Podcast appearances and mentions of Nancy Friedman

I recently discovered Google's latest AI innovation, NotebookLM. This new tool has generated a lot of excitement in both the tech and podcasting communities—and for good reason. Users can input any type of raw text, whether it's a short story or article.  NotebookLM will transform it into a podcast. Each "podcast" features the same male and female voices, mimicking the tone and rhythm with natural-sounding filler words like “uhms” and “aahs” Occasionally, you might notice a glitch in the speech or repeated explanations from the virtual hosts. Curious about its capabilities, we decided to put NotebookLM to the test by inputting a recent article featuring Telephone Doctor Nancy Friedman and Dr. Martin J. McDermott. Give it a listen and ask yourself—if you weren't told this was AI-generated, would you have known? Today's podcast is a conversation of a podcast interview between Nancy Friedman, known as the "Telephone Doctor," and Dr. Martin J. McDermott, the owner of Franchise Interviews. The interview covers a wide range of topics, including their personal backgrounds, career paths, and insights into the fields of franchising, marketing, and customer service. The interview also touches upon the role of positive thinking, the importance of effective communication, and the impact of theater on personal development. The interview provides valuable insights into the lives and work of two successful professionals who are passionate about their respective areas of expertise. In Part Two, we play a clip from our popular Great Quotes in Franchising podcast. You can hear the interview discussed with Nancy and Martin on the following link. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSXXYPXqwEI  

It's the Social Geek Recommended Fall Reading List with several author authors from the franchise community sharing their stories. Hear from these pros and check out their latest work: 00.00 Intro   01.55 Mark and Mary Kay Liston, Diagnosed https://www.diagnosedbook.com   26.00 Clint Smith, How to Hire https://howtohire.com   37.05 Gary Prevenost, The Unstoppable Franchisee https://theunstoppablefranchisee.com   44.30 Erin Fletter, Mug-nificent Meals https://www.amazon.com/stores/Erin-Fletter/author/B093YJHWSM   Thanks to Northeast Color, AnswerConnect, Citrin Cooperman, and BIGGBY Coffee. Shout-outs today to Dina Dwyer Owens, Nancy Friedman, Neighborly, and FranNet.

Today's reminders come thanks to a recent interview I had with The Telephone Doctor ... Nancy Friedman. She is one in a million and gave up an hour of her vacation time in The Keys to meet with the members of The Inner Circle. What a gift. Erasing the word "no" from your vocabulary, taking the time to write NUM notes and "double checking" are three keepers from last week's interview.  For a link to hear the entire interview, shoot me an email at mike@mikemarchev.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This episode was such fun to do, and also proved that customer service, communication and relationship building remain just as important and relevant today as they were many years ago. My guest, Nancy Friedman has been helping companies communicate better with their customers and staff for a long time. Her passion has never wavered. Nancy shares many golden nuggets in her inimitable style, and has me laughing a lot of the time. She was a delight to interview.Whether talking about telephone courtesy, customer service, communication, or Zoom etiquette, Nancy has valuable tips for all of us – as she has seen it all. Enjoy!Learn more about Nancy:https://www.serviceskills.com/https://nancyfriedman.com/A little about me:I began my career as a teacher, was a corporate trainer for many years, and then found my niche training & supporting business owners, entrepreneurs & sales professionals to network at a world-class level. My passion is working with motivated people, who are coachable and who want to build their businesses through relationship marketing and networking (online & offline). I help my clients create retention strategies, grow through referrals, and create loyal customers by staying connected.In appreciation for being here, I have a couple of gifts for you.A LinkedIn Checklist for setting up your fully optimized Profile: https://www.janiceporter.com/linkedin-training.htmlAn opportunity to test drive the Follow Up system I recommend by sending a FREE greeting card (on me): www.sendacardeverytime.comConnect with me:http://JanicePorter.comhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/janiceporter/https://www.facebook.com/JanicePorterBizhttps://twitter.com/janiceporterJoin our Relationships Rule community on FB here:https://www.facebook.com/groups/relationshipsrule/Thanks for listening!Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page.Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a note in the comment section below!Subscribe to the podcastIf you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes or Stitcher. You can also subscribe from the podcast app on your mobile device.Leave us an iTunes reviewRatings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on iTunes, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on iTunes.

Nancy Friedman, The Telephone Doctor, founder, and chairman of Telephone Doctor Customer Service Training, is back in the saddle again. Well, back into live onsite programs, and still offering her ZOOM programs, in a cost saving manner. Whichever you choose, onsite or Zoom, you'll be glad you did. Nancy is a sales, customer service and communication expert and she welcomes calls, texts, or emails! https://nancyfriedman.com/Dr. Emily Clionsky and Dr. Mitchell Clionsky are a physician (MD) and neuropsychologist team who have developed an accurate dementia test for doctors, personally treated more than 10,000 patients, and have cared for loved ones with dementia. With their unique perspectives they have written the new book, Dementia Prevention: Using Your Head to Save Your Brain, which uses science and behavior research to help people maintain their brains. http://www.cns-neuro.com/index.htmlBecky VieiraEnough About the Baby: A Brutally Honest Guide to Surviving the First Year of MotherhoodThis show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/3240061/advertisement

Linda Ballesteros is host of All Things Franchising and also the owner of Mpower Franchise Consulting where she works with those who want to be in business for themselves but not by themselves with the franchise that best fits their skills, passion and what they want their lifestyle to look like.  She is also very aware of those industries which are more recession resistant. Contact Linda today: Linda@MpowerFranchiseConsulting.com Today's Guest: Nancy Friedman is the founder of the Telephone Doctor Customer Service Training.  She has spoken at franchise conference and she has spent 40 years helping many franchisees communicate better with their customers. Social Media links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nancyfriedmanspeaker/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NancyFriedmanTelephoneDoctor Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nancyfriedmanteldoc/ Contact INFO: Nancy Friedman (Chairman & Founder) Website: www.nancyfriedman.com Email. Nancy@telephonedoctor.com Phone (Central time) 314 276 1012

Frankie guests areNancy Friedmanhttps://nancyfriedman.com/Nancy Friedman, The Telephone Doctor, founder, and chairman of Telephone Doctor Customer Service Training, is back in the saddle again. Well, back into live onsite programs, and still offering her ZOOM programs, in a cost saving manner. Whichever you choose, onsite or Zoom, you'll be glad you did. Nancy is a sales, customer service and communication expert and she welcomes calls, texts, or emails! https://nancyfriedman.com/Dr. Danielle ClodeKOALA: A Life in Treeshttps://danielleclode.com.au/Danielle Clode is a biologist and natural history author based at Flinders University in Adelaide, Australia. Danielle grew up in the fishing town of Port Lincoln in South Australia before sailing around the coast with her parents on a boat known as ‘the pirate ship'. Danielle worked as a zookeeper before completing her doctorate in zoology at Oxford University, studying seabirds and feral mink in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. Her books include Killers in Eden, which was made into an award-winning Australian Broadcasting Corporation TV documentary, Search of the Woman Who Sailed the World, and her most recent Koala: A Natural History and an Uncertain Future. https://danielleclode.com.au/This show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/3240061/advertisement

We have a great show. For our first show for 2023, we are remembering James Lipton. James Lipton was the iconic dean of the Actors Studio. You might know James Lipton for his popular show "Inside the Actors Studio." On each episode, Mr. Lipton would ask actors a series of questions in front of a live audience, which typically consisted of students. What I loved about Mr. Lipton's interview style was that he knew more about his guests than they knew about their own lives. At the end of each show, he would ask a series of questions inspired by Bernard Pivot. In one instance, I interviewed actor, friend, and founder of Telephone Doctor Nancy Friedman on my weekly podcast Franchise Interviews. Listen to Nancy's responses. What is your favorite word? What is your least favorite word? What turns you on creatively, spiritually, or emotionally? What turns you off? What sound or noise do you love? What sound or noise do you hate? What profession other than your own would you like to attempt? If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates? In Part Two, we play a clip from our popular Great Quotes in Franchising podcast.    

I told my friend Nancy Friedman on her recent podcast that one of the many benefits of hosting a podcast is meeting and speaking to people you wouldn't ordinarily get to talk to daily. In other words, people you admire and respect. Some examples include Warren Greshes, Nancy Friedman, Dr. John Tantillo, Michael Gerber, Dr. Scott Shane, and previous guests from favorite shows like Shark Tank and Under Cover Boss.The list is too long! Today we will discuss four books that make great stocking stuffers or holiday gifts. They include: The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About ItAwakening the Entrepreneur Within: How Ordinary People Can Create Extraordinary CompaniesThe Illusions of Entrepreneurship: The Costly Myths That Entrepreneurs, Investors, and Policy Makers Live ByBorn Entrepreneurs, Born Leaders: How Your Genes Affect Your Work Life The E-Myth Revisited, by Michael Gerber, is the entrepreneurial myth"...the myth that entrepreneurs start small businesses. Many have been fooled into believing that only entrepreneurs venture bravely to establish new businesses. But most companies are not formed by entrepreneurs. Instead, the people who are technicians start them. We will also discuss Michael's fantastic follow-on book, Awakening the Entrepreneur Within, which interestingly precedes the E-Myth Revisited. Next, we will play our interview with one of my favorite authors, Dr. Scott Shane, to discuss his two popular books, The Illusions of Entrepreneurship: The Costly Myths That Entrepreneurs, Investors, and Policy Makers Live By and Born Entrepreneurs, Born Leaders: How Your Genes Affect Your Work Life.  PS – Also, check out Abundance: The Future Is Better Than You Think!  I spoke about this great book on Nancy Friedman's podcast Happy Holidays. Best regards, Marty McDermott, DBA

Nancy Friedman, The Telephone Doctor, founder, and chairman of Telephone Doctor Customer Service Training, is back in the saddle again. Well, back into live onsite programs, and still offering her ZOOM programs, in a cost saving manner. Whichever you choose, onsite or Zoom, you'll be glad you did. Nancy is a sales, customer service and communication expert and she welcomes calls, texts, or emails! https://nancyfriedman.com/Sam Simon describes himself as being engaged in his fourth age of life, as a playwright and performer. The lawyer and original Nader's Raider likes to say that this era of his life found him, as did the story of The Actual Dance itself, after his wife was diagnosed with stage-three breast cancer. He wrote the play, The Actual Dance, which inspired this memoir, in 2012 and began performing in 2013. The Play is told through the eyes and heart of a husband as he struggles with his worst fears during what everyone expects to be his wife's losing battle to breast cancer.https://www.theactualdance.com/

Interviewing the Interviewer Several weeks ago, I had the opportunity to be interviewed by Nancy Friedman, the founder of the Telephone Doctor. Nancy and I had a lot of fun discussing various topics like travel, actors, favorite interviewers and books, and Franchise Interviews. This November will be Franchise Interviews' 16th year of podcasting. In that time, we interviewed almost 800 guests. For this interview, I will provide the link to the video interview. If you are listening to this podcast on another podcast channel, just go to YouTube and type in keywords, "Martin McDermott". Nancy reminded me that listeners hardly get to put a face behind the podcast. I want to thank Nancy for an excellent discussion, and I look forward to listening to her future shows on YouTube via Zoom! Here is the link to listen to the show.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSXXYPXqwEI Nancy is an expert on customer service, communication skills, and sales. She is a sought-after keynote customer service speaker at annual conferences and franchise and corporate meetings – both large and small. Her programs are inspiring, motivational, and entertaining (See testimonials), creating a memorable session all attendees can use immediately and forever. Fun, distinctive, fast-paced, and energy filled, this customer service speaker's fast wit and laugh-out-loud audience participation have everyone wanting more. Labeled a "don't miss" session, Nancy always delivers the 'goods

Nancy Friedman is in the house. The Telephone Doctor and customer service expert talks with Rebecca Monet and Tracy Kawa about the importance of kindness and humor in life and business.   A friendly argument breaks out when Nancy and Rebecca disagree if a sense of humor can be learned. Listen in to this lively conversation, then weigh in: is Nancy right? Or is Rebecca (a behavioral scientist) right? And where is Tracy in all of this? What's her opinion?  

Today on "Someone You Should Know," Stuart talks with Nancy Friedman, founder of Telephone Doctor Customer Service Training. Motivational speaker and author, she concentrates on improving customer experience. If you're looking for live online customer service training for your organization, check out her website address: www.nancyfriedman.com or if you're interested in e-learning options, check out www.serviceskills.com Join us every Wednesday on kvgimedia.com, our mobile app, Facebook, LinkedIn, or YouTube. #SomeoneYouShouldKnow #StuartSax Each week, Stuart Sax interviews Someone You Should Know. Get to know people who have incredible stories to tell. It's their back stories that make the conversations come to life. From government officials, artists, writers, service providers, creators and dreamers; I share their stories in a casual way. Maybe your story will be the next one we share! Follow Stuart Sax on social media and see more shows at: Website: http://www.stuartsax.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/StuartSaxTalkShow/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_hS3CRf1EAwL-hpT_74itA Podcast: https://anchor.fm/someone-you-should-know Podcast: https://anchor.fm/somethingtotalkabout Podcast: https://anchor.fm/stuart-sax-as-i-see-it Podcast: https://anchor.fm/stuartsax-trashtalk Podcast: https://anchor.fm/opposite-saxes --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/someone-you-should-know/support

Nancy is an expert on customer service, communication skills and sales.https://nancyfriedman.com/Nancy Friedman is Founder, Chairman, and Speaker of the Telephone Doctor. Nancy is an expert on customer service, communication skills and sales. She is a sought-after keynote customer service speaker for events – both large and small. Her programs are inspiring, motivational and entertaining, creating a memorable session all attendees can use immediately and forever.Zoë Kors, author, sex and intimacy experthttps://www.zoekors.com/Zoë Kors is a sought-after thought leader of intimacy and sexuality and author of Radical Intimacy. She is the resident sex and intimacy coach at sexual wellness app Coral, and the former Senior Editor of LA Yoga Magazine. In addition to a thriving private practice, Zoë offers her services through Center for Relational Healing, which specializes in the treatment of sex addicts and their partners. https://www.hachettebooks.com/titles/zoe-kors/radical-intimacy/9780306826603/******Frankie Boyer is an award winning talk show host that empowers listeners to live healthy vibrant lives http://www.frankieboyer.com

Frankie Boyer is an award winning talk show host that empowers listeners to live healthy vibrant lives http://www.frankieboyer.comGuests:Nancy Friedman is Founder, Chairman, and Speaker of the Telephone Doctor. Nancy is an expert on customer service, communication skills and sales. She is a sought-after keynote customer service speaker for events – both large and small. Her programs are inspiring, motivational and entertaining, creating a memorable session all attendees can use immediately and forever. https://nancyfriedman.com/Chartered Philanthropic Advisor Les Winston, Founder of SocialSecharity.org, specializes in utilizing Section 664 of the tax code to build endowments and lower tax bills. He has over 25 years of experience and is a pioneer in the field of Philanthropic Planning. Les Winston founded SocialSecharity.org to educate America on how an endowed nation will secure the financial future of its people. https://socialsecharity.org/

Frankie Boyer is an award winning talk show host that empowers listeners to live healthy vibrant lives http://www.frankieboyer.comGuests:Psychologist Dr. Catherine Athans holds Doctorate Degrees in both Clinical and Health Psychology and has been a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist for over 25 years. She's authored numerous books, including The Heart Brain, which details how stress, anxiety and worry can put you at an increased risk for disease, and offers solutions for a more peaceful mind and healthy body. https://www.catherineathansphd.com/Fred Colby, author of Widower To Widower: Surviving The End Of Your Most Important Relationship, has over forty years of experience working with non-profits in a variety of roles, including Executive Director, Development Director and Consultant. After the loss of his wife, Fred Colby co-founded a Widowers Grief Group at Pathways Hospice. https://www.fredcolby.com/Nancy Friedman, helps companies communicate better with their customers and co workers. Nancy is internationally recognized as a leading authority of customer service, sales and communication skills. She is the author of 9 best-selling books and the featured spokesperson in the popular Telephone Doctor customer service programs, featured online at www.serviceskills.com. She is a featured speaker at conferences and association conferences and meetings around the country. https://nancyfriedman.com/Michele Allen and her husband Jeff, are lifelong animal advocates. They have a small farm in New Jersey that has been home to many foster and rescue animals through the years. Identifying a real need for help for homeless dogs in shelters needing hospice placement, the Allens got to work trying to find a better, more efficient way to help. After the loss of their beloved dog Monkey, they went into high gear with the plans. Their 2-car garage and 2 other rooms are now being used to help with this endeavor. https://www.monkeyshouse.org/cms/

Does Your Franchise Location Make the Grade in Customer Service? Nancy Friedman Breaks it Down for Us! Broadcast Date: February 3, 2022 Broadcast Time : 5:00p EST / 4:00p CST / 3:00p MST /2:00p PST Nancy Friedman is known as "The Telephone Doctor" for a reason - she knows customer service. She works with many franchise brands on improving communication and customer service to elevate the customer experience to the next level. Nancy will address: What are the 3 most powerful words for a new franchisee? Nancy Friedman, The Telephone Doctor, and a former franchisor will share the 3 most powerful words to use in onboarding with your new franchisees. She's betting it's not stressed enough. Nancy learned a lot by failing and now helps companies communicate better with their customers and coworkers. She will be sharing ideas, tips, skills, and techniques that will help you and your franchisees for years to come. Down to earth, you'll hear the real deal. Nancy is a 2-time IFA conference speaker who has also hosted 2 of the popular Roundtables at IFA conferences. Bringing her humor into play, Nancy brings fun into the serious topic of customer service and communication skills. Born and raised in Chicago, IL, the Telephone Doctor and her family now live in St. Louis, MO. Her son David, and daughter Linda, now head up www.serviceksills.com, their unique, boutique, online eLearning platform. Nancy is still delivering her popular Zoom programs to many companies and franchises. Her recent Zoom keynote program for the Glass Guru annual conference received RAVE reviews from top management as well as the franchisees. COVID may have stopped her travels; however, not her common sense customer service and communication skills for you and your franchise.  

We have a great show.  We are meeting with the Telephone Doctor, Nancy Friedman.  Nancy is an expert on customer service, communication skills and sales. Nancy Friedman is a sought-after keynote customer service speaker at annual conferences, franchise and corporate meetings – both large and small. Her programs are inspiring, motivational and entertaining creating a memorable session all attendees can use immediately and forever. Fun, distinctive, fast paced, and energy filled, this customer service speaker's fast wit and laugh-out-loud audience participation has everyone wanting more. Labeled a “don't miss” session, Nancy always delivers the ‘goods.  Today, Nancy and I are going to have a conversation on the 4cs of communication – Covid, Civility, Culture, and Customers.  In Part Two, we play a clip from our popular Great Quotes in Franchising podcast. 

