Missed Calls: What One Costs and How to Stop Losing Them
A homeowner with a problem calls the first number and books the first person who answers. Here is what that costs and the three ways around it.
The call you did not answer went to the next number
A missed call is usually a lost job, not a late lead. A homeowner with a problem calls the next number on the list, and whoever answers gets the work.
Someone with a leaking water heater or a dead AC does not leave a message and wait. By the time you call back from the truck, they have often booked someone else.
You are on a roof, under a sink, in a crawlspace or driving for most of the day. That is the job. The phone rings anyway.
Why voicemail does not catch it
Voicemail asks the customer to do the work: explain the problem to a machine, then wait and hope. A person with water on the floor will not wait. They hang up at the greeting and call the next contractor, who gets a live caller ready to book.
Even the callers who leave a message are half lost:
- The urgent ones book elsewhere before you call back.
- The rest cool off.
- The message rarely tells you enough to quote: no address, no model, no photo, no sense of repair or replace.
You start the call back from zero.
Put your own number on it
Here is the math, with your own numbers:
- The calls you miss in a typical week.
- The share of those that would have booked if you had answered.
- Your average job value.
Multiply them. For example, 5 missed calls a week, with a third booking, at an average job of $1,000. That is several thousand dollars a month going to the next number. The calculator on this site does the math with your inputs, and the number is usually bigger than owners expect.
Be honest about the inputs, not dramatic. Use a blended average job, not your biggest one, and a modest booking rate. You want a number you believe, because that is the number that changes what you do.
3 ways to stop losing them
There are 3 common ways to catch the calls you cannot take:
- Forward to a person: a spouse, an office manager or a part-timer. Best when someone is free and the volume is manageable. Worst when that person is also on a job, or the call comes at 9pm.
- An answering service: real people, a script, and a message sent to you. It is reliable, but it is priced per call or per minute, so the cost grows with your volume. Someone still has to turn the message into a booking.
- An automated answerer: it files each call as a lead with a transcript. The caller is told what happens next, and you see the address and the problem when you climb down. It fits a shop with 1 to 3 trucks that cannot staff a phone and cannot afford to lose the call.
Whichever you pick, the test is the same. Does the caller get a person, or something that acts like one, on the first ring? And does the request reach you as a job you can quote?
What to do with the call once it is caught
A caught call is only worth something if it becomes a quote fast. Get a quote in the customer's hands the same day, ideally within the hour. Draft it from a price book, so it is quick and consistent.
The contractor who quotes first, from a real price list, wins more often than the one who quotes cheapest.
Fair questions
- How many calls does a small shop actually miss?
- Count for a week. Most owners guess low. The missed-call log on your phone is the honest number.
- Do customers mind talking to an automated answerer?
- They mind voicemail more. A clear answer that takes the address and the problem, and promises a call back, beats a recording every time. The transcript means you call back knowing what they need.
- What about calls after hours?
- Evenings and weekends are when homeowners notice problems, and when nobody is at a desk. Whatever answers your phone at 9pm decides whether the weekend emergency is your job or the next number's.