How many calls do small businesses miss every week?

The real numbers: how many calls go unanswered

Multiple studies land in the same ugly range. A 2022 analysis by BrightLocal found that 62% of callsto local businesses go unanswered. Numa’s data across thousands of small businesses backed that up. Ruby Receptionists reported similar miss rates, and a 2024 study of 85 businesses in the home-services and healthcare space pegged the live-answer rate at just 38%.

Let’s put that into a real week. Say your business gets 20 incoming calls — a modest number for any active plumber, dental office, or restaurant. At a 62% miss rate, 12 of those calls go to voicemail(or more likely, to dead air). That means 12 people decided to call you — chose your Google listing, typed your number, hit dial — and got nothing.

Over a month, that’s roughly 50 missed calls. Over a year, 600. And here’s the part that stings: 85% of those callers will never call you back. They’re gone. One ring, one chance, done.

What a missed call actually costs you

A missed call isn’t just an inconvenience — it’s a sale walking to somebody else. The dollar amount depends on your industry, but it’s almost always bigger than business owners expect.

Plumber:An emergency call for a burst pipe or a clogged drain is worth $300–$800. A hot water tank replacement? $1,500–$2,000. That caller isn’t leaving a voicemail while their basement floods. They’re calling the next result on Google within 30 seconds.

HVAC technician:A furnace diagnostic runs $150–$300, but the real money is the install that follows. Furnace replacements in Canada average $4,000–$6,000. One missed call during the fall rush could be a $1,200 service call you never see.

Dental clinic:A new patient calling to book a cleaning isn’t just one appointment. Over a year, a single patient brings in $1,500–$3,000 in cleanings, X-rays, and treatment. Miss that first call and you’ve lost a year of recurring revenue.

Restaurant:A phone call about a catering order for 50 people, a private dining reservation, or a corporate lunch booking can be worth $800–$3,000. Even a regular reservation call might represent $200 in covers for the evening.

The range across industries sits between $200 and $2,000 per missed call. Multiply that by the 12 missed calls a week we just talked about and you’re looking at $2,400–$24,000 in lost revenue every single week. Even at the low end, that’s over $120,000 per year walking out your door. For a deeper look at these numbers and an interactive calculator, see our cost-of-missed-calls guide.

Why trades businesses lose the most

If you’re a plumber, electrician, or HVAC tech, you already know the problem: you can’t answer the phone while you’re doing the work that earns the money. Your hands are literally full. You’re under a sink, up on a roof, or inside a panel with 200 amps running through it. Pulling out your phone isn’t just rude — it can be dangerous.

Meanwhile, the person calling you has a problem right now. Their furnace died in January. Their kitchen drain is backing up before a dinner party. Their breaker keeps tripping. These aren’t people who will patiently leave a voicemail and wait three hours for a callback. They want someone who answers. Period.

Here’s the competitive reality: Google shows them 3–5 results. They call the first one. If nobody picks up, they call the second. The business that answers the phone first gets the job. Not the best business, not the cheapest, not the one with the best reviews — the one that picks up. For plumber-specific strategies on catching every call, check out our guide on virtual receptionists for plumbers.

The “I’ll call them back later” problem

Every business owner has said it: “I’ll return that call at lunch.” Then lunch comes and you’re eating a sandwich in your van while driving to the next job. By 3pm you’ve forgotten. By 5pm, it doesn’t matter anymore — the customer hired someone else two hours ago.

The data confirms the instinct. Industry research shows that 80% of callers who reach voicemail don’t leave a message. They just hang up. Of the 20% who do leave a message, studies suggest only about 20% get a callback within the first hour. The rest wait longer — or never hear back at all.

And here’s what makes it worse: your caller doesn’t just disappear quietly. Research from BrightLocal shows that 62% of callers who can’t reach a business contact a competitor next. Not eventually. Not after waiting a day. Next— as in, they hang up and immediately dial someone else.

There’s a reputation cost too. A review-analysis study found that roughly 37% of 1-star Google reviews mention missed or unreturned phone calls. You might be excellent at your trade, charge fair prices, and do great work — but if someone calls three times and never gets through, they leave a 1-star review saying you don’t answer your phone. And that review sits there forever, pushing away future customers who would have called you.

How to catch every call without hiring anyone

You have three realistic options for covering the phone when you’re busy:

Option 1: Hire a receptionist.A full-time receptionist in Canada costs $35,000+ a year in salary and benefits. They cover about 40 hours a week, take vacations, and call in sick. If your phone rings at 7pm or on a Saturday morning, nobody’s there. For most small businesses, this is overkill.

Option 2: Use a human answering service.Better than voicemail, but they charge $1–$2 per minute and mostly take messages. The caller still waits for you to call back, which puts you right back at the callback problem.

Option 3: An AI receptionist. This is what we built GetFavours to do. Sarah, our AI receptionist, answers every call instantly — 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. She captures the caller’s name, phone number, and reason for calling, then sends you an SMS summary in real time. You see the message on your phone, decide who to call back first, and handle it when you’re actually free to talk.

No more missed calls. No more forgotten voicemails. No more customers calling your competitor because nobody picked up.

GetFavours starts at $99/month CAD with no per-minute surprises. For a full breakdown of how AI receptionist pricing works across Canada, see our AI receptionist cost guide.

Frequently asked questions

How many calls does the average small business miss per week?

Research shows that small businesses miss roughly 62% of incoming phone calls. For a business receiving 20 calls per week, that means about 12 calls go unanswered — many of which are potential customers who won’t call back.

How much revenue does a missed call cost a small business?

The cost varies by industry. A missed call for a plumber or HVAC technician can mean a lost job worth $300 to $2,000. For a dental clinic, a missed new patient call could represent $1,500 to $3,000 in annual revenue. On average, each missed call costs a small business between $200 and $2,000.

What is the best way to stop missing business calls?

An AI receptionist service like GetFavours answers every call 24/7, captures caller details, and sends you an instant SMS summary. Starting at $99/month CAD, it’s far cheaper than hiring staff and catches calls you’d otherwise lose while on the job, after hours, or during busy periods.