Nancy Friedman, helps companies communicate better with their customers and co workers. Nancy is internationally recognized as a leading authority of customer service, sales and communication skills. She is the author of 9 best-selling books and the featured spokesperson in the popular Telephone Doctor customer service programs, featured online at www.serviceskills.com. She is a featured speaker at conferences and association conferences and meetings around the country. https://nancyfriedman.com/Mitchel Groter, PCC,CFF is the CEO & Whole-Life Leadership Coach & Advisor at Transformational Facilitation, Global YPO Resource. Mitchel works with CEOs and senior executives to operate at their best self, and to actualize more of their potential. His coaching approach enables self-realization, deeper levels of fulfillment and transformational change. https://www.linkedin.com/in/mitchelgroter/

"How To Lose Friends and Alienate Customers" - By Nancy Friedman, Founder, Chairman, Telephone Doctor Customer Service Training. Visit https://www.serviceskills.com for training programs on this topic and many more.Marilyn Anderson is a bestselling author, speaker, and award-winning writer for film and television. She won a LUMINAS Award for the Positive Depiction of Women in film and television, and she is writer-producer of the feature film, How to Beat a Bully. Marilyn is the author of How to Live Like a MILLIONAIRE When You're a Million Short. The book was featured in Forbes and USA Weekly and won an Award as the Best Book on Saving Money & Living Well of the Year. More info at - https://www.HowtoLiveLikeaMillionaire.com

This week, M. Kevin Davis meets with Nancy Friedman, Founder and President of Telephone Doctor, Inc., to discuss what effect exceptional customer service has on the experience your customers have when they are in your shop and some tips you can use to help you sharpen your skills. You can contact Nancy directly via email at nancy@telephonedoctor.com, or call (314) 276-1012. You can find out more about Nancy Friedman and the multitude of programs that can help improve your customer service skill by visiting: www.nancyfriedman.com or www.telephonedoctor.com. You can also view eLearning demos on: www.serviceskills.com. ----- To learn more about how Quick Lube Expert can help you, visit: www.quicklubeexpert.com To learn more about what M. Kevin Davis has to offer, visit: www.mkevindavis.com Sign up for your FREE Discovery Assessment at: www.quicklubeexpert.com/discovery-signup To learn more about Phillips 66 Lubricants and Kendall Motor Oil, visit: www.phillips66lubricants.com, and www.kendallmotoroil.com Find out more about the Phillips 66 Shield High Mileage Booster: www.shieldbooster.com Find out more about the Kendall GT-1 High Mileage Booster: www.kendallhmb.com

Madelaine Claire Weiss, LICSW, MBA, BCC, helps high achievers learn how to master their minds so they can enjoy satisfaction and success in all areas of their lives, maintaining high performance without burning out. Author of “Getting To G.R.E.A.T. 5-Step Strategy for Work and Life, #1 Bestseller Amazon. http://bitly.ws/c9cRNancy Friedman, Founder | Chairman | Telephone Doctor Customer Service - Helping Companies Communicate Better With Their Customers & Co Workers. https://nancyfriedman.com/

First up: Nancy Friedman, a well-known and popular customer service keynote speaker, was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois. Nancy was dubbed ‘The Telephone Doctor' by a newspaper editor at the Quad City Times in Davenport, Iowa after delivering a customer service program to his News Department. http://www.nancyfriedman.com/Then:Boy From Buchenwald: The True Story of a Holocaust Survivor, for middle grade readers, is by Susan McClelland and Romek Wajsman, who changed his name to Robbie Waisman when he moved to Canada in 1949. https://www.smcclelland.com/And: Shawn Bloom has been the president and CEO of NPA since 2000. He is responsible for the strategic direction, operational activities and overall performance of the association and leads state-related activities. Previously, he was executive director of the Missouri Association of Homes for the Aging and worked in the Policy and Governmental Affairs Division of Leading Age. https://www.npaonline.org/

​Topic: I can’t get anything done because customers keep bothering me. Customer service issues and opportunities Broadcast Date: April 8th , 2021 Broadcast Time : 5:00p EST / 4:00p CST / 3:00p MST /2:00p PST ​Join host Ray Pillar, Owner of Molly Maid Aurora-Naperville and co-host Kristin Selmeczy, Chief Business Warrior of Pillars of Franchising as they discuss how to be successful at finding a franchise, identifying funding solutions, the purchasing process, developing marketing strategies and expanding and selling your franchise. Fred McMurray will take everyone Down the Rabbit hole with a question that has been ripped from the headlines. Our panel of guests will discuss I can’t get anything done because customers keep bothering me. How to improve customer service. Panelists:  Nancy Friedman, Ron Bender, David Kajganich On the Million Dollar Mentor Segment this week Kristin Selmeczy will give another million dollar mentor tip that has driven success. Listen live to new episodes on Thursdays at 4p central. Call in on Thursdays at 323-580-5755. Interested in buying a franchise? Join the Million Dollar Franchisee Mentor program Listen to past episodes. https://www.pillarsoffranchising.com.

Stuart's back after 2 week break and today's guest is someone you should know, and her name is Nancy Friedman from telephonedoctor.com - Want to know more, you will have to join in on the conversation. You won't be disappointed! Join Stuart on Wednesdays #SomeoneYouShouldKnow #StuartSax Each week, Stuart Sax interviews Someone You Should Know. Get to know people who have incredible stories to tell. It's their back stories that make the conversations come to life. From government officials, artists, writers, service providers, creators and dreamers; I share their stories in a casual way. Maybe your story will be the next one we share! Follow Stuart Sax on social media and see more shows at: Website: http://www.stuartsax.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/StuartSaxTalkShow/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_hS3CRf1EAwL-hpT_74itA Podcast: https://anchor.fm/someone-you-should-know Podcast: https://anchor.fm/somethingtotalkabout Podcast: https://anchor.fm/stuart-sax-as-i-see-it Podcast: https://anchor.fm/stuartsax-trashtalk Podcast: https://anchor.fm/opposite-saxes --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/someone-you-should-know/support

Does Size or Age matter when choosing a franchise opportunity? Broadcast Date: March 18th , 2021 Broadcast Time : 5:00p EST / 4:00p CST / 3:00p MST /2:00p PST ​Join host Ray Pillar, Owner of Molly Maid Aurora-Naperville and co-host Kristin Selmeczy, Chief Business Warrior of Pillars of Franchising as they discuss how to be successful at finding a franchise, identifying funding solutions, the purchasing process, developing marketing strategies and expanding and selling your franchise. Fred McMurray will take everyone Down the Rabbit hole with a question that has been ripped from the headlines. Our panel of guests will discuss Does Size or Age matter when choosing a franchise opportunity? On the Million Dollar Mentor Segment this week Kristin Selmeczy will give another million dollar mentor tip that has driven success. David Kajganich Nancy Friedman Ron Bender

Rebecca Monet and Elizabeth Denham talk about how Rebecca's big goal this year is to have more fun. She is taking Nancy Friedman's lead on finding the fun in life. How, especially during the pandemic, have you found ways to have fun? Do you make it a priority in your life? Tell us the deets in the comments! Join The Coterie for Women at https://www.thecoterieforwomen.com/sh...

Nancy Friedman tells Elizabeth Denham and Rebecca Monet how she finds joy and laughter in her life. She also tells us of a health scare that taught her how important self-advocacy is for your health. In fact, without COVID, she might not be with us today. Tune in to learn more.   Join The Coterie for Women at https://www.thecoterieforwomen.com/sh...

Nancy Friedman talks to Elizabeth Denham and Rebecca Monet about an important issue - advocating for your own health, especially as a woman. She also tells us how she and her family are able to work together and how she finds joy in each and every day. Tune in and tell us what you have learned! Join The Coterie for Women at https://www.thecoterieforwomen.com/sh...

On this episode of Roses and Thorns, Rebecca Monet and Elizabeth Denham give a nod to Nancy Friedman's cute, smiling masks. A #pandemic​ Christmas, Elizabeth's heavy heart with the Capitol riots, but she is heartened by the relationships being formed in The Coterie. Rebecca has no winter clothes after her move from California to Arkansas - but she did find the best nerd sweater EVER - tune in to see! Join The Coterie for Women at https://www.thecoterieforwomen.com/

Please complete the survey by CLICKING HERE.Happy New Year Week! We sincerely hope you enjoy your holiday and some time to reflect back on one roller coaster year!In this week's podcast, we bring back the next guests from each podcast to have them remind us about what success means to them. Each guest and their episode is listed and linked below. Nancy Friedman, The Telephone Doctor - How to Create World Class Customer ServiceBrian Mac Mahon, Expert DOJO - How I'm Giving Away $1 BillionKyle and Steve Billig, Sweet Charlie's - How to Thrive in a Family BusinessFrank Agin, AmSpirit Business Connections - Networking Your Way to SuccessScott and Sharon Specker, Five Star Painting - How to Go from Corporate Employee to Top FranchiseeGregg Sargent, Restoration Made Simple - How This One Thing Could Double Your ProfitKay and Shi, Squeeze In - How to Recover When Things Don't Go As PlannedJohn Francis, Johnny Franchise - Why You Need a Board of AdvisorsShafik Mina, 2inspire, Mad Science and Crayola Image Arts Academy - Finding Opportunity in Unexpected PlacesIf you are ready to talk about franchising your business you can schedule your free, no-obligation, franchise consultation online at: https://bigskyfranchiseteam.com/ or by calling Big Sky Franchise Team at: 855-824-4759.

Do you have a few minutes to listen to our podcast? Nancy Friedman is our guest on today's podcast episode and shares some of her secrets to customer service success! She is a customer service expert and shares some of her golden nuggets of customer service information on how to create world-class customer service.She is the co-founder of the Telephone Doctor, ServiceSkills.com, and several other businesses. She has run radio stations and even franchised her business!An international customer service training company, Telephone Doctor, Inc. provides onsite programs for conferences and meetings as well as their popular customer service learning platform (www.serviceskills.com) for small and big businesses alike. Nancy and her staff of 21 have helped over 30,000 organizations improve the Customer Satisfaction Scores (CSat) and Net Promoter Score (NPS) of their Customer Service Reps, Help Desk Staff, Call Center Agents, Tech Support Staff and other team members. You can learn more about Nancy's companies at: www.serviceskills.com and www.telephonedoctor.com. If you are ready to talk about franchising your business you can schedule your free, no-obligation, franchise consultation you can do so online at: https://bigskyfranchiseteam.com/ or call Big Sky at: 855-824-4759.

CBR caught up with the "Telephone Doctor", Nancy Friedman to talk about the Customer Service Mindset and the importance of good Customer Service skills. The Golden Globe Atlas Award winner for Best Comedian, actress, radio station owner, and radio personality, international speaker and customer service guru provides a funny interview while sharing lots of wisdom. Do NOT miss this episode!

Merry Christmas! Nancy Friedman and Angela Coté continue guest hosting this week. Today, Nancy shares customer service tips for small business owners.    For more from Nancy, reach her at nancyfriedman.com or call her at 314-291-1012! Thanks to Social Joey, The Better Software Company, and AnswerConnect.    

Join guest hosts Nancy Friedman and Angela Coté as they discuss best practices for franchise brands and small businesses owners. First up, Angela shares the four drivers of franchise growth!   For more info from Angela, reach her at angela@angelacote.com or 250-213-7277.    Thanks to Social Joey, Intrepid Direct, and FranSuite.    

Not long ago, I came across several interesting articles written by the Telephone Doctor Nancy Friedman on the Millennials.  One article was called, “Millennials + Customer Service. An Oxymoron? Or Great Generation?” and “Do We Owe the Millennials an Apology?”.  Nancy and I discuss this fascinating topic.  Here is one of the scenarios Nancy encountered.  A young gal, about 25, preparing to sit in one of her presentations at the NAR conference in DC came up to her with arms crossed and in a slightly defensive mode says, “You’re not going to tell us how bad we are, are you?”  Find out what happened next by listening to the show.  Nancy is the author of nine books on communications, sales, and customer service, Nancy will energize, inspire, and motivate you with tips, ideas, skills, and techniques you’ll use the rest of your life. Nancy’s keynote speaker presentations are high-energy, high in content, and best of all, high-results!  For more information on the Telephone Doctor, go to https://telephonedoctor.com/ In Part Two, we play a clip from our popular Great Quotes in Franchising podcast.        

The Global Salesian Leadership Symposium 2019Mon, Oct 28, 2019 7:00 AM - 3:00 PM EDT The third annual Global Salesian Leadership Symposium, a life-changing program steeped in Salesian virtues, based upon the spirituality of Francis de Sales, the Gentleman Saint. GSLS will provide access and proximity to world-class thought leaders in diverse areas of innovation and industry. The event is being held at the Segate Center located at.401 Jefferson AveToledo, Ohio43604Parking is available in the SeaGate Parking Garage located on Summit St between Jefferson Ave and Monroe St.You can get your tickets at globalsls.org

Today's episode of The ShiftShapers Podcast welcomes The Telephone Doctor Nancy Friedman on the show to share her thoughts on customer service, how it goes wrong, and the best ways to fix it. Nancy discusses common phrases customers hear which simply do not encourage good business, and moves on to the more modern modes of communication like email and chat. She also highlights quick solutions for companies to boost their customer service relations--all in just one call.
 You can find show notes and more information by clicking here: https://bit.ly/2mc4kkl

When is cheese not cheese, or crab not crab? When it’s spelled cheez or krab or even ch’eese or cra’b… Novelty spellings for foods-that-aren’t-made-out-of-the-thing-they-sound-like-they’re-made-out-of go back a pretty long way - ‘cheez’ was THE cheese-like substance of the 1920s - but right now, with plant-based foods on the rise, we’re seeing more of them. Branding consultant and name developer Nancy Friedman casts her expert glance over the apostrophes and deliberate misspellings on foodstuffs; and vegan restaurant owner Melanie Boudens recounts how, this summer, the words ‘cheddar cheese’ on her menu landed her in trouble. Find out more about this episode at theallusionist.org/foood. The Allusionist's online home is theallusionist.org. Stay in touch at twitter.com/allusionistshow, facebook.com/allusionistshow and instagram.com/allusionistshow. The Allusionist live show No Title is playing in London in September and in the US from October. For all event listings, visit theallusionist.org/events. The Allusionist is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX, a collective of the finest podcasts on the interwaves. Find them at radiotopia.fm. Also! I’m making a NEW PODCAST! Veronica Mars Investigations, wherein Jenny Owen Youngs (of Buffering the Vampire Slayer podcast) and I investigate every episode of Veronica Mars from the beginning. Find Veronica Mars Investigations in your podcast-getting app of choice, and at VMIpod on the social medias and .com. In September 2019, the Allusionist is sponsored by: • Squarespace, your one-stop shop for creating and running a good-looking and well-working website. Go to squarespace.com/allusion for a free trial, and use the code ALLUSION to get 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. • Bombas, socks that won’t let you - or themselves - down. Buy your expertly engineered socks at bombas.com/allusionist and get 20% off your first purchase. • Babbel, the language-learning app that will help you speak a new language with confidence. Visit babbel.com to find out more, and text **ALLUSIONIST **to 484848 to try it for free. • Progressive. Get your car insurance quote online at progressive.com and see how much you could be saving. Discounts not available in all states and situations.

Nancy is president & founder of Telephone Doctor Customer Service Training. When Oprah, The Today Show, CBS This Morning, Good Morning America, Good Morning Canada and Great Britain, CNN, Fox News, Wall Street Journal, USA Today and other well respected radio, TV and publications need a customer service expert, they call on Nancy Friedman. You should, too!  LinkedIn for Entrepreneurs - Franchise Interviews Meets with Nancy Friedman. In Part Two, we discuss LinkedIn for Entrepreneurs with Nancy Friedman.  LinkedIn is one of the most powerful networking business tools for professionals and entrepreneurs. Not long ago, Nancy Friedman was interviewed in a magazine article by Forbes. The article was called 10 New LinkedIn Tips to Propel Your PR. In this interview, Nancy and I discuss tips learned over the years on how to effectively use this social media tool.

