Distinguishing incoming calls

[pgartner]

I have a client who needs to have their agents answer the 2nd number differently. Instead of ‘thank you for calling ABC co’ the need to answer those calls as ‘how can XYZ inc make you day better’

I need to find a way distinguish or announce from what DID the call is entering on.  Either an on screen message, ring on a different call appearance (3 and 4), a different ring or?? (or even all of the above)


How would I accomplish this?


My call flow currently is:
Telco 800 -> T1 DID -> star -> hung group -> extension list

I would duplicate the call flow, using a new star, hg and extension list.



Thanks

Paul
Unfortunately I have no access to any kind of lab to play around on

[dwayneg]

I think easiest way is to pass call through PHANTOM EXTENSION that has a SYSTEM FORWARD/IMMEDIATE path to the desired group.  Name phantoms appropriately.  Second line of display will say "FWD FROM <name of phantom>".  Alternately you can instead use a named CALL ROUTING ANNOUNCEMENT, especially if you want to make an announcement telling caller they've arrived in the group.  In this case display second line will say "XFR FROM <name of CRA>".

A very different idea if you're planning to use an ALL-RING hunt group is to put only a phantom in the group.  Then put a SECONDARY CALL KEY on the agents phone for each call brand.  Call will ring the agents on the named SECONDARY CALL KEY, and agent must press the key to answer...this gives the agent a chance to get his mind in gear for the correct answer script.  If you go this route I always create a CRA saying "This call has already been answered" and set a SYSTEM FORWARD/IMMEDIATE path for the phantom so if an agent is not the first to answer he'll get this message instead of ringing the phantom, which might cause yet another agent to answer.  Calls from the hung group to the phantom, of course, won't follow this path because HG calls don't follow sys fwd path.

[Tech Electronics]

pgartner,

There is another way besides what Dwayneg has provided that you may want to take into account for this solution. Of the ones Dwayneg has already explained I use the Secondary Call key as it meets all three of your criteria [distinctive ring, different key appearance, on screen message if on a 53xx style phone], but I have also just turned the Outside Call Information Has Priority flag to No on all of the agents phones and then labeled each of the DIDs descriptions with the name they want to use to identify with the caller. This way I don't have to duplicate or recreate any of the call flow information unless it is necessary for other reasons. The agents will just need to pay attention to the display of their phone as it will now show the description of the DID and not the Caller ID information.

Thanks,

TE

[pgartner]

Thanks TE and Dwayneg

A very different idea if you're planning to use an ALL-RING hunt group is to put only a phantom in the group.  Then put a SECONDARY CALL KEY on the agents phone for each call brand.  Call will ring the agents on the named SECONDARY CALL KEY, and agent must press the key to answer...this gives the agent a chance to get his mind in gear for the correct answer script.  If you go this route I always create a CRA saying "This call has already been answered" and set a SYSTEM FORWARD/IMMEDIATE path for the phantom so if an agent is not the first to answer he'll get this message instead of ringing the phantom, which might cause yet another agent to answer.  Calls from the hung group to the phantom, of course, won't follow this path because HG calls don't follow sys fwd path.

I like that.  and the system fwd "this call has been answered" is great

just a question, I assume because another extension answered the call, other calls ringing in would still work because the phantom is not on a call


Paul

[dwayneg]

Exactly! Just like any extension, additional calls will line up as "call waiting" behind the first call, then move to the front when the oldest is pulled away to an agent.

[dwayneg]

Also, since these are still hunt group calls you can still use ANNOUNCEMENT, OVERFLOW and RECALL destinations.

[pgartner]

thank you that worked great

probably because I was testing the call internally first, I had to set the system forward bath fwd type ic call to yes also on the phantom to get it to run my hangup-cra

Paul