The Cost of Lost Leads

A Real Example

A five-truck HVAC company in South Jersey runs 50 service calls a week during peak season. Average ticket: $280. That is $728,000 a year in revenue.

They spend $1,500 a month on Google Ads. Their website looks fine. They answer the phone during business hours. They think they are doing okay.

They are not doing okay. They just do not know how much they are losing.

Where the Money Goes

We ran their Lead Leak Scan. Here is what we found.

Their Google Business Profile phone number routes to a different line than the website number. The website number goes to a desk phone that nobody answers after 4 PM. The Google number routes to the owner's cell. That is two different numbers for the same business, and one of them only works during office hours.

Their contact form works. But the notification goes to an email address the office manager checks once a day. A prospect submits the form at 10 AM. The notification arrives at 10 AM. Nobody sees it until 4 PM. That is a six-hour response time for a lead with five-minute expectations.

Their website loads in 4.2 seconds on a 4G connection. Their competitor's loads in 2.1 seconds. Every second beyond three seconds drops conversion by roughly 20 percent on mobile.

None of these leaks is dramatic. But they add up.

The Actual Number

We estimated their annual revenue at risk between $49,500 and $74,000. That is 6.8 to 10.2 percent of revenue. Not the leads they lost. The revenue those leads would have generated.

Here is how it breaks down:

• Contactability leak: mismatched phone numbers cost an estimated 12 leads per month.
• Speed leak: delayed form responses lose an estimated 8 leads per month.
• Conversion leak: slow page load costs an estimated 5 leads per month.
• That is 25 leads per month. At a 40 percent close rate and $280 average ticket, that is $2,800 a month at risk from just three leaks.
• The other leaks (trust, visibility, follow-up) add the rest.

What are your leaks costing? Run a free scan.

The Fix Is Worth More Than It Costs

Fixing the phone number mismatch costs nothing. Updating the notification email takes five minutes. Improving page load speed might cost a few hundred dollars for a developer.

The total cost to fix all three leaks: under $500. The estimated revenue recovered: over $33,000 a year.

That is a 66-to-1 return.

Most lead leaks are like this. They are not expensive to fix. They are expensive to ignore.

Calculate Your Own

You do not need a scan to estimate what leaks are costing you. Here is the rough math:

1. Estimate your monthly leads. How many new prospects reach out per month (calls, forms, walk-ins) without counting repeat customers?
2. Estimate your close rate. Of those, how many book a job? 40 percent is average for home services.
3. Calculate your average ticket. Total revenue divided by total jobs. Include service calls and larger projects.
4. Multiply. Leads x close rate x ticket = monthly revenue from leads. Now reduce the leads by 30 percent (the average leak rate). That is what leaks cost you.

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