One of the most important — and also the most loved — features of a cloud-based phone system is Auto-Attendant. Much more than an answering machine, Auto-Attendant is an automated, sophisticated, customizable, and VERY easy-to-use virtual receptionist.
Key Benefits
- Here are some benefits of Auto-Attendant that will make your team wonder how they managed without it:
- Answer calls with a professional and customized company greeting. You’ll never miss a call again, even during busy times and after hours.
- Route incoming calls based on business hours, date, date range, or specific caller ID. For example, you can automatically direct calls from a key supplier to your purchasing department.
- Forward calls to any extension or outside line, or directly to voicemail which can then be picked up by employees via email. This increases response times and boosts customer satisfaction.
- Invite callers to choose a desired employee/department, or stay on the line to speak with the next available representative or agent.
- Block incoming spam calls, which keeps your employees productive and focused on high-value tasks.
Best Practices
To maximize the benefits of Auto-Attendant, try to adhere to the following best practices:
Greet and direct calls using a professional, warm, welcoming and human voice. Ideally, someone on your team has some natural ability in this area and can do the job (sales professionals tend to have strong vocal talent, since they spend so much time speaking with prospects and customers). If you don’t have an in-house voiceover person, you’ll find many experienced freelancers who can lend you their chops!
Provide the most important or relevant information first. If people are calling when your office is closed, share this information RIGHT AWAY — because if they think you’re open and find out later that you’re closed, they’re probably going to get a bit (or perhaps very) irritated.
Keep things as short as possible. For example, instead of saying: “For sales press 1, for service press 2, for warranty support press 3, for purchasing press 4…” go with: “For sales press 1, service 2, warranty support 3, purchasing 4…”. Remember, every second counts!
Limit the number of options — we recommend a maximum of 5. If this isn’t practical, then create sub-menus. For example, after pressing “1” for sales, you can further ask customers to press “1” if they’re a new customer, or “2” if they’re an existing customer.
Always provide callers with the option to press “0” at any time to speak with a human being. This is especially important for customers who may be frustrated due to a sales or service issue. If you set up Auto-Attendant properly, your customers will appreciate the efficiency.
Regularly update your greeting (e.g. don’t wish callers a Merry Christmas in January!), and make sure that all menu options are accurate (e.g. if the extension for sales used to be 143 but now it’s 312, update the routing rules accordingly).
Learn More
Want to see Auto-Attendant in action? Schedule your free live guided demo, which we can deliver to you over-the-web. We’ll also take you on a tour of other advanced features that will make your business more productive, efficient, and customer-focused, such as voicemail-to-email, live call transfer, video conferencing, mobile calling, and more. We are your remote work solution in Greensboro.
Call us today at (336) 544-4000 or chat with us during business hours by clicking the chat icon on the lower-left of your screen. We are proud to be a local Greensboro, North Carolina-based business with many 5-star reviews!