What Happens When You Miss a Call From a New Customer

You're under a sink.

Your phone buzzes in your pocket.

You can't answer. The customer you're helping right now needs you.

By the time you surface 20 minutes later, you have a missed call and no voicemail.

What just happened?

More than you think.

The Chain Reaction

A missed call isn't a single event. It's the first domino in a cascade.

Domino 1: The Immediate Call
Customer had a problem. Called you. You didn't answer. They felt ignored (even though you weren't ignoring them—you were working).

Domino 2: The Second Call
They don't wait. They call the next company in search results. Someone answers. Relief.

Domino 3: The Booking
That company books the job. Your potential customer is now their customer.

Domino 4: The Job
They do the work. Get paid. Prove themselves.

Domino 5: The Review
Happy customer leaves a 5-star review. For them. Not you.

Domino 6: The Referral
When the neighbor asks "know a good plumber?", guess who gets recommended?

Domino 7: The Repeat Business
Water heater dies next year? AC needs service? They call the company that answered.

All of this traces back to one unanswered call.

The Math of Lifetime Value

Let's quantify what you actually lost.

Immediate job: $400

First-year repeat business: $300 (most customers need follow-up work)

Referral value: $400 (average 1 referral per satisfied customer)

Year 2-5 repeat: $800 (maintenance, upgrades, new issues)

Total lifetime value: $1,900+

That's not $400 you lost. That's nearly $2,000 in future revenue that will never happen.

And you didn't even know you lost it.

What The Customer Experiences

Let's walk through their perspective.

3:47 PM — Problem Emerges
Kitchen sink is backed up. Water rising. Dinner guests arriving at 7 PM.

3:48 PM — Search
"Plumber near me emergency."
Sees your listing. Good reviews. Calls.

3:49 PM — Waiting
Ring... ring... ring... ring...
"You've reached XYZ Plumbing—"
Hang up.

3:50 PM — Frustration
"They're probably busy. Let me try another."

3:51 PM — Relief
Second company answers on the second ring.
"ABC Plumbing, how can I help?"
Customer explains. Gets slot for 4:30 PM.

3:52 PM — Done
Stress drops. Help is coming.
Your number? Forgotten.

Total elapsed time: 5 minutes.

That's how fast you lost a $2,000 customer.

The Callback Paradox

Maybe you'll call them back.

Maybe you checked your phone after the job and saw the missed call. No voicemail, but you can see the number.

You call back at 5 PM.

Scenario A: No answer. They're dealing with the plumber who showed up at 4:30.

Scenario B: They answer. "Oh, thanks, but we already got someone."

Scenario C: They answer but forgot they called you. "Who is this?"

None of these scenarios end with you getting the job.

The window closed while you were working.

The Invisible Problem

Here's what makes this so painful:

You don't know what you lost.

Your phone shows "Missed call: Unknown number."

Was that a $400 emergency job?
A price shopper who was never going to book?
A wrong number?

You'll never know.

So you assume it was probably nothing important. And you move on.

Meanwhile, that "probably nothing" just booked with your competitor, left them a review, and will refer their friends for years.

This invisibility is what makes the problem so hard to solve. You can't fix what you can't see.

The Compound Effect

Miss one call? That's a bad day.

Miss 3-4 calls every day? That's a broken system.

Over a month:

• 66 missed calls (3/day × 22 working days)


• 50+ didn't leave voicemail


• 30+ were real opportunities


• 20+ would have booked

At $400 per job: $8,000+/month walking out the door

At lifetime value ($1,900): $38,000/month in future revenue lost

This isn't a leak. It's a flood.

Why This Happens to Good Contractors

You're not missing calls because you're lazy.

You're missing calls because you're working.

The cruel irony of this business:

• You're on a job = can't answer


• You're driving = can't answer


• You're eating lunch = might not answer


• You're with family = shouldn't answer

The times you're "available" are maybe 4-5 hours a day. The phone rings 10-15 hours a day.

The math doesn't work.

What Top Contractors Do

The most successful service pros I've talked to have solved this problem.

Different methods, same result: someone always answers.

The Partner Model: Spouse or family member handles calls. They book, you work.

The Team Model: One tech is on phone duty each day. Rotates through the week.

The Office Manager Model: Dedicated person for phones and scheduling.

The AI Model: AI agent answers and books 24/7. Human follows up when needed.

The Hybrid Model: AI handles overflow and after-hours. Human handles primary hours.

The specific solution matters less than the commitment: someone will always answer.

Where Fixly Fits

Fixly is built for exactly this problem.

When a call comes in and you can't answer, Fixly does. The AI:

• Greets the caller professionally


• Understands their problem


• Checks your Google Calendar


• Books them into an open slot


• Texts you the summary

Customer gets helped. Job gets booked. You never missed a thing.

Pricing: $1 per job booked. Nothing if it doesn't book. No monthly fee.

If a missed call costs you $400-$1,900 in lifetime value, $1 to capture it is essentially free.

The Question You Need to Answer

Every time your phone rings, someone is saying:

"I have a problem and money to solve it."

What happens next?

If your answer is "sometimes they reach me, sometimes they don't"—you're leaking money.

The contractors who grow are the ones who make sure the answer is always "they reach someone who can help."

That's the game.

Will you play it or keep hoping they'll leave a message?