The sum
New-work calls missed a week × share that would have booked × average job value × 52
Count only new work. A supplier or your mum ringing does not belong in it, and neither does a customer who would have waited for you anyway.
A worked example
- Three new-work calls missed a week.
- One in three would have turned into a job.
- An average job worth £350.
That is one lost job a week: £350 a week, or £18,200 a year. Change any one number and the answer moves a lot, which is why the only figure worth trusting is the one you work out yourself.
Your own numbers
Calls you miss in a week
Be honest. Count the ones you rang back two hours later.
What an average job is worth
Your money, not your turnover.
Of those, how many book someone else?
They rang because they wanted it done. If they don’t want you now, they’ve booked the next name.
Walking out of the door
£39,000
a year, in 87 jobs that went to someone else.
It pays for itself if it keeps 1 job a month of the 22 calls you miss.
Your own figures say it pays for itself many times over.
The starting figures are a guess: put in yours. Nothing is sent anywhere.
What the sum leaves out
The sum counts one job per lost call. It does not count the repeat work that customer would have given you, or the neighbour they would have told. Those are real, but they are guesses, so they are not in the number.
It also tells you what a fix is worth. Slate is £249 a month: if your average job is worth more than that, one job a month kept is enough to cover it.
Straight answers
- How do I know how many calls I miss?
- Look at your phone's call history for the last fortnight and count the missed calls from numbers you do not know. Most of those are new enquiries.
- What counts as a missed call?
- Any call you did not answer: you were on a ladder, under a sink, driving, or on another call.
- What does Slate cost?
- £249 a month, one plan. The first 25 firms pay £199 a month for as long as they stay. You get 14 days free from the day you start, and if you are not happy within 14 days of your first payment, you message us and we refund it in full.
Slate OS gives you an office line that rings your mobile and texts back every call you miss, within seconds, in your business name. Quotes, invoices and chasing happen from your phone.