Most agents know they miss some calls. Very few know how many.

You can find out in about ten minutes, using the call log you already have. No new software needed.

A quick benchmark first

In its 2026 benchmark report, Invoca analyzed more than 70 million calls to businesses across ten industries. About 56% of callers spoke with a person. When it looked only at calls longer than 15 seconds, that rose to 65%.

Real estate wasn't one of the ten industries, so treat this as a yardstick, not a verdict. For a deeper breakdown by industry, and a useful warning about missed-call numbers that get repeated online without a real source, see this guide to missed call statistics.

Step one: pull your call log

Use whatever your business number runs on: your carrier's app or portal, Google Voice, your office phone system, or the recent calls list on your phone. Export or screenshot the last 30 days.

Step two: remove the noise

• Delete calls shorter than 15 seconds. These are mostly misdials and spam.
• Delete obvious spam and robocalls.
• Keep everything else, including calls that went to voicemail.

Step three: count people, not calls

If one buyer called three times, that is one missed lead, not three. Group the missed calls by phone number so each person counts once.

Step four: split by time

Mark each missed call as one of these: during a showing or appointment, in the evening, or on a weekend. Most agents see the same pattern: the misses cluster in the hours when they are busiest or offline.

Step five: get your number

Divide the number of people you never reached by the total number of people who called. That is your missed-call rate.

If it is above the benchmark, you have room to improve. If it is lower, check how fast you call people back, because that is the next thing that decides who wins the lead.

What is it costing you?

Use this simple formula with your own numbers:

People you missed × how often a lead becomes a client × your average commission

For example, if you miss 20 people a month, 1 in 10 of them would have become a client, and your average commission is $9,000, that is about $18,000 in missed commission each month. This is an example only. Use your real numbers.

Callers also have other options. In a 2025 CallRail survey of 1,000 US consumers, about one in five said they immediately call another business when nobody answers (summary here). It is what people say they do, not a measured result, but it is a good reminder that your caller can try the next agent in seconds.

What to do about it

• Call back fast. Even a quick text or call within minutes helps. We cover why in The first agent they talk to usually gets the job.
• Plan for showing hours. Decide who or what answers when you are with a client.
• Cover evenings and weekends. Your calendar is busy and buyers browse listings when they are free.
• Re-measure every month. It takes ten minutes once you have done it the first time.

If you want those calls answered while you are at showings, start a free pilot with Zerobounds. And if you want to know what an AI phone assistant can and cannot do first, read What an AI phone assistant can and can't do for a real estate team.