Free tool
What are missed calls costing your business?
Put in your own numbers. The calculator works out how much work slips away each month from calls nobody answered, so you can decide what answering them is worth.
Your numbers
Work out your own missed-call cost
Calls a week, times 4.33 weeks a month, times the share you miss, times the share who would have booked, times what that work is worth. Change the numbers to match your week.
Not sure? Check your phone's recent calls for last week, and count the ones you didn't pick up. This is lost work, not lost profit, and it does not count repeat customers or referrals.
About 26 missed calls a month, of which about 6.5 would have become jobs.
of work going to someone else.
At a glance
Missed calls cost per month, by value of the work
Assuming you miss 30% of your calls and one in four of those callers would have booked. Pick the row closest to your week.
| Calls a week | $150 jobs | $300 jobs | $1,000 jobs |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 calls | $487 | $974 | $3,247 |
| 20 calls | $974 | $1,948 | $6,495 |
| 40 calls | $1,948 | $3,897 | $12,990 |
Monthly lost work = calls a week x 4.33 x 30% missed x 25% booked x value of the work. It is an estimate from your own numbers, not a promise: some missed callers do call back, and some would never have booked.
What to do about it
Four ways to stop missing calls
Record a proper greeting
Say your business name, that you are on a job, and when you will call back. Free, and better than the carrier default. Here are voicemail greetings you can copy.
Set callback times
Block ten minutes at lunch and at the end of the day to return every call, and say so in your greeting.
Forward the calls you miss
A partner, an office or an answering service. Our call forwarding codes page has the codes for AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon.
Use an AI receptionist
Missed calls answered in your business name, day and night, with the details emailed to you within a minute. While You Work is from $39 a month, set up for your trade, and the first 50 US businesses get Pro for $59 a month for 12 months. See how it works.
Questions
Missed calls FAQs
How much does a missed call cost a small business?
It depends on what the work is worth to you and how many callers would have booked. As a worked example, a business that gets 20 calls a week, misses 30% of them, and would have turned one in four of those missed callers into a $300 job loses about $1,950 a month. Put your own numbers into the calculator on this page.
Do callers leave a voicemail?
Many do not. Someone with water coming through the ceiling or a furnace that has stopped tends to hang up and call the next company on the list. Our business voicemail greetings page has wording that helps, but a greeting cannot make someone wait for the beep.
How do I forward the calls I miss?
On AT&T and T-Mobile, dial **61* then the number to forward to, then #. On Verizon, dial *71 then the number. Our call forwarding page has the codes for each carrier and how to turn them off.
Is it worth paying for an answering service?
Divide the monthly fee by the value of an average job. At $39 a month and a $300 job, one extra customer every seven months covers it. Most small businesses miss far more calls than that.
Hear what it does with your own missed calls
Call (866) 977-5432 toll-free and hear our own receptionist answer, or talk to Ellie in your browser. Priced per call, not per minute: Starter $39 and Pro $79 a month, with a 14-day money-back guarantee. US sign-ups open in November.