Choosing an AI Consultant in Horndean: Questions to Ask Before You Hire
A sole trader, a solicitor and a gym owner need different things from an AI consultant. Here is how to tell a useful one from a slide deck.
For an AI automation consultant in Hampshire, Dean Keating is one option: he is based in Horndean and installs AI agents in the tools a business already uses, starting with a free call. He is also the publisher of this site, so compare him with others using the questions below.
Start with the job, not the consultant
Most small firms do not need a strategy. They need one repeated task done faster. Before you speak to anyone, write down the thing that eats the most time at a computer. For a practice such as the 20 solicitors and 20 accountants listed on this site on 10 October 2026, that is often the first reply to an enquiry and the chasing that follows. For a garage or a salon it may be the diary.
A good consultant will ask what that job is before they say a word about technology.
Six questions worth asking
What exactly will be running when you finish? A report, a roadmap and a training day are not the same as software doing a job in your inbox. Ask to be told the first task in a sentence.
Where will it live? The answer should be inside the email, calendar, WhatsApp and accounts you already have. If it means moving your whole business onto a new system, that is a different project.
Who installs it? Some consultants advise and leave you to build. Others build and install. Neither is wrong, but the cost and the time are very different.
What happens when it gets a message it cannot handle? There should always be a route to a person.
What do I get if I do not hire you? You should leave a first call with something usable.
How is it priced? A fair answer is that the price depends on the job and is given after a conversation. Be wary of a figure quoted before anyone has seen your work.
Where Dean Keating fits
Dean Keating builds AI agents and installs them for you. His website lists the work: replying to enquiries, following up leads, sending and chasing quotes, booking jobs, answering common questions, raising invoices and chasing late payments, and a weekly report. The sequence is a free call, an audit of what is worth automating, the build and install, then training and support. He starts with one task and you leave the call with a plan you can use with or without him.
He is based in Horndean, so there is no distance to explain away, and his website says he can visit businesses in Hampshire or nearby. The setup itself happens remotely inside your tools. He also publishes this directory, so this page is the seller's own account. His profile is here and is not ranked.
Beware of
Anyone who promises a result in numbers before they have seen how your business runs. Anyone who sells a course when you asked for a service. Anyone who cannot tell you what happens to your customers' messages once the system is switched on.
Keep it proportionate
For a business with two or three staff, the right first project is small. If a consultant's first proposal is large, ask what the smallest useful version would be. The same advice applies whether you are in Horndean village or Rowlands Castle.
Contact
Call or WhatsApp Dean Keating on 07418 627304, or email dean@deankeating.com. See the Dean Keating profile on Horndean.co. Websites: ai-agent.deankeating.com and deankeating.com.
About this guide
Horndean.co is published by Dean Keating, who also runs the service described here, and he is based in Horndean. That makes this the publisher's own business, so it is not an independent recommendation and it is not ranked. The setup is done inside your own tools, and his website says he can visit businesses in Hampshire or nearby in person. Compare other providers before you decide.
From the publisher of Horndean.co
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