How do you calculate the cost of missed leads?

Multiply the enquiries that never get a real reply each month by your close rate on the enquiries you do answer, then by what a new customer is worth in their first year. Multiply by twelve for the annual figure. It uses only your own numbers.

What counts as a missed lead?

Any enquiry that never gets a real reply: a missed call with no callback, a form nobody answered, an email that sat, a DM left on read, a listing enquiry nobody saw. A slow reply is a different leak, but the fix list covers both.

What is the fastest way to stop missing leads?

Give every channel a named owner, send an automatic acknowledgment with a booking link the moment an enquiry arrives, and replace voicemail with a text-back or an answering system. Then review unanswered enquiries once a week.

The Lead Leak Calculator

Put in your own numbers and see what unanswered enquiries cost you each month, then get a seven-day plan to stop it.

For: Any business that gets enquiries by form, phone, email or DM

Start using it

Rubin James

Free resource

The Lead Leak Calculator

Interactive calculator + 7-day fix list

By Rubin Beckner

Put in your numbers

The defaults are placeholders, not benchmarks. Change all four to your own.

New enquiries a month

Every channel: forms, calls, emails, DMs, listings, walk-ins.

Share that never get a real reply%

Missed calls with no callback, forms nobody answered, DMs left on read. Mystery-shop yourself if you’re not sure.

Close rate on enquiries you do answer%

Out of 100 enquiries you reply to properly, how many become customers?

What a new customer is worth in year one$

Revenue from a typical new customer over their first twelve months.

Your numbers

Enquiries going unanswered: 9.0 a month
What one answered enquiry is worth to you: $500
Revenue those missed enquiries represent: $54,000; a year · $4,500 a month

If you answered 50% of them

$27,000 a year back

Missed enquiries × close rate × customer value × 12. Assumes a missed enquiry would close like the ones you answer. Some wouldn’t; some are people who called you first.

The fix

Seven days, one job a day

Day 1
Mystery-shop yourself
Send an enquiry through every channel you have: the form, the phone after hours, email, a DM, any listing. Time each reply. Most owners are surprised by at least one.
Day 2
List every door
Write down each channel enquiries arrive through and the one person who sees it. Any channel without a name is a leak.
Day 3
Answer instantly
Turn on an automatic acknowledgment for forms and email, with your booking link in it. It doesn’t replace a reply; it holds the lead until you send one.
Day 4
Fix the phone
Replace “leave a message” with a text-back that has your booking link, or send overflow and after-hours calls to something that answers. qali.ai is what I built for that job.
Day 5
Put the rule in writing
Who replies, how fast, and who covers when they’re out. One paragraph, shared with everyone who touches enquiries.
Day 6
One place, one owner
Every enquiry lands in the CRM or a shared inbox with an owner and a next-step date. If it isn’t there, it doesn’t exist.
Day 7
Review weekly
Fifteen minutes, same time each week: unanswered enquiries, slow replies, stalled deals. Run this calculator again in thirty days.

Free with your email

Get the seven-day fix list, one job per day.

Questions

How do you calculate the cost of missed leads?: Multiply the enquiries that never get a real reply each month by your close rate on the enquiries you do answer, then by what a new customer is worth in their first year. Multiply by twelve for the annual figure. It uses only your own numbers.
What counts as a missed lead?: Any enquiry that never gets a real reply: a missed call with no callback, a form nobody answered, an email that sat, a DM left on read, a listing enquiry nobody saw. A slow reply is a different leak, but the fix list covers both.
What is the fastest way to stop missing leads?: Give every channel a named owner, send an automatic acknowledgment with a booking link the moment an enquiry arrives, and replace voicemail with a text-back or an answering system. Then review unanswered enquiries once a week.

Bigger number than you expected?

Thirty minutes, free. Bring the number and your current setup, and I’ll tell you which of the seven fixes matters most for you, and whether any of it needs building.

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