THE TROJAN TOOLKIT
Missed Call Calculator
Before paying for more phone coverage, work out what the change would need to recover. Compare callbacks, booked jobs and contribution using your own assumptions.
Start with inquiries you missed.
What would the change leave?
The proposed recovery covers the entered added cost.
4.2 change in expected booked jobs, if the entered rates hold.
- Contribution per job before this change
- $2,000.00
- Contribution change before added monthly cost
- $8,400.00
- Added monthly cost
- $300.00
- Recovery rate needed to cover that cost
- 26.25% of missed inquiries
This assumes you can serve the additional work and the recovered callers close at the same rate. Fractional jobs are scenario averages. Costs you have not entered remain outside the result.
Follow the same callers through both scenarios.
The starting inquiry count is identical. Only the recovery assumption changes; the close rate and job economics stay fixed.
| Stage | Current | Proposed |
|---|---|---|
| Unique missed new inquiries | 40 | 40 |
| Recovered for a sales conversation | 10 | 24 |
| Expected booked jobs | 3 | 7.2 |
Use actual conversations and booked jobs when you review the change next month. A missed call, a voicemail and a qualified inquiry are different records.
Definitions, formulas and limits
A missed new inquiry is a unique prospective job that did not reach your team on its first attempt. Count that inquiry once even when the caller tries again. A recovered inquiry reaches a sales conversation later, whether through your callback or their next attempt. Leave spam, suppliers and existing customer service calls out.
Expected jobs equal missed new inquiries multiplied by the recovery rate and the close rate among recovered inquiries. Contribution per job is revenue minus entered fulfillment cost. The monthly contribution change is the difference in expected jobs multiplied by contribution per job, minus the added monthly cost. Money rounds once to the nearest cent.
Break even recovery equals the current recovery rate plus the added cost divided by the value of recovering all missed inquiries at the entered close rate. The target rounds up to the next 0.01 percentage point so you can enter it without undershooting. If it requires more than 100% recovery, the change cannot break even under these assumptions. No finite recovery target is shown when inquiry count, close rate or job contribution is zero or negative.
This comparison does not predict how many callers a particular service will recover. It excludes repeat work, referrals, seasonality, sales capacity and costs you have not entered. Work through a typical job’s costs before using revenue as a shortcut for contribution.
Your call counts and financial assumptions stay in this browser tab. The CSV includes the values you download. The inquiry link shares the tool topic, not those amounts.
A PRACTICAL FIELD GUIDE
Price a callback improvement against the work it could recover
Before paying for more phone coverage, separate the callers you missed from the jobs you could win. This calculator compares the same inquiry count under two recovery assumptions. It subtracts fulfillment costs and the added cost of the change, so the result describes contribution rather than treating every dollar of revenue as a gain.
Compare a callback process change
Model an assigned callback owner, different routing or added coverage. Enter your proposed recovery rate rather than assuming every unanswered inquiry returns.
Check an answering service quote
Include the added monthly fee, usage charges and setup costs you allocate to that month. Compare the required recovery with an operationally plausible target.
How to use it
- 01
Count unique missed new inquiries
Start with one month of call records. Count each prospective job once, even if the caller tried several times. Remove suppliers, spam and existing customer service calls. Keep inquiries that were later recovered.
- 02
Separate recovery from closing
Recovery means reaching a sales conversation after the missed attempt. Closing means that recovered inquiry becomes a booked job. Use the close rate among recovered inquiries, not among every call.
- 03
Enter the job economics
Use average revenue and fulfillment costs for the work these callers request. A repair inquiry should not inherit the contribution from your largest replacement project.
- 04
Compare and keep the assumptions
Choose a proposed recovery rate and enter the added monthly cost. Export the scenario. After the change, compare actual recovered conversations and bookings with the assumptions you saved.
FROM INPUT TO DECISION
Worked example: recovering more of forty missed inquiries
Illustrative values: 40 missed inquiries, recovery rising from 25% to 60%, a 30% close rate, $6,000 revenue and $4,000 fulfillment cost per job, plus $300 in added monthly cost.
| Stage | Calculation | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Currently recovered | 40 × 25% | 10 conversations |
| Proposed recovered | 40 × 60% | 24 conversations |
| Change in expected jobs | (24 − 10) × 30% | 4.2 jobs |
| Contribution per job | $6,000 − $4,000 | $2,000 |
| Contribution change after added cost | 4.2 × $2,000 − $300 | $8,100 per month |
| Recovery needed to cover the added cost | 25% + 1.25 percentage points | 26.25% |
The additional 4.2 jobs are an average under the entered assumptions, not a booking promise. The $8,100 result already removes the $300 added cost and assumes capacity to complete the work.
Avoid counting the existing recoveries twice
The gain comes from the difference between proposed and current recovery. Some callers already return or answer your callback; their existing bookings are not new gains from the change.
Check capacity before treating the result as available
More conversations do not create crew time or appointment slots. If capacity is full, revisit the scenario before using it to justify additional coverage.
Questions & limits
The tool does not predict a service’s recovery rate. Repeat work, referrals, seasonality and costs you omit remain outside the result.
The break even recovery target rounds up to the next 0.01 percentage point. A target above 100% is unreachable under the entered assumptions.
Why use contribution instead of revenue?
The recovered job still needs labor, materials and fulfillment. Contribution subtracts those entered costs before comparing the remaining value with added phone coverage.
Can the proposed recovery rate be lower?
Yes. The tool allows a worse scenario and shows the resulting change, including any additional cost. It does not force every comparison to look profitable.
Why is there no break even target?
A positive recovery value requires missed inquiries, a positive close rate and positive contribution per job. Without those, increasing recovery cannot fund the added cost in this model.
Find where the call handling process loses the handoff
Bring your current routing, callback ownership and the scenario you want to test. Trojan can help scope a clearer inquiry and follow up workflow.
Discuss my call handling workflowExplore the related service