Donnie B.: It's really, really fun when you get somebody on the show that has done some really cool things in their life. And when I'm talking to Nancy, I got to tell you, I love her humor. I love her wit. You can tell she's been in the acting scene and working in that customer service world for years. And I just love her spirit and energy, man. So as we dive into this week's episode, I want you to really listen because she dropped some real gems on really, how to be a great person, but it's all under the guise of customer service. I really enjoyed this one. And as always, man, this show is brought to you by Point Blank Safety Services. And I got to tell you, as I continue on and learn more about their company, their business, I spend time with Michael and Stacey over there. I'm just really honored that they are supporting this show for as long as they have and the amount of love they've given us. They are really doing a lot to change the game in Texas. We all know there's a ridiculous amount of construction going on, on a regular basis out here. Freeways are getting shut down, lane changes and everything else. And as those workers are out there, there's frustrations on both sides of the table of, the workers are frustrated because the cars are not slowing down. The drivers are frustrated because the workers are there. Somebody’s got to keep both sides of those safe and Stacey and Michael with Point Blank Safety Services, their company, their officers, their off-duty officers do amazing things keeping everybody safe on there. So do me the favor, guys. Go visit their website at https://www.pointblanksafety.com/. Send them a message. Follow them on social media and say, hi and let them know that you heard it on Success Champions. It would mean the world to me. [Music] Donnie B.: All right, guys. This is going to be a killer episode. I'm so stoked and excited about this one. I'm bringing on Nancy Friedman, man and she has got just an awesome and amazing story. So sit back and enjoy this one. But I'm Donnie. This is Donnie’s Success Champions. Ms. Nancy, welcome to the show, my dear. Nancy F.: I am here and I am excited and I am glad that we got together. Thank you for the opportunity, my friend. Donnie B.: Absolutely. Absolutely. So tell us who the heck you are. Nancy F.: Well, I'm Nancy Friedman, the world's only Telephone Doctor. But I didn't just jump in and be that. So the little background story is a fun one and a good one. And I don't know how far you want me to go. But the bottom line is, I was born in Chicago, Illinois. You are not entitled to the year but I was born there, raised there and did a nice stint there. Married my husband and while he was working, he and my brother got together and said, “We're going to buy a radio station in San Diego.” Well, that sounded like a good idea at the time. And we moved to San Diego and when I got there, Donnie, I was a young bride with a 6-month old baby, didn't know a soul in San Diego. It was a navy town then and very cliquish, if you will. I don't need to tell you. You've been a marine. They stick with their own. So the bottom line is, I got, not clinically depressed, but it was like, I want to go home. I don't like this. How can you not like San Diego? So I thought I was nuts. My husband bought me a book that changed my life and it’s by Dale Carnegie, ‘How to Stop Worrying and Start Living’. And the book is, you can pick any page and start it. You don't have to read it from front to back. So the bottom line is, I opened a page and the chapter was, ‘What is the worst thing that can happen?’ Well, that’s a challenging question to ask somebody. What is the worst thing that can happen? Well, the worst thing that can happen in his eyes and mine too was death. That's the worst thing that can happen. Well, I'm not going to die from being in San Diego. A lot of people lived there and they had fun. So I said, “Okay. I can deal with. What's the next worst thing?” I went through the steps myself and I thought, “Okay.” And shortly after he got me the book, I happened to see a little tiny one-inch ad in the newspaper and it said, ‘Midway Theater for Adults’. What the heck is that? Well, it was a high school who at night, turned theater classes into adult theater. And I said, “Okay, I'll go.” He said, “Why don't you go? You'll meet some people. You’ll meet nerds in this theater, weirdos.” “Okay, I’ll go.” So I went and the first night I was there, they did an improv. Here's your subject and go up on stage and do a little, a minute or two improv. Well, as I get up on the stage, there was enormous laughter. Maybe 35, 40 people in the room. And every comedian will tell you, the minute you hear laughter on the stage, you are addicted. It’s worse than any, yeah. It's worse than any drug. Donnie B.: Podcasters were the same way. Just so you know. Nancy F.: By the way, you cannot see me, but I can see you and your beautiful blue eyes. Donnie B.: Oh, thanks, honey. I appreciate that. I call them my baby blues. They’re my moneymakers. Nancy F.: Yeah, of course. I have them too but you can't see me. Anyway, bottom line, I was addicted and I went through that and we did a couple of shows for the Midway Theater School and then somebody told me, “Well, you know, there's a theater here in San Diego called the Old Globe Theater. Why don't you try out for that?” Well, it was not a professional theater but it was high-tech, high-fun and very, very popular. Anyway, I got the part in San Diego and lo and behold, at the end of the year, they have their awards ceremony and little old Nancy Friedman won the old Globe Atlas Award for Best Comedic Actress. Charlton Heston had presented it to me. So it didn't go to my head. It didn't go to my head. Very little goes to my head as my husband will tell you. But very little egotistically goes to my head. But anyway, I knew I had something. Some people draw. Some people played bridge. Some people played tennis. I played theater and it really filled a niche for me. So when we moved from San Diego from owning that radio station which I also helped run with my husband, the sales and service department, we moved. He bought another radio station with my brother in St. Louis and we moved to St. Louis. And by this time, I was real good at the office helping him set up the sales and service department. And in St. Louis, they had a theater, professional theater. So I had to join Equity. And the bottom line there was my first show in St. Louis was with Gig Young. So I am a professional actress and I've appeared with Gig Young, Dan Dailey, Cesar Romero, Forrest Tucker, Don DeFore, Virginia, the list goes on, because they brought in, they're all dead now, so I can say this, B-actors who were like not through with Hollywood but they didn't have good parts for them. So theaters across the country would bring in those good actors, some of them great actors and put them in a theater and support them with the local talent, if you will. And that's what I did for many, many years throughout the season. You'd have a six, eight-week run and two weeks of rehearsal. So if you did four or five a year, you had a nice healthy life. And I was working and I was raising two kids but I was a very happy camper. So my husband started a company called Weatherline and that was the largest private provider of weather information by phone in the United States. We had over a hundred cities where we installed weather information machinery. We worked with radio stations to do the updating and we sold the sponsorships. I won't say it's a confusing business but nobody really understood it. We always got, “Oh, okay. Well, that's nice.” Nobody understood what we were doing. But having owned a couple of radio stations, it was just in his blood. So bottom line, that was very successful and he brought me in to work with the advertisers and keep them on the Weatherline system. So I became the one-woman renewal department, if you will. And my job was to make sure we never lost a client. Never lose a client was our motto. And so we had the highest retention of clients that Lord, I've ever heard of. Well, not ever heard of, but it was pretty high. 70%, 80% people stayed with us. Why did they stay with us? Because of how they were treated by me. I mean, the sales people go out and they sell and then what happens afterwards is up in the air sometimes. So we created this customer service department for just them and we kept them year after year after year and some of them stayed with us for 30 years. 30, 35 years. So that's an attest to, A, how good we were. Donnie B.: Well, you’re either good on the phone or just really good-looking and charming. It's one of the two. Nancy F.: Well, thank God I'm both. Anyway, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. But bottom line, I had a knack and it is a knack. Not everybody can talk to strangers about and I don't want to say nothing but about things they like and the ability to pop on a phone call and make sure we've asked them for time to talk and to set up those things. We didn't have email when we started at Weatherline. So it was, you did pick up a phone and you were an interruption and you still are an interruption when you’d call somebody. But we didn't, there was no email that say, “Can you talk Thursday at three?” There was no Outlook invite. There was nothing like that. Are you thinking I'm old now? Donnie B.: No, honey. I grew up in the sales game, okay? And I literally grew up in the kicking in doors and cold calling. Nancy F.: Tell me. I love that. Tell me what happened. Let me interview you. Donnie B.: Well, but here's what's interesting about this is, I love the fact that you said not anybody can just pick up the phone and get into the small talk stuff because you're 100% right. And I usually dive into the more technical stuff on the backend of this but we're going because I just love your energy. But most times, when people get on a phone, they're so consumed with how that person on the other end is going to think about them. Are they going to like me? Are they going to embrace what I'm thinking? Are they going to embrace what I'm saying? That they stumble over their words and next thing you know, they become that cheesy salesperson versus just going in and have the conversation. So I love this vibe. I love your approach. This is really, really good. Nancy F.: You're right. It isn't for everybody. And which brings me to a tip that is going to come from left field, Donnie and I apologize. But so many people hire, sometimes, we hire people because they're breathing and that's not healthy. That's just not healthy. As owners and managers, we’re desperate. So my first tip to owners and managers and I'm going off the reservation here for a moment, I apologize. But my first, I love this show and I can go where I want because I'm so ADD. I’ll come back. Okay. Donnie B.: I got you. Nancy F.: My first tip for owners and managers is, have your first interview with somebody on the telephone and all you need to do is say, “Donnie, tell me about yourself.” Well, the first question, if they ask you, “What would you like to know?” That's a loser question. That's a loser question. So if somebody says … as I said, tell me about yourself. How much clearer could I be? So the bottom line is, they don't interview people on the phone. They think that face-to-face is first. No. Face-to-face is second. Especially if you're going to be on the phone. Especially if it's for a phone operation, so to speak. Donnie B.: Nancy, here's what I love about this. For guests coming on my shows, now, I reached out to you because I really wanted to tell your story and be a part of that journey. But for most people, and I get a lot of people that reach out to come on the show, my first question is always, tell me your story. I don't even half the time care what their story is. It's all about how they handle themselves in that response. Nancy F.: Absolutely. Absolutely. And when you interview, you can hear their poor language or their good language. You can hear if they have a smile on their voice. I mean, you get everything you need from a phone interview and people miss that. A very short story. I was pulled in to do a 10-city tour a few years ago. Well, many years ago with one of the largest telecommunications in the country. I'll leave their names out but you can guess who it was. Bottom line, on one of the call centers, I heard some not-so-good calls. And I said, “Tell me about your interviewing process. Tell me how you hire.” And she said, “Well, we do this test and we do that test and we do the disc. We do all that. We do this and the typing and the math.” And I said, “Where's the phone interview?” And deer in the headlights, she said, “What do you mean phone interview? They’re on the phone.” “Yeah, but did you hear their voice before you hired them?” And they hadn't, Donnie. They hadn't heard their voice. So they were getting, “Uh, can I, uh, uh, help, help, help you? Uh, I seen where … I seen,” and the poor language. I don't know that I changed the culture but man, I don't understand how you cannot do that interview. Donnie B.: Well, it's even more important to people how to get into that game now because think about it, is less and less people are talking on phones. You got your social, you got your texting, your private messaging, direct messaging, all of this stuff that they often forget that the younger generations that are being grown up, they don't talk on phones. It's all their thumb work. Nancy F.: Right. Donnie B.: Go ahead. Nancy F.: I'm sorry. Somebody once said to me a few years ago, “Is Telephone Doctor name, is it outdated?” And I said just the other day to somebody, “Show me a company that doesn't have a phone. Show me a person that doesn't have a phone.” And they couldn't. So the phone has not gone away. It's going to be here maybe in a different shape or size or whatever. But it's going to be around for a long time. And I don't care if you use two cans and a string. The bottom line to working on the phone is the smile and there’s the tone of voice. And you know, you talk about millennials, we train a lot of them in the programs. They are sponges, Donnie. They are sponges. They don't want to be stupid. They don't want to be not smart. They want to know things. So when I do a program, I will say that the seasoned people, older than I am, come up and say, “Wow. That was good stuff. I really needed that refresher.” And then the millennials, the 25 to 35 come in and say, “No, I didn't know about that.” Well, of course, I don't want to put their nose in it, but it's not taught in our schools. It's not taught in colleges. It’s not taught in high school. It's not taught in grade school. So Mom and Dad sometimes have to pick up or Nancy Friedman picks up. Donnie B.: Right, right, right. This is interesting because I love what you're doing and it is such a needed talent and skill that I for one believe sales should be taught in school anyways because we need to learn that skillset because if the economy tanks and everything else, you can always find a sales job. Nancy F.: Absolutely. Donnie B.: So it's interesting. How much do you think your acting and that career prepared you for what you're doing now Nancy F.: 100%. 100% without even thinking about it. One of the other questions I ask in an interview is, have you ever had any theater experience? I don't care if it was band or cheerleading or something where you had to entertain people somehow, somewhere, someplace and those that have it, get it. I mean, they get that you're on for two hours or you’re on for the shit length of the show. If you've never done that, there's a slight misstep in, “Oh, I have to smile? Oh, really? But they can't see me.” Yes, they can. They mentally see you. If I did this interview without a smile on my face, you would not be a happy camper. Donnie B.: True. True. Nancy F.: So I'm sitting here like an idiot. No, not like an idiot. Donnie B.: I got that recorded, Nancy. Nancy F.: That's all right. That's all right. But we walked on the airports with a little smile on our face. I'm slightly depressed when I walk through the airports when I see the frowns on people. It's like, “Good Lord, you're healthy. You're walking. You're going someplace. Put a little scat grin on your face.” I don't know. Donnie B.: Absolutely. That's a really cool insider tip because when I was training sales companies across the US, I would constantly tell them, “Hire the athletes for sales role because you want somebody that can compete and understands what it takes to win a game.” And I love the fact that you just threw out there for your phone workers, maybe your inside reps, those type of people you're putting out there. Go find somebody who has the acting skills. And they understand how to entertain a room. That's brilliant because really, I'd never put that out there. Nancy F.: Well, thank you. But it doesn't have to be theater. It doesn't have to be a stage. It could be like a, say, chorus. It could be cheerleading. Watch those young girls on that cheerleading field with those smiles. I mean, some of them got a bad foot. Some of them don't feel like it. Somebody just broke up with their boyfriend. But they're not allowed to show it. Donnie B.: Right, right, right. No, that's really, really, really great advice. Nancy F.: Well, we got a lot of good tips and it's all common sense and I'm very proud of Telephone Doctor’s content. I would put it up against anybody's. Donnie B.: So how did it start? I mean, you go from an actor that's won awards, hung out with some really, really cool names that I actually recognize and well, you know, I'm not a spring chicken anymore. I tell everybody that I'm not getting older. I'm getting seasoned. Nancy F.: That’s my word. Yeah. We’re seasoned. Okay, good. Well … Donnie B.: This isn't gray in my beard. It's chrome, okay? Nancy F.: It’s classy. Don't worry about it. It’s very classy. Sexy. Donnie B.: Thank you. Nancy F.: Oh, you wanted the sexy voice. All right. Let me give you the sexy voice. Donnie B.: Nancy, you and I are going to become best friends. Nancy F.: I hope so. I would love this. Bottom line, let me get to how I became the Telephone Doctor. I was saving accounts at my husband's business and one day, I had to call the insurance agent and it wasn't a very good call. They were not … even on the 1 to 10, they weren’t a 3. That’s how I grade people. So I called back my agent and I said, “Cancel all my policies.” He said, “What happened? I said, “Your people stink. They're so unfriendly. They're unhelpful. They don't smile. They one-word answer. I don't need to be treated like that.” He said, “Oh my gosh.” He says, “When I call your office, I'm treated like a king and I'm not even a customer.” So he got it right away and he said, “Would you come to my office and train my people?” And I said, “All right.” So I went to his office out of love and like I say, the last time I did it out of love, but I went to his office and they had 14, 15, 16 people sitting there drinking coffee and I had a cup of coffee. And finally, I stood up. Michael said, “Okay. Nancy's going to talk with you.” So I stood up and I said, “Well, at our office we say please.” And one woman hit the other and said, “Write that down. That's a good one.” Donnie B.: Oh, Lord. Nancy F.: And I said, “Thank you.” And I said, “Say, you're welcome. Say, have a nice day. Say, oh, wow once in a while.” Something that I know you're on the line and I don't think I spoke 15 minutes, started to walk out the door. The President of the insurance agency stopped me and said, “Thank you very much, Nancy. We really learned some new things.” Man, I came home, had a drink with my husband. I said, “Dick, let me tell you what happened today.” So I told him all about what happened. I said, “I was walking out the door and the President of the insurance agency said, ‘Thank you. We really learned some new things.’ Dick, things that you and I do like breathing in and breathing out, I don't understand.” And Dick looked me right in the eye and said, “Nancy, don't ever be surprised. No one has ever shown them.” Well, I mentioned this same story that I cared to share here with you today to the then general manager of a newspaper in Davenport, Iowa, the Quad-City Times and he was one of our Weatherline clients and he heard what I was doing. He said, “I want you to come up and train my people.” I said, “Well, great. How many do you have?” He said, “300.” I looked at my husband. I said, “Now, look what you got me into.” Donnie B.: Of course because now, it’s his fault. Nancy F.: Yeah, right. Of course. Thank you. That was the typing mistakes on my email if you'd noticed, I put that. But anyway, I went up and the first program was done for the classified department, the sales department because they weren't doing so well. And I did my program and at the end of the program, the editor of the Quad-City Times came up. He said, “You know what, you're very good as you're sure of all the cures.” And he thought for a moment and he snapped his fingers. He said, “I'm going to call you the Doctor. I'm going to call you the Telephone Doctor.” And I came running home to Dick. I said, “Dick, some guy called me the Telephone Doctor. What should we do?” He said, “Let's go get it registered. We're going to have some fun and fun we’ve been having.” Donnie B.: I like Dick. He’s a good dude. Nancy F.: He's a wordsmith. Thank you. Dick is another story. He's the one with the tendon operation. Anyway, about him. He just had an emergency Achilles tendon operation. That's a whole other interview. Okay. Caregiving. Not in my DNA. All right. So bottom line … Donnie B.: You’re the actor. So it makes sense. Nancy F.: Oh, last two weeks. Anyway, no. He's been a good patient. Donnie B.: That’s awesome. Nancy F.: The bottom line is, we got it registered and I did a few little programs around town. Word gets around. We were competing when we started 30 years ago, Donnie. Computers were just coming out. So if I would call up and say, “I’m Nancy Friedman. We've got some tips on how you can treat your customers.” “Oh, no. We just bought a computer.” Well, that's important because there's nobody involved with that except you and your keyboard. So it was a tough row at first but newspapers heard about what I did at the Quad-City Times. And if you're familiar with newspapers at that time, it was a snowball effect. I did about eight or ten, I think it was even more than that, newspapers across the country because they were desperate. You've been in sales. You know how desperate to reach out when somebody can help you. So we've helped a lot of companies. From there, it's been a wonderful ride. It's a small family-owned business. Mother, father, son and daughter. 