with that grain of salt. But I also talk to 5–10 business owners every week who got burned by their last AI vendor, and the patterns are so consistent it's almost funny. Almost.
Here's what happened to a roofing company in New Jersey last year. They paid a "full-service AI agency" $18,000 for an AI chatbot and voice agent. Six months later, the chatbot was a glorified FAQ page that couldn't book appointments. The voice agent hung up on callers 30% of the time. The agency ghosted them after month three of "we're still optimizing." That $18K bought them nothing but frustration and a deep distrust of AI.
This happens more than it should. The AI implementation space exploded in 2024–2025, and hundreds of agencies popped up overnight — many run by people who watched a YouTube tutorial on chatbot builders and slapped "AI Agency" on their LinkedIn. Some are great. Many aren't. Here's how to tell the difference.
Red Flags That Should Kill the Deal
1. No Specific Case Studies
Ask for case studies. Not testimonials — case studies. With numbers. "We helped a company improve their operations with AI" tells you nothing. "We deployed a voice agent for a 3-location dental practice that reduced missed calls from 34% to 6% and generated 47 additional new patient bookings in the first 90 days" tells you everything.
If an agency can't show you 3–5 detailed case studies with specific metrics, they either haven't done real work or their work didn't produce real results. Neither is a good sign.
2. "We Do Everything"
An agency that claims expertise in chatbots, voice agents, computer vision, predictive analytics, ML model training, autonomous agents, robotic process automation, and custom LLM fine-tuning is lying. Or they're a 200-person firm billing $500/hour.
The good agencies I know — including ours — specialize. We focus on conversational AI (chatbots and voice agents), workflow automation, and AI integration for small-to-mid-size businesses. We don't build custom ML models. We don't do computer vision. When a client needs something outside our wheelhouse, we refer them to a specialist.
An agency that says yes to everything will deliver mediocrity across the board.
3. Vague Timelines and Deliverables
"We'll have something for you in a few weeks" is not a timeline. A real proposal looks like this:
- Week 1–2: Discovery and requirements gathering. Deliverable: requirements document and architecture plan.
- Week 3–4: Build and internal testing. Deliverable: working prototype in staging environment.
- Week 5: Client review and revisions. Deliverable: revised build with feedback incorporated.
- Week 6: Deployment and monitoring. Deliverable: live system with monitoring dashboard access.
If they can't give you a week-by-week breakdown with specific deliverables at each stage, they're making it up as they go. That's fine for a side project. Not for a business-critical system.
4. No Ongoing Support Model
AI systems aren't websites. You don't build them and walk away. They need ongoing training, prompt tuning, integration updates, and performance monitoring. An agency that only offers a one-time build is setting you up for a system that degrades within 3–6 months.
Your AI chatbot will encounter questions it can't answer. Your voice agent will mishandle edge cases. New products, services, or policies need to be added to the knowledge base. Without a support model, you're on your own — and most businesses don't have in-house AI expertise to manage these systems.
5. 100% Payment Upfront
Standard payment structures look like 30–50% upfront, 25–35% at milestone delivery, and the remainder at launch. Any agency asking for full payment before work begins either has cash flow problems or doesn't plan to stick around for the whole project.
Milestone-based payments protect both parties. The agency gets paid as they deliver. You don't pay for work that hasn't been done.
Green Flags That Build Confidence
Specific Tool Expertise
Ask them what platforms and tools they use. A vague answer like "we use the latest AI technology" is a red flag. A specific answer like "we build voice agents on Bland AI and Vapi, chatbots on Voiceflow and custom stacks with the OpenAI API, and workflow automation on Make and n8n" tells you they've done real work with real tools.
Better yet — ask why they chose those tools. An experienced agency has opinions about tool trade-offs. "We use Bland AI for high-volume inbound calling because their latency is 400ms vs. 800ms on competing platforms, but we switch to Vapi for outbound campaigns because their scheduling features are stronger." That's someone who's actually built things.
Transparent Pricing
Good agencies publish pricing ranges or provide detailed quotes within 48 hours of a discovery call. They break down setup costs, monthly management, and usage-based charges separately so you understand exactly where your money goes.
Here are the ranges we see across the industry for common AI implementations:
- AI chatbot (setup + 3 months management): $3,000–$10,000
- AI voice agent (setup + 3 months management): $5,000–$15,000
- Workflow automation (5–10 workflows): $5,000–$20,000
- Full AI audit and strategy: $2,500–$8,000
- Enterprise multi-system integration: $15,000–$50,000
- Ongoing management: $1,000–$5,000/month depending on scope
If someone quotes you $50,000 for a chatbot, they're overcharging. If someone quotes $500 for a voice agent, they're underdelivering. Both are problems.
A Real Discovery Process
Before any good agency gives you a proposal, they should spend time understanding your business. Not a 15-minute sales call — a structured discovery that covers your current operations, customer journey, tech stack, pain points, and goals.
At minimum, a discovery should include:
- Audit of your current customer touchpoints (phone, web, email, social)
- Review of your existing tech stack and integration requirements
- Analysis of your highest-impact automation opportunities
- Clear ROI projections based on your actual numbers
- Recommended phased approach with priorities ranked by impact
Some agencies charge for discovery ($1,500–$3,000). Some include it free if you move forward. Either model is fine. What's not fine is skipping it entirely and jumping straight to "here's our chatbot package."
They Tell You What They Can't Do
The best agency interaction I've ever witnessed was a competitor telling a prospect: "Honestly, you don't need an AI agency. Your call volume is 5 calls a day. Just hire a part-time receptionist for $15/hour. Come back when you're at 30+ calls and it makes financial sense."
