Before worrying about ads or marketing budgets, take 5 minutes to check for these 3 common leaks in your sales funnel. They’re costing providers clients every single day—and most don’t even realize it. At first glance, these three referral leaks may sound like common sense. It’s easy to assume, “That’s not us. That’s the other guys.” But in our experience, these mistakes plague even the best: seasoned administrators at top-performing agencies, physicians, executives, and entrepreneurs.

If you’re serious about growing your agency, start here. These are the top 3 ways new inquiries and referrals get lost before they become clients or patients:

1. No One Is Monitoring Website Inquiries

If you can’t remember the last time you saw a message from your website contact form, it’s time for a check. You should be receiving at least one message a week—possibly more.

Quick test: Go to your own website, fill out the contact form, and hit send. Do you receive the message promptly? If someone else monitors the inbox, ask them to reply to you when they receive it.

Common causes of failure:

  • The form was tied to an employee’s personal email. That person left. No one noticed.
  • Your email uses Yahoo, Gmail, or another third-party service that has started silently rejecting these messages.
  • Deliverability broke quietly months ago—and no one knew.

Fix it:

  • Use role-based emails like info@youragency.com.
  • Avoid forwarding. Instead, set up key workstations to check that inbox directly via IMAP.
  • Use a domain-based email hosted on the same server as your website for better deliverability.

Brazzell Marketing Agency offers consultations to quickly assess and resolve website inquiry issues. Don’t let your marketing dollars go to waste at the point of contact.

2. Too Much Spam

In one recent case, a home care agency believed they hadn’t received a customer inquiry in over a year. Upon review, they had received one inquiry every two weeks—but those messages were buried under hundreds of spam emails.

When is spam hurting you?

  • If you’ve ever deleted a legitimate inquiry by mistake
  • If you’ve stopped checking form submissions promptly
  • If incoming emails don’t feel urgent anymore

In home care, a delay of a few hours can lose the client.
In home health or hospice, a delay of a few minutes can mean a lost referral.

Solutions:

Separate channels. Route inquiries through a dedicated inbox that isn’t overloaded with other communications. Set clear internal rules: inquiries are checked now, not later.

Upgrade your contact form protection. Many older systems no longer work. Our Form Guard Elite stops 99% of spam while keeping the process easy for your clients. It’s private, secure, and durable—unlike Google’s reCAPTCHA, which tracks your visitors and monetizes their data.

3. Callers Are Hanging Up

Many potential clients and referral sources are calling your office—and then hanging up without leaving a message. The reason may never be stated directly, but your voicemail system is often the silent culprit.

Healthcare consumers and discharge planners alike are looking for signs of credibility in every interaction. An automated, generic, or confusing voicemail experience can immediately turn them toward your competitors.

Top voicemail issues:

  • Technical problems that make it hard to leave a message
  • Long, impersonal phone trees
  • Automated system recordings (e.g., “You have reached the voicemail of…”)

What’s the fix? First, call your main line after hours and listen as if you were the client. Second, review your call logs—a powerful but underused tool.

Here’s what to look for in the logs:

  • Identify the hours when your voicemail system is taking over (outside of business hours or during high call volume).
  • Look for calls with very short durations—less than double the length of your outgoing voicemail message. For example, if your message is 15 seconds long and most calls during those hours are 18–20 seconds, people are likely hanging up without leaving a message.

A pattern of short, disconnected calls is a warning sign that your voicemail is costing you business.

Suggested voicemail script:

“Thank you for calling XYZ Home Care—The Northside’s concierge-level personal care service. I apologize that no one is available to take your call. Please leave a message, and I promise we will return your call within four business hours.”

This message is clear, welcoming, and sets expectations. It’s a simple upgrade that can yield immediate results.

Want a stronger impression?
Brazzell Marketing Agency offers professionally produced voicemail messages with commercial-grade voice talent, assistance with scripting, and even background music. We work hourly—most standard voicemail messages can be completed in a single hour. On-hold and multi-step recordings are also available.