23 employees in a 10,000-square foot building in St. Louis, Missouri and we are an international customer service training company now. So we help companies communicate better with their customers. Donnie B.: So let’s go back to that first time you’re standing in front of the insurance company. You walk into a room … I'm going to make the assumption that you are somewhat unprepared because you didn't really know what the heck you were going to talk to them about other than that they should be nicer on the phone. Was that an improv moment for you? Nancy F.: You’re very observant. You're very observant because it was like the next day from the phone call to come to my office was the next day and right. There were no notes involved. So Nancy spoke from her heart and when you have a passion about something, you can talk 45 minutes, an hour, you can talk all day about something you know and love. Ask me about NASA, ask me about some other things and it's, “Goodbye. Have a nice day.” But if you want to talk about communication, sales and customer service, we can go deep. We can go deep. And that's what happened. We decided, as a company, we want to go deep. We don't want to be all things to all people. That's how you spread yourself too thin in our opinion. We're not a department store. We're a boutique. Donnie B.: Right. Nancy F.: Big difference. Donnie B.: And I hope people heard that. Because there's a lot of people that are trying to get on stages and they're trying to build platforms and everything else and they're struggling to come up with content and gosh, it comes down to, speak to what you know, speak to what you love and it'll just come. I mean, I'm sure you're the same way, Nancy. You go in front of a room and somebody is just going to put you on a spot and you're going to be able to go without any pretext. And I know I do the same thing when I speak all over the world as well. And it's just funny to me, the people that come up to me and they’re like, “How do you do that?” I'm like, “Do what?” Nancy F.: It's in your DNA. It’s in your DNA. What I'm not able to do and you and I both know people who do this. A friend of mine who speaks. He's like, “I got to ask for a topic and I don't remember what it was. I know nothing about it but I'll Google it and I'll be able to do a program.” And I'm thinking to myself, I could never do that. I could never cheat client. And that's what I call it. If you're not an expert, we can all Google it and we can all look at something but it doesn't come from the heart. It just doesn't come from the heart. You've heard and seen speakers talk about things that they know nothing about. Take the actors on TV when they go to an interview. Jimmy Fallon and whatever else. Who else is on TV? I don't stay up that late. Donnie B.: Me neither. Nancy F.: They talk about things that they shouldn't be talking about and you get a lot of ‘ums’, you get a lot of, ‘I got to think about this’. If they're not an expert in it, let them talk about acting. That's what they know. Donnie B.: No, I absolutely agree with you. It's interesting because there's so many people that want to be and do and accomplish something greater and they are doing these big things but not doing them well because they're not going back to their roots and doing what they know. I mean, that first time you stood in front of that group and spoke, I mean, I'm sure you did well but I can almost guarantee that when you walked away, you immediately went, “I could've done this better.” Nancy F.: Oh, absolutely. Yes. Yes. Or I forgot to tell them or something. So I speak without notes. I don't use PowerPoint and it just … it does … Donnie B.: Oh, I love you even more. Thank you. Nancy F.: I don't. Well, I'm a believer that you cannot do two things well at once. And the keyword there is well. A woman came up to me one time. She goes, “I multitask. I can do two things.” I said, “You missed the whole point, honey. You cannot do two things well at once.” We can all do two things. But one of them is going to … if I were right now typing emails on the side and doing an interview, one thing would suffer. The interview or the emails. So concentration and doing one thing at a time when it's important to you is critical in my opinion. Donnie B.: Yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely. So now, you're this world-class, world-famous Telephone Doctor which is just a brilliant name. Because I love it when a name readily tells you what you're about to get into. Nancy F.: You don't think it's outdated, do you? Donnie B.: No. Here's the thing, is I think technology eventually is going to get to a point where it's just going to become voice. Nancy F.: Voice Doctor. Oh, that’s good. The Voice Doctor. Donnie B.: Yeah. And you know, so there's always going to be verbal communication. How that verbal communication happens is going to change. The dynamics are going to change. Like you and I are talking to our computers right now, you know? But there's always going to be verbal interaction between people. Nancy F.: I love that. I love that. Donnie B.: That's where your niche and your world is going to continue to teach and define because it's more and more needed because as we've talked about, the younger generation is coming up which I love because they're so spontaneous. They’re so brilliant. I love the way their minds work but they didn't learn some of the basic skills that your generation, my generation grew up with. I mean, we grew up in the era of, “Yes, Ma'am. No, Ma'am.” We grew up in the eras of, here's how you answer a phone, here's how you be polite and those type of things. Doing what you're doing is teaching the generations that didn't get that kind of stuff. They grew up fast-finger and their thumbs and girl, I think you’re in one hell of a spot. Nancy F.: Thank you. Thank you. Well, it's funny that you say that. I was speaking a couple of months ago and a young gal came up, beautiful gal, 25 years old, folded arms, very defense. Right before a program, she says, “You're not going to tell us how bad we are, are you?” I said, “Why would I do that?” She said, “Well, the last speaker told us how bad the millennials were.” I said, “Sit down. Just take your notes and listen.” Donnie B.: Shut up and listen. Nancy F.: Yeah. If speakers are going to get up there and say, “Hey, you millennials, you got it wrong,” you're never going to make a friend. I mean, these guys are starved for information. Donnie B.: They are. Nancy F.: They don't know everything. They may not want to admit it, but they don't. My friend of mine was trying to work a remote I had down at the condo and he couldn't get it and I said, “How old are you?” He said, “21.” “Give me the remote. I will show you how to work it.” He couldn't work the remote and it wasn't an old-fashioned remote. He just couldn't figure it out. So they don't know everything. Donnie B.: Yeah. And the fun thing with it is and Dr. Stevie Dawn, a really good friend of mine, she's the one who originally told me this idea and I was doing a lot of sales training and I was struggling. Admittedly, I was struggling to teach some of the younger generation how to do sales because I wasn't changing my training process to meet them where they were at. I was ten steps ahead of them and it took me a while to wrap my head around them and what she told me, she's like, “Look, how old were you when you had your first job?” And I said, “Well, working for the family or someone else?” And she said, “Working for somebody else.” And I said, “14.” She goes, “What you got to remember is people coming out of colleges now, this is their first job they've ever had.” Nancy F.: Probably, yeah. Good point. Donnie B.: “This is the first time they’ve ever been employed.” She said, “What was your first real job?” And I said, “I was a busboy at a catfish restaurant.” And she goes, “During that, I’m betting somebody didn't just hand you a bucket and say pick up things. I'm betting somebody walked you around, showed you how to clear a table, how to clean it off and kind of took you step by step.” And I said, “Yeah. That’s pretty much how it worked.” And she goes, “Well, that's what you got to do with the younger generation coming into the companies is you got to kind of take them not by the hand. I don't want to baby them. It's not what I'm trying to say but you've got to show them step by step.” And that clicked for me. Nancy F.: It does. And it does click for them. And she's right. You're right. These are not bad people and the other thing that I discovered all by myself, every generation was a millennial. Donnie B.: Yes. Nancy F.: They just wear a different name. We have all been through that. My mother passed away but she left me with one of the best sayings in the whole wide world. “Nancy, there's very little new. Just new people doing it.” And boy, does that save me from letting my head get too big or my feet off the ground. I mean, we all think we invented stuff but if you do look it up, somebody in 1842 thought of it already. Donnie B.: Yeah. That is the truth. Nancy F.: And it’s just, you can be part of it but those people that think they invented stuff, very frustrating for me. So I just, I go by the motto, “Very little new. Just new people doing it.” So … Donnie B.: That's awesome. That's awesome. So now, you're teaching people all over the world these skills and are teaching them how to have proper phone etiquette and everything else. Do you typically do that through like classroom training or is it keynote style or do you have teams that now go out and help you do all the training? Nancy F.: Well, let me answer the last question first. There's only one person that goes out and does the training and that's me. We do large and small groups but the bottom line here is … I'm sorry. I don't know what that dinging is. If it's my side. Donnie B.: Yeah, you're good. You're good. Nancy F.: Okay. Thank you. I like good. I like good a lot. My style is, my drug of choice is humor. So every program that we do, we'll have laughter, we'll have interaction, it will be engaging. Whether it's a small group or a large group. An answer to your question, it could be keynote, it could be classroom, it could be workshop, it could be anything, it could be webinar, it could be whatever we want. Disseminating the information is simply a tool. As long as you got the right content, it doesn't matter how you do it. So whatever the client needs and you know, Donnie, the United States does not have a monopoly on poor customer service. It is a universal situation. Donnie B.: Yes. Nancy F.: You go all over and they have the same complaints we do from voicemail to sales problems. We went to the UK a couple of years ago. When we walked in, nobody said anything. When we walked out, nobody said anything. And finally, we walked out of one store and we said, “We're welcome!” And we walked out. Donnie B.: We're welcome. Nancy F.: We’re welcome. Donnie B.: I got to be honest. My wife gets on me for this one. You’re at a store. You’re at somewhere. And I was brought up that if you're in somebody's way, you say, “Oh, I'm sorry. Excuse me.” And then you move out of the way. Nancy F.: Right. Donnie B.: And my wife gets on me all the time because I'll walk up, somebody will kind of give me a dirty look, like, who the hell am I? And they'll eventually move out of the way and I will make sure that everybody around me knows that I say, “Oh, no, no, no. Really, you’re welcome.” She's like, “Honey, you've got to quit doing that.” I'm like, “Come on. It's just common courtesy.” Nancy F.: It is. It’s cute. You never know who you're going to offend. You and I have not similar personalities but we're not afraid to say something and sadly, I have open mouth, insert foot. For example, I was at the grocery store the other day and behind me was a gentleman with just as much liquor as he could put in there. Vodka, gin, everything. And I said, “Boy, you're going to have a …” And I thought to myself, “Don't do this, Nancy. Don't do this, Nancy.” But Nancy didn't listen to her. So I said, “Boy, you're going to have a fun time tonight.” He said, “No, Ma'am. I'm a priest. This is going elsewhere.” So he said, “I don't drink.” So he didn't get offended but … Donnie B.: Now, if it was me, I would have immediately gone into full Sherlock Holmes mode and gone, “Okay. Why is a priest buying that much liquor? If it's going elsewhere, my house is right down the road.” Nancy F.: I mean, I just was glad I was ahead of him and left. I didn't need any more conversation with him. But sometimes, you know when you say something, it's not going to come out 100% the way you wanted it. And I felt it wasn't but if somebody buys that much liquor, there's a story behind it. Donnie B.: But that's also one of the tragedies of the time is, I am a smart aleck by nature. I'm loud. And when I'm in a room, everybody knows I'm there. If you don't know I’m there, give it five seconds. You're going to know I’m there. And it's frustrating to watch how you can't say anything anymore. Nancy F.: Oh, Donnie, if you're still out speaking, you know that as I go around the room, I'll sit on a lap, take a picture and post it. And I've been having a lot of time for years with that. And somebody came to me the other day and said, I call it, “Here, I'm having a fun lap dance with Donnie Smith. Having a fun a lap dance at this program.” And they said, “It's not politically correct.” I said, “You're kidding me. You're kidding me.” He said, “No. Call it something else.” Well, what I said I'd call it was not politically correct either but you can't say lap dance on social media now? No, you can't say lap dance on social media now. So people like you and me and I or whatever the right word is, we’re sometimes stymied because we got good stuff to share that is not going to hurt anybody. Donnie B.: Yeah. And you know, it's getting to the point to where you're not going to be able to say anything. It’s because people are becoming too, I don’t know if sensitive is the right word and I'm going to catch hell for this, I'm sure. But you know, suck it up. Get over it. Nancy F.: Thank you. That's a whole other program, isn't it? I mean … Donnie B.: It is. It really is. Nancy F.: It's what you can and what you can’t say and somebody should make a list because I'm sure it would be laughable. But anyway, I'm enjoying myself. You are a wonderful interviewer and it makes me feel quite at home. You've got quite a story. And of course, my inquisitive nature and I would love to hear more about the Marines. Thank you for serving, number one. Donnie B.: My honor. My honor. Nancy F.: Thank you. So go ahead. You've got good questions. What do you need to know? Now, yes. I'm the world's only Telephone Doctor. Donnie B.: No, I got you. I got you. So you're bringing humor, you’re bringing comedy into the presentations which is not easy for most people. I think I've seen a lot of people try and bring humor and comedy into their speeches and it's forced. Nancy F.: It's a dud. Donnie B.: Yeah, yeah, yeah. So how do you … I mean, I know it's coming from your acting and stuff but how do you intertwine it in? Is it the improv coming out in you? Or is we’d done it so many times over the years, it's a natural flow process? Nancy F.: Nobody's really asked me that. I believe that people that have ability to make people laugh, that's their gene. That's their way of talking to people. You can do it in writing in a blog. You can do it on face-to-face. You can do it on the telephone. It's just something that you enjoy doing and you and I know timing is everything. Donnie B.: Yes. Nancy F.: Timing is everything. So no, do I have a few jokes? Yeah. But I mean, that's not what I do. I don't stand up there and tell jokes. It can be and everybody knows this. From a classroom teacher and teaching Algebra to a huge speaker. I've heard speakers and you have too that get paid a heck of a lot more than I do standing on stage and they don't have it. They don't have the timing. They don't have the ware. They don't have the confidence. So I don't have the answer to that. But you know, you take somebody like Jerry Seinfeld. He's a clean comic. Sometimes, it’s just the look. Donnie B.: Yeah. Yeah. It's interesting. And I'm asking because this is what works for me a lot of times is, the more I end up laughing at myself over something that may have just come out of my mouth, I think it entices the crowd to laugh along with you. Nancy F.: Yeah. Self-deprecation has always been and always will be and it started from Jack Benny. It started a hundred years ago, self-deprecation but it shouldn't get to be too personal. That's what some people like to do. They like to tell their life story and everything. I'm making a lot of fun with my husband on the blog. He's laid up for two weeks with his operation and I said, “The other day, I fed him breakfast and then he wanted lunch. That's a heck of a lot of nerve to want two meals in one day.” But I didn't have to think about that. That just came out. Donnie B.: Right, right, right, right. And I think that's some of the best humor though, is the one that's relatable in real life and makes sense. That's funny. Nancy F.: I believe we both feel the same way on that one. Donnie B.: Yeah. So where do you think this journey is going to take you, hon? You've had one hell of a life of acting to the telephone queen and all of this, where is this all going to take you? Nancy F.: Well, you know who knows that and He’s the only one that does. Some people say, “Nancy, when are you going to retire?” And my answer without missing a beat is, “When they stop asking me.” That's my signal. So right now, I've got a few programs booked into 2020. Has it slowed down? Yes. But that's sort of by choice as well as anything else because there's new people coming around. There was a time when I was doing commercials and I couldn't find the time of day because I was doing so many commercials. But then the wheel turns and the new voice comes along or a new person comes along. So we all get our turn and if you overstay your visit, what do they say? It’s like fish. It starts to smell. I've just been blessed. I can't complain. I won't complain. I'm not a complainer. I'm just happy where I am. My son, David is doing a terrific job in pulling Telephone Doctor up where it should be. Not that I didn't but he's going to move it along and if there won't be a Telephone Doctor, I don't know that … I couldn't tell you if there is. There won't be another Telephone Doctor because that's like saying, “Who's going to be the next Kentucky Fried Chicken guy?” Donnie B.: Right. Nancy F.: I mean, there's only one Kentucky Fried Chicken guy and that's his face. So … Donnie B.: Yup. Yup. So Nancy, I tell you, this has been awesome. I love that I got to be a part of your journey and be a part of sharing your story with the champions that listen to this show. Thanks for doing that. Nancy F.: Well, you have been a pleasure and there's obviously so much now. Like you said, I’m thinking, “Oh, why didn't I say that? Why didn't I tell him this?” So I'm right back to square one. Donnie B.: Right. But here's the thing, is everybody's got a story. Everybody's got a journey. And I love the fact that you've been so raw, so real because that always works best when people hear this story and if there's things that were left on the table and unsaid, all the more reason for people to inquire and learn more about what you're doing and everything. So in that vein, how do people get in touch with you? Nancy F.: Well, thank you. I appreciate that. Nancyfriedman.com is the website and the office number is in Saint Louis, (314) 291-1012. You always repeat a phone number twice and slowly, Donnie. You never just give a phone number once. Especially on a voicemail or cellphone. (314) Saint Louis. That's another little tip is if you're calling outside, put the city. Not everybody knows every area code in the world. So 314 is Saint Louis, 291-1012 and that's the other thing I tell you is say your phone number in two digits rather than four digits. 10-12 is better than 1-0-1-2 because people will say, “Was it 1-0-2-1? What was it?” 10-12. Donnie B.: I didn't even ask. So I lived for three years in Saint Louis. Nancy F.: Did you? Donnie B.: I did. I lived in the O’Fallon area. Nancy F.: Okay, that's good. Donnie B.: Are you guys close to Downtown? Nancy F.: Bridgeton. We're in Bridgeton, a suburb of St. Louis right off 270. Donnie B.: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Nancy F.: What did you do in Saint Louis? Donnie B.: I worked for a company called Medicine Shoppe International. Nancy F.: No kidding. Donnie B.: Yeah, absolutely. Nancy F.: Wow. Did you know Ray Pippen? Donnie B.: Ray Pippen, that name sounds really, really familiar. Nancy F.: We should do lunch one day. Donnie B.: Okay. Nancy F.: You're in Houston, right? Donnie B.: No. I'm in Fort Worth outside of Dallas. Nancy F.: Oh, Fort Worth, Dallas. That's even better. I got a lot of friends there. Okay. Donnie B.: If you’re in town, let me know. I will meet you anywhere you want to meet. Nancy F.: Bless your heart. You are one super-dooper guy. You have your own success story. I do a little mini, itty-bitty podcast. I would be honored to get your story on. Donnie B.: Absolutely. Let's set that up. Well, Nancy, here's how I wrap up every show and I do stump some people. So get ready for this. You're going to need your improv skills. If you were going to leave the champions who listen to this show, entrepreneurs, business-owners, veterans, people from 78 countries now that are tuning into this show, if you were going to leave them with a quote, a saying, a phrase, a mantra, something they can take with them on their journey especially if they're stacked up against it and going through it, what would be that quote or phrase you would say, “Remember this,”? Nancy F.: “Don’t forget the guy who brought you to the dance.” Donnie B.: God, I love you. You’re so awesome. Nancy F.: That just means a lot to me because in our lives, there's always somebody that we got to go back and say, “Hey, remember 14 years ago when you told me or helped me?” That person will always remember. It's your success that he was or she was part of it. “Don't ever forget the guy who brought you to the dance.” Donnie B.: Yeah. And in that vein, a mentor of mine said, “Donnie, every once in a while, you need to go on whatever social platform you are on and just thank the people that have helped you on your journey because they're the ones still rooting you on.” Nancy F.: Absolutely. Donnie B.: I just thought that was just great advice and I got to tell you, I did that post, I don’t know, a couple of months back and I got a little teary-eyed just saying thanks to some of the people that have helped me on my journey and saw more than I saw myself especially in the younger years. Nancy F.: Everybody likes to see their name in print. Donnie B.: Absolutely. Nancy F.: Except in their obituary. But everybody … Donnie B.: Or maybe on the post office wall. Nancy F.: Right. But the bottom line is, everybody likes to see their name in print. Everybody. Show me somebody who doesn't want to say or hear, “Thank you. I appreciate what you've been in my life.” So we are on the same wavelength. You get a free lunch coming when I get to Dallas or you come to Saint Louis. You've been wonderful. Thank you. Donnie B.: Thank you, Nancy. I really enjoyed this. Nancy F.: Pleasure. [Music] Donnie B.: Man, thanks for staying with me so long on this episode. It was such a great one. I mean, I love it when we can sit there and laugh and joke all the way through and Nancy was just such a fun blessing on this one. Hey, as you're going through your life, I know a lot of times, as I was on my entrepreneur journey, I kept trying to put myself on an island. I really thought I didn't need help. I didn't need advice. So I kept trying to do everything on my own. Once I realized that you've got to surround yourself with the badasses in life that are going for it because you get that energy and that vibe of others who are rising and getting after it and doing more, you really start upping your game and then it becomes more of learning through osmosis than kind of that forced learning that you see everywhere out there. If that's something you're looking for, you really need to come hang out at Success Champions, our Facebook group. We are dropping a ton of content in there, a lot of learning, some golden nuggets and just a tremendous amount of value. There is daily post, awesome Friday Facebook Lives and it is just the place where badasses hang out and rise. So go to Facebook, type in the words, ‘success champion’ in the search bar, click on Groups. It'll be the first group that pops up. Jump in, come say hello and introduce yourself. We're looking forward to seeing you in there. And then guys, the way this show continues to grow and we continue to bring you the awesome guests that we've been able to bring is from your reviews, your shares, your telling a friend about this. So if this show, this energy brings you any value whatsoever, do me a favor. Leave a rating and review and share it with just one friend and let us know. Send us an email and let us know what this show has done for you. Thanks for always, guys for tuning in. I appreciate you. I love you. Thanks for your support and let's continue rising together. Success Champions https://www.facebook.com/groups/SuccessChampion Music by Freddy Fri To book Freddy Fri or for more information -- freddyfrimotivation@gmail.com Follow Freddy Fri Motivation for WEEKLY MOTIVATIONAL VIDEOS and other content: Website -- http://www.freddyfri.com Twitter -- https://twitter.com/realplayya1000 Facebook -- https://www.facebook.com/FredWins/ Instagram -- http://instagram.com/freddyfrimotivation LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/freddyfri/

