If you know how, go to my page and see the questions I've posted... I've posted two on potty training and both got lots of feedback that might be helpful!
But to answer your question, and I'm sure you'll get a lot of this, it isn't a text book process as we'd hope! Each kid isn't cookie cutter therefore the process to get to a common result isn't going to be the same!
Its stressful, I'm right there with your friend! Litterally! I've heard again and again that if the child isn't ready its a lost battle before you begin... Also if there are other large transitions in life at the same time, its not the best time to potty train.
With that in mind, since we haven't had much luck yet, and we are moving into our first home in the next couple of weeks we're going to put it all away and start fresh in about a month. We're going to take her shopping and let her pick out the toilet seat, the panties, the prizes and make a big huge deal over it to her and see if that helps... I kind of just got everything and expected her to jump right in and it hasn't exactly worked yet. We thought we were ready b/c she HATES to have a diaper put on now soooo... We assumed and must have been wrong, because she just doesn't get it yet...
Hope that helps! I'd love to see if we could help eachother out if she's interested... Two heads can be better then one in most cases...
Good luck!
T.