How Inbound Calling Features Help Business

15th April 2019 | Robin James

Want to get the most out of your virtual phone number but not sure how? Here at Planet Telecom, we offer many inbound calling features that can help your business save money, while at the same time offering an improved customer journey.

Intro messages

Creating a great first impression is extremely important – people base their opinions on someone within a few seconds of meeting them. With our intro message service, you can be certain that your customers get that great first impression. This can make the difference between gaining a new customer or losing them to a competitor.

The welcome message that is played to your callers is completely bespoke. You can record the audio yourself, one of our team can record your script, or we can outsource this to a professional studio on your behalf.Inbound calling features

Call routing plans

Call hunting – have your phones ring in an order you decide, so that when the first line is busy or unanswered, the call is forwarded to the next available line.

Percentage distribution – divert your calls to various destinations by percentage.  For example, 30% of calls can go to one line, 50% to another and the remaining 20% to another.

Simultaneous multiple targets –  You can also set up your service so your phones all ring at once when your virtual number has been dialled. They’ll still all ring at once, even if these phones are in different locations.

Time of day routing – Choose where calls are routed to depending on the time of day or day of week. For example, you can choose that during normal office hours, Monday to Friday (9am-5pm) your calls are routed to a landline and outside of these hours to a mobile phone.

Special dates – Want to route somewhere different on bank holidays? Or perhaps you might just simply be closed and want to let customers know that you are closed. With our special dates routing you will be able to.

Call tracking – Our call tracking feature allows you to accurately see where all your incoming calls are coming from, so you will know how best to implement your marketing campaigns and advertisements to generate more calls.  You can monitor all the call data within the Planet Telecom online portal, leading you to the most cost effective method of advertising.

Call whisper service – Our call whisper service alerts your team to the nature of the call before they answer. When you get an incoming call and you pick the phone, you will hear a “whisper” telling you where the call is coming from so you can be well prepared to answer the call. You could be using different numbers for specific promotions, so with a call whisper, you will be able to answer the query straight away as you will know which number has been dialled and therefore which service or product is being enquired about.

Call queuing system – nobody likes a queue, but receiving an engaged tone is even worse. That’s why with Planet Telecom call queueing service, you can make sure your customers get the best experience they can in the queue by hearing a polite and friendly message telling them you’ll answer shortly and what place they are in the queue.  You can record your own message or have one of our team record it for you using a script you provide. If you would like you can even select the music callers will hear while they are waiting.

Mid-call transfer – This simple feature allows you to transfer your callers to another landline or mobile, which is obviously very useful if your company needs to be able to transfer calls to other people in your business, wherever they are.

To use mid call transfer, you just simply press the #button at any point when you are connected with the caller. Once you have pressed # button, the calling party will hear ‘please hold’ followed by ringing. At this point you will be asked to enter the phone number you wish to transfer your call to.

Call recording service – Recording your telephone calls are so important nowadays as it helps with customer service disputes and to monitor employees’ performance and helps staff training and feedback.

With our call recording service, it has never been easier. There’s no new equipment to buy – we simply set it all up from our side. When the caller has connected they’ll hear a quick message saying “calls may be recorded for monitoring or training purposes”. Once the call has taken place, the recording is sent straight to your email inbox as an mp3 audio file.

Post call surveys – This service allows you to get an insight to how your customers felt about the service levels they’ve received. Once the agent has hung up, the caller will be connected to an IVR menu where they are asked a short series of questions based on the service they received during the call; responding by pressing the relevant numbers on their keypad.

Post code call routing – This service is primarily for larger businesses that have local presences in many areas. When a customer is connected, they will be automatically routed to their nearest branch based on their phone code or the post code of the caller’s location. If they are calling from a mobile, they will just be directed to a default location.

Telephone answering service – we all know that people hate leaving voicemails, so if your phone line is engaged or you are unable to answer it, potential customers will probably hang up and it is unlikely they’ll call back, meaning you could be missing out on important new customers. Here at Planet Telecom we offer three different call answering packages to suit your needs and budget. When you are not available to respond, your calls will be redirected to us and we will answer your business phone calls in your companies’ image.

Virtual switchboard With Planet Telecom virtual switchboard system, you can automatically direct your customer calls to the correct department.  Upon connection, callers are greeted with a voice recorded menu asking which department or service they would like to be connected to. For example, ‘press 1 for sales’, ‘press 2 for accounts’.

The menu that your customers hear is fully customisable. You can record the audio yourself or have one of the team here at Planet Telecom record it for you. You can provide as many options as you would like, so callers get transferred to the best advisor that will suit their needs.

If you’d like to find out more about our inbound call handling services, please call us today, free on 08000 886 866.