According to the latest report from Moneypenny, the telephone answering service, British builders are missing out on work because of their failure to answer their phone calls.

The study showed that 33% of builders in Britain are letting the calls go through to voicemail or ringing out, while 41% of building contractors did not answer the phone, according to the Small Business Call Report 2016, which also showed that most callers (69%) refuse to leave a voicemail message.

Moneypenny has warned that this can have a huge negative impact on their revenue, as the value of each missed call having a significant impact on its bottom line, in particular in the current economic climate.

Co-founder and Director of Moneypenny, Ed Reeves, commented: “Quite simply, a customer getting through to a voicemail instead of a person is like tearing up money. It’s akin to walking into a shop with no one at the till. Buyers simply ring the next supplier on the list.

“Pretty much every prospective customer hangs up at an answer message, yet so many businesses, especially those run from mobiles, have no solution in place. UK SMEs are losing a fortune in business opportunities, and our dependency on operating our business from our mobiles is making things worse.”

The study shows that those who let their calls go through to voicemail are also letting themselves down with their message greeting.

More than half (54%) of micro businesses are still relying on a standard network voicemail greeting without making reference to their business.

300 micro businesses (with 0-9 employees) took part in the survey, which includes building contractors and construction workers, and an examination of Moneypenny’s own call data from 10,000 businesses.

Reeves added: “Customers use phone enquiries differently nowadays; a phone call is no longer a research tool – that’s handled by social media, websites or email – instead it’s the final reassurance prior to a purchase.”