How Much Do Missed Calls Cost Your Business?

The hidden cost of unanswered calls

Most small business owners know they miss calls. Few know how much it actually costs them. A single missed call might not seem like a big deal, but when you add them up over a month or a year, the numbers get serious fast.

Widely cited research attributed to BIA/Kelsey suggests that inbound phone calls convert to revenue 10-15x more often than web leads. When someone picks up the phone and calls your business, they're ready to buy, book, or hire. If nobody answers, they move on.

Why small businesses miss so many calls

If you run a small business, you probably can't sit by the phone all day. You're with clients, on job sites, in meetings, or doing the actual work. Your phone rings, you can't answer, and the caller leaves a voicemail (or more likely, doesn't).

The numbers back this up. Industry data widely cited since 2014 suggests that around 80% of business callers who reach voicemail won't leave a message. They hang up and try someone else.

How the calculator works

1. Pick your industry and we'll pre-fill realistic numbers based on average deal values and call volumes for your field.
2. Adjust the sliders to match your actual situation: how many calls you get, how many you miss, and what a typical customer is worth.
3. Hit calculate to see your estimated monthly and yearly revenue loss.

The calculator also shows what it would cost to have Hallodesk answer those calls for you, so you can compare the cost of missing calls versus the cost of catching them.

What you can do about it

There are a few options. You can hire a receptionist, use a traditional answering service, or set up an AI phone assistant like Hallodesk that answers calls 24/7 and sends you a summary of each conversation.

Curious what each option costs? Try our Phone Cost Calculator to compare.