Donnie B.: It's really, really fun when you get somebody on the show that has done some really cool things in their life. And when I'm talking to Nancy, I got to tell you, I love her humor. I love her wit. You can tell she's been in the acting scene and working in that customer service world for years. And I just love her spirit and energy, man. So as we dive into this week's episode, I want you to really listen because she dropped some real gems on really, how to be a great person, but it's all under the guise of customer service. I really enjoyed this one. And as always, man, this show is brought to you by Point Blank Safety Services. And I got to tell you, as I continue on and learn more about their company, their business, I spend time with Michael and Stacey over there. I'm just really honored that they are supporting this show for as long as they have and the amount of love they've given us. They are really doing a lot to change the game in Texas. We all know there's a ridiculous amount of construction going on, on a regular basis out here. Freeways are getting shut down, lane changes and everything else. And as those workers are out there, there's frustrations on both sides of the table of, the workers are frustrated because the cars are not slowing down. The drivers are frustrated because the workers are there. Somebody’s got to keep both sides of those safe and Stacey and Michael with Point Blank Safety Services, their company, their officers, their off-duty officers do amazing things keeping everybody safe on there. So do me the favor, guys. Go visit their website at https://www.pointblanksafety.com/. Send them a message. Follow them on social media and say, hi and let them know that you heard it on Success Champions. It would mean the world to me. [Music] Donnie B.: All right, guys. This is going to be a killer episode. I'm so stoked and excited about this one. I'm bringing on Nancy Friedman, man and she has got just an awesome and amazing story. So sit back and enjoy this one. But I'm Donnie. This is Donnie’s Success Champions. Ms. Nancy, welcome to the show, my dear. Nancy F.: I am here and I am excited and I am glad that we got together. Thank you for the opportunity, my friend. Donnie B.: Absolutely. Absolutely. So tell us who the heck you are. Nancy F.: Well, I'm Nancy Friedman, the world's only Telephone Doctor. But I didn't just jump in and be that. So the little background story is a fun one and a good one. And I don't know how far you want me to go. But the bottom line is, I was born in Chicago, Illinois. You are not entitled to the year but I was born there, raised there and did a nice stint there. Married my husband and while he was working, he and my brother got together and said, “We're going to buy a radio station in San Diego.” Well, that sounded like a good idea at the time. And we moved to San Diego and when I got there, Donnie, I was a young bride with a 6-month old baby, didn't know a soul in San Diego. It was a navy town then and very cliquish, if you will. I don't need to tell you. You've been a marine. They stick with their own. So the bottom line is, I got, not clinically depressed, but it was like, I want to go home. I don't like this. How can you not like San Diego? So I thought I was nuts. My husband bought me a book that changed my life and it’s by Dale Carnegie, ‘How to Stop Worrying and Start Living’. And the book is, you can pick any page and start it. You don't have to read it from front to back. So the bottom line is, I opened a page and the chapter was, ‘What is the worst thing that can happen?’ Well, that’s a challenging question to ask somebody. What is the worst thing that can happen? Well, the worst thing that can happen in his eyes and mine too was death. That's the worst thing that can happen. Well, I'm not going to die from being in San Diego. A lot of people lived there and they had fun. So I said, “Okay. I can deal with. What's the next worst thing?” I went through the steps myself and I thought, “Okay.” And shortly after he got me the book, I happened to see a little tiny one-inch ad in the newspaper and it said, ‘Midway Theater for Adults’. What the heck is that? Well, it was a high school who at night, turned theater classes into adult theater. And I said, “Okay, I'll go.” He said, “Why don't you go? You'll meet some people. You’ll meet nerds in this theater, weirdos.” “Okay, I’ll go.” So I went and the first night I was there, they did an improv. Here's your subject and go up on stage and do a little, a minute or two improv. Well, as I get up on the stage, there was enormous laughter. Maybe 35, 40 people in the room. And every comedian will tell you, the minute you hear laughter on the stage, you are addicted. It’s worse than any, yeah. It's worse than any drug. Donnie B.: Podcasters were the same way. Just so you know. Nancy F.: By the way, you cannot see me, but I can see you and your beautiful blue eyes. Donnie B.: Oh, thanks, honey. I appreciate that. I call them my baby blues. They’re my moneymakers. Nancy F.: Yeah, of course. I have them too but you can't see me. Anyway, bottom line, I was addicted and I went through that and we did a couple of shows for the Midway Theater School and then somebody told me, “Well, you know, there's a theater here in San Diego called the Old Globe Theater. Why don't you try out for that?” Well, it was not a professional theater but it was high-tech, high-fun and very, very popular. Anyway, I got the part in San Diego and lo and behold, at the end of the year, they have their awards ceremony and little old Nancy Friedman won the old Globe Atlas Award for Best Comedic Actress. Charlton Heston had presented it to me. So it didn't go to my head. It didn't go to my head. Very little goes to my head as my husband will tell you. But very little egotistically goes to my head. But anyway, I knew I had something. Some people draw. Some people played bridge. Some people played tennis. I played theater and it really filled a niche for me. So when we moved from San Diego from owning that radio station which I also helped run with my husband, the sales and service department, we moved. He bought another radio station with my brother in St. Louis and we moved to St. Louis. And by this time, I was real good at the office helping him set up the sales and service department. And in St. Louis, they had a theater, professional theater. So I had to join Equity. And the bottom line there was my first show in St. Louis was with Gig Young. So I am a professional actress and I've appeared with Gig Young, Dan Dailey, Cesar Romero, Forrest Tucker, Don DeFore, Virginia, the list goes on, because they brought in, they're all dead now, so I can say this, B-actors who were like not through with Hollywood but they didn't have good parts for them. So theaters across the country would bring in those good actors, some of them great actors and put them in a theater and support them with the local talent, if you will. And that's what I did for many, many years throughout the season. You'd have a six, eight-week run and two weeks of rehearsal. So if you did four or five a year, you had a nice healthy life. And I was working and I was raising two kids but I was a very happy camper. So my husband started a company called Weatherline and that was the largest private provider of weather information by phone in the United States. We had over a hundred cities where we installed weather information machinery. We worked with radio stations to do the updating and we sold the sponsorships. I won't say it's a confusing business but nobody really understood it. We always got, “Oh, okay. Well, that's nice.” Nobody understood what we were doing. But having owned a couple of radio stations, it was just in his blood. So bottom line, that was very successful and he brought me in to work with the advertisers and keep them on the Weatherline system. So I became the one-woman renewal department, if you will. And my job was to make sure we never lost a client. Never lose a client was our motto. And so we had the highest retention of clients that Lord, I've ever heard of. Well, not ever heard of, but it was pretty high. 70%, 80% people stayed with us. Why did they stay with us? Because of how they were treated by me. I mean, the sales people go out and they sell and then what happens afterwards is up in the air sometimes. So we created this customer service department for just them and we kept them year after year after year and some of them stayed with us for 30 years. 30, 35 years. So that's an attest to, A, how good we were. Donnie B.: Well, you’re either good on the phone or just really good-looking and charming. It's one of the two. Nancy F.: Well, thank God I'm both. Anyway, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. But bottom line, I had a knack and it is a knack. Not everybody can talk to strangers about and I don't want to say nothing but about things they like and the ability to pop on a phone call and make sure we've asked them for time to talk and to set up those things. We didn't have email when we started at Weatherline. So it was, you did pick up a phone and you were an interruption and you still are an interruption when you’d call somebody. But we didn't, there was no email that say, “Can you talk Thursday at three?” There was no Outlook invite. There was nothing like that. Are you thinking I'm old now? Donnie B.: No, honey. I grew up in the sales game, okay? And I literally grew up in the kicking in doors and cold calling. Nancy F.: Tell me. I love that. Tell me what happened. Let me interview you. Donnie B.: Well, but here's what's interesting about this is, I love the fact that you said not anybody can just pick up the phone and get into the small talk stuff because you're 100% right. And I usually dive into the more technical stuff on the backend of this but we're going because I just love your energy. But most times, when people get on a phone, they're so consumed with how that person on the other end is going to think about them. Are they going to like me? Are they going to embrace what I'm thinking? Are they going to embrace what I'm saying? That they stumble over their words and next thing you know, they become that cheesy salesperson versus just going in and have the conversation. So I love this vibe. I love your approach. This is really, really good. Nancy F.: You're right. It isn't for everybody. And which brings me to a tip that is going to come from left field, Donnie and I apologize. But so many people hire, sometimes, we hire people because they're breathing and that's not healthy. That's just not healthy. As owners and managers, we’re desperate. So my first tip to owners and managers and I'm going off the reservation here for a moment, I apologize. But my first, I love this show and I can go where I want because I'm so ADD. I’ll come back. Okay. Donnie B.: I got you. Nancy F.: My first tip for owners and managers is, have your first interview with somebody on the telephone and all you need to do is say, “Donnie, tell me about yourself.” Well, the first question, if they ask you, “What would you like to know?” That's a loser question. That's a loser question. So if somebody says … as I said, tell me about yourself. How much clearer could I be? So the bottom line is, they don't interview people on the phone. They think that face-to-face is first. No. Face-to-face is second. Especially if you're going to be on the phone. Especially if it's for a phone operation, so to speak. Donnie B.: Nancy, here's what I love about this. For guests coming on my shows, now, I reached out to you because I really wanted to tell your story and be a part of that journey. But for most people, and I get a lot of people that reach out to come on the show, my first question is always, tell me your story. I don't even half the time care what their story is. It's all about how they handle themselves in that response. Nancy F.: Absolutely. Absolutely. And when you interview, you can hear their poor language or their good language. You can hear if they have a smile on their voice. I mean, you get everything you need from a phone interview and people miss that. A very short story. I was pulled in to do a 10-city tour a few years ago. Well, many years ago with one of the largest telecommunications in the country. I'll leave their names out but you can guess who it was. Bottom line, on one of the call centers, I heard some not-so-good calls. And I said, “Tell me about your interviewing process. Tell me how you hire.” And she said, “Well, we do this test and we do that test and we do the disc. We do all that. We do this and the typing and the math.” And I said, “Where's the phone interview?” And deer in the headlights, she said, “What do you mean phone interview? They’re on the phone.” “Yeah, but did you hear their voice before you hired them?” And they hadn't, Donnie. They hadn't heard their voice. So they were getting, “Uh, can I, uh, uh, help, help, help you? Uh, I seen where … I seen,” and the poor language. I don't know that I changed the culture but man, I don't understand how you cannot do that interview. Donnie B.: Well, it's even more important to people how to get into that game now because think about it, is less and less people are talking on phones. You got your social, you got your texting, your private messaging, direct messaging, all of this stuff that they often forget that the younger generations that are being grown up, they don't talk on phones. It's all their thumb work. Nancy F.: Right. Donnie B.: Go ahead. Nancy F.: I'm sorry. Somebody once said to me a few years ago, “Is Telephone Doctor name, is it outdated?” And I said just the other day to somebody, “Show me a company that doesn't have a phone. Show me a person that doesn't have a phone.” And they couldn't. So the phone has not gone away. It's going to be here maybe in a different shape or size or whatever. But it's going to be around for a long time. And I don't care if you use two cans and a string. The bottom line to working on the phone is the smile and there’s the tone of voice. And you know, you talk about millennials, we train a lot of them in the programs. They are sponges, Donnie. They are sponges. They don't want to be stupid. They don't want to be not smart. They want to know things. So when I do a program, I will say that the seasoned people, older than I am, come up and say, “Wow. That was good stuff. I really needed that refresher.” And then the millennials, the 25 to 35 come in and say, “No, I didn't know about that.” Well, of course, I don't want to put their nose in it, but it's not taught in our schools. It's not taught in colleges. It’s not taught in high school. It's not taught in grade school. So Mom and Dad sometimes have to pick up or Nancy Friedman picks up. Donnie B.: Right, right, right. This is interesting because I love what you're doing and it is such a needed talent and skill that I for one believe sales should be taught in school anyways because we need to learn that skillset because if the economy tanks and everything else, you can always find a sales job. Nancy F.: Absolutely. Donnie B.: So it's interesting. How much do you think your acting and that career prepared you for what you're doing now Nancy F.: 100%. 100% without even thinking about it. One of the other questions I ask in an interview is, have you ever had any theater experience? I don't care if it was band or cheerleading or something where you had to entertain people somehow, somewhere, someplace and those that have it, get it. I mean, they get that you're on for two hours or you’re on for the shit length of the show. If you've never done that, there's a slight misstep in, “Oh, I have to smile? Oh, really? But they can't see me.” Yes, they can. They mentally see you. If I did this interview without a smile on my face, you would not be a happy camper. Donnie B.: True. True. Nancy F.: So I'm sitting here like an idiot. No, not like an idiot. Donnie B.: I got that recorded, Nancy. Nancy F.: That's all right. That's all right. But we walked on the airports with a little smile on our face. I'm slightly depressed when I walk through the airports when I see the frowns on people. It's like, “Good Lord, you're healthy. You're walking. You're going someplace. Put a little scat grin on your face.” I don't know. Donnie B.: Absolutely. That's a really cool insider tip because when I was training sales companies across the US, I would constantly tell them, “Hire the athletes for sales role because you want somebody that can compete and understands what it takes to win a game.” And I love the fact that you just threw out there for your phone workers, maybe your inside reps, those type of people you're putting out there. Go find somebody who has the acting skills. And they understand how to entertain a room. That's brilliant because really, I'd never put that out there. Nancy F.: Well, thank you. But it doesn't have to be theater. It doesn't have to be a stage. It could be like a, say, chorus. It could be cheerleading. Watch those young girls on that cheerleading field with those smiles. I mean, some of them got a bad foot. Some of them don't feel like it. Somebody just broke up with their boyfriend. But they're not allowed to show it. Donnie B.: Right, right, right. No, that's really, really, really great advice. Nancy F.: Well, we got a lot of good tips and it's all common sense and I'm very proud of Telephone Doctor’s content. I would put it up against anybody's. Donnie B.: So how did it start? I mean, you go from an actor that's won awards, hung out with some really, really cool names that I actually recognize and well, you know, I'm not a spring chicken anymore. I tell everybody that I'm not getting older. I'm getting seasoned. Nancy F.: That’s my word. Yeah. We’re seasoned. Okay, good. Well … Donnie B.: This isn't gray in my beard. It's chrome, okay? Nancy F.: It’s classy. Don't worry about it. It’s very classy. Sexy. Donnie B.: Thank you. Nancy F.: Oh, you wanted the sexy voice. All right. Let me give you the sexy voice. Donnie B.: Nancy, you and I are going to become best friends. Nancy F.: I hope so. I would love this. Bottom line, let me get to how I became the Telephone Doctor. I was saving accounts at my husband's business and one day, I had to call the insurance agent and it wasn't a very good call. They were not … even on the 1 to 10, they weren’t a 3. That’s how I grade people. So I called back my agent and I said, “Cancel all my policies.” He said, “What happened? I said, “Your people stink. They're so unfriendly. They're unhelpful. They don't smile. They one-word answer. I don't need to be treated like that.” He said, “Oh my gosh.” He says, “When I call your office, I'm treated like a king and I'm not even a customer.” So he got it right away and he said, “Would you come to my office and train my people?” And I said, “All right.” So I went to his office out of love and like I say, the last time I did it out of love, but I went to his office and they had 14, 15, 16 people sitting there drinking coffee and I had a cup of coffee. And finally, I stood up. Michael said, “Okay. Nancy's going to talk with you.” So I stood up and I said, “Well, at our office we say please.” And one woman hit the other and said, “Write that down. That's a good one.” Donnie B.: Oh, Lord. Nancy F.: And I said, “Thank you.” And I said, “Say, you're welcome. Say, have a nice day. Say, oh, wow once in a while.” Something that I know you're on the line and I don't think I spoke 15 minutes, started to walk out the door. The President of the insurance agency stopped me and said, “Thank you very much, Nancy. We really learned some new things.” Man, I came home, had a drink with my husband. I said, “Dick, let me tell you what happened today.” So I told him all about what happened. I said, “I was walking out the door and the President of the insurance agency said, ‘Thank you. We really learned some new things.’ Dick, things that you and I do like breathing in and breathing out, I don't understand.” And Dick looked me right in the eye and said, “Nancy, don't ever be surprised. No one has ever shown them.” Well, I mentioned this same story that I cared to share here with you today to the then general manager of a newspaper in Davenport, Iowa, the Quad-City Times and he was one of our Weatherline clients and he heard what I was doing. He said, “I want you to come up and train my people.” I said, “Well, great. How many do you have?” He said, “300.” I looked at my husband. I said, “Now, look what you got me into.” Donnie B.: Of course because now, it’s his fault. Nancy F.: Yeah, right. Of course. Thank you. That was the typing mistakes on my email if you'd noticed, I put that. But anyway, I went up and the first program was done for the classified department, the sales department because they weren't doing so well. And I did my program and at the end of the program, the editor of the Quad-City Times came up. He said, “You know what, you're very good as you're sure of all the cures.” And he thought for a moment and he snapped his fingers. He said, “I'm going to call you the Doctor. I'm going to call you the Telephone Doctor.” And I came running home to Dick. I said, “Dick, some guy called me the Telephone Doctor. What should we do?” He said, “Let's go get it registered. We're going to have some fun and fun we’ve been having.” Donnie B.: I like Dick. He’s a good dude. Nancy F.: He's a wordsmith. Thank you. Dick is another story. He's the one with the tendon operation. Anyway, about him. He just had an emergency Achilles tendon operation. That's a whole other interview. Okay. Caregiving. Not in my DNA. All right. So bottom line … Donnie B.: You’re the actor. So it makes sense. Nancy F.: Oh, last two weeks. Anyway, no. He's been a good patient. Donnie B.: That’s awesome. Nancy F.: The bottom line is, we got it registered and I did a few little programs around town. Word gets around. We were competing when we started 30 years ago, Donnie. Computers were just coming out. So if I would call up and say, “I’m Nancy Friedman. We've got some tips on how you can treat your customers.” “Oh, no. We just bought a computer.” Well, that's important because there's nobody involved with that except you and your keyboard. So it was a tough row at first but newspapers heard about what I did at the Quad-City Times. And if you're familiar with newspapers at that time, it was a snowball effect. I did about eight or ten, I think it was even more than that, newspapers across the country because they were desperate. You've been in sales. You know how desperate to reach out when somebody can help you. So we've helped a lot of companies. From there, it's been a wonderful ride. It's a small family-owned business. Mother, father, son and daughter. 