I Called 100 Businesses Today. Only 15 Picked Up.

The rest of them have no idea how much money they left on the table.

I make a lot of phone calls. Like, a lot. On a normal day I'm dialing 80 to 100 businesses during regular working hours. Not at 6 AM, not on weekends. Right in the middle of the day, when you'd expect someone to answer.

You know how many actually pick up? Maybe 10 to 15.

That's it. Out of 100 calls, 85 go to voicemail. Some ring forever. Some have a full voicemail box that can't even take a message. A few have numbers that just don't work at all.

Now here's the part that should scare you if you own a business: I'm not a customer. I'm just a guy making sales calls. But those other 85 calls? Some of them were from customers. Real ones. People ready to spend money.

And nobody picked up.

"They'll Call Back"

No they won't.

Think about the last time you called a business and got voicemail. Did you leave a message and sit around waiting? Or did you hang up and call the next guy on Google?

Exactly. Everybody does the same thing. Your customer isn't going to try you three times and send a follow-up email. They're going to call your competitor. The one who actually answered.

And the worst part? You'll never even know it happened. There's no report that tells you "you lost 4 customers today because nobody picked up the phone." It just looks like a slow week.

This Is Worse Than Bad Marketing

You can spend $500 a month on Google Ads. You can post on Facebook every day. You can hand out 1,000 business cards at the local home show. None of it matters if the phone rings and nobody answers.

That's the thing people don't realize. Most businesses don't have a lead problem. They have a "we're not answering the leads we already have" problem. You're literally paying to get the phone to ring, then letting it go to voicemail.

I've called roofing companies in the middle of a Tuesday afternoon and gotten nothing. Plumbers. Electricians. Landscapers. HVAC guys. These are businesses that run on phone calls. And half of them can't be reached by phone.

So What Do You Do About It?

There are a couple of fixes, and none of them are complicated.

Answer the phone. I know that sounds obvious, but if you're on a job site and can't pick up, someone else needs to. A receptionist, a virtual answering service, even just forwarding calls to someone who can take a message. The bar here is incredibly low. You just have to pick up.

Have a website that works when you don't. This is the part most contractors skip. If someone calls and you don't answer, the first thing they do is check your website. If you don't have one, or it looks like it was made in 2008, they're gone. But if you've got a clean, professional site with your services, photos, and a way to reach you? Some of those people will fill out a contact form instead of calling the next guy. You just saved a customer you would've lost.

Check your voicemail. Seriously. Call your own business number right now. Is the voicemail box full? Does the greeting sound professional, or is it the default robot voice that came with the phone? If a customer hears "the mailbox is full, goodbye," that's the last time they're trying.

The Math Is Simple

Let's say you miss 5 calls a week from real customers. Not spam, not telemarketers. Actual people looking to hire someone for a job.

And let's say your average job is worth $500. That's $2,500 a week walking out the door. Over $10,000 a month. Over $120,000 a year.

Because nobody picked up the phone.

I'm not making that number up to scare you. I call businesses for a living. I know how many of them don't answer. And if I'm getting voicemail, your customers are too.

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