Services have many things in common--whether it be advice, installation, repair and maintenance, business consulting, life coaching--you name it, there are experts with tools and experience, and clients with needs.

The similarities in business models, and hurdles to overcome, are striking. Location is a major obstacle--finding directions either to an office or a remote client, discovering a provider with the right sort of skills and ability at the right price, and assuring that all points of requirements are met to satisfaction--and then some.

The IT framework for such businesses, whether they be entirely knowledge based (servicing a client with insight and information, leads and contacts) or primarily equipment related (servicing a car, elevator, or cleaning facilities) is about identifying and solving issues on time, at the time they are problematic, and with an eye to future business. Friends and colleagues of clients, as well as the client themselves, should be calling the provider first.

The master components of such a business website include scheduling, pricing, communicating and providing advance information for an informed consumer. Communications should include voice, email, automated messaging (both over the phone and through the website and email), FAQs and troubleshooting, service descriptions, and question and answer systems.