Guide · Updated 11 September 2026
More than most people think. Most callers who reach voicemail hang up and ring someone else. A sole trader who misses five calls a week, where two in five would have become a £180 job, loses about £1,560 of work a month. Here is where that figure comes from, how to work out your own, and how to stop it happening.
The problem
The phone rings when your hands are full: under a sink, up a ladder, on a noisy site or driving between jobs. In a 2022 Fix Radio survey of more than 220 UK tradespeople, 60% said they struggled to answer the phone at work, and 34% believed they had lost work because of it.
It is almost always the mobile. Only 4% of the tradespeople Fix Radio asked said a landline was their main way of talking to customers. So every missed call lands on the one phone you cannot pick up while you are working.
Most callers do not leave a message. Moneypenny’s research into 300 UK micro businesses and the call data of 10,000 more found that a third of incoming calls went unanswered, and 69% of callers who reached voicemail hung up without leaving a message. Someone with a leak or a broken boiler does not wait. They ring the next name on the list.
The same research found 54% of small businesses still used their network’s standard voicemail greeting, which does not even tell the caller they have reached the right business.
Your numbers
Missed calls a week, times 4.33 weeks a month, times the share that would have become a job, times the value of a job. Change the numbers to match your week.
This is lost work, not lost profit. It does not count repeat customers or referrals, which make the real figure higher.
of work going to someone else.
At a glance
Assuming two in five missed callers would have booked. Pick the row closest to your week.
| Missed calls a week | £120 job | £180 job | £300 job |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 calls | £416 | £624 | £1,039 |
| 5 calls | £1,039 | £1,559 | £2,598 |
| 10 calls | £2,078 | £3,118 | £5,196 |
Monthly lost work = missed calls a week × 4.33 × 40% × job value.
Beyond the lost job
What to do about it
Say your business name, that you are on a job, and when you will ring back. Free, and better than the network default.
A quick text within the hour stops some callers moving on. It only works if you remember between jobs.
Block ten minutes at lunch and at the end of the day to return every call, and say so in your greeting.
A partner, an office or an answering service. On most UK networks dial **61*number*11*20# to divert calls you do not answer in 20 seconds, and ##61# to cancel.
Every missed call answered in your business name, 24 hours a day, with the job texted to you. While You Work is £49 a month including VAT.
Comparing answering services? Read what a call answering service costs in the UK, or see how our call answering service works.
Questions
It depends on your job value and how many callers would have booked. As a worked example, a sole trader who misses five calls a week, where two in five would have become a £180 job, loses about £1,560 of work a month. Put your own numbers into the calculator on this page.
In a 2022 Fix Radio survey of more than 220 UK tradespeople, 60% said they struggled to answer the phone at work and 34% believed they had lost work because of it. Moneypenny research on 300 UK micro businesses found a third of incoming calls went unanswered.
Most do not. Moneypenny found that 69% of callers who reached a small business’s voicemail hung up without leaving a message. Many of them ring the next business on their list instead.
On most UK networks you can dial **61* followed by the number to divert to, then *11*20# and press call. That sends calls you do not answer within 20 seconds to that number. Dial ##61# to cancel. Check with your network, as a few use their own settings.
A proper voicemail greeting that names your business and says when you will ring back costs nothing. To have calls actually answered, a flat-priced AI receptionist such as While You Work costs £49 a month including VAT.
Divide the monthly fee by the value of an average job. At £49 and a £180 job, one extra job every three or four months covers it. Most tradespeople miss far more calls than that.
£49 a month including VAT, first week free once your line is live. No contract. Lines go live for each trade by 31 October 2026, or a full refund.