What last month cost — a one-sitting count
A busy practice still loses bookings. They go a call at a time, a slot at a time, and they never show up in the month’s takings.
This is a way to see it — seven numbers, almost all of them already in your records.
We wrote it for whoever runs the diary and the front desk, usually the practice manager. It is short enough to forward to whoever signs.
How to use it
Count last month, not this one. It is finished, so nobody can change it while you look at it.
Six come straight off the phone log, the diary, the inbox and the ledger. Line 5 you work out from line 4.
Get the sheet, then work down it in order.
1. Calls nobody answered
Count: Calls that rang out or went to voicemail last month.
Where to look: Your phone system's call report. If there is no report, the handset's own log.
Try this month, for free: Change the voicemail greeting so it promises a call back that day. Then make one person responsible for clearing it each morning.
Why it slips: It holds while someone remembers. It stops the first week reception is short.
2. Enquiries that arrived out of hours
Count: Website enquiries, emails and voicemails that landed while you were closed.
Where to look: Your enquiry inbox and voicemail, in time order.
Try this month, for free: Set an auto-reply that says when you open and what happens next.
Why it slips: An auto-reply holds someone overnight. It does not book them in.
3. Enquiries nobody replied to
Count: New enquiries with no reply by the end of the next working day.
Where to look: Your enquiry inbox. Compare what came in against what went out.
Try this month, for free: Give one person one slot a day to clear new enquiries, with nothing else in it.
Why it slips: It is the first thing a busy week drops, and nobody notices.
4. Appointments that did not happen
Count: People who did not attend, and people who cancelled on the day.
Where to look: Your diary, filtered to last month.
Try this month, for free: Send a reminder two days ahead, and ask for a reply to confirm.
Why it slips: Sending them by hand, every day, is the part that stops.
5. Time that stayed empty
Count: Appointment time nobody filled after a no-show or a cancellation. Count it in hours.
Where to look: Your diary, against line 4. This is the one you work out rather than look up.
Try this month, for free: Keep a short list of people who would come in sooner. Ring them first.
Why it slips: The list only works if somebody rings it while you can still fill the gap.
6. Plans and proposals nobody came back on
Count: Treatment plans or written proposals sent last month that have had no answer.
Where to look: Wherever you send plans and proposals from.
Try this month, for free: Send one line to the three largest. “Just checking this reached you — any questions?”
Why it slips: No one is responsible for chasing. It waits for a quiet afternoon that never comes.
7. Invoices past their terms
Count: Invoices past their due date, and what they come to.
Where to look: Your accounts system's aged debtor report.
Try this month, for free: Send a statement to everyone past their terms, on the same date each month.
Why it slips: It is a task with no deadline of its own. It moves whenever anything else arrives.
The sum we won’t do for you
Line 5 is the hours your diary was open with nobody in it.
You know what an hour in your diary is worth. We do not, and we are not going to guess. Multiply your empty hours by your own figure. That is one month.
What the other lines tell you
Line 4 is the count behind line 5 — the appointments that produced those empty hours.
Lines 1, 2 and 3 are people who tried to reach you. Nothing in your records says how many went elsewhere.
Line 7 is money already earned. Line 6 is money offered and not yet answered.
The number is yours
We won’t put an invented figure on your practice. Be careful of anyone who will.
This number is yours, and it is the only one worth trusting.
What to do with it
If one line is clearly worse than the rest, start there with the free fix above. It may well be enough.
If three or four are bad, the problem is not any one of them. It is that all of it depends on someone remembering at the end of a busy day. That is the sort of thing worth handing to something that sends the reminders and rings the list for you.
If you want a second opinion
Send us your seven numbers and we’ll book the audit. You walk us through a typical day, on a call or a video call where you show us your screen. If you’re in South Yorkshire, we come out to you.
The audit and the plan are both free. If nothing’s worth building, the plan says so.
What the plan says
It says what we’d build, what we’d leave alone, and one fixed price. You pay half up front, and the rest when it works.
If you want us to keep it running, it says what that costs a month.
The plan gets one round of changes. Its price holds for 30 days.
The seven lines are already in the box. You just add the numbers.