Missed Calls Equal Missed Profits

Back in the day, if your toilet backed up, the first thing you’d do is pick up the Yellow Pages. You’d thumb your way through the plumbers section, find the nearest candidate and pick up the phone. But what happens if you get a voicemail? You wouldn’t wait for the problem to start spreading further across your kitchen floor… you’d phone the next guy right away. Why is that important? Because the first guy just lost himself a sale.
Most major companies know this. Call up Comcast, and the people who want to buy something get the chance to press number 1 and speak to sales. Further down the phonetree, the company hopes by the time you start pulling your hair out in frustration, you’ll be giving up on your desire for customer support.

The Real Cost of a Missed Call

Missing calls is practically inevitable. Despite pulling every trick in the book, our retail business misses around 15% of our phone calls. Whether it’s because representatives are busy or because calls come at odd hours, it just happens. The problem is that 80% of callers don’t leave voice messages and that means lost sales.
What’s worse, those inbound calls cost you money. If you’re spending $20,000 a month on marketing to receive 1,000 inbound phone calls, that means each of those calls costs you around $20. If you miss 15% of those calls, you’re throwing $3,000 down the toilet every month, and that’s one problem no plumber can help you out with.
To take things further still, if you know around 10% of your phone calls convert into a sale worth $10,000, you can multiply 15 of those 150 missed calls by 10,000 and you’re essentially losing $150,000 in lost sales. Whatever numbers you’re working with, it’s not a good situation.

What Does a Missed Call Say About Your Company?

When I put in a phone call to a business I want to spend money on and no one picks up the phone, there are a few things that go through my mind. Here are my usual thoughts:
  • This company isn’t big enough to have people answering the phones
  • The company isn’t strong enough to get organized
  • The company doesn’t care enough about my call to make sure inbound sales calls get picked up
Even though I’m in the industry and I know something like this normally happens, I just can’t help but think about these things when a company lets me down.

How Do We Solve This Problem?

There are a few ways to solve the issue.

Call rollover or forwarding

Of course, we can have missed calls forwarded to another employee outside the building who’s not busy serving other customers. The downside is, they could be in the middle of watching the game on TV or eating lunch. Not only is this frustrating for them, but it’s likely they’re not in the work mindset, therefore, their sales skills are not as sharp as usual.

Call answering service

Many companies opt for a call answering service, but they cancel the service after a while. Not only do these services cost around $500 per month, but even the call answering services miss a lot of calls themselves. Essentially, it means paying a monthly fee for calls to be forwarded to people who don’t know you or care about your business enough to do things how you’d like.

Answerphone directions and opening hours

Many missed calls are people looking for your store opening hours or location. Fortunately, modern technology allows you to deal with these easily and you can leave an answerphone option providing this info. Some services even let you include a text message sending option so you can send the info directly via SMS. Potential customers then have the information they need in hand and are more likely to visit you.

Retail Reply

Not only is a text message a much more convenient way for most people to discuss matters during business hours, it sends a personalized message from a local phone number that looks like it’s from a real human being. The messages can say something like:
“Hey, it’s Robert, sorry I missed your call. How can I help?”
That’s an instant available line of communication for potential customers. And it may just help get your potential customer to stick around and not go to your competitor. Let’s say you’re in a doctor’s office and your receptionist goes to lunch. Someone calls in to reschedule but the call is missed. They then get a text message, send you a reply and the system allows the receptionist to respond using the online interface when she’s back in the office.
People calling you have an expectation that their problem will get fixed right away, and that’s met too with the auto-reply in place.  Because, rather than being put on hold while the customer service person checks the schedule, stock or does some kind of research, they can do other important things while waiting for the answer to their query through text messaging. On a company’s end, instead of putting someone on hold, they find the answer and text back as soon as they’re ready.

Don’t Miss Sales by Missing Calls

Whatever solution you feel works best for you and your company, the important thing is not to let missed calls go unchecked. Sit down, take the time to calculate how much each is costing you in lost marketing spend or even lost revenue. Take action to shore up this hole in your inbound lead generation and your annual margins are sure to reap the benefits.
In conclusion, missed calls can have a significant impact on a company’s reputation and bottom line. When customers encounter unanswered calls, they may question the company’s size, organization, and commitment to customer service. This can lead to lost sales opportunities and a negative perception of the business. Fortunately, there are various solutions available, such as call rollover, call answering services, and technology-driven options like Retail Reply, which can help ensure that potential customers receive timely responses and support. Regardless of the chosen solution, it is crucial for businesses to address the issue of missed calls to maximize their marketing efforts and revenue potential. Ignoring this problem can result in substantial financial losses and a diminished brand image.