Four missed calls by lunchtime
An instructor finishes a two-hour lesson and checks his phone. Four missed calls, two voicemails. One is a pupil moving a lesson. One is a parent asking about lessons for her son. Two left no message. He rings them back in his fifteen minutes before the next pupil. One has already booked with someone else. The other does not answer.
Your school's main number goes to the office, which is one person, part time. When she is on another call or not in, it goes to voicemail too.
Why the phone is the weak spot
- Instructors cannot and should not answer calls while teaching.
- Many learners, and many parents, still prefer to ring.
- Callers who get voicemail often do not leave a message.
- The same number handles pupils rearranging lessons and new enquiries.
- Callbacks happen in short gaps between lessons, often while driving to the next pickup.
The busier your instructors are, the more calls they miss, which is exactly when you most need new pupils queued up for when spaces open.
The cost of a missed call
A missed new enquiry is usually a lost pupil, because learners ring several schools and book with the first who answers or replies. Existing pupils who cannot reach their instructor to move a lesson end up not turning up, which costs a wasted journey. Instructors feel pressure to check their phone in lessons, which is not what anyone wants. And the owner has no idea how many calls the school misses in a week.
The call handling we build
- The school's numbers, and instructors' numbers if they want, are routed through a cloud phone service such as Twilio, keeping the numbers people already know.
- When a call is not answered, the caller gets a text within moments, in your wording, with a link to book a first lesson, check prices or move an existing lesson.
- Callers who stay on the line can leave a short message, which is transcribed and sorted: new enquiry, existing pupil, or other.
- New enquiries go into the enquiry list, where allocation to an instructor can start at once.
- Existing pupils wanting to move a lesson are sent the self-service link for their lesson, so the instructor does not need to call back.
- Instructors and the office get a short callback list, with who called, what they want and whether they have already been sent a link.
- The owner sees how many calls came in, how many were missed and how many became bookings.
| Caller | What happens after a missed call |
|---|---|
| New learner | Text with booking link, added to enquiries |
| Parent asking about lessons | Text with prices and booking link |
| Existing pupil moving a lesson | Link to move their lesson |
| Voicemail left | Transcribed and sorted on the callback list |
| Test centre or supplier | Straight to the office list |
Messages are sent in your school's name and wording. How you want instructors' personal numbers handled is up to you and them.
Enquiries that wait for you
The parent who rang during a lesson has a text before the lesson ends, and has booked a first lesson for her son by the time the instructor checks his phone. The pupil moving a lesson has done it from the link. The instructor's callback list has two entries, both of which need a real conversation. Instructors stop feeling they have to glance at their phone between junctions.
Is the phone costing you pupils?
- Instructors see several missed calls after every lesson.
- Callers hang up without leaving a message.
- New learners book elsewhere before you ring back.
- Existing pupils cannot reach their instructor to move a lesson.
- You do not know how many calls you miss each week.