How the calculation works
Monthly enquiries × the share left unanswered gives the lost enquiries; multiplied by 12 and by your conversion rate they become potential deals, and by your average fee they become fees. For example: 200 enquiries a month, 15% lost, a 2% conversion rate and a €5,000 average fee make 360 lost enquiries a year, about 7 deals and €36,000 in potential fees.
Where enquiries get lost
- calls arriving while everyone is at a viewing or on the phone;
- out-of-hours calls, in the evening and at weekends;
- portal emails sitting in a shared inbox;
- enquiries passed on by word of mouth or on a note, with nobody in charge.
We cover this in two blog posts: how many enquiries an agency really loses and how to cut response time.
Frequently asked questions
What counts as a lost enquiry?
Any contact the agency does not answer, or answers after the client has already booked viewings elsewhere: missed calls never returned, out-of-hours calls, portal emails opened late, website messages left in the inbox.
How do I know how many enquiries I lose?
For one week, count the unanswered calls in the switchboard or mobile phone logs and the portal emails read more than an hour after arriving. With a system that records every enquiry and its status, such as MyBrokerage AI Business Intelligence, the figure is always available by agent, office and source.
Which conversion rate should I enter?
Your agency's: out of 100 handled enquiries, how many end in a completed deal. If you don't track it, divide last year's completed deals by the enquiries received in the same period.
Is the result a revenue forecast?
No. It is an order of magnitude based on the rates you enter: it shows what answering every enquiry quickly is worth to your agency.