23 employees in a 10,000-square foot building in St. Louis, Missouri and we are an international customer service training company now. So we help companies communicate better with their customers. Donnie B.: So let’s go back to that first time you’re standing in front of the insurance company. You walk into a room … I'm going to make the assumption that you are somewhat unprepared because you didn't really know what the heck you were going to talk to them about other than that they should be nicer on the phone. Was that an improv moment for you? Nancy F.: You’re very observant. You're very observant because it was like the next day from the phone call to come to my office was the next day and right. There were no notes involved. So Nancy spoke from her heart and when you have a passion about something, you can talk 45 minutes, an hour, you can talk all day about something you know and love. Ask me about NASA, ask me about some other things and it's, “Goodbye. Have a nice day.” But if you want to talk about communication, sales and customer service, we can go deep. We can go deep. And that's what happened. We decided, as a company, we want to go deep. We don't want to be all things to all people. That's how you spread yourself too thin in our opinion. We're not a department store. We're a boutique. Donnie B.: Right. Nancy F.: Big difference. Donnie B.: And I hope people heard that. Because there's a lot of people that are trying to get on stages and they're trying to build platforms and everything else and they're struggling to come up with content and gosh, it comes down to, speak to what you know, speak to what you love and it'll just come. I mean, I'm sure you're the same way, Nancy. You go in front of a room and somebody is just going to put you on a spot and you're going to be able to go without any pretext. And I know I do the same thing when I speak all over the world as well. And it's just funny to me, the people that come up to me and they’re like, “How do you do that?” I'm like, “Do what?” Nancy F.: It's in your DNA. It’s in your DNA. What I'm not able to do and you and I both know people who do this. A friend of mine who speaks. He's like, “I got to ask for a topic and I don't remember what it was. I know nothing about it but I'll Google it and I'll be able to do a program.” And I'm thinking to myself, I could never do that. I could never cheat client. And that's what I call it. If you're not an expert, we can all Google it and we can all look at something but it doesn't come from the heart. It just doesn't come from the heart. You've heard and seen speakers talk about things that they know nothing about. Take the actors on TV when they go to an interview. Jimmy Fallon and whatever else. Who else is on TV? I don't stay up that late. Donnie B.: Me neither. Nancy F.: They talk about things that they shouldn't be talking about and you get a lot of ‘ums’, you get a lot of, ‘I got to think about this’. If they're not an expert in it, let them talk about acting. That's what they know. Donnie B.: No, I absolutely agree with you. It's interesting because there's so many people that want to be and do and accomplish something greater and they are doing these big things but not doing them well because they're not going back to their roots and doing what they know. I mean, that first time you stood in front of that group and spoke, I mean, I'm sure you did well but I can almost guarantee that when you walked away, you immediately went, “I could've done this better.” Nancy F.: Oh, absolutely. Yes. Yes. Or I forgot to tell them or something. So I speak without notes. I don't use PowerPoint and it just … it does … Donnie B.: Oh, I love you even more. Thank you. Nancy F.: I don't. Well, I'm a believer that you cannot do two things well at once. And the keyword there is well. A woman came up to me one time. She goes, “I multitask. I can do two things.” I said, “You missed the whole point, honey. You cannot do two things well at once.” We can all do two things. But one of them is going to … if I were right now typing emails on the side and doing an interview, one thing would suffer. The interview or the emails. So concentration and doing one thing at a time when it's important to you is critical in my opinion. Donnie B.: Yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely. So now, you're this world-class, world-famous Telephone Doctor which is just a brilliant name. Because I love it when a name readily tells you what you're about to get into. Nancy F.: You don't think it's outdated, do you? Donnie B.: No. Here's the thing, is I think technology eventually is going to get to a point where it's just going to become voice. Nancy F.: Voice Doctor. Oh, that’s good. The Voice Doctor. Donnie B.: Yeah. And you know, so there's always going to be verbal communication. How that verbal communication happens is going to change. The dynamics are going to change. Like you and I are talking to our computers right now, you know? But there's always going to be verbal interaction between people. Nancy F.: I love that. I love that. Donnie B.: That's where your niche and your world is going to continue to teach and define because it's more and more needed because as we've talked about, the younger generation is coming up which I love because they're so spontaneous. They’re so brilliant. I love the way their minds work but they didn't learn some of the basic skills that your generation, my generation grew up with. I mean, we grew up in the era of, “Yes, Ma'am. No, Ma'am.” We grew up in the eras of, here's how you answer a phone, here's how you be polite and those type of things. Doing what you're doing is teaching the generations that didn't get that kind of stuff. They grew up fast-finger and their thumbs and girl, I think you’re in one hell of a spot. Nancy F.: Thank you. Thank you. Well, it's funny that you say that. I was speaking a couple of months ago and a young gal came up, beautiful gal, 25 years old, folded arms, very defense. Right before a program, she says, “You're not going to tell us how bad we are, are you?” I said, “Why would I do that?” She said, “Well, the last speaker told us how bad the millennials were.” I said, “Sit down. Just take your notes and listen.” Donnie B.: Shut up and listen. Nancy F.: Yeah. If speakers are going to get up there and say, “Hey, you millennials, you got it wrong,” you're never going to make a friend. I mean, these guys are starved for information. Donnie B.: They are. Nancy F.: They don't know everything. They may not want to admit it, but they don't. My friend of mine was trying to work a remote I had down at the condo and he couldn't get it and I said, “How old are you?” He said, “21.” “Give me the remote. I will show you how to work it.” He couldn't work the remote and it wasn't an old-fashioned remote. He just couldn't figure it out. So they don't know everything. Donnie B.: Yeah. And the fun thing with it is and Dr. Stevie Dawn, a really good friend of mine, she's the one who originally told me this idea and I was doing a lot of sales training and I was struggling. Admittedly, I was struggling to teach some of the younger generation how to do sales because I wasn't changing my training process to meet them where they were at. I was ten steps ahead of them and it took me a while to wrap my head around them and what she told me, she's like, “Look, how old were you when you had your first job?” And I said, “Well, working for the family or someone else?” And she said, “Working for somebody else.” And I said, “14.” She goes, “What you got to remember is people coming out of colleges now, this is their first job they've ever had.” Nancy F.: Probably, yeah. Good point. Donnie B.: “This is the first time they’ve ever been employed.” She said, “What was your first real job?” And I said, “I was a busboy at a catfish restaurant.” And she goes, “During that, I’m betting somebody didn't just hand you a bucket and say pick up things. I'm betting somebody walked you around, showed you how to clear a table, how to clean it off and kind of took you step by step.” And I said, “Yeah. That’s pretty much how it worked.” And she goes, “Well, that's what you got to do with the younger generation coming into the companies is you got to kind of take them not by the hand. I don't want to baby them. It's not what I'm trying to say but you've got to show them step by step.” And that clicked for me. Nancy F.: It does. And it does click for them. And she's right. You're right. These are not bad people and the other thing that I discovered all by myself, every generation was a millennial. Donnie B.: Yes. Nancy F.: They just wear a different name. We have all been through that. My mother passed away but she left me with one of the best sayings in the whole wide world. “Nancy, there's very little new. Just new people doing it.” And boy, does that save me from letting my head get too big or my feet off the ground. I mean, we all think we invented stuff but if you do look it up, somebody in 1842 thought of it already. Donnie B.: Yeah. That is the truth. Nancy F.: And it’s just, you can be part of it but those people that think they invented stuff, very frustrating for me. So I just, I go by the motto, “Very little new. Just new people doing it.” So … Donnie B.: That's awesome. That's awesome. So now, you're teaching people all over the world these skills and are teaching them how to have proper phone etiquette and everything else. Do you typically do that through like classroom training or is it keynote style or do you have teams that now go out and help you do all the training? Nancy F.: Well, let me answer the last question first. There's only one person that goes out and does the training and that's me. We do large and small groups but the bottom line here is … I'm sorry. I don't know what that dinging is. If it's my side. Donnie B.: Yeah, you're good. You're good. Nancy F.: Okay. Thank you. I like good. I like good a lot. My style is, my drug of choice is humor. So every program that we do, we'll have laughter, we'll have interaction, it will be engaging. Whether it's a small group or a large group. An answer to your question, it could be keynote, it could be classroom, it could be workshop, it could be anything, it could be webinar, it could be whatever we want. Disseminating the information is simply a tool. As long as you got the right content, it doesn't matter how you do it. So whatever the client needs and you know, Donnie, the United States does not have a monopoly on poor customer service. It is a universal situation. Donnie B.: Yes. Nancy F.: You go all over and they have the same complaints we do from voicemail to sales problems. We went to the UK a couple of years ago. When we walked in, nobody said anything. When we walked out, nobody said anything. And finally, we walked out of one store and we said, “We're welcome!” And we walked out. Donnie B.: We're welcome. Nancy F.: We’re welcome. Donnie B.: I got to be honest. My wife gets on me for this one. You’re at a store. You’re at somewhere. And I was brought up that if you're in somebody's way, you say, “Oh, I'm sorry. Excuse me.” And then you move out of the way. Nancy F.: Right. Donnie B.: And my wife gets on me all the time because I'll walk up, somebody will kind of give me a dirty look, like, who the hell am I? And they'll eventually move out of the way and I will make sure that everybody around me knows that I say, “Oh, no, no, no. Really, you’re welcome.” She's like, “Honey, you've got to quit doing that.” I'm like, “Come on. It's just common courtesy.” Nancy F.: It is. It’s cute. You never know who you're going to offend. You and I have not similar personalities but we're not afraid to say something and sadly, I have open mouth, insert foot. For example, I was at the grocery store the other day and behind me was a gentleman with just as much liquor as he could put in there. Vodka, gin, everything. And I said, “Boy, you're going to have a …” And I thought to myself, “Don't do this, Nancy. Don't do this, Nancy.” But Nancy didn't listen to her. So I said, “Boy, you're going to have a fun time tonight.” He said, “No, Ma'am. I'm a priest. This is going elsewhere.” So he said, “I don't drink.” So he didn't get offended but … Donnie B.: Now, if it was me, I would have immediately gone into full Sherlock Holmes mode and gone, “Okay. Why is a priest buying that much liquor? If it's going elsewhere, my house is right down the road.” Nancy F.: I mean, I just was glad I was ahead of him and left. I didn't need any more conversation with him. But sometimes, you know when you say something, it's not going to come out 100% the way you wanted it. And I felt it wasn't but if somebody buys that much liquor, there's a story behind it. Donnie B.: But that's also one of the tragedies of the time is, I am a smart aleck by nature. I'm loud. And when I'm in a room, everybody knows I'm there. If you don't know I’m there, give it five seconds. You're going to know I’m there. And it's frustrating to watch how you can't say anything anymore. Nancy F.: Oh, Donnie, if you're still out speaking, you know that as I go around the room, I'll sit on a lap, take a picture and post it. And I've been having a lot of time for years with that. And somebody came to me the other day and said, I call it, “Here, I'm having a fun lap dance with Donnie Smith. Having a fun a lap dance at this program.” And they said, “It's not politically correct.” I said, “You're kidding me. You're kidding me.” He said, “No. Call it something else.” Well, what I said I'd call it was not politically correct either but you can't say lap dance on social media now? No, you can't say lap dance on social media now. So people like you and me and I or whatever the right word is, we’re sometimes stymied because we got good stuff to share that is not going to hurt anybody. Donnie B.: Yeah. And you know, it's getting to the point to where you're not going to be able to say anything. It’s because people are becoming too, I don’t know if sensitive is the right word and I'm going to catch hell for this, I'm sure. But you know, suck it up. Get over it. Nancy F.: Thank you. That's a whole other program, isn't it? I mean … Donnie B.: It is. It really is. Nancy F.: It's what you can and what you can’t say and somebody should make a list because I'm sure it would be laughable. But anyway, I'm enjoying myself. You are a wonderful interviewer and it makes me feel quite at home. You've got quite a story. And of course, my inquisitive nature and I would love to hear more about the Marines. Thank you for serving, number one. Donnie B.: My honor. My honor. Nancy F.: Thank you. So go ahead. You've got good questions. What do you need to know? Now, yes. I'm the world's only Telephone Doctor. Donnie B.: No, I got you. I got you. So you're bringing humor, you’re bringing comedy into the presentations which is not easy for most people. I think I've seen a lot of people try and bring humor and comedy into their speeches and it's forced. Nancy F.: It's a dud. Donnie B.: Yeah, yeah, yeah. So how do you … I mean, I know it's coming from your acting and stuff but how do you intertwine it in? Is it the improv coming out in you? Or is we’d done it so many times over the years, it's a natural flow process? Nancy F.: Nobody's really asked me that. I believe that people that have ability to make people laugh, that's their gene. That's their way of talking to people. You can do it in writing in a blog. You can do it on face-to-face. You can do it on the telephone. It's just something that you enjoy doing and you and I know timing is everything. Donnie B.: Yes. Nancy F.: Timing is everything. So no, do I have a few jokes? Yeah. But I mean, that's not what I do. I don't stand up there and tell jokes. It can be and everybody knows this. From a classroom teacher and teaching Algebra to a huge speaker. I've heard speakers and you have too that get paid a heck of a lot more than I do standing on stage and they don't have it. They don't have the timing. They don't have the ware. They don't have the confidence. So I don't have the answer to that. But you know, you take somebody like Jerry Seinfeld. He's a clean comic. Sometimes, it’s just the look. Donnie B.: Yeah. Yeah. It's interesting. And I'm asking because this is what works for me a lot of times is, the more I end up laughing at myself over something that may have just come out of my mouth, I think it entices the crowd to laugh along with you. Nancy F.: Yeah. Self-deprecation has always been and always will be and it started from Jack Benny. It started a hundred years ago, self-deprecation but it shouldn't get to be too personal. That's what some people like to do. They like to tell their life story and everything. I'm making a lot of fun with my husband on the blog. He's laid up for two weeks with his operation and I said, “The other day, I fed him breakfast and then he wanted lunch. That's a heck of a lot of nerve to want two meals in one day.” But I didn't have to think about that. That just came out. Donnie B.: Right, right, right, right. And I think that's some of the best humor though, is the one that's relatable in real life and makes sense. That's funny. Nancy F.: I believe we both feel the same way on that one. Donnie B.: Yeah. So where do you think this journey is going to take you, hon? You've had one hell of a life of acting to the telephone queen and all of this, where is this all going to take you? Nancy F.: Well, you know who knows that and He’s the only one that does. Some people say, “Nancy, when are you going to retire?” And my answer without missing a beat is, “When they stop asking me.” That's my signal. So right now, I've got a few programs booked into 2020. Has it slowed down? Yes. But that's sort of by choice as well as anything else because there's new people coming around. There was a time when I was doing commercials and I couldn't find the time of day because I was doing so many commercials. But then the wheel turns and the new voice comes along or a new person comes along. So we all get our turn and if you overstay your visit, what do they say? It’s like fish. It starts to smell. I've just been blessed. I can't complain. I won't complain. I'm not a complainer. I'm just happy where I am. My son, David is doing a terrific job in pulling Telephone Doctor up where it should be. Not that I didn't but he's going to move it along and if there won't be a Telephone Doctor, I don't know that … I couldn't tell you if there is. There won't be another Telephone Doctor because that's like saying, “Who's going to be the next Kentucky Fried Chicken guy?” Donnie B.: Right. Nancy F.: I mean, there's only one Kentucky Fried Chicken guy and that's his face. So … Donnie B.: Yup. Yup. So Nancy, I tell you, this has been awesome. I love that I got to be a part of your journey and be a part of sharing your story with the champions that listen to this show. Thanks for doing that. Nancy F.: Well, you have been a pleasure and there's obviously so much now. Like you said, I’m thinking, “Oh, why didn't I say that? Why didn't I tell him this?” So I'm right back to square one. Donnie B.: Right. But here's the thing, is everybody's got a story. Everybody's got a journey. And I love the fact that you've been so raw, so real because that always works best when people hear this story and if there's things that were left on the table and unsaid, all the more reason for people to inquire and learn more about what you're doing and everything. So in that vein, how do people get in touch with you? Nancy F.: Well, thank you. I appreciate that. Nancyfriedman.com is the website and the office number is in Saint Louis, (314) 291-1012. You always repeat a phone number twice and slowly, Donnie. You never just give a phone number once. Especially on a voicemail or cellphone. (314) Saint Louis. That's another little tip is if you're calling outside, put the city. Not everybody knows every area code in the world. So 314 is Saint Louis, 291-1012 and that's the other thing I tell you is say your phone number in two digits rather than four digits. 10-12 is better than 1-0-1-2 because people will say, “Was it 1-0-2-1? What was it?” 10-12. Donnie B.: I didn't even ask. So I lived for three years in Saint Louis. Nancy F.: Did you? Donnie B.: I did. I lived in the O’Fallon area. Nancy F.: Okay, that's good. Donnie B.: Are you guys close to Downtown? Nancy F.: Bridgeton. We're in Bridgeton, a suburb of St. Louis right off 270. Donnie B.: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Nancy F.: What did you do in Saint Louis? Donnie B.: I worked for a company called Medicine Shoppe International. Nancy F.: No kidding. Donnie B.: Yeah, absolutely. Nancy F.: Wow. Did you know Ray Pippen? Donnie B.: Ray Pippen, that name sounds really, really familiar. Nancy F.: We should do lunch one day. Donnie B.: Okay. Nancy F.: You're in Houston, right? Donnie B.: No. I'm in Fort Worth outside of Dallas. Nancy F.: Oh, Fort Worth, Dallas. That's even better. I got a lot of friends there. Okay. Donnie B.: If you’re in town, let me know. I will meet you anywhere you want to meet. Nancy F.: Bless your heart. You are one super-dooper guy. You have your own success story. I do a little mini, itty-bitty podcast. I would be honored to get your story on. Donnie B.: Absolutely. Let's set that up. Well, Nancy, here's how I wrap up every show and I do stump some people. So get ready for this. You're going to need your improv skills. If you were going to leave the champions who listen to this show, entrepreneurs, business-owners, veterans, people from 78 countries now that are tuning into this show, if you were going to leave them with a quote, a saying, a phrase, a mantra, something they can take with them on their journey especially if they're stacked up against it and going through it, what would be that quote or phrase you would say, “Remember this,”? Nancy F.: “Don’t forget the guy who brought you to the dance.” Donnie B.: God, I love you. You’re so awesome. Nancy F.: That just means a lot to me because in our lives, there's always somebody that we got to go back and say, “Hey, remember 14 years ago when you told me or helped me?” That person will always remember. It's your success that he was or she was part of it. “Don't ever forget the guy who brought you to the dance.” Donnie B.: Yeah. And in that vein, a mentor of mine said, “Donnie, every once in a while, you need to go on whatever social platform you are on and just thank the people that have helped you on your journey because they're the ones still rooting you on.” Nancy F.: Absolutely. Donnie B.: I just thought that was just great advice and I got to tell you, I did that post, I don’t know, a couple of months back and I got a little teary-eyed just saying thanks to some of the people that have helped me on my journey and saw more than I saw myself especially in the younger years. Nancy F.: Everybody likes to see their name in print. Donnie B.: Absolutely. Nancy F.: Except in their obituary. But everybody … Donnie B.: Or maybe on the post office wall. Nancy F.: Right. But the bottom line is, everybody likes to see their name in print. Everybody. Show me somebody who doesn't want to say or hear, “Thank you. I appreciate what you've been in my life.” So we are on the same wavelength. You get a free lunch coming when I get to Dallas or you come to Saint Louis. You've been wonderful. Thank you. Donnie B.: Thank you, Nancy. I really enjoyed this. Nancy F.: Pleasure. [Music] Donnie B.: Man, thanks for staying with me so long on this episode. It was such a great one. I mean, I love it when we can sit there and laugh and joke all the way through and Nancy was just such a fun blessing on this one. Hey, as you're going through your life, I know a lot of times, as I was on my entrepreneur journey, I kept trying to put myself on an island. I really thought I didn't need help. I didn't need advice. So I kept trying to do everything on my own. Once I realized that you've got to surround yourself with the badasses in life that are going for it because you get that energy and that vibe of others who are rising and getting after it and doing more, you really start upping your game and then it becomes more of learning through osmosis than kind of that forced learning that you see everywhere out there. If that's something you're looking for, you really need to come hang out at Success Champions, our Facebook group. We are dropping a ton of content in there, a lot of learning, some golden nuggets and just a tremendous amount of value. There is daily post, awesome Friday Facebook Lives and it is just the place where badasses hang out and rise. So go to Facebook, type in the words, ‘success champion’ in the search bar, click on Groups. It'll be the first group that pops up. Jump in, come say hello and introduce yourself. We're looking forward to seeing you in there. And then guys, the way this show continues to grow and we continue to bring you the awesome guests that we've been able to bring is from your reviews, your shares, your telling a friend about this. So if this show, this energy brings you any value whatsoever, do me a favor. Leave a rating and review and share it with just one friend and let us know. Send us an email and let us know what this show has done for you. Thanks for always, guys for tuning in. I appreciate you. I love you. Thanks for your support and let's continue rising together. Success Champions https://www.facebook.com/groups/SuccessChampion Music by Freddy Fri To book Freddy Fri or for more information -- freddyfrimotivation@gmail.com Follow Freddy Fri Motivation for WEEKLY MOTIVATIONAL VIDEOS and other content: Website -- http://www.freddyfri.com Twitter -- https://twitter.com/realplayya1000 Facebook -- https://www.facebook.com/FredWins/ Instagram -- http://instagram.com/freddyfrimotivation LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/freddyfri/

