7 questions to ask before you hire an AI agency.

November 2026 · 4 min read · AI Partner Network

Most AI agency conversations go wrong in the same place: the buyer does not know what to ask, so the seller decides what matters. These seven questions flip the table. Bring them to the call.

The seven

• 1. What will you refuse to automate for us? A partner with standards has a list. "Everything" is the wrong answer; approvals, sensitive comms and judgment calls should stay human.
• 2. Who on our team gets trained, and for how long? If training is a one-hour handover, you are buying shelfware. Adoption is the deliverable.
• 3. Where does our data live, and who can see it? EU residency, real-data-only, and a plain answer. Vague here means vague everywhere.
• 4. What happens in month three? Week one is a demo. Month three is a system or a ghost. Ask what the engagement looks like after the excitement.
• 5. How do you prove ROI, in writing? Hours back, money found, where the numbers come from. If proof is a dashboard screenshot with no context, keep walking.
• 6. What did you assess before proposing? A serious partner assesses first and proposes second, and credits the assessment into the build. Proposals before assessment are guesses with pricing.
• 7. What do we own if we stop? Your data, your workflows, your documentation. If the honest answer is "we do", that is a rental, not a build.

Scoring the answers

You are not listening for perfect answers, you are listening for specific ones. Real operators answer with examples, numbers, and the occasional "that depends, here is what it depends on". Buzzword sellers answer with adjectives.

Every partner in our network has been asked versions of these questions by us, before they got listed. Ask them again anyway. Trust, but verify, as the saying goes.