That's integrity. And that prospect came back 8 months later and signed a $12,000 contract — because they trusted the agency that told them the truth.
If an agency agrees with everything you suggest and never pushes back, they're order-takers, not advisors. You're hiring expertise. That expertise should sometimes disagree with you.
12 Questions to Ask Before Signing
Bring these to your next agency evaluation call. The answers will tell you everything:
- 1. Can you show me 3 case studies in my industry? Not just any case studies — ones relevant to your business type.
- 2. What specific tools and platforms do you build on? And why those over alternatives?
- 3. What does your discovery process look like? How much time do you spend understanding our business before proposing solutions?
- 4. What's your week-by-week project timeline? With specific deliverables at each stage.
- 5. What does ongoing support include? And what costs extra?
- 6. Who specifically will work on our project? Ask to meet them. Not the sales person — the builder.
- 7. What's your payment structure? Milestone-based is standard.
- 8. What happens if the project fails? Is there a money-back guarantee, a rebuild clause, or just "too bad"?
- 9. Can I talk to 2–3 current clients? Not cherry-picked testimonials — actual reference calls.
- 10. What's your team's background? Did they come from tech, or did they discover AI chatbots on TikTok last year?
- 11. How do you measure success? Specific KPIs they track and report on.
- 12. What's one thing you'd recommend we NOT automate? This tests whether they think strategically or just want to sell you everything.
What a Good Engagement Actually Looks Like
Here's the four-phase model that works. We use it, and so do most agencies worth their fees.
Phase 1: Discovery (1–2 Weeks)
The agency audits your current operations, interviews key stakeholders, maps your customer journey, and identifies the highest-ROI automation opportunities. You should walk away from this phase with a clear roadmap — not just "we'll build you a chatbot," but "we'll deploy a chatbot focused on lead qualification for your top 3 services, connected to your HubSpot CRM, with an expected conversion rate improvement of 25–40% based on similar deployments."
Cost: $0–$3,000 (often credited toward project). Deliverable: Strategy document with prioritized recommendations and ROI projections.
Phase 2: Pilot Build (2–4 Weeks)
Build the first system — usually the highest-impact, lowest-complexity opportunity. This might be a chatbot for your most common FAQ, or a voice agent for after-hours calls only. The goal is a quick win that proves the concept and builds internal buy-in.
Cost: $3,000–$10,000 depending on complexity. Deliverable: Working system in production, handling real customer interactions.
Phase 3: Full Rollout (4–8 Weeks)
Expand the pilot based on results. Add integrations, additional use cases, more channels. This is where you connect the chatbot to your CRM, build the voice agent's complex call routing, and set up the automation workflows between systems.
Cost: $5,000–$25,000 depending on scope. Deliverable: Full production system with all planned integrations and workflows.
Phase 4: Ongoing Optimization (Continuous)
Monthly performance reviews, prompt tuning, knowledge base updates, new use case development. The agency sends you a monthly report with metrics — conversations handled, resolution rate, leads generated, revenue attributed — and recommendations for improvement.
Cost: $1,000–$5,000/month. Deliverable: Monthly performance report, ongoing improvements, priority support.
Total investment for a typical small-to-mid business: $10,000–$30,000 for initial implementation, $1,500–$3,000/month ongoing. That sounds like a lot until you compare it to hiring a dedicated AI engineer ($120,000–$180,000/year) or the cost of not automating at all (missed leads, wasted staff hours, inconsistent customer experience).
When to DIY vs. Hire an Agency
Not everyone needs an agency. Here's the honest breakdown:
DIY makes sense if:
- You have technical staff who can learn chatbot platforms (Botpress, Voiceflow, Chatbase)
- Your use case is straightforward — FAQ bot, simple lead capture, basic scheduling
- Your budget is under $3,000 total
- You're willing to spend 40–80 hours on setup and testing
- You don't need complex integrations with existing systems
Hire an agency if:
- You need integrations with CRM, PMS, EHR, or custom software
- You're deploying voice agents (telephony setup is genuinely complex)
- You need multi-channel deployment (web + phone + SMS + social)
- AI is business-critical and downtime costs real money
- You want ongoing optimization, not a set-and-forget build
- You value your time more than the agency fee
A $15,000 agency engagement that saves 20 hours/week of staff time at $25/hour pays for itself in 30 weeks. After that, it's pure margin. For most businesses generating over $500K/year in revenue, the math works in favor of hiring help.
A Word About Us (Since You're on Our Blog)
Yes, we're an AI implementation agency. We specialize in chatbots, voice agents, and workflow automation for small-to-mid-size businesses. We're particularly strong in healthcare, home services, legal, and restaurant verticals.
We do everything I described above — structured discovery, pilot builds, phased rollouts, ongoing optimization. We publish our case studies with real numbers. We provide client references on request. And we'll tell you if you don't need us.
If you're evaluating agencies — including us — use this guide as your rubric. Ask us every question on that list. Ask our competitors the same questions. Pick the one that gives you the best answers, not the best sales pitch.
Your AI Agency Evaluation Checklist
Before you sign with anyone, make sure you can check every box:
- Reviewed at least 3 case studies with specific metrics
- Spoken to at least 2 current client references
- Received a detailed week-by-week project timeline
- Understood the complete pricing — setup, monthly, and usage-based
- Met the person who will actually build your system
- Confirmed a milestone-based payment structure
- Reviewed the ongoing support and optimization plan
- Asked "what should we NOT automate?" and got a thoughtful answer
- Received an ROI projection based on your actual business data
- Felt comfortable saying "that doesn't make sense" without pressure
Ready to talk through your AI implementation needs? Schedule a free discovery call — we'll give you honest recommendations whether you hire us or not.
