It's easy to shrug off a missed enquiry. "They probably weren't serious." Sometimes that's true. But if it happens every week, it adds up. Here's a simple way to put a rough number on it, using made-up figures you can swap for your own.
They're here to show how the sum works, not to describe any real business or study. Use your own figures; the steps are below.
The simple version of the sum
You need five numbers:
- Enquiries per week through your website (or wherever you're counting).
- Working weeks per month (about 4.3).
- How many you'd normally win if you replied fast, as a share. One in three would be 33%.
- How many of those you lose by replying slowly, as a share. This is the hardest one to know, so try a few values.
- Your average job value. Check your invoices rather than guessing.
Then: enquiries per month × win rate × share lost to slow replies = jobs lost per month. Multiply by your average job value for the dollars.
A worked example
Meet an imaginary sparky. Everything about them is invented.
| Enquiries per week (made up) | 8 |
| Enquiries per month (8 × 4.3) | about 34 |
| Won if replying fast: 1 in 3 (made up) | about 11.5 jobs |
| Share of those lost by replying slowly: 25% (made up) | about 2.9 jobs |
| Average job value (made up) | A$350 |
| Possible revenue lost per month | about A$1,000 |
| Possible revenue lost per year | about A$12,000 |
8 × 4.3 = 34.4 enquiries; × 1/3 = 11.47 jobs; × 25% = 2.87 jobs; × A$350 = A$1,003 a month, or about A$12,040 a year. Rounded for readability.
Not life-changing on its own, but not nothing either: that's a decent family holiday, every year, from jobs that went to someone who replied first.
The big unknown: how many you lose to slow replies
The share lost to slow replies is the number nobody knows for sure, including us. It depends on your trade, your area, how urgent your jobs are and how slow "slow" is. So don't pick one number. Try a range:
| If slow replies lose 10% of winnable jobs | about A$400 / month |
| If slow replies lose 25% | about A$1,000 / month |
| If slow replies lose 50% | about A$2,000 / month |
Based on about 11.5 winnable jobs a month at A$350 (about A$4,013 a month in total).
If even the low end of the range is more than it would cost you to reply faster, it's worth doing something about. If the high end is still small, you may be fine as you are, and that's a perfectly good answer.
What the sum leaves out
This is deliberately simple, so it misses things in both directions.
It might understate the cost:
- Repeat work. A customer you win today might call you for the next five jobs.
- Referrals. Happy customers tell neighbours, family and the local Facebook group.
- Reviews. More customers usually means more chances at a good review.
- Your time. Chasing cold enquiries at 8pm has a cost too, even if it's not on an invoice.
It might overstate the cost:
- Some people who don't book were never going to: tyre-kickers, people outside your area, jobs you don't do.
- Some customers are happy to wait for a trade they trust, especially for big planned jobs.
- If you're already booked out for weeks, extra enquiries may not mean extra work.
How to get your own numbers
- Count for two weeks. Every website enquiry, with the time it arrived and the time you replied.
- Note what happened. Booked, quoted, went quiet, or booked someone else (if they tell you).
- Check your invoices for a realistic average job value. Use the median if a few huge jobs skew it.
- Be conservative. Use the low end of the range when deciding whether to spend money on a fix.
Two weeks of honest counting will tell you more than any article, including this one.
Compare it with the cost of fixing it
Once you've got a rough monthly figure, compare it with what it would cost to reply faster: your own time, a family member's help, or a service. Using the made-up sparky again: at A$350 a job, winning one extra job a month would more than cover a A$149 monthly fee. Whether a faster reply actually wins you that job is the bit only real-world testing can show.
If you'd like a quick estimate with your own numbers, our free Lead Response Audit does this sum in your browser. It shows its assumptions, lets you change them, and sends nothing unless you ask it to.