- In the agencies we observed, between 18% and 31% of incoming calls go unanswered.
- Losses are concentrated in three windows: lunchtime, after 6 pm and Saturday morning.
- A lost enquiry isn't a lost contact: it's a mandate that goes to a faster competitor.
- Measuring it takes a switchboard that also logs unanswered calls, not an Excel sheet.
The question is always the same in meetings with agency owners: “how many calls are we missing?”. In most cases, the answer is that nobody knows. A traditional switchboard doesn't tell you, and what isn't measured ends up not existing, until a client mentions they called three times without an answer.
What we mean by a lost enquiry
Not all unanswered calls are equal. A number already in the database that calls back ten minutes later is a nuisance; a new number calling about a listing that doesn't try again is a potential mandate that has gone elsewhere. The distinction matters because it changes how phone cover is organised.
The three critical windows
In the data we collect, missed calls are not spread evenly through the day. They pile up when the office is unmanned and agents are out on viewings: that's where the difference lies between an agency that always answers and one that almost always does.
How to measure it in your agency
You need three numbers, over thirty days: calls received, unanswered calls and how many of those come from unknown numbers. The ratio of the second to the first is the loss rate; the third tells you how much of that rate is potential new business. With a switchboard connected to the database they come out by themselves, with nobody having to note anything down.
Live Switchboard logs every call, including unanswered ones, and links them to the property and the agent.
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