The Cost
Voicemail isn’t free.
Here’s the bill. Every missed call is a customer who Googled your competitor before you ever knew they tried to reach you.
A typical small business
How much is voicemail costing you?
Missed calls per week
10
Average value per call
$200
Calls lost to voicemail (illustrative: 7 in 10)
7 calls/week
Weekly lost revenue
$1,400
Monthly lost revenue
$5,600
Annual lost revenue
$72,800
That’s $72,800 per year walking out the door because nobody picked up the phone.
And that’s a conservative estimate.
By industry
It looks different in every shop
HVAC / trades
Small shop (1 truck)
~40 calls/mo
~$11,500/mo lost
Medium (3 trucks)
~120 calls/mo
~$34,500/mo lost
Large (8+ trucks)
~320 calls/mo
~$92,000/mo lost
Dental
Solo practice
~30 new-patient calls/mo
~$26,000/mo lost
Group practice
~80 new-patient calls/mo
~$69,000/mo lost
Multi-location
~200 new-patient calls/mo
~$173,000/mo lost
Law
Solo attorney
~20 intake calls/mo
~$50,000/mo lost
Small firm
~60 intake calls/mo
~$151,000/mo lost
Mid-sized firm
~150 intake calls/mo
~$378,000/mo lost
These figures are illustrative — they assume roughly 7-in-10 callers abandon voicemail, which matches what operators tell us. Your actual mix of missed vs answered calls will vary, but the direction is always the same.
So what replaces voicemail?
An AI receptionist that answers every call in 2 rings. Here’s what it does.