Missed call self-audit
Pull last month's phone bill or call log, count what actually went unanswered, and see what it likely cost.
Count from your call log
From your provider's itemised call log or statement.
Missed, 0-second, or ignored-to-voicemail — count them all.
Of enquiries reached, the share that become paying jobs.
Used to translate missed calls into an estimated cost.
Estimated cost, last month
— 25% of last month's enquiry calls went unanswered.
Illustrative only. Assumes missed callers convert at the same rate as answered ones — some will have already called elsewhere.
Most estimates of missed calls are guesses — a gut feel percentage plugged into a spreadsheet. The actual number is usually sitting in a phone bill or a mobile's call log already, uncounted. This walks through pulling the real figure rather than assuming one, which is often the more useful (and more sobering) exercise.
Where to find the real numbers
A mobile provider's online account usually has an itemised call log going back several months, downloadable as a statement — look for calls marked as missed or with a 0-second duration, which typically means it rang out. If a landline or a VoIP system is in use, most providers offer a similar call log or missed-call report in their online portal. For calls that go to voicemail and get ignored or returned late, count those as missed too — a voicemail that converts to a booking two days later is a much colder lead than one answered live. Count total inbound enquiry calls for the month, then count how many of those went unanswered.
A worked example
80 calls logged last month, 20 of them missed — a 25% miss rate. At a 40% close rate on calls actually answered and a £300 average job value, those 20 missed calls represent roughly 8 lost jobs and £2,400 in lost revenue for the month, on the assumption that missed callers convert at a similar rate to answered ones.
What this isn't
This assumes missed callers would have converted at the same close rate as answered ones, which may be optimistic — some will have already called a competitor by the time anyone calls back. It also only counts phone enquiries; missed messages, form submissions and social media enquiries need their own count if they're part of how work comes in. Treat the revenue figure as a rough order of magnitude, not an exact loss.
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