Nancy Friedman, founder of Telephone Doctor, details the importance of customer service and shares her top tips for mastering customer calls. 

Nancy Friedman is the president of Telephone Doctor, an organisation dedicated to helping companies deliver great experiences when dealing with customers over the phone. Nancy is an expert at making sure your staff can get the information they need from callers, and in this episode shares why you should always be open and honest with your customers, plus shares her tips on how to deal with angry callers.   Resources mentioned: Telephone Doctor (website) Service Skills (course) Nancy Friedman (website)   Key takeaways (starts at 36:43): Great service involves setting clear expectations. Tell your customers what is happening so they can empathise with you. The magic starts with hiring the right people. Don’t be afraid to ask direct questions. Training needs to happen on a regular basis to be effective.

Join host Ray Pillar, Owner of Molly Maid Aurora-Naperville, and co-host Fred McMurray of Mediavine Marketing, as they discuss the Pillars of running a successful franchise and interview franchise owners and experts. Guest: Nancy Friedman, The Telephone Doctor Topic: Ways to Improve Customer Service focusing on Customer Service Training, Leadership, Communications, Telephone Skills Training, Sales, and Attitude. Listen live on Thursdays at 4:00pm Central time. Call in to comment. (323) 580-5755. Learn More 

Nancy Friedman, The Telephone Doctor Returns!   Nancy gives us more great customer service tips and shares her story of starting her business, owning a franchise, and evolving her brand! And we give a shout-out to our mutual pal, Jerry Darnell, The Mayor of Franchising!    

LinkedIn for Entrepreneurs – Franchise Interviews Meets with Nancy Friedman LinkedIn is one of the most powerful networking business tools for professionals and entrepreneurs.  Not long ago, Nancy Friedman was interviewed in a magazine article by Forbes.  The article was called 10 New LinkedIn Tips to Propel Your PR.  In this interview, Nancy and I discuss tips learned over the years on how to effectively use this social media tool.  Nancy is president & founder of Telephone Doctor Customer Service Training. When Oprah, The Today Show, CBS This Morning, Good Morning America, Good Morning Canada and Great Britain, CNN, Fox News, Wall Street Journal, USA Today and other well-respected radio, TV and publications need a customer service expert, they call on Nancy Friedman. You should, too!  In Part Two, Marty plays the role of one of his favorite interviewers James Lipton and asks Nancy, a former actress the famous ten questions created by Bernard Pivot.  http://www.nancyfriedman.com      

Rebecca Levey and Amy Oztan sit down with friend-of-the-show and KidzVuz co-founder Nancy Friedman

11-25-17 Nancy Friedman by Bob and Stacey

In this episode, Nancy Friedman is going to share with us her experiences as a franchisor and what she believes were the reasons for its ultimate failure.  This is going to be a really good episode because we always hear about people telling us how they succeeded, but rarely do we get to hear from the other side of that coin. The episode is filled with great “take-aways” and is a must-listen for any emerging franchisor. Time Stamp Segment 1                                           02:54 Get to know Nancy Friedman BONUS:                                              27:21 Free gift for listeners Segment 2                                           28:33 Topic Segment – “Franchising Failure” A Case Study Segment 3                                           50:00 Quickdraw Questions   In this episode, Nancy discusses the five steps to ultimately fail in franchising. Step 1: Proper vetting of prospective franchisees is key. Do your due diligence. Trust but verify   Sept 2: Make sure you have the proper infrastructure in place before you begin the journey down the road of franchising. You can't do everything all by yourself.   Step 3: As a training document, a reference document, a master document for the system standards, as a sales tool, have your franchise operations manual in place. As a successful Startup ‘we' make it look easy. It's not.   Steps 4 and 5: Don't be too hot for the deal. Speed is not success. Have a growth plan in place. When you grant a new franchise, ensure that it fits into your well thought-out plan. A shotgun approach may have worked for some companies, but it doesn't mean that it's the easiest, most efficient, or best method of expansion. Franchising isn't for everyone.   Nancy Friedman The Telephone Doctor www.nancyfriedman.com nancy@telephonedoctor.com 314-291-1012   Kit Vinson FranMan Inc. (Franchise Manuals) www.franman.net Kit.vinson@franman.net 214-736-3939 x1  

Nancy is president & founder of Telephone Doctor Customer Service Training. When Oprah, The Today Show, CBS This Morning, Good Morning America, Good Morning Canada and Great Britain, CNN, Fox News, Wall Street Journal, USA Today and other well respected radio, TV and publications need a customer service expert, they call on Nancy Friedman. You should, too! Telephone Doctor continues to grow and now includes ServiceSkills.com, an eLearning platform offering over 100 online training modules on customer service, customer loyalty, communications, internal customer service, sales training, and management & leadership programs. Nancy is the author of nine books on communications, sales, and customer service, Nancy will energize, inspire, and motivate you with tips, ideas, skills, and techniques you’ll use the rest of your life. Nancy’s keynote speaker presentations are high-energy, high in content, and best of all, high-results! For more information on Nancy, go to  www.nancyfriedman.com.

Got a company or a product or a website you need to name? Well, be wary of the potential pitfalls: trademark disputes; pronounceability; being mistaken for a dead body… Name developer Nancy Friedman explains how she helps companies find the right names, and why so many currently end in ‘-ify’. Plus: The Allusionist’s origin story, with Radiotopiskipper Roman Mars. Read Nancy’s excellent blog about naming and trends in the language of commerce at http://nancyfriedman.typepad.com. There’s more about this episode at http://theallusionist.org/brands. Greet me at http://twitter.com/allusionistshow and http://facebook.com/allusionistshow. The Allusionist is a proud member of Radiotopia.fm from PRX.org.

This week on Franchise Today co-hosts, Stan Friedman and Paul Segreto welcome as their guest, Nancy Friedman (no relation to Stan) aka Telephone Doctor. Nancy is a 2-time IFA mini session speaker – and has brought her keynote programs and workshops to dozens of franchise conferences around the country, entertaining the audience with her straight talk, no nonsense, common sense approach to her  tips, ideas, skills and techniques. Covering all 6 touch points of communication… email, snail mail, phone, fax  and face to face, Nancy is more that “just" telephones as she explains how positively memorable experiences are more than just for customers! Franchise Today airs LIVE Wednesdays at 11AM CT / 12PM ET with on-demand access on iTunes.

Rebecca Levey and Amy Oztan are in the studio for the first time this year, with special guest host Nancy Friedman!

Hi everyone, we're in the studio with a special guest this week! Rebecca Levey, Amy Oztan, and special guest Nancy Friedman

Deb Evans, President Franchise Foundry and Jack Monson, Global Director of Manalto are joined by Nancy Friedman, The Telephone Doctor. Nancy Friedman presents a broad array of keynote programs that help companies equip their people with tools to convert more inbound leads into sales, and deliver a better customer experience. She will share the top three email frustrations many profesionals are guilty using. Join the Social Geek Radio conversation on Facebook and connect with Deb, Jack and Nancy on Twitter.

This week we did something special: we recorded an episode in front of a live audience from the Type-A Bootcamp (a mini-conference for bloggers), discussing the power of parents online, and how companies are getting rich off of what middle-aged women share on Facebook. We also fielded some great questions from the audience about various digital parenting issues. On the panel for this special live episode were Amy Oztan, Lance Somerfeld, Nancy Friedman, and Andrea Smith, with Rebecca Levey moderating. https://promosimple.com/ps/7c99

This week hosts Rebecca Levey, Amy Oztan, and Nancy Friedman are in the studio with cellist, composer, and now game inventor Philip Sheppard.

Hosts Rebecca Levey, Nancy Friedman, and Amy Oztan talk to writer Michelle Ruiz about the Internet's latest star, six-year-old Cece Price

This week on the podcast Rebecca, Amy and guest co-host Nancy Friedman are joined in the studio by three time World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion and Human Podcast Machine host, Taz. How does a big time athlete handle his teenage son and balance celebrity with parenting? Plus, why is Father's Day such a lame imitation of Mother's Day and what are some gifts for dads beyond BBQ, booze and gag gifts? And our bytes of the week!

Online recaps of Mad Men or Breaking Bad can be as much fun as the shows themselves. So why not recap classic literature -- like, say, Dante's Inferno? A literary website is doing just that. And, you've heard about the First World and the Third World -- so where in the world is the Second World? Plus, animal stories, including how the aardvark got three A's in its name, and why the catbird seat is the place to be. Also, the origins of crackerjack, mall, mad money, and the admonition you might want horns, but you're gonna die butt-headed! FULL DETAILSShopping malls take their name from the fashionable street now known as Pall Mall in London's St. James area. The game of pall-mall, which involves hitting a ball with a wooden mallet, was once played there.Listen up, Scrabble players! Zax is a real word that refers to a kind of roofing tool. A small eating place where the food is not particularly good is sometimes called a grab-it-and-growl.A crackerjack fellow is someone who's excellent or first-rate. It's most likely the same positive sense of crack found in terms like cracking good, crack team, and crack shot.The idiom rob Peter to pay Paul, means "to borrow someone from someone in order to repay someone else." In Nicaragua, the same idea is expressed by a phrase that translates as take Juan's clothes to give them to Pedro.Quiz Guy John Chaneski has a game of phrases involving the letter B.Mad money is the emergency cash a woman tucked away to get home safely if an evening out went badly. These days, it's largely been replaced by cell phones.There's a First World and a Third World, but what about a Second World? The Soviet Bloc countries once made up the Second World, but these terms are becoming increasingly irrelevant.In an earlier episode, we played a game in which we raised the ante on words with hidden "numbers" inside them. For example, forever became five-ever. Many listeners wrote to share Victor Borge's hilarious Inflationary Language video along the same lines.The legendary baseball announcer Red Barber is credited with popularizing the term the catbird seat, the enviable position in poker where you're last to bet. James Thurber amusing story "The Catbird Seat" published in The New Yorker helped popularize it even further.Name developer and language observer Nancy Friedman tweeted this curious tracking notice from UPS: "Your package has experienced an exception."What do you say to the person next to you on the swings who's in sync with you? How about, Get out of my bathtub!There's some great stuff out there on the web. Among our current favorites are Stan Carey's blog Sentence First, and The Paris Review, where they're recapping Dante's Inferno.The animal called an aardvark takes its name from an Afrikaans term meaning "earth pig." The word is cognate with the English words earth and pork.Meetup is an increasingly common substitute for meeting, especially when the gathering's meant to be less formal and attendance is optional. About that inflationary language: Writing on our Facebook page, Jen Lynch inflated the word tuba, calling it a threeba.You might want horns, but you're gonna die butt-headed! This expression derives from butt-headed, meaning "without horns," and shows up in the writing of Zora Neale Hurston.This episode was hosted by Martha Barnette and Grant Barrett.--A Way with Words is funded by its listeners: http://waywordradio.org/donateGet your language question answered on the air! Call or write with your questions at any time:Email: words@waywordradio.orgPhone: United States and Canada toll-free (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673London +44 20 7193 2113Mexico City +52 55 8421 9771Donate: http://waywordradio.org/donateSite: http://waywordradio.org/Podcast: http://waywordradio.org/podcast/Forums: http://waywordradio.org/discussion/Newsletter: http://waywordradio.org/newsletter/Twitter: http://twitter.com/wayword/Skype: skype://waywordradio Copyright 2015, Wayword LLC.

This week Andrea and Rebecca are joined by Nancy Friedman to talk about apologizing for your kid's terrible behavior

This week on the podcast Rebecca is joined by Andrea Smith and Nancy Friedman as they discuss Katharine Zaleski's working mom apology in Fortune Magazine, and Vodafone's new generous maternity leave policy. Then, we tackle the trend of gift registries for kids and standing up to bullies on social media after Curt Schilling stood up to his daughter's trolls on twitter. Plus our can't miss bytes of the week.

This week on the podcast Rebecca is joined by Amy Oztan and Nancy Friedman to talk about the new YouTube for Kids app

This week on Franchise Today the Doctor is in the house. That's right. The Telephone Doctor, Nancy Friedman will join host, Paul Segreto as they discuss the ins and outs of customer service. After all, when Oprah, The Today Show, CBS This Morning, Good Morning America, Good Morning Canada and Great Britain, CNN, Fox News, Wall Street Journal, USA Today and other well respected publications need an expert on Customer Service they call on Nancy Friedman. About Our Guest Nancy Friedman has appeared on hundreds of radio and TV shows over the years. Her common sense and “down to earth” actionable material provides a great package for any conference or major event. The author of eight books on communications, sales, and customer service, Nancy will energize, inspire, and motivate you with tips, ideas, skills, and techniques you’ll use the rest of your life. Nancy’s keynote speaker presentations are high-energy, high in content, and best of all, high-results!

Have a question about objective pronouns? Whom ya gonna call? Wait--is that right? Or would it be "who ya gonna call"? "Whom" may be technically correct, but insisting on it can get you called an elitist. It's enough to make you nervous as a polecat in a perfume parlor! And if you really want to dig a hole all the way to China, don't start anywhere in the continental United States--you'll come out at the bottom of the ocean! Plus, how to pronounce the name of the Show-Me State, catfishing, gallon smashing, and what it means to conversate.FULL DETAILSMarch 4 was National Grammar Day, an occasion that prompted thoughtful essays and discussions about grammar, as well as a Tweeted Haiku Contest, for which Martha served a judge. Arika Okrent, author of In The Land of Invented Languages, took the prize with this one: I am an error/ And I will never reveal myself/ After you press send. Actually, that tweet became a self-fulfilling prophecy, because she soon followed up with an apt correction: Make that "send". The idea of digging a hole to China surfaces as early as 1872 in a Chamber's Journal fiction piece about beavers and engineers. Unfortunately, digging from almost anywhere in the United States would lead you to open water on the other end. To dig straight through to China, you'd have to start shoveling in Northern Argentina. There'd also be a few pesky physics problems to work out, like the fiery, molten mass at the center of the Earth. Here's how to find out where you'd end up when you start digging from anywhere on the planet, and how to make an earth sandwich with your antipodes.Whom you gonna call about discrepancies regarding who and whom? Grant and Martha, that's who. Although whom to contact is a correct use of whom, it's fast becoming obsolete, with growing numbers of people viewing it as elitist, effete, or both. But fair warning: Do not correct someone on this unless you're sure you have your facts straight! Here's another tweeted haiku from Liz Morrison in San Diego: "Serial comma/ Chicago yes, AP no/ You bewilder me."Quiz Master John Chaneski has a game about professions that match their respective verbs. What, for example, does a tutor do? Conversate, a variation of the word converse, is part of African-American Vernacular English, but with a slightly different meaning. To conversate is "to converse raucously." This word goes back to at least 1811, and it's well-known to many African-Americans. It's commonly heard in the Bahamas and Jamaica as well. Martha spoke recently at an Audubon Society event, where she traced the role of the Latin stem greg-. It's a form of the Latin word grex meaning "flock" or "herd." This root appears in many English words involving groups, including aggregate, congregate, gregarious, as well as the word egregious--literally, "standing outside the herd." Cain from Dublin, Ireland, wonders why sportscasters in his country often say a team's at sixes and sevens when they're looking disorganized or nonplussed. The leading theory suggests that sixes and sevens, primarily heard in the United Kingdom, comes from a French dice games similar to craps, called hazard, wherein to set on cinque and sice (from the French words for five and six) was the riskiest roll. Old Eddard sayings were plentiful in the 1930s, when the Lum and Abner radio show was a hit in households across the country. Lum Edwards, who made up half of the cornball duo, would offer up such wise sayings as I always found that the best way to figure out what tomorrow's weather was going to be is to wait until tomorrow comes along. That way you never make a mistake.Did you know that the word rack can also mean "one thousand," as in, he has four racks, or four thousand dollars? Here's another slang term: Gallon Smashing. It's the latest craze in pranks involving gallons of milk, a grocery store aisle to smash them on, and plenty of free time to waste. And of course, no slang roundup could fail to mention catfishing, the practice of lying to someone on the Internet in order to manipulate them, as in the case of former Notre Dame star Manti Te'o and noted Pacific Islander uberprankster Ronaiah Tuiasosopo. On the occasion of National Grammar Day, University of Illinois linguist Dennis Barron has pointed out some arresting posters from a wartime version from the early 20th century. They're from a 1918 Chicago Women's Club initiative called Better American Speech Week, a jingoistic campaign tinged with nationalism and ethnocentrism.Stanley Wilkins, a listener from Tyler, Texas, shares the idiom nervous as a pole cat in a perfume parlor. A polecat, more commonly known as a skunk, also fronts such gems as mean as a polecat, nervous as a pole cat in a standoff with a porcupine, and tickled as a polecat eating briars. In other news, Grant admits that, from a reasonable distance, he enjoys the mephitic emanations of Mephitis mephitis.A while back, we talked about the game Going To Texas, where two kids hold hands and spin around until they fall over dizzy. Becca Turpel from San Diego, California, said she knows the game as Wrist Rockets. Others have identified it as Dizzy Dizzy Dinosaur. Has anyone ever called it Fun?How do you pronounce Missouri? The late Donald Lance, a former professor from the University of Missouri at Columbia, compiled the exhaustive research that became The Pronunciation of Missouri: Variation and Change in American English, which traces the discrepancy between Missour-ee and Missour-uh all the way back to the 1600s. Today the pronunciation mostly divides along age lines, with older people saying Missour-uh and younger ones saying Missour-ee. The exceptions are politicians, who often say Missour-uh to sound authentic or folksy.Nancy Friedman, who writes the blog Fritinancy, tweeted this haiku for National Grammar Day: Dear yoga teacher/ if you say down once more/ I'll hurt you, no lie.If someone's a pound of pennies, it means they're a valuable asset and a pain in the butt, all at the same time. Grant and Martha are stumped on the origin of this one, though it is true that a pound of pennies comes out to about $1.46. One suspects that this guy's banker felt the same way about him. Have you heard chick used as a verb? Runners and triathletes use it to refer to a female passing a male in a race, as in You just got chicked!This episode was hosted by Martha Barnette and Grant Barrett.....Support for A Way with Words comes from The Ken Blanchard Companies, celebrating 35 years of making a leadership difference with Situational Leadership II, the leadership model designed to boost effectiveness, impact, and employee engagement. More about how Blanchard can help your executives and organizational leaders at kenblanchard.com/leadership.--A Way with Words is funded by its listeners: http://waywordradio.org/donateGet your language question answered on the air! Call or write with your questions at any time:Email: words@waywordradio.orgPhone: United States and Canada toll-free (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673London +44 20 7193 2113Mexico City +52 55 8421 9771Donate: http://waywordradio.org/donateSite: http://waywordradio.org/Podcast: http://waywordradio.org/podcast/Forums: http://waywordradio.org/discussion/Newsletter: http://waywordradio.org/newsletter/Twitter: http://twitter.com/wayword/Skype: skype://waywordradio Copyright 2014, Wayword LLC.

