Every service business owner I speak with asks the same question: “Which AI tool should I buy?”
Wrong question.
I get it. You’re doing your homework – comparing features, reading reviews, watching demos. You want to pick the right thing because you know AI matters for staying competitive.
But here’s the thing: whilst you’re comparing which chatbot has the best features, your competitors are figuring out how to actually use AI in their day-to-day work.
Why Most AI Projects Fail (It’s Not What You Think)
Here’s something that shocked me. MIT research found that 95% of businesses see basically no improvement to their bottom line from AI.
That’s insane when you think about it. The technology actually works.
So why do so many service businesses fail with AI?
McKinsey looked into this and found that 73% of AI projects fail because businesses can’t figure out how to actually use what the AI produces in their daily work. The AI does its job. But the business doesn’t know what to do with it.
Think about that for a second.
Your AI chatbot might write perfect responses, your scheduling tool might work flawlessly, and your data analysis might be spot-on. But if your team doesn’t know when to trust it, how to double-check things, or when they need to step in themselves, you’ve just bought expensive software that nobody uses.
Why Service Businesses Find This Even Harder
Service businesses like yours have it tougher. Your work revolves around relationships with clients, customised solutions, and your team’s expertise. You can’t just plug AI into a cookie-cutter process because every client situation is a bit different.
BCG found something telling: 70% of AI problems come from people and processes, 20% from tech issues, and only 10% from the actual AI itself.
Yet most service businesses spend all their time comparing which AI is “best.”
The real questions that determine success are different: How does the AI hand work over to your team? When should the automation stop and a real person take over? Who checks AI-written messages before they go to clients? How do you train your staff to work with AI instead of fighting against it?
These questions matter way more than choosing between platform A or platform B.
How to Actually Set Up AI in Your Business
Here’s the bit everyone gets backwards: you need to figure out how AI fits into your work before you buy anything.
That means looking at how you currently do things, finding where work gets stuck or takes too long, and understanding where AI would genuinely help versus where it would just get in the way.
Most service businesses do this backwards. They buy an AI tool first, then try to jam it into how they already work. This creates frustration, confusion, and eventually everyone stops using it.
The businesses that succeed do something different. They start with reality. Where do enquiries fall through the cracks? Which admin tasks eat up hours? What takes too long to get back to clients about?
Then they redesign how they work around those problems. Only after they understand the new way of doing things do they pick tools that support it.
This flips the usual approach. You’re not asking “What can this AI do?” You’re asking “What does my business actually need, and how should we set things up so AI can help with that?”
What This Looks Like in Real Life
Let me give you an example. Say you’re a consulting firm looking at how new clients come onboard.
The wrong way: You pick a chatbot based on features, stick it on your website, and call it done. The chatbot answers questions, but your team still has to manually read through conversations, copy information into your CRM, and schedule follow-ups using a different tool.
The right way: You map out the whole journey first. Where do potential clients lose interest? What information do you need before the first meeting? How does that information get to the team who’ll do the work?
Then you redesign everything. Maybe prospects fill out a form that automatically creates a project outline. Your AI chatbot asks the questions that tell you if they’re a good fit. Scheduling connects to your team’s calendars and knows which person handles which type of work.
Same AI technology. Completely different results for your business.
Why This Matters Right Now
Look, I know you’re feeling the pressure. Your competitors are using AI. Your clients expect faster responses. The gap between businesses using AI well and those who aren’t is growing fast.
But rushing to buy AI tools without thinking through how they’ll actually work in your business wastes money and frustrates your team. You’ll end up in that 95% who see no real benefit.
The better approach takes more thinking upfront and less rushing to buy things. Look at how your business actually works. Find where things get stuck. Redesign how you work with AI in mind. Then pick tools that fit your new way of working.
Yes, this takes longer at the start. But it’s the approach that actually gets results.
Where to Start
Here’s what I’d do: stop comparing AI platforms for a week. Instead, pick one thing in your business and write down exactly how it works right now. Client intake, project delivery, billing—whatever takes up too much time or goes wrong a lot.
Write down every single step. Note when one person hands work to another. See where you’re copying information from one system to another by hand. Circle the spots where work piles up.
Then ask yourself: If I could automate or improve any three steps in this process, which ones would make the biggest difference?
That exercise is worth more than any comparison chart of AI features.
How you set up AI determines whether it transforms your business or becomes another unused subscription you’re paying for. The technology is ready. Your approach needs to be ready too.
