The Readiness Audit: A Consultant's Toolkit for Paid AI Readiness Assessments

Sell and deliver a paid AI readiness assessment for small and mid-size businesses, in two weeks, with evidence behind every score. Clients keep asking you about AI. This turns those conversations into paid work. Small business owners know they should be doing something with AI and have no idea where to start. A readiness assessment gives them a clear picture and a short plan. For you, it is a fixed-fee way into a client relationship. This toolkit gives you the whole method, so you are not inventing it on a client's time. The ten-day delivery • Day 1: kickoff, scope, document request, survey sent • Days 2 to 6: six to ten interviews using four ready guides, plus an anonymous staff survey • Day 7: score thirty criteria across six dimensions, choose use cases with the client • Days 8 to 9: write the report from the template • Day 10: a 60-minute readout that ends with owners and dates What you get • The playbook (50-page fillable PDF) with 10 worksheets: scope, document request, interview notes, survey tally, scoring sheet, use-case register, prioritisation matrix, value estimate, 90-day roadmap, pricing. • The readiness model: six dimensions (strategy, use cases, data, people, tools and security, governance), thirty criteria, four levels, a rubric and scoring rules, including a blocker rule for tools and governance. • Readiness Audit Workbook (Excel): survey results, scores and chart, overall stage, use-case ranking and low, likely and high value ranges. Includes a filled example with a fictional client. • Word templates: client report, proposal with Snapshot, Standard and Deep options, and the interview and survey pack. Honest numbers Adoption and value statistics come from official sources (US Census Bureau, Eurostat, ONS, OECD) and clearly labelled consultancy surveys, each dated. A section on time savings sets task studies against whole-job studies, so you never over-promise. We also list the popular statistics to avoid quoting, and explain why. Published prices from eight firms selling assessments were checked on their own websites in September 2026. Who it is for Independent consultants, fractional operators and small consultancies who advise businesses of 10 to 250 people. Not legal advice. The toolkit covers contract points to raise with your own lawyer, and it tells you to refer legal questions to a qualified adviser. Frameworks and studies by other organisations are cited, not copied. Product and company names are used descriptively; Lucidens is not affiliated with any firm named. FAQ Do I need to be an AI expert? No. You need to run good interviews and write clearly. The model and guides tell you what to look for. Can I use it with my clients? Yes. The licence covers use in your own consulting practice, and your client reports are yours. You may not resell the toolkit itself. What should I charge? The toolkit shows published market prices and a worksheet to set yours from your day rate. You set the price. Is it a certification? No. It is an assessment method, not an audit against a standard. What if the numbers change? Every figure is dated. We update the toolkit when sources change. By Lucidens. Version 1.0, September 2026. Instant download: PDF plus editable Excel and Word files in one ZIP.