Know what you're buying before you pay.
A business owner I know paid $2,000 for a prompt. One paragraph. He could have typed it himself in ten minutes. When someone sells you "AI", they are selling you one of three things: a prompt, a skill, or an agent. They take wildly different amounts of time to build, and they should be priced accordingly. This page gives you the test.
The three things people buy
Same word on the invoice, very different work behind it.
1. The prompt · minutes
You telling the model what you want right now. You type it, read what comes back, fix it, move on. A follow-up email after a sales call: describe the client, the conversation, the offer, the next step. Done in one message. Nobody should pay project money for this.
2. The skill · an afternoon
A prompt you stopped retyping. Your process, written down once, with context, handed over. Now the task runs the same way every time. The build takes an afternoon. Pulling your process out of your head and writing it down clearly is where the real cost lives. If your process is already documented, you barely need anyone.
3. The agent · weeks
It goes and does work. Reads a form submission, checks whether the lead qualifies, looks them up, updates your CRM, drafts the email, schedules the follow-up, flags you if something looks off. A demo takes days. A reliable one takes weeks, because every "what happens when this part fails?" has to be answered, built, and tested.
The three-question test
Ask these about the task, not about the technology.
Does the work touch more than one tool? Form, CRM, email, calendar. Count them.
Does it happen more than once a week? Rare tasks rarely justify automation.
Does it need to run when you are not there? Nights, weekends, while you're on a call.
Three yeses: an agent is probably the right answer. One or two: a skill can usually do the job. None: it's a prompt. Type it yourself.
What to ask before you sign anything
Copy this and bring it to your next AI quote.
✓The buyer's questions
Before I pay for any AI project, I ask: 1. What does the system actually do? Is it a prompt I could type myself, a reusable skill, or something that takes actions across several tools with nobody guiding each step? 2. How are failures handled? What happens if the form comes in half empty? What happens if the CRM is offline? Who gets notified when something breaks? 3. What exactly do I own when we're done? The prompts, the documentation, the accounts? 4. How long will the build actually take, and why? A prompt takes minutes. A skill takes an afternoon. A reliable agent takes weeks. 5. What part of my process do you need from me in writing before you start? The answers tell me far more about the price than the words "AI powered" ever will.
Not sure which one you need? Get the verdict.
Describe the task you want AI to handle: what it is, how often it happens, which tools it touches, and whether it needs to run without you. I'll apply the three-question test and tell you whether you're shopping for a prompt, a skill, or an agent, and what a fair engagement looks like.
The test covers one task. Want the whole map?
The free AI Audit takes 2 minutes and shows you where AI would actually make you money in your business, and which process to start with. No call, no pitch, just the readout.