Having been a trainer for many years I have trained in some of the most unlikely of places, from high tech offices in the city to porta cabins on buliding sites. But last month was a first. Slush Puppy the frozen drinks company was holding a conference for all of their staff in with the view to launching some new products. The venue was Hall Green Stadium in Birmingham.

I was specifically asked for as I had already delivered course for them on Management Skills and Customer Care. This was going to be slightly different, I was to hold what we call a Doctors Surgery, this is where I would sit at a table and groups of six people would come to me at appointed times.

This time I was to talk about Personal Effectiveness together with Customer Care. The afternoon was specifically for the engineers that visit sites to repair or install equipment. In all I spoke to thirty of these engineers explaining the importance of their appearance, the cleanliness of their vehicles and how the attitude that they portray is so important to giving a good customer service.

They all seemed to enjoy my little talk and were certainly looking forward the evenings racing. I was asked to stay for the evening but unfortunately I had to decline as I was training a Negotiating Skills course the following day in London. However this did put a different perspective of 'Going to the dogs'.