What does a missed call cost? Work it out yourself

How to work it out

The formula is simple: missed calls per week × chance it was a job × average value per job. Multiply that by 4.33 to get a month (a year has 52 weeks, divided by 12 months). The result is the revenue that may be slipping away because nobody picked up the phone, and it gives you a figure you can actually compare with what it would cost to fix.

A worked example

The numbers below are made up, purely to show how the sum works. They are not averages and not research findings: once you've seen the method, fill in your own figures.

• Missed calls per week: 4.
• Chance it was a job: say 40 per cent (0.40).
• Average value per job: say €350.

In this example, 4 × 0.40 × 350 × 4.33 ≈ €2,425 in revenue walks out the door every month. Over a year that's more than €29,000. It's revenue, not profit, but it does make clear why being reachable matters so much. If another business misses one call a week, with a 20 per cent chance and jobs worth €150, the figure is 1 × 0.20 × 150 × 4.33 ≈ €130 a month. The difference between businesses is large, and that's exactly why you need your own numbers.

Finding your own numbers

• Missed calls per week. Look at the call history on your phone, or ask your provider for an overview. Only count callers who could have become customers, not your supplier or your family.
• Chance it was a job. Look at the new callers you did manage to speak to: how many of the last twenty became customers? That percentage is your best estimate.
• Average value per job. Add up your revenue over the past three months and divide it by the number of jobs in that period.

Then write it down like this: ___ missed calls × ___ per cent × € ___ × 4.33 = € ___ per month. Err on the cautious side rather than being generous: that way you know the figure isn't flattering itself.

Count what you don't see straight away

The sum above only counts the first job. A new customer is often worth more: think of yearly maintenance, a follow-up job or a neighbour they send your way. If you want to include that, add what a customer typically brings in later to your average value per job. You can also go the other way and be stricter: leave out calls for work you couldn't have taken on anyway, for example because your schedule was already full.

Why callers don't call back

Someone who needs a tradesperson, especially for a breakdown or an emergency, wants to know quickly where they stand. If you don't answer, the next name on the list is only one tap away. Leaving a voicemail is an extra hurdle for some people, and a call-back that only happens in the evening is often too late.

What you can do about it

Small steps already help. Say in your voicemail greeting that people can also message you, call back within an hour rather than at the end of the day, and plan a few fixed moments a day to work through missed calls, for example at 10:00, 13:00 and 16:00.

First, keep a tally of your missed calls for a week. Many providers can produce a report for you too. Then work it out with our free missed-call check. If the figure is higher than you expected, look at a solution where every missed call gets an instant message, such as Reachable.