Pujji like Gucci

For many service businesses it’s hard to figure out what to do with the web. They generally have to invest time, attention and commitment to really understand what the web can do for them. Should they ignore the web? Should they get friendly with it and see if it can help them? Should they pay for help? How can they leverage sales? How can they reinvent their services? Is then web even worth bothering with for a service biz like theirs?

While I have the luxury of working with many service businesses who are committed to making the web work, I can’t help noticing how many businesses, service businesses in particular, who are still taking a completely different approach to the web. These geniuses appear to be using the web to transform themselves from being a ‘service business’; to something I call a ‘lip-service business’.

You might be wondering: what’s so good about being a lip-service business? Strangely, there doesn’t seem to be much written about the approach, despite its popularity. There is almost nothing available to help perfectly good businesses start using the web in a way which transforms them into a lip-service business. So that’s where this post comes in. For those of you who are sick and tired of doing things carefully, strategically and intentionally, I hope this alternative will appeal.

Admittedly the lip-service approach seems a bit strange to me, but I think its worth considering as a viable option. I’ve paid extra careful attention lately and built up what you might call a ‘war chest of insights’ into what makes a well rounded lip-service business. Here are my top ten insights – pillars if you will. I hope they’re useful:

The 10 pillars of a strong lip-service business
If you can manage to implement most or all of the strategies below, you’ll be well on the way to becoming a lip-service business, a powerful transformation.

1. Avoid the web for as long as humanly possible
   It’s never too late to plan for the web. As a service business, chances are you are already overloaded, no point in adding more stress to your day. There is little point in getting experience online, testing the market or using the web as a place to innovate. Leave the web till last, don’t even think about it until you’re happy with everything else in your business. The web’s been around since ’91 so if you haven’t bothered to work it out till now, another 20 years probably won’t hurt.
2. Convince yourself the web won’t change anything in your category
   Admit it, the internet isn’t going to change how people buy your service, or what that service is. It’s not a way to cut cost, add value, improve communication or grow relationships, clearly this ‘gamble’ failed for companies like Air New Zealand. Pfft.
3. Assure yourself that your current business is SO good that no-one can beat you anyway –and certainly not using the web
   You’re probably doing just fine, or you’ve been leading your category for ages, why would that change with the web? None of your competitors are going online (or if they do try, they’re not any good) and no new upstarts are likely to threaten you and leapfrog you while you’re focussed on the here and now.
4. Convince everyone that you know everything about the web, and that the failures you’ve managed to-date are all part of the strategy
   The last thing you need is to be seen as ignorant or out-of-date. Make sure you’re always heard using phrases such as “I already thought of that”, and “We’ll deal with that in Phase 2”. Finally you could try, as CJ would say to Reggie Perrin: “I didn’t get to where I am today by taking the lead or delivering any more than the barely necessary”.
5. Focus on today’s battle
   Your website is probably old and ugly right? It’s been there for a while, and since no-one updated it for such a long time, it’s probably not really worth giving it any attention until after an overhaul. The best way to dig yourself out of this mess is to opt for a ‘tart up’ of the current site – change as little as possible, don’t create a headache for yourself and whatever you do don’t let ‘quality-creep’ set in, you’ll never get it delivered in 3 weeks if you do.
6. Demand a you-centred design methodology
   Possibly one of the most important pillars of a lip-service business is the ability to know better than your users. They’re just link clickers and scrollers aren’t they? If you can’t tell your users what’s good for them who can? Not them. The endless disruption caused by factoring in the supposed user goals and needs can only mean one thing for your business: less having your own way.
7. Apply a 10:1 Advertising spending ratio
   Keep it simple (stupid): Pay big bucks to advertise and get them to the site, don’t bother building anything too complicated, it’s a waste of money – no-one goes online for anything other than contact details and porn. Get them to the site, show your boss some Google Analytics reports, and everyone will be happy. Whatever you do, don’t: do ANY research (see 6 above) and don’t test anything, it’s a complete waste of time. Besides, chances are you’ll get everything right first time.
8. Implement a Lip-service Online Strategy
   To become truly lip-led you’ll need a comprehensive strategy. One key benefit of the lip-service approach however is that no strategy has to be remotely strategic. In fact, all the better if your strategy is basically just the first thing that comes to mind, written in a defensive and exclusive way (so as to prevent other people in your organisation getting on your patch). The key here is to be random, don’t try to ‘cover everything’ – that’s too much work – just take the one or two things that you know will be easy to pull off, write them up as really important, and roll with it. Perhaps you just want to keep redesigning the site, adding widgets and gadgets that are cool and new, or perhaps see if you can make the website an identical replica of what your brochures are, easy.
9. Cultivate a fear of the web
   All successful online lip-service leaders know the power of ‘a little knowledge’. Drop a few buzz words into a debate about your site, and you’ll clear the room. For example, when John Doe, a manager in some part of the business that has nothing to do with the web, like Sales or IT asks you why you’re not offering a web-leveraged service that utilises the downtime of some of your staff, say something like: “Not until the back-end SOA implementation we’re currently planning is live, then our human capital can be redeployed with a more web2.0 style than what your suggesting. Get back in your hole John.” To keep up to date with this kind of lingo you’ll need to go to lots of conferences and network a lot, so keep that up.
10. If forced to use the web, don’t reinvent the wheel
    One of the biggest time wasters in business is progress. It requires thought, commitment and innovation. Forget all that, why reinvent the wheel? If 37signals does something it’s good enough for you. If your brother did something similar, do exactly what he did, don’t waste your time reviewing it making your own plan. Better is the enemy of done, a good game is a fast game, copy, steal, assume, generalise, and remember everything you hear (if Jacob says so, it’s probably true. If it was 9 years ago, well at least it was this decade; don’t over-think things).

So there you go, that’s as clear as I can seem to make it. Lip-service is achievable, but you have to be determined. In many cases it’s easier than stopping to think hard about how the web can completely improve your business turning it into an even better business than it is today: a business dangerous to competitors and more valuable to customers now and in the future. Good to know you have choices isn’t it?

Thanks to Gren for the hurry up, and Rowan for his recent insights into TradeMe’s approach to doing business online, they’re the complete opposite to a lip-service business unfortunately, good luck to them anyway – maybe they miss-cued?