AI consulting for small business
AI consulting for small business owners who want their week back
Clever Merchants does AI consulting for small business owners: we find the two or three workflows where AI saves the most hours, build them into the tools you already use, and keep them running. It is for owner-managed businesses with 5 to 50 staff: trades, professional services, ecommerce, distribution and agencies.
The outcome is measured in two numbers: hours saved each week and money made or kept. We are based in Dublin and work fully remote with businesses in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Ireland. Start with the free AI Readiness Review: 6 questions, about 3 minutes, instant report.
6 questions
Free review, about 3 minutes, instant industry report
Fully remote
US, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland
Owner-run
Founded by someone who runs a 10-year-old trade business himself
What you get
What does AI consulting for a small business actually include?
Four things: a review of where hours go, a shortlist of workflows worth automating, the build inside your existing tools, and ongoing maintenance.
The review comes first and it is free. Six questions about how the business runs produce an instant report that names the two or three workflows most likely to pay back in your industry, with the hours the report estimates they address. Ger reads every report and follows up within 24 hours.
If it makes sense to go further, we scope the build together: which workflow first, which systems it touches, what done looks like. Then we build it, test it against real jobs and real customers, and stay on to maintain it as your business and the tools change. You are not left holding a prototype.
The same engagement runs slightly differently by sector, which is why we publish sector pages under AI for your industry. Irish businesses can also read the AI consultancy in Ireland page, which covers the local grant supports.
The workflows
Which AI workflows save small businesses the most time?
The ones that touch every job: answering and qualifying calls, following up leads, preparing quotes, chasing invoices, and pulling the weekly numbers together.
| Workflow | What it replaces | Who it suits |
|---|---|---|
| AI receptionist | Voicemail and missed calls while everyone is on a job or with a client | Trades, clinics, agencies, any business where the phone is the front door |
| Automated lead follow-up | Replying to enquiries by hand hours later, or the next morning | Any business that quotes for work: solar, roofing, recruitment, estate agents |
| AI-assisted quoting | Typing every quote from scratch and re-pricing the same items | Construction and trades, manufacturing, fit-out, agencies |
| Invoice chasing | Manual reminders and the cash that arrives 30 days late | Professional services, subcontractors, wholesalers, distributors |
| Job profitability reporting | A spreadsheet after the job closes, if anyone builds it | Contractors, installers, agencies running project work |
| Document collection and processing | Chasing paperwork, receipts and compliance documents by email | Accountants, solicitors, recruiters, anyone onboarding clients |
| Weekly management reporting | Pulling numbers out of three systems every Friday | Any owner making decisions from last month's figures |
Nobody needs all seven. The AI Review report picks the two or three that fit your business and estimates the hours they address, and that estimate, not a promise, is where the conversation starts.
Timeline
How long before a small business sees a result?
The review report is instant. A first workflow is usually live within weeks, not months, because we build inside the tools you already run.
The reason small business AI projects drag is almost always a platform migration hiding inside them. If the plan starts with "first we move you to a new CRM", the result is months away and the owner has stopped caring by the time it lands. We start with the workflow that hurts most and connect it to what is already there.
Results are also easier to see when they are narrow. An AI receptionist either answered the calls that used to ring out or it did not. A follow-up sequence either replied to Saturday's enquiries or it did not. We pick workflows that can be checked like that, so the first month gives you evidence rather than a feeling.
First-hand example
Tested on my own business before it reaches yours
I own Shamrock Electrical, an electrical wholesaler in Rathcoole, Dublin, trading for over a decade with a real Shopify store and real margin pressure. It is where Clever Merchants tests its work before recommending it to anyone else.
The clearest example is AI search. We put structured data and question-answering content live on the Shamrock site and ChatGPT named the business 72 hours later, calling it the obvious one for Irish electrical supplies. Perplexity and Gemini followed. The same discipline applies to every workflow we build: it has to produce something you can point to.
Read the Shamrock Electrical case studyCost
How much does AI consulting cost for a small business?
The AI Readiness Review is free. Implementation is scoped after it, so there is no single figure. GEO programmes are fixed at €6,500 and €7,500.
01
Why there is no single figure
The price depends on which workflows you need, which tools you already run, how clean your data is and what has to be integrated. A one-workflow build for a five-person firm and a reporting system for a fifty-person one are not the same job.
02
What you get free first
The review, the instant report naming your highest-impact workflows, and a follow-up conversation with Ger within 24 hours. You see what would be built, and why, before any money changes hands.
03
Who it is for
Owner-managed businesses with 5 to 50 staff, repetitive admin and real revenue. If the owner is still doing the quoting, the chasing and the reporting, it usually pays back.
Market rates from other consultants, by engagement type, are compared in how much does an AI consultant cost. What is free, what is fixed and how implementation is scoped is on the pricing page.
Where we work
Do you work with businesses outside Ireland?
Yes. The work is fully remote, and most of the people who reach this site are in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Australia.
Nothing in the engagement needs a site visit. The review is online, the follow-up is a call or a WhatsApp thread, and the build happens inside cloud tools you already log into. A roofing contractor in Texas and an accountancy practice in Manchester get the same process as a business down the road from us in Dublin.
Time zones are handled the way you would expect from a small firm: we agree working hours that overlap with yours at the start. Pricing is quoted in euro and the review is free wherever you are.
Questions small business owners ask us
Do I need to know anything about AI before we start?
No. The review asks about your business, not about AI, and the report translates your answers into two or three workflows described in plain language.
Will AI consulting work in my kind of small business?
It is built for owner-managed operational businesses: trades, professional services, ecommerce, distribution and agencies. If your week contains repetitive admin and the business has real revenue, it fits.
Do you replace the software we already use?
Rarely. Most workflows are built on top of the phone system, CRM, accounts package and inbox you already run, because switching tools is where small business AI projects stall.
Who actually does the work?
Ger Devereux scopes every engagement personally and stays your point of contact through the build and afterwards. You are not handed to an account manager once the review is done.
What happens after the free review?
You get the report instantly and Ger follows up within 24 hours, by WhatsApp or email, to talk it through. There is no obligation to go any further.
Start with the free review
Six questions about your business, about three minutes, an instant report naming the workflows worth building, and a personal follow-up from Ger within 24 hours. No card, no obligation.
Take the free AI Readiness Review