Why it’s worth counting
Only about half of calls to home service businesses reach a person: 52% in Invoca’s 2026 home services benchmark, and 34% for HVAC (Invoca). Those are averages across Invoca’s own customers. Your number could be better or worse, and a week of counting tells you which.
Where your missed calls are recorded
- Your business phone system. Most VoIP and office phone systems have a call log or report that marks calls as missed or answered. Export a week of it.
- Your cell phone’s recent calls, if the business number rings there. It mixes in personal calls and doesn’t keep history for long, so write the numbers down daily.
- Google Ads, if you use call assets with a Google forwarding number. The call details report lists each call with its status, missed or received (Google).
- Google Local Services Ads. The lead inbox shows phone leads, and in the US you can listen to call recordings (Google).
- Not your Google Business Profile. Google turned off Business Profile call history on July 31, 2024 (Search Engine Land).
Run a one-week count
Pick a normal week
Not a holiday week and not the first heat wave. You want your usual numbers.
Log every call
Time, answered or missed, called back or not, and whether it turned into a booked job.
Mark missed calls nobody returned
These are the callers most likely to have hired someone else.
Total it by day and by hour
A sheet like the one below is enough.
| Day | Calls | Missed | Returned | Never returned | Booked |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monday | |||||
| Tuesday | |||||
| Wednesday | |||||
| Thursday | |||||
| Friday | |||||
| Weekend |
Reading the results
Three numbers matter most: how many calls you missed, how many of those you never returned, and when they happened.
To put a rough value on it, multiply the never-returned calls by the share you’d normally book and by your average job. For example, if 6 callers a week never hear back, you usually book 1 in 3 callers, and a typical job is $300, that’s about $600 a week walking away. Use your own numbers, not these.
Fix the biggest gap first
- Most misses during jobs: a text back on every missed call covers them. See message examples.
- Most misses at lunch or school pickup: hand the phone to someone else for that hour, or forward it.
- Most misses at night: see a plan for after-hours calls.
- Plenty of answered calls but few bookings: that’s a different problem. Ask every caller for a time before you hang up.
How we handle it
Every client gets a one-page report each month: calls missed, texts sent, leads that replied, jobs booked and reviews received.