Halifax’s ‘Phone Coach’ Teaches A Phone-Wary World How To Talk
HALIFAX—In the 15 years Mary Jane Copps has worked as a ‘phone coach,’ she’s seen the technology people use to communicate transform.
When she began her business, many people’s phones were still just appliances they plugged into their wall to have audio-only conversations with friends and family.
Today, phones are literal supercomputers that fit in your pocket. They let you text, email, send photos, and comment on social media.
Almost no one uses it for real-time, audio conversations. For Copps, it shows.
Copps, also known as The Phone Lady, is a Halifax-based communication coach who specializes in teaching people how to talk on the phone.
Since 2006, she’s been coaching people in startups, not-for-profits, corporations, and government organizations how to, as her website advertises, “embrace their strongest communication skills and use them as the foundation for excellent conversations.”
In an age where calling someone is uncomfortable for many, and unheard of for others, Copps says the ability to have actual conversations is more important than ever.
The Phone Lady: Origins
Copps began her career as a journalist but left the profession in 1987 to start a company, Media Link Inc., that was a kind of 4-1-1 directory for reporters.
At the time, she says, founders didn’t necessarily enjoy the same social cache they do today.
“I guess it would have been called a startup. At the time, in ‘87, when you quit a job with a pension to start your own company they did not congratulate you, they just thought you were insane,” she says with a chuckle.
At Media Link, Copps spent a lot of time working the phone. At first, she thought her journalism skills would easily translate to sales, but that didn’t happen.
So she began systematically studying how to talk to people on the phone. Eventually, a friend encouraged her to start another business using what she had learned.
“My reaction was that’s not a business, it’s just common sense,” she recalls.
But she went for it, anyway. She blasted out a few brochures through snail mail and quickly booked several jobs. That was 15 years ago, and she hasn’t looked back.
Teaching People How To Talk
Copps calls herself The Phone Lady but admits she’s not really teaching people to talk on the phone—she’s teaching them how to have a conversation.
She works a lot in the business world, especially with sales teams, and says even those clients struggle with basic aspects of talking to others.
“People are losing their ability to have conversations,” she says. “You call someone and you can get the call started. But then you’re like, ‘well, how do I keep this going?’”
Today, there are endless ways to communicate without having to directly talk to someone: email is a prime example, but text messages, Slack, even delivery apps like Uber Eats let you plan when and how you interact with other humans.
Copps says those tools let people avoid real-time conversations and, as a result, people are losing their ability to have them.
“It is very difficult to have a spontaneous conversation with somebody,” she says. And what’s more spontaneous than an unexpected phone call—or worse, an unexpected phone call from someone you don’t know?
“We plan our days believing we have maximum control. So then when the phone rings, and you have your day fully planned, you’re either not going to answer it or if you are going to answer you’re not going to be happy about the interruption,” Copps says.
She now uses an appointment app to plan all her phone calls. It lets people book a time to speak with her in an online calendar. Without it, she says, she wouldn’t get nearly as many people on the phone as she does.
Conversation Is Key
Copps says conversation is a skill and if we don’t practice that skill we lose it. Today, a person can get by and rarely practice that skill. In fact, it’s realistic to never learn it in the first place.
Copps says all her time teaching people to talk on the phone has convinced her the future leaders of the world will be the ones who do have that skill.
“What I really, really believe is that the people that have the skills to talk on the phone, or have a great conversation, are the people that will be leading us,” she says.
World leaders, she says, aren’t talking to one another over Slack. CEOs, when it’s time to make a tough decision, do it face-to-face with their team.
But even at a more everyday level, conversation skills are vital to a person’s success.
Copps recalls a talk she heard with music producer will.i.am. He spoke about how people from poorer neighbourhoods have a tougher time getting the jobs they want because they don’t always have access to the technology they need to learn them.
“And I feel the same way about conversation: if you don’t have the skills, your access to the career of your choice is going to at some point be limited,” Copps says.
“Soft skills are more important to employers in many cases these days than your education—and the number one soft skill is communication. So, if you can’t have a conversation, it’s going to be very difficult for you.”
Trevor Nichols is the Associate Editor of Huddle based in Halifax. Send him your feedback and story ideas: [email protected].