How many calls are you actually missing?
Ask any owner and you get a confident answer that is almost always too low. This is not self-deception so much as a measurement problem: a call you answered is an event you remember, and a call that rang out while you were under a sink is nothing at all.
Why the guess is always low
You remember the calls you took and the ones you saw a notification for. You do not remember the ones that arrived while you were talking to someone else, and you have no impression whatsoever of the ones that came at half seven on a Sunday. The number in your head is built from the calls you experienced, which is by definition the answered ones.
Three ways to find out, this week
Scroll back a fortnight and count the incoming calls with no duration. Crude, and usually enough to settle the argument.
Most providers can show calls to your line including unanswered ones, which catches what your handset does not.
The only method that tells you what those calls were worth, because you find out what the people wanted.
Count the right things
Separate three groups as you go: calls outside your opening hours, calls during hours when you were occupied, and repeat attempts from the same number within an hour. That last group is the most revealing — somebody ringing three times in twenty minutes is not idly enquiring, and they are also the most likely to have rung somebody else by the fourth attempt.
Then convert it into money
Multiply your weekly missed calls by the share you would expect to convert and by what an average job is worth. Be conservative on the conversion rate — many missed calls are suppliers, wrong numbers and people who would not have booked. Even at a pessimistic figure the annual number is usually large enough to end the discussion, and it is a number you produced from your own records rather than from anybody’s marketing.
Frequently asked
Three ways: scroll your mobile call log for incoming calls with no duration, ask your carrier for a statement including unanswered calls, or answer them for a week and count exactly.
Because the number in your head is built from calls you experienced, and by definition those are the answered ones. A call that rang out while you were busy leaves no impression at all.
Calls outside opening hours, calls while you were occupied, and repeat attempts from the same number within an hour — that last group is rarely idle enquiry.
Weekly missed calls times a conservative conversion rate times the value of an average job. Be pessimistic — plenty of missed calls are suppliers and wrong numbers.