THE DOCTOR IS IN: BOOSTING TELEPHONE SKILLS HOPES CURE CUSTOMER SATISFACTION

A rude receptionist at the insurance agent's office was the last straw for Nancy Friedman. She called the agent and canceled all her policies.

"He asked me why. I told him, `Your people stink,'" Friedman said.

The agent convinced Friedman to teach his staff what they were doing wrong and how they could improve their telephone skills.

She taught the group to say please and thank you and you're welcome.

Word got out, and a new business was born based on good manners and consideration. A newspaper publisher in Davenport, Iowa, asked her to train his unruly staff.

When she finished the workshop, the newspaper's editor said, "You sure have all the cures. You're the telephone doctor."

From a tiny operation started 15 years ago, The Telephone "Doctor" has grown to a $3-million-a-year corporation dedicated to training and better customer service. She has written two books, published a series of instructional videos and commands up to $6,000 an hour for seminars.

"Customers should be treated as welcome guests," Friedman said, in a telephone interview from her St. Louis office, "and we should all practice a little common courtesy."

Friedman will be in Cape Girardeau April 17 at the Southeast Missouri Press Association's annual meeting. Her two-hour presentation is open to the public. Tickets are available at the Southeast Missourian newspaper for $25.

She will speak from 2 to 4 p.m. at Glenn Auditorium at the Dempster Hall of Business on the Southeast Missouri State University campus.

"It's energetic, motivational, humorous and educational," Friedman said.

The program includes practical suggestions with humorous anecdotes sprinkled throughout. "There is no role playing. No one stands up," Friedman said.

She will outline her five forbidden phrases, which customers should never hear, tips on handling irate callers, and advice on how to keep personal problems from leaking over to telephone conversations.

"The biggest mistake people make when using the telephone is that they are not friendly enough," Friedman said. "You should be friendly before you know who is on the telephone."

A few weeks ago, Friedman called a St. Louis dress shop and asked the person who answered the phone if she had a few minutes. The woman curtly replied, "I'm very busy."

But the woman changed her tune and tone after Friedman explained she was looking for a dress. "That should never have happened," she said. The store lost a sale.

"Untold millions of dollars are lost every year due to poor customer service," Friedman said.

No industry escapes. Friedman has written a second book, which will be published this spring. She solicited customer service horror stories from across the country.

"Everyone, car dealers, realtors, doctors' offices, newspapers, even the family theme park in Florida, got hit," she said.

Often, business owners blame a company's telephone ills on "the girls," the receptionist, the clerk, the switchboard operator, but whoever answers the phone is the company.

"The woman who answered the phone at the dress shop was the owner of the store," Friedman said.

As telephone technology becomes increasingly sophisticated, good telephone skills are important throughout all levels of a company.

"We have voice mail and direct inward dial," Friedman said. "Oftentimes you just don't know. You might be the first person this caller has spoken to."

"Every telephone call is a business opportunity," she said. "It's up to us to make the most of it."