TextTheCaller

Missed call text service
for tutors

Tutoring has a scheduling problem no other job quite shares: the hours you are working are exactly the hours parents are free to ring you. You are teaching from four until eight, which is precisely when a parent gets home, remembers they need to sort out maths help, and starts calling round.

Start your free trial How it works

Why tutors miss so many calls

You are mid-lesson, and stopping to take a call in front of a student — or worse, in front of a paying parent sitting in the next room — is not an option. If you teach online you are on a video call with your phone face down. If you travel to homes you are in someone else's front room. The calls do not stop coming; you simply cannot be the person who answers them.

The maths

What one missed tutoring enquiry is worth

A single session is modest. A weekly student who stays with you from October through to summer exams is worth a great deal more, and the good ones refer siblings and classmates. Tutoring is a recurring-revenue business, so a missed call is not a lost hour — it is a lost term, and possibly a lost family.

TextTheCaller is £6.49 a month. Set against the value of the work above, it only has to keep one caller from ringing the next name on the list to have paid for itself several times over.

What to write in your text

You write the message once and it goes out on every missed call. Here's one that works for tutors:

Thanks for calling Harper Tutoring. I'm in a lesson and can't pick up — I'll call back after 5pm. Rates and availability: harpertutoring.co.uk

Naming the time you will be free matters more here than in most trades, because the parent ringing you is usually trying to sort something out that same evening. Telling them when to expect you keeps them from working down a list of other tutors in the meantime.

It sends from your business name

The caller sees your business name, not a phone number — so there's nothing for them to reply to. Give them something they can act on instead: a booking link, an email address, or a time you'll ring back.

160 characters

One SMS segment. The example above fits with room to spare, and we'll show you the count as you write so nothing gets cut off.

How it works

No app, no new number, no contract.

  1. 1

    Sign up with your mobile number

    Enter your number, pick your network and set your business name. No password — we email you a magic link.

    About 30 seconds

  2. 2

    Dial one code from your phone

    We give you the exact code for your network. It tells your network to send unanswered calls to us.

    One time only

  3. 3

    Write your text-back

    Use the example above or write your own. Next time a call rings out, the caller gets it within seconds.

    Change it any time

It works on your existing number on every compatible UK network, and only ever triggers on calls you don't answer. Pick up as normal and nothing happens at all.

Questions from tutors

Only in that those are the weeks you can least afford to miss a call. There is no contract, so plenty of tutors run it through term time and cancel over the summer, then restart when enquiries pick up again.

A prompt, professional message with your name on it reads far better than an unanswered phone. It is also a chance to point them at a page with your qualifications and DBS status, which is what they were going to ask about anyway.

Not if you add them to the skip list. Existing families already have you in their phone and do not need an automatic reply — keep your allowance for people enquiring for the first time.

Also built for

Plumbers Electricians Builders Locksmiths Cleaners Estate agents Consultants Dental practices Shop owners Photographers Landscapers & gardeners

Every missed call is a job someone else gets

Keep your number. Two minutes to set up. Cancel whenever you like.

Start your free trial

7 days free, then £6.49/mo. Cancel any time.

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