Missed-call math for garage door companies
A worked example with every assumption on the table, so you can swap in your own numbers.
Illustrative numbers. The figures here are example assumptions to show the arithmetic. They are not measured results. Replace them with your own call records.
Garage door calls are often urgent in a very ordinary way. The door will not open, the car is inside, and the caller has to be somewhere. They are not shopping for the lowest price. They call a number, and if nobody answers, they try the next one.
That makes a missed call easy to price. Here is one way to do it. These are example assumptions, not measured results. Replace them with numbers from your own phone records.
Example assumptions
- 25 inbound calls in a typical week.
- 20% go unanswered (techs on a job, lunch, or after hours). That is 5 calls.
- 40% of those callers would have booked a visit if someone had answered.
- An average booked job of $350.
The arithmetic
5 missed calls x 40% = 2 jobs a week. 2 jobs x $350 = $700 a week. Over 50 working weeks, that is $35,000 a year.
Change the inputs and the answer moves:
- Low case: 5 missed, 30% would book, $250 job = $375 a week.
- Base case: 5 missed, 40% would book, $350 job = $700 a week.
- High case: 5 missed, 50% would book, $600 job = $1,500 a week.
What the math leaves out
It counts one visit. A spring repair can turn into an opener replacement or a new door estimate later, and a happy caller may call you again. None of that is in the numbers.
It also overcounts if some missed calls were wrong numbers, parts suppliers or callers already on a job with you. Sort the log before relying on it.
How to get your own numbers
Pull a month of call records. Count the calls, then the ones no person answered. Check the times. If the misses land in the morning rush, when people discover a stuck door on the way out, that tells you where coverage matters.
Then check your real booking rate among callers who did reach you, and use that in place of the 40% above. Take the average job from your invoices.
Where garage doors differ
Most calls are a booking: a stuck door, a noisy opener, a quote for a new door. A small number involve danger, such as a door that has fallen or come off its track, or a person or pet trapped or hurt. For those the agent reads a fixed safety script, tells the caller to call 911 if someone is trapped or hurt, and alerts you, or rings your on-call technician if live routing is on. It does not diagnose the door or promise an arrival time. Ask any provider you evaluate to play you that call, word for word.