Reflections on My First Cold Calling Experience
Unsuccessful as expected, but made a few reflections.
This morning, while having breakfast, I casually picked up the local newsletter and landed my eyes on the classified ads. One “Math Tutoring” ad, followed by another “Math/Physics Tutoring,” caught my attention, with both a phone number as the contact.
Why? Because, during my recent trip, I helped my father, a retired high school math teacher who still does tutoring, replace phone bookings with a far more efficient smartphone QR-code scan booking system. A huge success!
Unlike the two mentioned earlier, my father doesn’t need to advertise, as his strong reputation brings students to him through referrals from former students. For him, earning money is secondary; teaching gives him something meaningful to do. However, the issue is that when he teaches, he takes it far too seriously, forgetting that he is already an 83-year-old man.
We’ve all tried numerous times to talk him out of tutoring, but without success. Now, we actually don’t mind. He is quite healthy and looks young for his ages. His favourite quote: “A person with no things to do is the most miserable”.
While I was with my parents a few months ago in China, I witnessed all sorts of issues with phone booking, such as:
My father dislikes answering the phone, so he leaves that responsibility to my mother.
Some demanding parents request specific dates, but my mother sometimes has other plans, which often causes disagreements with my father.
Some made phone bookings but didn’t show up or notify us. (there were no records)
Some parents talked too much (about their kids) over the phone.
My father has set aside a couple of “no-need-booking” fixed time slots on weekends, but sometimes no one shows up.
Since my father doesn’t know who will attend the fixed time slots, he prepares materials based on guesswork, which often frustrates him.
When my parents go on holiday, they have to print out notices to inform everyone about the schedule changes. Hence, my father dislikes travelling.
Many of the phone calls they receive are scams
…
Seeing this mess, I came up with a solution while there. I implemented a quick scan-then-booking module in my WhenWise platform which already had commercial customers such as driving schools, tennis court hires, trainers and coaches.
The result was fantastic. It even surprised my sister, who had strongly doubted that my father, in his 80s, would be willing to adapt to the change. She didn’t even want to see the system, saying, “I know Dad much better than you (since I live in Australia) on this matter. He won’t change, he won’t use it.” To her big surprise, both my father and mother embraced WhenWise because the system is simple, intuitive, easy to use, and hassle-free. WhenWise only handles the booking process; everything else, including student interactions and payments, remains unchanged.
The feedback from students and parents has been overwhelmingly positive as well. With just one QR code scan, they can quickly view available time slots and make bookings in seconds. Cancelling is just as easy if needed. It also saves them money by eliminating the need for phone calls.
Over the past two months, my sister took my parents on a couple of trips to visit two nearby cities. This would have been unthinkable before. Why? My father, a stubborn old man, would panic at the thought of missing any students who might come to tutoring. Now, with WhenWise, all they need to do is block off two or three time-slots a few days ahead. That’s it.
As my mum put it, ‘Now our life is back in our control.’
Recently, a couple of new students came to my father, holding the QR code (from ?). The growing customer base is a great side effect of WhenWise!
By the way, my sister also checks the booking (staff side) daily so she can play activities with my parents.
Cold Calls
Back to the main topic: my first cold sales calls today, two calls.
My plan was simple (experienced salespeople might laugh at):
After greeting, I would ask if they offer online booking.
If not, I would inquire whether they’re interested in using an online booking system.
The results, unsurprisingly, weren’t successful. Both tutors misunderstood the concept of online booking for tutoring sessions, thinking I was referring to ‘online tutoring.’ A new concept to them. Neither was interested in hearing anything beyond booking a session today.
There is a difference, though. The first tutor was polite, while the second one was more interesting.
I made the call at 9:30 AM, which I thought would be a good time, but there was no answer. A few minutes later, a lady called back, sounding friendly. However, when she realized the purpose of my call, her tone suddenly shifted. She said, ‘If it’s not about booking a session, drop it.’
I found the experience with the second tutor rather amusing. Even though she didn’t like my call, she still left the door open in case I might want to book a session. The fact that she missed my call and her tone changed just confirmed that the phone booking wasn't effective.
Reflections
The rejection wasn’t as bad as I had anticipated.
I’m much more comfortable with business activities when I can demonstrate them using a computer.
The reason I don’t feel bad about rejections:
As expected.
I have no pressure, this is more like a play to me (not a job).
I firmly know the product is good.
I tried something new, faced my fear, and the result doesn’t really matter. If successful, it is just A$5 (continuous passive income, though) per month anyway.
2. Many small business owners, like tutors and piano teachers, are frustrated with phone bookings but are not open to new solutions.
It’s understandable that they would assume I’m just trying to sell them something, however, they might miss out on a good opportunity.
This reminded me of 2005, when the other programmers in the team (we were all senior Java contractors) were reluctant to work with a visiting ThoughtWorks consultant. I decided to collaborate with him, and it turned out to be the best decision of my career. I learned real TDD, efficient refactoring with keyboard shortcuts, unit testing mocks, Ruby, and, most importantly, E2E test automation and CI, from this world-class programmer.
Years later, a former Microsoft colleague learned that I had pair-programmed with this consultant. He couldn’t believe it and admitted he was envious. Sometimes, people get lucky but fail to recognize it, letting opportunities slip away unnoticed.
3. Paradox with phone booking
The second tutor, for example, clearly disliked scam calls. By putting her phone number in the newspaper, she was likely to receive more scam calls than the average. Yet, her business still depends on those very phone calls.
4. I am a bad salesman.
I couldn’t sell a proven, free-to-try product to businesses that need it. In a way, this brings me some relief, as it confirms that I’ve been rightly focusing my time on developing apps and writing books/articles. This doesn’t mean I’ve given up on sales, but I believe it’s better suited for someone else to handle that aspect.
Related reading:
Sign up WhenWise (forward this to your relatives and friends who running businesses such as Piano teaching, Court Hire, Tutoring, Sports Coaching, Driving schools, Pilates & Yoga classes, …)
Besides group lessons, WhenWise also supports one-on-one booking, as this E2E (UI) test automation execution shows.