How Much Money Does Your Business Lose From Missed Calls?

Your phone rings. You're on a ladder. Under a sink. In the middle of a job. You can't answer.

No big deal, right? They'll call back.

No. They won't.

62% of phone calls to small businesses go unanswered. And the vast majority of those callers never try again. They just call the next company on Google.

That missed call wasn't just a missed call. It was a missed job. And if you're running an HVAC, plumbing, electrical, or landscaping business, that one call could have been worth $500, $2,000, or even $15,000.

So how much is this actually costing you? Let's do the math.

The Numbers Behind Missed Calls

Before we get into your specific situation, here are some industry numbers that matter:

Average missed calls per week for a small service business: 5-15 (ServiceTitan industry data)
Percentage of callers who won't leave a voicemail: 80% (Forbes)
Percentage of callers who will call a competitor instead: 85% (BIA/Kelsey research)
Average time a caller waits before hanging up: 28 seconds

These aren't made-up numbers. This is what happens every single day across thousands of service businesses.

What's a Call Actually Worth?

This depends on your trade, but here are realistic average job values:

Trade	Average Job Value	Close Rate (phone leads)
HVAC (repair)	$350-$800	60-70%
HVAC (install)	$5,000-$12,000	30-40%
Plumbing	$300-$1,200	55-65%
Electrical	$250-$900	50-60%
Landscaping	$500-$3,000	40-50%
Roofing	$8,000-$15,000	25-35%

Phone leads close at significantly higher rates than web form leads. When someone picks up the phone and calls you, they're ready to buy. They have a problem right now and they want it fixed.

That's the most valuable type of lead you can get. And you're letting it ring out.

The Missed Call Cost Calculator

Let's walk through this with a real example. Say you're a plumbing company.

Your numbers:

Average job value: $600
Close rate on phone leads: 60%
Missed calls per week: 8

The math:

Missed calls per month: 8 × 4 = 32 missed calls
Potential jobs lost: 32 × 60% close rate = 19.2 jobs
Revenue lost per month: 19.2 × $600 = $11,520
Revenue lost per year: $11,520 × 12 = $138,240

Read that number again. $138,240 per year. From missed calls alone.

And that's a conservative estimate for a single plumber. If you've got a crew and you're running multiple trucks, multiply accordingly.

Now Do Yours

Grab a pen. Seriously.

Your average job value: $________
Your close rate on phone leads: ________% (if you don't know, use 50%)
Missed calls per week: ________ (check your phone - most people are shocked)
Missed calls per month: Line 3 × 4 = ________
Jobs lost per month: Line 4 × Line 2 = ________
Monthly revenue lost: Line 5 × Line 1 = $________
Annual revenue lost: Line 6 × 12 = $________

Whatever number you just wrote down - that's what missed calls cost your business. Every year. Year after year.

"But I Have Voicemail"

Sure. And 80% of callers won't use it.

Think about your own behavior. When you call a business and get voicemail, what do you do? You hang up and call the next one. Your customers do the exact same thing.

Voicemail is a dead-end for lead capture. It was built for a world where people had patience and fewer options. That world is gone.

"My Receptionist Handles It"

Does she, though?

What happens when she's on another call?
What about after 5 PM?
What about weekends?
What about lunch breaks?

The calls that matter most often come at the worst times. Emergency HVAC calls come at 10 PM. Plumbing emergencies happen on Saturday mornings. Homeowners browsing contractors do it on Sunday nights after the kids are in bed.

If your coverage ends at 5 PM on weekdays, you're missing the calls that are worth the most.

"I'll Just Call Them Back"

Here's the data on that:

If you call back within 5 minutes, you have a 100x better chance of connecting vs. calling back in 30 minutes (MIT Lead Management Study)
After 30 minutes, your odds of qualifying that lead drop by 21x
After 1 hour, most leads have already contacted a competitor

So yes, you can call them back. But if you're calling back 2-3 hours later - or the next morning - that lead is gone. They already hired someone else.

Speed matters more than almost anything in lead response. And if you're on a job, you physically cannot respond fast enough.

The Real Cost Isn't Just the Job

When you lose a call, you don't just lose one job. You lose:

The lifetime value of that customer. A plumbing customer who trusts you will call you for every issue for the next 10-20 years. That's $5,000-$15,000+ in lifetime revenue from a single first call.
Referrals. Happy customers tell 2-3 people. Customers who never became customers tell zero.
Reviews. Every lost call is a lost opportunity for a 5-star Google review that brings in more leads.
Compound growth. Missing 10 calls this month means 10 fewer customers in your pipeline feeding you repeat business next year.

The $138,240 we calculated earlier? That's just the immediate revenue. The real cost, including lifetime value and referrals, is 3-5x higher.

What Actually Fixes This

You can't answer every call. That's just reality. You're running a business, doing jobs, managing crews. Your phone will ring when you can't pick it up.

The fix isn't hiring more receptionists or buying a bigger phone system. The fix is responding instantly, even when you can't answer.

That's what AI missed-call text-back does.

How It Works

A call comes in. You can't answer.
Within 10 seconds, the caller gets a text message: "Hey, sorry I missed your call! I'm with a customer right now. What can I help you with?"
The caller responds with their issue. Now you have a text conversation going.
The AI qualifies the lead - captures their name, address, what they need, and urgency level.
You get a notification with all the details, ready to call back when you're free.

The caller feels acknowledged. They don't call your competitor. And you have all their info waiting for you when you come up for air.

Why Text Instead of Voicemail?

98% of texts are read (vs. 20% of voicemails listened to)
90% of texts are read within 3 minutes
Text response rates are 45% (vs. voicemail callback rates of 4-8%)

Texting meets people where they already are. It's fast, it's low-friction, and it keeps the conversation going while you finish the job you're on.

The ROI Is Stupid Simple

Let's go back to our plumbing example. You're losing $11,520/month from missed calls.

A missed-call text-back system costs a fraction of that. Even if it only saves 20% of your missed call leads (and most businesses see much better), that's:

20% of 19.2 jobs = 3.84 extra jobs/month
3.84 × $600 = $2,304/month in recovered revenue
$27,648/year - from a system that costs a few hundred bucks a month

The math works at every scale. Whether you're a solo operator or a company with 10 trucks.

Stop Guessing, Start Knowing

Most business owners have no idea how many calls they miss. They think it's 1-2 per week. It's almost always more.

Step 1: Go into your phone's call log right now. Count the missed calls from the last 7 days. Not personal calls - business calls.

Step 2: Multiply that by your average job value and your close rate.

Step 3: Sit with that number for a minute.

If it doesn't make you uncomfortable, you're either not being honest or your phone is already covered. For most service businesses, it's a wake-up call.

What to Do Next

You've got the numbers. You know what missed calls cost. The question is whether you're going to keep bleeding that money or plug the hole.

We build missed-call text-back systems specifically for service businesses. It takes about a week to set up, integrates with your existing phone number, and starts working immediately.

No contracts. No complicated setup. Just a system that makes sure every single call gets a response - even the ones you can't answer.

Book a free discovery call and we'll look at your specific numbers together. We'll calculate exactly how much you're losing and show you how to fix it - in 30 minutes or less.

Your competitors are already answering their phones. Time to make sure your leads stop becoming their customers.