Missed Lead Cost Calculator: What Slow Replies Cost You
Free missed lead cost calculator. Estimate the jobs and gross profit you lose when calls and enquiries go unanswered, and see whether a fix would pay for itself.
Estimated results
Gross profit lost per month
$1,125
- Leads missed per month
- 20
- Jobs lost per month
- 5
- Revenue lost per month
- $2,250
- Gross profit lost per year
- $13,500
- Recoverable per month
- $563
- Net gain after the fix's cost
- $463
Every rate is your own estimate, not a benchmark. Calculated in your browser; nothing is sent to us.
What the calculator works out
A lead you don't answer in time doesn't always vanish, but it usually converts less often. The calculator turns that difference into money:
- Missed leads = leads per month × share not answered in time
- Jobs lost = missed leads × (close rate when answered − close rate when missed)
- Gross profit lost = jobs lost × average job value × gross margin
- Recoverable = gross profit lost × the share you would win back with a fix
- Net gain = recoverable − the monthly cost of the fix
Worked example
These are example numbers, not benchmarks. A business gets 80 leads a month and fails to answer 25% in time. It closes 35% of leads answered in time and 10% of missed ones. The average job is $450 at a 50% margin. A text-back or answering service would win back half of the lost jobs and cost $100 a month.
- Missed leads: 80 × 25% = 20
- Jobs lost: 20 × (35% − 10%) = 5
- Revenue lost: 5 × $450 = $2,250 a month
- Gross profit lost: $1,125 a month, or $13,500 a year
- Recoverable: $562.50 a month
- Net gain after the $100 cost: $462.50 a month
What research says about speed
A widely cited 2011 Harvard Business Review article, The Short Life of Online Sales Leads, reported that companies which answered online sales leads quickly were more likely to qualify them than slower ones. We can't reproduce its figures here because the full text is behind a paywall, and it is over a decade old, so take it as a reason to measure your own response times, not as a number to plug into your trade.
Getting honest inputs
- Count real misses. Use your phone's missed-call list and the age of unanswered messages.
- Be cautious on recovery. A text-back tool or answering service rescues some leads, not all. Start at 30–50%.
- Include the fix's full cost, including the time someone spends handling the extra enquiries.
If follow-up is the weak spot, see how one trade tackles it in plumbing lead follow-up automation, and use the CRM ROI calculator to price a CRM that keeps enquiries from slipping through.
Frequently asked questions
Where do the close rates come from?
From you. Look at your last few months of enquiries: how many you replied to quickly and how many of those booked, versus how many you replied to late or not at all. If you don't track it yet, use cautious guesses and treat the answer as a range.
Is there a standard number for how many leads a business misses?
Not one this calculator relies on. Every rate is your own estimate. A count of missed calls from your phone log and a review of unanswered form messages will be more useful than any industry average.
Why does the calculator use gross profit rather than revenue?
Extra jobs bring extra revenue but also extra materials and labour. Gross profit shows what a recovered job is worth to the business, and revenue is shown separately so you can see both.
Is my data stored?
No. The calculation runs in your browser and nothing you type is sent to our servers.
Sources
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