If you are selling something online make sure that you are an expert in that product or service. It is very frustrating and trust destroying to a customer if you discover that the person at the end of a phone line or email conversation knows absolutely nothing about what they are selling.

I recently purchased a 1961 classic Vespa scooter that has been restored to its original glory. I bought it from vespaclassics.com which is a company run by a guy called Sam. Now Sam is a great example of knowing and loving your product. When I first emailed Vespa Classics I got a reply with loads of advice and helpful points including lots of questions I needed to answer.

Several weeks down the line I now have my custom restored 1961 Vespa and I am loving it. Part of the reason is probably down to the whole purchase experience. Every step of the way Sam has comunicated with me to inform me of progress as well as to confirm my exact requirements. To be honest I have no idea which type of “carb” I would like but because of the communication with Sam I am confident to trust his judgement in the more technical decisions.

And this is the key - TRUST. Because Sam has demonstrated his knowledge and passion for his product I have been able to trust a complete stranger with a few thousand pounds of my money and be confident that I will receive something great for it.

I can whole-heartedly recommend Vespa Classics not just because of the end product I received (though that is quite amazing), but because of the level of service you receive from them.

end of lesson 2: be an expert in your product or service.

In case you haven’t seen it, they have now unveilied the new London 2012 logo. To say it has caused a stir would be an understatement.

As of this morning there were 66 Facebook groups setup to oppose the logo.

The BBC poll for people’s opinion on the logo had 54% saying it won a wooden spoon instead of a gold medal.

There is also a petition which you can sign and join over 14,000 other people so far.

There are numerous competitions to come up with other logos which are producing some great looking results.

Our opinion on this logo is not really important. However, what is a shame is that this was a great opportunity to have a nationwide competition to design the logo. Firstly this would have demonstrated the wealth of design talent within Britain. Secondly it would have cost significantly less than the reported bill of £400k.