Go With the Call Flow – Planning Your Business Phone System
It’s easy to get overwhelmed when planning exactly how your hosted VoIP phone system should work. Given the system’s flexibility, you can make it as simple or complex as you like. If you aren’t the person who answers most incoming calls, it’s best to consult with those staff members who do. They have the best insight into how your existing system functions and how you can improve it with the new one.
Analyze the existing system from your customer’s perspective. Ask yourself, “If someone calls, what should happen? What is my current caller journey? What would I like it to be?”
Then, analyze it from an internal workflow perspective. Ask: “How can I structure this Internet-based phone system to maximize my employees’ time and focus?”
Option Overload
Let’s pretend that every business phone in your building rings when someone calls now. Whoever gets to the phone first wins. Instead, you could designate one or two people as the first “line of defense” to answer and transfer calls to the appropriate staff. Another option is to have the first-line-of-defense phones ring a few times. If unanswered, a second tier of phones ring while the caller hears on-hold music or a customized company greeting. If callers tend to ask the same questions (e.g., business hours, directions, etc.), a pre-recorded auto-attendant providing callers self-selection options may be ideal.
Is your head spinning yet?
When you work with UpLync Communications, we provide a call-flow guide as a starting point.
Here’s how it works:
What Day/Time Is It?
When a call comes in, the system will first check the day and time (aka time conditions). It determines whether today is a predefined holiday and, if not, whether it is currently your regular business hours. This step is automatic because you provided the holiday and business hours information before installation during the discovery phase.
Need to Close the Office Temporarily?
The system moves to this step if it isn’t a holiday and it’s during your regular business hours. By programming a button on your phone, you can manually close your office or redirect incoming calls to a group of cell phones. Known as call flow controls, they come in handy when you have a pop-up staff meeting and can’t answer calls for 30 minutes.
The Caller Journey
If it’s a regular business day and the office is open, the system moves your caller into the primary queue. The UpLync template rings front-line extensions for 10 seconds while your caller hears ringtones. This step is highly customizable, so if you do prefer all phones to ring during business hours, here’s where the system would make that happen.
If no one picks up after 10 seconds, the system plays a recording (called an auto-attendant in phone-speak). It typically says, “Thank you for calling XYZ Company. Please hold, and someone will be right with you.” Simultaneously, the system moves to your secondary queue, which continues ringing the front-line extensions. It also rings any other extensions you define for 60 seconds. The caller hears on-hold music while phones ring in the office.
If no one in the secondary queue answers, the system moves the caller to a voicemail recording, which it then delivers to a front-line extension’s voicemail box and email.
Now, if it’s a regular business day, but your office is closed, the system skips all of the queues and directs the caller to your closed auto-attendant/voicemail recording.
Again, this call-flow structure is merely a suggested starting point. Your Lafayette business phone system should reflect how you want to manage customer service and call distribution at your company. Thankfully, when you choose to work with UpLync Communications, a business phone service in Lafayette, Indiana, you don’t have to stick with off-the-shelf/cookie-cutter call-flow options. Our programming experts will help guide you through the process and can easily make future system modifications. Your business is continually changing, and your phone system should be able to as well.