Empty territory calculator
Gross profit walking out the door
$8,285/ week
Over 8 weeks
$66,282
gross profit
Revenue not sold
$165,704
2.7 jobs a week
leads × close rate × ticket × margin = weekly GP
Every field updates the result as you type. Got more than one empty seat? Run each one on its own: lead mix and close rate rarely match across territories.
Methodology
The formula
Worked example
With the example values, 10 leads a week, a 26.9% close rate, a ticket of $7,700 (ServiceTitan’s target is $7,700+) and an assumed 40% margin, the seat loses $8,285 of gross profit a week. Over 8 empty weeks that is $66,282, on $165,704 of revenue nobody sold.
What it leaves out
The result is a floor, not the full cost. It doesn’t count:
The inputs
Issued leads that will go unrun, get pushed until they go cold, or land with someone who can’t sell them. If the rest of the team picks up part of the overflow, count only what’s left.
At that target, an empty seat drops about ten leads in a five-day week. It is a target, so use the load your seat actually ran.
Your own net close rate on the lead type that seat runs. Use the team average, not your best rep, and not the owner’s number if the owner runs the warmest leads.
Tech leads and marketed leads close at very different rates. If the empty seat ran mostly marketed leads, don’t use your blended number.
Your average sold job on that lead type, after discounts and before financing fees. Take it from the last six to twelve months, not your best month.
ServiceTitan notes its ticket target varies a lot by market. A median from another company’s data is a sanity check, not your number.
Job price minus materials, install labor and the sales commission you would have paid. An empty seat doesn’t earn commission, so taking it out keeps the loss honest.
Leave rent, office staff and other fixed overhead in. They don’t go away when a seat is empty. We don’t publish a margin benchmark: it moves too much by trade, market and how you cost a job.
From the day the seat opens until a new rep is selling at a normal pace. That is longer than the time to an accepted offer.
Those two don’t simply add up, and neither is specific to your trade. For comparison, a typical Level hire takes 21 days, and that varies by role and market.
Why the close rate needs care
Fewer empty weeks
Recruit ahead of the peak, not during it. Hail season in Hail Alley runs March to August, so a storm roofer who starts hiring in May is already behind. In HVAC, the shoulder months give a new comfort advisor time to learn your leads before the phones get busy.
Good closers ask the same things early: where the leads come from, how many they get, the territory and when commission pays out. Have written answers ready. A plan they can calculate themselves, paid on time, is what wins the strongest ones. The commission calculator will show what your plan pays at real activity levels.
The reps you want are usually busy selling for someone else, not scrolling job boards. They move when someone shows them a better opportunity: steadier leads, a fairer pay plan, a company that treats them well. Ask your reps, suppliers and distributors who they rate, and make a quiet, specific offer. That’s how Level works too: we headhunt top performers at the strongest companies in your trade.
Ask for close rate by lead source and for pay history: commission statements or W-2s. That way your interview time goes to the reps with a real record. Level verifies both before you meet a rep, and checks references too.
Before you make an offer, have your finalist run a mock appointment with you, or ride along with your best rep for a day. You’ll learn more in two hours than in a third interview.
Your best reps know other closers. McWilliams & Son pays up to $1,000 + $2,000 a year per hired referral, with the yearly part paid on each anniversary of the hire, so the bonus rewards referrals who stay.
FAQ
Multiply the leads you can't run each week by your close rate, your average ticket and your gross margin. That is the gross profit you lose per week. Multiply it by the number of weeks the seat stays empty for the total.
No. They show how the math works. The 26.9% close rate is Siro’s national figure from recorded in-home visits, and it counts visits that moved toward a sale, not only signed contracts. The $7,700 ticket comes from ServiceTitan’s $7,700+ target for HVAC replacements, a goal, not an average. The 40% margin is an assumption. Use your own numbers.
Gross margin after materials, labor and the commission you would have paid. Fixed overhead like rent and office staff doesn't go away when a seat is empty, so it shouldn't shrink the loss.
Leads that go unrun, get rescheduled until they go cold, or get handed to someone who can't sell them. If other reps pick up some of the overflow, count only what's left over.
It depends on the role, the market and the pay plan. SHRM’s average across all roles, from opening a role to an accepted offer: About 1.5 months. A new in-home rep still needs time to ramp: in remodeling, first sales typically come in 3-6 months. Level’s target for a first candidate: within 7 days of onboarding and getting your job description. A typical Level hire takes 21 days. Both vary by role and market.
No. It runs in your browser. Nothing you type is stored or sent to Level.
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