You probably know you miss some calls. Few owners know how many, and almost none know what those calls are worth. This worksheet takes about an hour, uses your own phone log and ends with a monthly figure you can weigh against the cost of fixing the problem.
It was written for trades and service businesses around Burquitlam and Lougheed, where crews often work underground or deep inside concrete towers, but the arithmetic works for any business that takes calls.
Why this number matters
A caller who reaches voicemail rarely leaves a message and waits. More often they call the next business in their search results. That means each missed new caller is a quote you never had the chance to give.
The cost stays hidden because nobody complains. There's no angry customer, just a job that went somewhere else. Putting a number on it turns a vague worry into a business decision: is fixing it worth the time and money?
Step 1: Pull the log
Export or screenshot your call history for a typical two-to-four-week period. You need, for each call, the date, time, number and whether it was answered.
Sources to check:
- the call history on the business mobile
- your business phone app or VoIP portal
- the detailed usage records in your carrier's online account
- your Google Business Profile insights, which show calls placed from the listing
If more than one person answers calls, collect all their logs.
Step 2: Sort the calls
Go through the list and mark each call as one of these:
| Category | What it means |
|---|---|
| Answered | Someone picked up and spoke to the caller |
| Missed, called back | Unanswered, but someone returned the call |
| Missed, no callback | Unanswered and never returned |
| Very short | Connected under about ten seconds; often a drop or a hang-up |
| Known contact | Supplier, family, existing customer |
Remove the known contacts. What's left is mostly new or occasional callers, which is the group that matters.
Step 3: Count the gap
Now count:
- A: total new or occasional callers in the period
- B: missed with no callback
- C: missed and called back late (for example, the next day)
- D: very short calls you suspect were drops
Then convert to a monthly figure. If your sample covered two weeks, double it; if four weeks, use it as is.
A rough rule: count all of B as lost, half of C (late callbacks still lose many callers), and a quarter of D.
Lost callers per month = B + (C × 0.5) + (D × 0.25)
Step 4: Turn callers into jobs
You need one number from your own records: of the new callers you do answer, roughly what share becomes paid work? Look at last month's answered new callers and count how many booked.
If you don't know, estimate cautiously. Many small service businesses convert somewhere between a quarter and a half of answered first-time callers, but use your own figure whenever you can find it.
Lost jobs per month = Lost callers × your booking rate
Step 5: Turn jobs into dollars
Find your average ticket for a new customer's first job, from your invoices. If your work varies widely, use the median or exclude your largest jobs to stay conservative.
Lost revenue per month = Lost jobs × average first-job value
If repeat business is important, such as for cleaning, maintenance or pet care, you can also estimate a yearly value per new customer. Keep the two figures separate so you don't overstate the loss.
A worked example
Here's how it looks with illustrative numbers for a two-person plumbing business working mostly in condos. Replace every figure with your own.
- Four-week sample: 80 new or occasional callers (A)
- Missed, no callback: 11 (B)
- Missed, called back next day: 6 (C)
- Very short calls: 4 (D)
Lost callers = 11 + (6 × 0.5) + (4 × 0.25) = 11 + 3 + 1 = 15 per month
The business books about 40% of answered new callers, so:
Lost jobs = 15 × 0.4 = 6 per month
Average first-job value is $350:
Lost revenue = 6 × $350 = $2,100 per month, or about $25,000 a year.
Now look at the times of day. If most of the 11 unanswered calls happened between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., when the crew is typically mid-job in towers, the fix is probably routing and an automatic text reply during those hours, not a full-time receptionist.
Reading the result
The figure is an estimate, not an invoice. Its job is to tell you whether the problem is small, medium or serious.
- Small: lost revenue is a minor share of monthly sales. A tidy callback habit may be all you need.
- Medium: it's enough to pay for a few days of setup. Routing, a text reply and a callback rule usually close most of the gap.
- Serious: it rivals a staff wage. It may be time to consider dedicated phone coverage during peak hours, after the cheaper fixes are in place.
Common mistakes in the count
- Counting existing customers. They usually call back; including them inflates the figure.
- Ignoring short calls. In buildings with poor signal, many lost calls look like brief connections.
- Using your best-ever booking rate. Use a typical month.
- Forgetting after-hours calls. Evening callers may be decision-makers who can only call after work.
- Doing it once. Repeat the count a month after any fix to see whether it held.
Repeating the count after a fix
Once you've changed something, such as routing or a text reply, run the same worksheet four weeks later with the same rules. Compare lost callers per month before and after, not just revenue, because revenue moves for many reasons. If lost callers fell by half, the fix worked, whatever else happened that month.
What to do next
If the number is worth acting on, our call coverage engagement sets up the routing, text reply and callback rule with you. If you suspect the calls you do answer aren't turning into jobs, our enquiry source log guide helps you see where they come from. More free material is on the guides page.
Frequently asked questions
How far back should we look in the phone log?
Two to four weeks is enough for a first estimate. Use a typical period, not a holiday week or an unusually slow stretch, and note any obvious one-off events.
What if our phone doesn't keep a call log?
Most mobile phones and business phone apps keep at least a recent history, and carriers often provide detailed records in your online account. If neither is available, count missed calls by hand for two weeks.
Is a missed call from an existing customer as costly?
Usually less, because existing customers tend to call back. The worksheet focuses on new callers, who are the most likely to move on to the next business they find.