Definition
In 2026, the missed-call count a shop can use is seven days on its own phone, split into answered, voicemail, and no answer.
In 2026, the count you can act on is the one in your own phone log. Ángel Castro walks through how to take it in the October 13, 2026 video below. Where the familiar 62% line comes from is further down.
The video is titled "That Missed Call Stat Is 10 Years Old. Here's 2026." It looks at what the 2016 study actually measured, at what a 2025 survey says callers do when nobody picks up, and at a free way to count your own missed calls with the phone you already have. It also covers a clearer voicemail greeting, callback blocks, and a saved text reply. This note is the count, the greeting, and the daily block. It does not set up a text channel.
Where does the 62% missed-call figure come from?
It comes from a study 411 Locals published on January 18, 2016, which monitored 85 businesses in 58 industries for 30 days. 37.8% of calls were answered, 37.8% went to voicemail, and 24.3% got no response, so the 62% counts voicemail as unanswered.
The 62% figure is the 411 Locals study published January 18, 2016. The description also names CallRail (2025), Modernize (2025), and Harvard Business Review (2011), and it does not restate those findings. A shop that quotes 62% in a meeting is quoting that 411 Locals study, with voicemail folded into the miss.
How do you count your own missed calls this week?
Open the call history on the phone customers already dial, and tally seven days into three marks: a person answered, the call reached voicemail, and nobody picked up at all. Keep the business line, the after-hours forwarding, and the cell number printed on the truck as separate rows if customers use more than one.
| What you mark | Where you read it | Why it stays its own column |
|---|---|---|
| A person answered | The phone's recent calls, or the office system's log | Keep this separate so a live answer is not mixed with a message |
| Voicemail | The same log, plus the messages waiting in the box | The video says the 2016 study counted these as unanswered. This tally keeps them visible |
| No answer and no message | Calls with no matching voicemail | These are the ones a competitor can take while you are on a roof |
The count happens each evening. If the office phone and the cell number on the truck both take customer calls, add them. A miss on the cell during a job is still a miss. At the end of seven days you have a count that belongs to your shop. These three columns, answered, voicemail, and no answer, are this note's own. The video's columns are answered, missed, and returned that day.
What should the voicemail greeting say?
Say the business name, the hour you will call back today, and what you need from the caller so the return call can be about the job.
The video names a better greeting as part of the same week as the count. The description does not give the words. Record yours in one take, on the line customers actually reach, and listen to it from a cell phone in the truck bay before you keep it.
This note's version names the business, the hour you will call back, and what you need from the caller. A plumbing desk might say it will return calls before 5, and that the on-call tech covers no-water and no-heat after that. Replace the recording when that hour changes, and compare the voicemail column this week with next week on the same line.
How do you run a callback block?
Put one block on the office calendar, name one person to own it, and return the day's unanswered calls before that person goes home.
The video says to return missed calls twice a day, at lunch and at the end of the day. A block works when it is a time, a list, and a name, and it fails when it is a hope that someone will catch the calls between jobs.
Start with the calls that left no message, then the voicemails, then anyone who asked for a time today. Write the job, the address, and the window they can be home before you dial the next number. The page from that block is what the technician needs in the morning. That order is this note's, so the callers with the least reason to wait are first.
The owner takes the block only on days nobody else is in the office. When the block dies every time you are on a job, the task is still yours. The one-page handoff is the next step for that case.
What do you do with the count on Monday?
Read the three columns out loud and pick one change for the week ahead: a clearer greeting, a longer block, or a person who owns the block when you are out.
When the no-answer column is the long one, record the greeting and keep the block. When voicemail is full and nobody returned it, run the block until those messages are being returned, and record the new greeting after that habit is in place.
Keep the sheet and compare a normal week with the week after the change. A storm week will look worse than a quiet one, so give the greeting and the block a fair week before you judge them. The note on who should answer the phone is the longer comparison once your count says the line is busier than one person can cover.
When you want that count read against the way the office actually works, get your free Systems Plan. Bring the seven-day sheet. The first conversation is about your calls, your hours, and who is in the building when the phone rings.
Questions and answers.
Where does the 62% missed-call figure come from?
It is the 411 Locals study published January 18, 2016. That study monitored 85 businesses and counts voicemail as unanswered.
How do you count your own missed calls this week?
Open the call history on the phone customers already dial and mark seven days in three columns: a person answered, the call reached voicemail, and nobody picked up. Keep a second row if the truck number takes customer calls too.
What should the voicemail greeting say?
The description does not give the words. This note uses the business name, the hour you will call back, and what you need from the caller. Record it on the line customers actually reach, and listen to it from a cell phone before you keep it.
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