What does the status quo cost you?
The AI calculator for DACH SMBs.
An additional office worker costs around €3,800 to €4,900 a month including employer contributions (earnings statistics of the Bundesagentur für Arbeit, the German Federal Employment Agency). An external phone service bills per call and is usually only reachable on weekdays. But how much do missed calls really cost you today? Most businesses never work it out, in either direction.
Get startedIn short
If you are weighing up as an owner whether AI agents pay off for your business, two numbers decide it. First, what a real position actually costs (salary + social contributions + sick leave + holiday + office costs, typically a factor of 1.3 to 1.5 on the gross wage). Second, what missed calls cost you today (call volume × missed rate × average order value). The calculator below gives you the second number live: move the four sliders (calls per week, missed rate, order value, conversion rate) and you see at once what the status quo costs you per month and per year. What rinqo costs we settle in a conversation, because at the start it almost always comes with setup and advice.
Move the sliders in the calculator below. The starting values are rough orientation, not a measurement. You see straight away what missed calls cost you, per month and per year.
Contents
Why rinqo?
Live calculation without email gate
Four sliders, instant calculation. No lead form, no email gate. Honest numbers you can follow yourself.
Industry presets
The starting values are rough orientation, not a measurement. You adjust them to your trade and your volume, and the calculator shows the new figures at once.
The assumptions are in the open
The formula is on this page, line by line. There is no trade-association statistic for call volume, missed-call rate or order value, so we do not claim one: these are your numbers, not ours.
Comparison rinqo vs. office worker vs. call center
Concrete numbers instead of marketing promises. Office worker around €3,200 to €4,000 gross a month (earnings statistics of the Bundesagentur für Arbeit), phone service billed per call, all three in one table.
Your numbers, not ours
What rinqo costs we discuss in a conversation, because at the start it almost always comes with setup and advice. The calculator answers the question before that: how big is the hole in the first place?
No form in the way
You calculate without leaving your address. No download, no sign-up, no call-back you did not ask for.
Before. After.
Excel sheet, an hour of self-calculating, easy to make wrong assumptions (forget social charges, ignore sick leave, underestimate miss rate). Result: gut-feeling decision instead of data-driven decision.
Four sliders, live calculation, the formula in the open. You have your number in 30 seconds and can show it to your accountant or the shareholders, working included.
Run the numbers. Black on white.
Move the sliders. The starting values are rough orientation, not a measurement — put your own numbers in.
rinqo picks up every call. At night, on weekends, always.
What does a real position really cost you?
The most common miscalculation among SMBs: 'Gross salary is my personnel cost.' Wrong: on top of gross salary come employer contributions and overheads, for social insurance (pension, health, care, unemployment), occupational accident insurance, vacation and Christmas pay, and workplace costs (office, IT, software licenses). On top of that come sick leave costs (an average of 14.6 working days per employee in 2025 according to the Federal Statistical Office, counting only absences longer than three days). That's the comparison value for an AI agent like rinqo.
What does the status quo cost you? (interactive below)
The calculator below works with four sliders: calls per week, missed-call rate, average order value, and the share of calls that turn into an order. The starting values are rough orientation, not a measurement: 100 calls a week, 25 percent missed, €250 order value, 30 percent conversion. That gives 25 missed calls a week, around 108 a month, €8,063 in lost revenue per month and €96,756 per year. Move the sliders and it recalculates at once, with no submit button.
What comes after
The calculator tells you how big the hole is. How we close it and what that costs, we settle in a conversation, and for one reason: at the start there is almost always setup and advice alongside it. A number on a web page with a second number appearing later would be misleading. What does belong here are the comparison figures you already know: an extra office assistant with gross salary plus employer contributions and overheads, an external phone service billed per call. No minimum term, cancellable monthly, no setup fee for the software.
How the calculator calculates, the formula
The calculator is deliberately simple, because more complex models do not give a better estimate. Formula: missed calls per week = calls per week × missed rate / 100. Missed calls per month = missed calls per week × 4.3. Lost revenue per month = missed calls per month × order value × conversion rate / 100. Lost revenue per year = monthly loss × 12. The conversion rate has to be in there. Without it the sum assumes every missed call would have become an order, and overstates the result by a factor of two to three. What it still leaves out: seasonal swings and the worth of a customer relationship beyond the single order. For the opening question, whether an AI agent is worth it at all, it is enough.
When a real position remains the better choice
Honest: not every SMB need is covered by an AI employee. A real position remains the better choice in four constellations. First, high-priced sales conversations with complex consulting, whoever sells a €50,000 product needs human seller skill, not AI standard answers. Second, emotionally sensitive industries, funeral consulting, psychotherapy first conversations, lawyer first consulting in crisis situations are human domain. Third, highly complex complaint processing, when standard workflow fails and individual solutions are needed, an experienced employee is more valuable than any AI agent. rinqo's strength is the routine task (reception, triage, standard requests, appointment booking). Everything else is and remains a human task.
Frequently asked questions
Sources
- Federal Statistical Office, sick leave 2025
- Bitkom, AI in German companies 2024
- ZDH economic report trades 2024
Last updated: 2026-09-05
Founder, rinqo
Founder of rinqo. Builds a company memory where an organisation's knowledge comes together and stays available, and the AI agents that work from it: on the phone, in the inbox, in chat, in marketing and in further roles. Writes here about bringing AI into companies, about data protection, and about what holds up in daily operation. Developed in Germany, processed in the EU, no US providers.
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