But moving to the Internet is not as simple as throwing your mail-order catalog on the Web, even though that's what most people do. It's a start, certainly, but when you do that you often lose crucial steps in your interaction with the customer -- steps that usually are not written down anywhere. When taking an order over the phone, what questions do you ask customers? What manual steps do you go through to fulfill the order? How do your representatives sell the customer up? ("Would you like a box of chocolates with those flowers?") Much of that will have to somehow translate to the Web.

For so-called "pure-play" businesses -- those only on the Web -- don't disregard the lessons learned over a century or more of phone and mail-order sales. Check out the old Sears, Roebuck and Co. catalogs -- they can teach you a lot about how to sell a product in a small amount of space, which is precisely what you need to do on the Web. Do you have anyone on staff that understands direct marketing and sales? You'll have to hire someone or partner with an organization that does understand that kind of marketing.

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The existing phone and mail-order industry also knows a thing or two about automated order fulfillment that many pure-play businesses are still ignoring. If you plan to be profitable, reduce the manual steps between the final customer click and the slap of a shipping label on a box.

Finally, how can you tell if your online business is likely to succeed? A blazing neon warning sign is not getting e-mail, phone, or mail enquiries. If you are not, just putting up a Web site will probably not generate many sales leads. Advertising can help, but you may need to rethink your Internet business plan. (We discuss advertising and promotion more fully later.)

Action items

Look first to telephone transactions for ideas for an e-commerce site. If there aren't any, rethink or devise one. Document all the steps involved in handling mail or telephone transactions. Mark the most expensive ones and devise a strategy for automating them on the Web. Study other businesses in your segment, especially ones with a direct model. What can you learn from them and where can you get the expertise? Either do some hiring or contract with a consulting agency that can provide the expertise.

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