A 15-minute monthly check for the calls and leads you're losing

A monthly lost-leads check is a short routine that shows you where customers tried to reach your small business and did not get through. You do not need software or an agency to start. You need five places to look and a notepad. Do it on the first of the month and write down one number from each step.

What is the first thing to check: your phone missed-call log?

Open your phone carrier's online account or your business phone app and list the last 30 days of calls. Look for three things: missed calls, calls that lasted a few seconds, and repeat attempts from the same number. A number that calls twice in an hour is a customer who really wanted you.

Write down: missed calls, and how many were called back the same day. This is your main record. Google Business Profile chat and call history ended on July 31, 2024, so Business Profile no longer keeps a call history for you.¹ Your carrier or phone system is the record now.

What should you look at in Google Business Profile?

Open the performance view for your Business Profile and note the month's engagement, such as web traffic or directions requests, which Google says you can still track.¹ Compare to the month before. A sudden drop in interactions while your hours and spend stayed the same is worth a look at your listing: is the phone number right, are hours correct, is the profile still active?

Then read your new reviews. Reply to anything still open, since an unanswered review tells the next reader nobody is home. Write down: new reviews, unreplied reviews, and any that mention waiting or no answer.

For regular Google Maps results, Google's ranking guidance lists relevance, distance and prominence and doesn't list answering calls.² So the reason to track calls is the lost job and the review, not a ranking rule.

How do you check Local Services Ads leads and disputes?

If you run Local Services Ads, open the lead report. Google charges per valid lead, and a valid phone lead includes a call you missed during business hours when the customer stays on the line more than 20 seconds.³ Look for leads that are clearly not valid, such as wrong service or spam. Google says you can dispute a lead, and that leads can only be disputed within 30 days.⁴ That is why this check is monthly and not yearly: on day 31, the window has closed on the first lead of last month.

Write down: leads this month, missed leads, disputes filed. Local Services Ads are moving into Google Ads, so confirm which screen your account uses; the lead report may look different.

What should you check on your website forms?

Website leads are the form fills, texts and emails from your site. Open your inbox or form tool and for each lead compare the time it came in with the time you replied. Mark which became a job. If you do not log timestamps, your email shows them. Google tells Local Services Ads advertisers to respond to leads as soon as they come in, but it gives no minute count and we could not verify any universal speed number.⁵ Use your own list. Write down: leads, median reply time, jobs booked.

Also submit your own form once from your phone. Does the confirmation arrive? Does the message reach a person? A broken form silently loses every lead and nothing warns you.

Is your ad schedule matched to who answers?

If you run Google Ads, check your ad schedule and call asset schedule against the hours someone really answers. Google's help says you can show ads during business hours when you are available to handle customer inquiries, and you can set call numbers to appear only when your business can accept calls.⁶ Any hour that your ads run and your phone goes unanswered is spend with nothing to show.

Write down: ad spend in hours nobody answered, if your account lets you see it by hour.

What do you do with the numbers?

Fill in a simple table each month: missed calls, calls returned, new reviews, unreplied reviews, leads, reply time, paid leads, disputes. After three months you can see a trend. Ask these four questions each time:

• Which hours leak calls, and what does an average job cost you if you lose it?
• Are bad reviews mentioning communication?
• Did money go to leads or ads in hours with nobody there?
• Which one change saves the most next month?

For the last question, a labeled sample: if you miss 12 calls a month and one in four would have booked a $400 job, that is three jobs, about $1,200 (sample numbers). Put your own numbers in, and the first fix usually becomes obvious.

What does a filled-in month look like?

Here is a labeled sample for a cleaning company, to show the format. These are made-up numbers, not benchmarks:

• Missed calls: 14 (sample). Returned the same day: 6. Never returned: 8.
• New reviews: 5 (sample). Unreplied: 2. Mentioning no answer: 1.
• Website leads: 18 (sample). Median reply time: 5 hours. Jobs booked: 7.
• Paid leads: 22 (sample). Disputes filed: 2.
• Ad spend in hours nobody answered: $140 (sample).

Read it from the top. Eight calls never returned is the first thing to fix. A five-hour median reply on website leads is the second. The ad spend with nobody answering is the third, and it is the easiest to change because it is a setting.

Who should do the check?

You, for the first three months, so you learn what is normal. After that, give the list to whoever runs your office. B&G Solutions does this check as part of managing a business's phone answering, Google listing, reviews, ads and website, and offers a free check of where calls and leads are going missing.

Common questions

How often should I check for missed calls and leads?

Monthly is enough for most small businesses, and Local Services Ads disputes close after 30 days, so a monthly check keeps you inside that window.

Does Google Business Profile show my call history?

No. Google ended chat and call history in Business Profile on July 31, 2024, so use your phone carrier or phone system log.

How long do I have to dispute a Local Services Ads lead?

Google says leads can only be disputed within 30 days.

What should I write down each month?

Missed calls, calls returned, new and unreplied reviews, website leads with reply times, paid leads and disputes, and ad spend in hours nobody answered.

Is a missed call billed on Local Services Ads?

Google's rule says it can be, when you missed a call during business hours and the customer stays on the line more than 20 seconds.

Sources

1. Google Business Profile Help, Chat and call history are no longer available (2024)
2. Google Business Profile Help, Tips to improve your local ranking on Google (2026)
3. Google Local Services Help, How leads work (2026)
4. Google Local Services Help, Lead dispute eligibility (2026)
5. Google Local Services Help, Manage leads and jobs (2026)
6. Google Ads Help, About call assets (2026)