Work out what a missed call is really costing you.
Two figures you already know are enough. How many enquiries get away in a normal week, and what one job is worth to you. Move a slider and the answer changes as you go, on your phone, with nothing to fill in and nothing to send.
Your numbers, never ours. Nothing to fill in, nothing to send, and no figure of ours is quoted at you.
How do I work out what a missed enquiry costs me?
Count what got away in a normal week, multiply by what one job is worth to you, then by the weeks you work. Move the three sliders below and the answer changes as you go.
The sliders start somewhere so there is a number to move. They are not our figures. Put your own in, and nothing you type leaves your phone.
How many got away last week?
Count the ones you know about. The calls that rang out while your hands were full. The voicemails nobody rang back. The form that came in on Friday night and got answered on Tuesday.
Most people find this number is bigger than they expected, because nobody normally counts it.
What is one job worth to you?
Take what you actually invoice for a typical job, not the biggest one you ever did. If your work splits into small jobs and big ones, run the sum twice and keep them apart.
Use the money you keep if you would rather. The sum works either way, as long as you are consistent.
Multiply, then multiply again
Enquiries missed in a week, times what one job is worth, gives you a week. Multiply that by the weeks you work in a year and you have the annual figure.
Not every enquiry becomes a job, so halve it if you want to be careful. It is still a number worth looking at.
What does that look like with real figures?
Three worked rows are below, each one taking three missed enquiries a week across fifty working weeks. Pick whichever job value is nearest your own work and read the annual figure beside it. Or put your own two figures through the same sum.
Three missed enquiries a week, over fifty working weeks
These are three points on a scale, not an average and not anybody's real business. Your own two figures are the only ones that mean anything, and the sum above is the whole of it.
Where do the missed ones actually happen?
Four moments account for most of them, and every one of them is a moment you are doing the job you were hired to do. Read the list and count your own.
- While you are on another job. Hands full, gloves on, or halfway through something you cannot put down. The phone rings out and the caller has three more numbers to try.
- While you are already on the phone. A second caller gets the engaged tone, and an engaged tone tells somebody in a hurry to ring the next firm.
- After you finish for the day. Somebody works out at eight in the evening that they need you, and by nine they have booked whoever answered.
- At the weekend. Saturday morning is when a lot of people finally get round to sorting out the thing that has been annoying them all week.
None of that is a failing. It is what happens when the person doing the work is also the person answering the phone.
What closes the gap between the two figures?
An AI receptionist answers the calls you cannot get to, takes the details, and puts them where you will see them. She answers in your firm's name, using the answers you gave her, so the caller gets a person's reply rather than a voicemail beep.
Setting her up is £199 and she is £45 a month. That includes 150 minutes of talking, then 15p a minute, itemised on your bill. We set the whole thing up. You never log in.
Put those figures against the number you worked out above. That comparison is the only one worth making, and it is yours rather than ours.
What else is worth reading?
Every page here answers one question properly rather than skimming five. These are the others, and each one says what it is before you click it.
Foothold AI: websites and AI for local service businesses
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Got your figure? Let us show you what answers them.
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