Online recaps of Mad Men or Breaking Bad can be as much fun as the shows themselves. So why not recap classic literature -- like, say, Dante's Inferno? A literary website is doing just that. And, you've heard about the First World and the Third World -- so where in the world is the Second World? Plus, animal stories, including how the aardvark got three A's in its name, and why the catbird seat is the place to be. Also, the origins of crackerjack, mall, mad money, and the admonition you might want horns, but you're gonna die butt-headed! FULL DETAILSShopping malls take their name from the fashionable street now known as Pall Mall in London's St. James area. The game of pall-mall, which involves hitting a ball with a wooden mallet, was once played there.Listen up, Scrabble players! Zax is a real word that refers to a kind of roofing tool. A small eating place where the food is not particularly good is sometimes called a grab-it-and-growl.A crackerjack fellow is someone who's excellent or first-rate. It's most likely the same positive sense of crack found in terms like cracking good, crack team, and crack shot.The idiom rob Peter to pay Paul, means "to borrow someone from someone in order to repay someone else." In Nicaragua, the same idea is expressed by a phrase that translates as take Juan's clothes to give them to Pedro.Quiz Guy John Chaneski has a game of phrases involving the letter B.Mad money is the emergency cash a woman tucked away to get home safely if an evening out went badly. These days, it's largely been replaced by cell phones.There's a First World and a Third World, but what about a Second World? The Soviet Bloc countries once made up the Second World, but these terms are becoming increasingly irrelevant.In an earlier episode, we played a game in which we raised the ante on words with hidden "numbers" inside them. For example, forever became five-ever. Many listeners wrote to share Victor Borge's hilarious Inflationary Language video along the same lines.The legendary baseball announcer Red Barber is credited with popularizing the term the catbird seat, the enviable position in poker where you're last to bet. James Thurber amusing story "The Catbird Seat" published in The New Yorker helped popularize it even further.Name developer and language observer Nancy Friedman tweeted this curious tracking notice from UPS: "Your package has experienced an exception."What do you say to the person next to you on the swings who's in sync with you? How about, Get out of my bathtub!There's some great stuff out there on the web. Among our current favorites are Stan Carey's blog Sentence First, and The Paris Review, where they're recapping Dante's Inferno.The animal called an aardvark takes its name from an Afrikaans term meaning "earth pig." The word is cognate with the English words earth and pork.Meetup is an increasingly common substitute for meeting, especially when the gathering's meant to be less formal and attendance is optional. About that inflationary language: Writing on our Facebook page, Jen Lynch inflated the word tuba, calling it a threeba.You might want horns, but you're gonna die butt-headed! This expression derives from butt-headed, meaning "without horns," and shows up in the writing of Zora Neale Hurston.This episode was hosted by Martha Barnette and Grant Barrett.....Support for A Way with Words comes from National University, which invites you to change your future today. More at http://www.nu.edu/.--A Way with Words is funded by its listeners: http://waywordradio.org/donateGet your language question answered on the air! Call or write with your questions at any time:Email: words@waywordradio.orgPhone: United States and Canada toll-free (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673London +44 20 7193 2113Mexico City +52 55 8421 9771Donate: http://waywordradio.org/donateSite: http://waywordradio.org/Podcast: http://waywordradio.org/podcast/Forums: http://waywordradio.org/discussion/Newsletter: http://waywordradio.org/newsletter/Twitter: http://twitter.com/wayword/Skype: skype://waywordradio Copyright 2013, Wayword LLC.

Have a question about objective pronouns? Whom ya gonna call? Wait--is that right? Or would it be "who ya gonna call"? "Whom" may be technically correct, but insisting on it can get you called an elitist. It's enough to make you nervous as a polecat in a perfume parlor! And if you really want to dig a hole all the way to China, don't start anywhere in the continental United States--you'll come out at the bottom of the ocean! Plus, how to pronounce the name of the Show-Me State, catfishing, gallon smashing, and what it means to conversate.FULL DETAILSMarch 4 was National Grammar Day, an occasion that prompted thoughtful essays and discussions about grammar, as well as a Tweeted Haiku Contest, for which Martha served a judge. Arika Okrent, author of In The Land of Invented Languages, took the prize with this one: I am an error/ And I will never reveal myself/ After you press send. Actually, that tweet became a self-fulfilling prophecy, because she soon followed up with an apt correction: Make that "send". The idea of digging a hole to China surfaces as early as 1872 in a Chamber's Journal fiction piece about beavers and engineers. Unfortunately, digging from almost anywhere in the United States would lead you to open water on the other end. To dig straight through to China, you'd have to start shoveling in Northern Argentina. There'd also be a few pesky physics problems to work out, like the fiery, molten mass at the center of the Earth. Here's how to find out where you'd end up when you start digging from anywhere on the planet, and how to make an earth sandwich with your antipodes.Whom you gonna call about discrepancies regarding who and whom? Grant and Martha, that's who. Although whom to contact is a correct use of whom, it's fast becoming obsolete, with growing numbers of people viewing it as elitist, effete, or both. But fair warning: Do not correct someone on this unless you're sure you have your facts straight! Here's another tweeted haiku from Liz Morrison in San Diego: "Serial comma/ Chicago yes, AP no/ You bewilder me."Quiz Master John Chaneski has a game about professions that match their respective verbs. What, for example, does a tutor do? Conversate, a variation of the word converse, is part of African-American Vernacular English, but with a slightly different meaning. To conversate is "to converse raucously." This word goes back to at least 1811, and it's well-known to many African-Americans. It's commonly heard in the Bahamas and Jamaica as well. Martha spoke recently at an Audubon Society event, where she traced the role of the Latin stem greg-. It's a form of the Latin word grex meaning "flock" or "herd." This root appears in many English words involving groups, including aggregate, congregate, gregarious, as well as the word egregious--literally, "standing outside the herd." Cain from Dublin, Ireland, wonders why sportscasters in his country often say a team's at sixes and sevens when they're looking disorganized or nonplussed. The leading theory suggests that sixes and sevens, primarily heard in the United Kingdom, comes from a French dice games similar to craps, called hazard, wherein to set on cinque and sice (from the French words for five and six) was the riskiest roll. Old Eddard sayings were plentiful in the 1930s, when the Lum and Abner radio show was a hit in households across the country. Lum Edwards, who made up half of the cornball duo, would offer up such wise sayings as I always found that the best way to figure out what tomorrow's weather was going to be is to wait until tomorrow comes along. That way you never make a mistake.Did you know that the word rack can also mean "one thousand," as in, he has four racks, or four thousand dollars? Here's another slang term: Gallon Smashing. It's the latest craze in pranks involving gallons of milk, a grocery store aisle to smash them on, and plenty of free time to waste. And of course, no slang roundup could fail to mention catfishing, the practice of lying to someone on the Internet in order to manipulate them, as in the case of former Notre Dame star Manti Te'o and noted Pacific Islander uberprankster Ronaiah Tuiasosopo. On the occasion of National Grammar Day, University of Illinois linguist Dennis Barron has pointed out some arresting posters from a wartime version from the early 20th century. They're from a 1918 Chicago Women's Club initiative called Better American Speech Week, a jingoistic campaign tinged with nationalism and ethnocentrism.Stanley Wilkins, a listener from Tyler, Texas, shares the idiom nervous as a pole cat in a perfume parlor. A polecat, more commonly known as a skunk, also fronts such gems as mean as a polecat, nervous as a pole cat in a standoff with a porcupine, and tickled as a polecat eating briars. In other news, Grant admits that, from a reasonable distance, he enjoys the mephitic emanations of Mephitis mephitis.A while back, we talked about the game Going To Texas, where two kids hold hands and spin around until they fall over dizzy. Becca Turpel from San Diego, California, said she knows the game as Wrist Rockets. Others have identified it as Dizzy Dizzy Dinosaur. Has anyone ever called it Fun?How do you pronounce Missouri? The late Donald Lance, a former professor from the University of Missouri at Columbia, compiled the exhaustive research that became The Pronunciation of Missouri: Variation and Change in American English, which traces the discrepancy between Missour-ee and Missour-uh all the way back to the 1600s. Today the pronunciation mostly divides along age lines, with older people saying Missour-uh and younger ones saying Missour-ee. The exceptions are politicians, who often say Missour-uh to sound authentic or folksy.Nancy Friedman, who writes the blog Fritinancy, tweeted this haiku for National Grammar Day: Dear yoga teacher/ if you say down once more/ I'll hurt you, no lie.If someone's a pound of pennies, it means they're a valuable asset and a pain in the butt, all at the same time. Grant and Martha are stumped on the origin of this one, though it is true that a pound of pennies comes out to about $1.46. One suspects that this guy's banker felt the same way about him. Have you heard chick used as a verb? Runners and triathletes use it to refer to a female passing a male in a race, as in You just got chicked!This episode was hosted by Martha Barnette and Grant Barrett.....Support for A Way with Words also comes from National University, which invites you to change your future today. More at http://www.nu.edu/.--A Way with Words is funded by its listeners: http://waywordradio.org/donateGet your language question answered on the air! Call or write with your questions at any time:Email: words@waywordradio.orgPhone: United States and Canada toll-free (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673London +44 20 7193 2113Mexico City +52 55 8421 9771Donate: http://waywordradio.org/donateSite: http://waywordradio.org/Podcast: http://waywordradio.org/podcast/Forums: http://waywordradio.org/discussion/Newsletter: http://waywordradio.org/newsletter/Twitter: http://twitter.com/wayword/Skype: skype://waywordradio Copyright 2013, Wayword LLC.

Have a question about objective pronouns? Whom ya gonna call? Wait--is that right? Or would it be "who ya gonna call"? "Whom" may be technically correct, but insisting on it can get you called an elitist. It's enough to make you nervous as a polecat in a perfume parlor! And if you really want to dig a hole all the way to China, don't start anywhere in the continental United States--you'll come out at the bottom of the ocean! Plus, how to pronounce the name of the Show-Me State, catfishing, gallon smashing, and what it means to conversate.FULL DETAILSMarch 4 was National Grammar Day, an occasion that prompted thoughtful essays and discussions about grammar, as well as a Tweeted Haiku Contest, for which Martha served a judge. Arika Okrent, author of In The Land of Invented Languages, took the prize with this one: I am an error/ And I will never reveal myself/ After you press send. Actually, that tweet became a self-fulfilling prophecy, because she soon followed up with an apt correction: Make that "send". The idea of digging a hole to China surfaces as early as 1872 in a Chamber's Journal fiction piece about beavers and engineers. Unfortunately, digging from almost anywhere in the United States would lead you to open water on the other end. To dig straight through to China, you'd have to start shoveling in Northern Argentina. There'd also be a few pesky physics problems to work out, like the fiery, molten mass at the center of the Earth. Here's how to find out where you'd end up when you start digging from anywhere on the planet, and how to make an earth sandwich with your antipodes.Whom you gonna call about discrepancies regarding who and whom? Grant and Martha, that's who. Although whom to contact is a correct use of whom, it's fast becoming obsolete, with growing numbers of people viewing it as elitist, effete, or both. But fair warning: Do not correct someone on this unless you're sure you have your facts straight! Here's another tweeted haiku from Liz Morrison in San Diego: "Serial comma/ Chicago yes, AP no/ You bewilder me."Quiz Master John Chaneski has a game about professions that match their respective verbs. What, for example, does a tutor do? Conversate, a variation of the word converse, is part of African-American Vernacular English, but with a slightly different meaning. To conversate is "to converse raucously." This word goes back to at least 1811, and it's well-known to many African-Americans. It's commonly heard in the Bahamas and Jamaica as well. Martha spoke recently at an Audubon Society event, where she traced the role of the Latin stem greg-. It's a form of the Latin word grex meaning "flock" or "herd." This root appears in many English words involving groups, including aggregate, congregate, gregarious, as well as the word egregious--literally, "standing outside the herd." Cain from Dublin, Ireland, wonders why sportscasters in his country often say a team's at sixes and sevens when they're looking disorganized or nonplussed. The leading theory suggests that sixes and sevens, primarily heard in the United Kingdom, comes from a French dice games similar to craps, called hazard, wherein to set on cinque and sice (from the French words for five and six) was the riskiest roll. Old Eddard sayings were plentiful in the 1930s, when the Lum and Abner radio show was a hit in households across the country. Lum Edwards, who made up half of the cornball duo, would offer up such wise sayings as I always found that the best way to figure out what tomorrow's weather was going to be is to wait until tomorrow comes along. That way you never make a mistake.Did you know that the word rack can also mean "one thousand," as in, he has four racks, or four thousand dollars? Here's another slang term: Gallon Smashing. It's the latest craze in pranks involving gallons of milk, a grocery store aisle to smash them on, and plenty of free time to waste. And of course, no slang roundup could fail to mention catfishing, the practice of lying to someone on the Internet in order to manipulate them, as in the case of former Notre Dame star Manti Te'o and noted Pacific Islander uberprankster Ronaiah Tuiasosopo. On the occasion of National Grammar Day, University of Illinois linguist Dennis Barron has pointed out some arresting posters from a wartime version from the early 20th century. They're from a 1918 Chicago Women's Club initiative called Better American Speech Week, a jingoistic campaign tinged with nationalism and ethnocentrism.Stanley Wilkins, a listener from Tyler, Texas, shares the idiom nervous as a pole cat in a perfume parlor. A polecat, more commonly known as a skunk, also fronts such gems as mean as a polecat, nervous as a pole cat in a standoff with a porcupine, and tickled as a polecat eating briars. In other news, Grant admits that, from a reasonable distance, he enjoys the mephitic emanations of Mephitis mephitis.A while back, we talked about the game Going To Texas, where two kids hold hands and spin around until they fall over dizzy. Becca Turpel from San Diego, California, said she knows the game as Wrist Rockets. Others have identified it as Dizzy Dizzy Dinosaur. Has anyone ever called it Fun?How do you pronounce Missouri? The late Donald Lance, a former professor from the University of Missouri at Columbia, compiled the exhaustive research that became The Pronunciation of Missouri: Variation and Change in American English, which traces the discrepancy between Missour-ee and Missour-uh all the way back to the 1600s. Today the pronunciation mostly divides along age lines, with older people saying Missour-uh and younger ones saying Missour-ee. The exceptions are politicians, who often say Missour-uh to sound authentic or folksy.Nancy Friedman, who writes the blog Fritinancy, tweeted this haiku for National Grammar Day: Dear yoga teacher/ if you say down once more/ I'll hurt you, no lie.If someone's a pound of pennies, it means they're a valuable asset and a pain in the butt, all at the same time. Grant and Martha are stumped on the origin of this one, though it is true that a pound of pennies comes out to about $1.46. One suspects that this guy's banker felt the same way about him. Have you heard chick used as a verb? Runners and triathletes use it to refer to a female passing a male in a race, as in You just got chicked!This episode was hosted by Martha Barnette and Grant Barrett.....Support for A Way with Words also comes from National University, which invites you to change your future today. More at http://www.nu.edu/.And from The Ken Blanchard Companies, whose purpose is to make a leadership difference among executives, managers, and individuals in organizations everywhere. More about Ken Blanchard's leadership training programs at kenblanchard.com/leadership.--A Way with Words is funded by its listeners: http://waywordradio.org/donateGet your language question answered on the air! Call or write with your questions at any time:Email: words@waywordradio.orgPhone: United States and Canada toll-free (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673London +44 20 7193 2113Mexico City +52 55 8421 9771Donate: http://waywordradio.org/donateSite: http://waywordradio.org/Podcast: http://waywordradio.org/podcast/Forums: http://waywordradio.org/discussion/Newsletter: http://waywordradio.org/newsletter/Twitter: http://twitter.com/wayword/Skype: skype://waywordradio Copyright 2012, Wayword LLC.