Missed call cost calculator
What are a plumber's missed calls actually worth?
A missed call costs a UK business the sale that caller would have become, because many callers who cannot get through ring the next business instead of trying again. This calculator turns the calls you miss each week into a monthly figure, using your own sale value and your own estimates, and shows what answering them would cost.
- Every assumption is on screen and yours to change
- Rounded down, never up
- No email needed to see the answer
The working
How is the missed call cost calculated?
The calculator takes the calls you miss each week, turns them into a month, keeps only the real enquiries, applies your own estimates and multiplies by your sale value. These are your current figures.
- 0121
Calls you miss a month
Your weekly figure times 4.33 weeks.
- 0210
Real enquiries
Half, leaving out sales calls, wrong numbers and time-wasters.
- 035
Ring someone else
Your estimate of the real enquiries that go elsewhere.
- 041.3
Sales you would have won
Your close rate applied to those.
- 05£1,000
Revenue a month
Sales times your sale value, rounded down to the nearest £10.
What missed calls really cost a plumber
A plumber's missed calls are not all equal. A typical week's worth is a mix of sales calls, suppliers, existing customers chasing a visit, and a handful of genuine new jobs. The genuine ones are the problem: a £2,500 boiler replacement rings the same way an £80 washer swap does, and you cannot tell which you just missed. The calculator above counts only half of what you miss as real work. What is left is still usually several hundred pounds a month.
Emergencies do not wait for you to finish the job you are on
The burst pipe rings at 2pm while you are under a sink with your hands full. That caller is not leaving a voicemail: they are working down a list, and the first plumber to answer gets the job. Ringing back at 5pm is not a failure of effort, it is just too late. That is why the model above counts callers who never ring back, not callers you never rang back.
Why we keep the numbers low
We count only half your missed calls as real job enquiries, you set how many of those ring another plumber, and you set the close rate too. We round down, never up. Even so, one recovered £800 job pays for Voco Starter for over a year, which is why we would rather show you a small number you believe than a big one you do not.
How plumbers use Voco
Voco answers every call in seconds, around the clock. It takes the caller's name, number and what has gone wrong, books the job in or texts you the details straight away, and greets callers with your business name. You keep your number and stay under the sink. Hear it answer an emergency call-out on the demo line before you decide anything.
What it costs
Voco costs about 29p a minute for a typical call, ex VAT, with no monthly fee and no contract, so a quiet week costs you next to nothing. If the phone rings steadily every month, the monthly plans work out cheaper.
By industry
What does a missed call cost in your industry?
The cost of a missed call depends mostly on what one customer is worth to you, so each industry calculator starts from the jobs that industry actually gets.
- Calculator for plumbersA missed call could be a boiler replacement, not a dripping tap.Open
- Calculator for locksmithsA lockout is urgent, so the caller rings the next locksmith rather than wait.Open
- Calculator for dental practicesA new patient is rarely a single appointment. It is years of check-ups.Open
- Calculator for letting agentsThe first agent to answer usually books the viewing, and often wins the instruction.Open
The other side of the sum
What would it cost to answer every one of them?
On pay as you go, Voco costs 29p a minute, billed by the second, with no monthly fee. A typical call lasts about 75 seconds, so answering 20 calls a month costs about £7, and calls under 10 seconds cost nothing.
Questions about the calculator
Something else? Ring 0333 043 6661 and ask Voco directly.
Answers at 2am. Doesn't ask for overtime.
Hear Voco answer a call
Ring 0333 043 6661 and talk to Voco now, or set up your own AI front office today.