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Inbound CallingManager GuidePowerDialer

Inbound Call Paths

By September 10, 2019February 7th, 2020No Comments

Inbound Call Paths

How do I setup an inbound call path? What routing and message options are available?

Overview

Call Path technology manages inbound calls coming into the InsideSales system. Call Paths define how inbound calls are routed and handled, from playing messages to inbound callers, to routing the inbound calls to reps waiting to take inbound calls.

System administrators can assign multiple inbound numbers and LocalPresence buckets to a Call Path. Anytime a prospect calls an inbound number assigned to a Call Path, the Call Path routes the call.

Creating a Call Path

Permission to access Call Paths should only be available to managers or administrators of the InsideSales system.

To Create a Call Path

  1. Click the InsideSales tab
  2. Click Manage Call Paths
  3. Click Edit next to the desired Call Path or click Create New Call Path
  4. Drag and drop call path features onto the canvas, then connect the features in logical order
  5. Save the Call Path

Call Path Canvas

The Call Path editor uses a grid-canvas to generate the easy-to-use visual flow of how inbound calls are routed. Inbound Routing Objects are dragged from the available options bar and released on the Canvas.

To Edit Inbound Routing Objects in the Call Path Canvas

  1. Edit or Create a Call Path
  2. Drag an Inbound Routing Object to the canvas and release
  3. Connect the features (detailed below)
  4. Save the Call Path.
Note: InsideSales.com supports only 10 Inbound Routing Objects per Call Path.

Call Path Objects

  • Start Recording: Starts recording the phone call from the point specified.
  • Stop Recording: Stops recording the phone call at the point specified.
  • Play Message: Allows you to select a prerecorded voice message to play for inbound calls.  Additional configuration: must select a prerecorded voice message, created/uploaded using the “manage voice messages” link on the InsideSales tab.
  • Path Bridge: Sends the inbound call to the beginning of an existing call path. Additional configuration: must select an existing call path to send inbound call to.
  • Menu: Allows you to give the caller up to four different options to select. Additional configuration-must select a menu message and how many times you want the message to play. Once the branches are setup you will also select which number corresponds to which branch.  Limit: 4 branches per menu.
  • Call Forward: Allows you to forward the inbound call outside of the call path.  Additional configuration: must input a number to forward calls to and caller ID to display. It is recommended to pass through the caller’s number over the other options.
  • Route to Last Caller: Will route the inbound call to the last representative to call that record.  Additional configuration: must select Salesforce object for our software to search for matches on, how many days since the call was placed (if outside this time frame the call will continue in the call path), how long the rep has to answer the call with the timeout setting, and how you want the call to continue if the rep does not answer with the no answer fail over. 
  • Route to Record Owner:  Will route the inbound call to whomever owns the record. Additional configuration: Similar to route to last caller, you must select the Salesforce object to match the record owner to, how long the agent has to answer, and how you want the call to continue if the rep does not answer in time. 
  • Time of Day:  Allows you to configure your call path to behave a certain way based on the time of day. Additional configuration: you must select a timezone for this object to operate under, and start and end times.
  • Day of Week: Allows you to configure your call path to behave a certain way based on the day of the week. Additional configuration: you must select a timezone for this object to operate under, and the day(s) of week.
  • Rep Queue: Sends the inbound caller to a rep queue to be answered in a specified order. Additional configuration: must name the rep queue, select the route type (longest available distributes the calls to the rep who has been available the longest, group ring distributes the call to everyone at the same time, round robin attempts to distribute the calls in an equal fashion), specify the fail over time to continue in the call path and answer time per rep, attendees (who can take inbound calls in this call path), the default record owner for a record to be created under if a match is not found, the default values for that record type. You also have the option of selecting a wait message to play while the call routes through this object, which object you want to pop-screens for, and if you want the wait message to loop until the call is picked up.
  • Disconnect: Ends the call.

Connecting Inbound Routing Objects

To Connect Inbound Routing Objects

  1. Place your mouse over an object on the canvas and look for the Connect box to appear.
  2. Once the Connect box appears, click and drag from the Connect box to another object on the canvas, then release.

To remove the connection between two objects on the Call Path canvas, click on the blue connecting arrow and verify the action.

Note: Insidesales.com does not support creating Call Paths that are circular – where an inbound call returns to earlier points in the Call Path. Each Call Path is limited to a total of 4 branches.

Saving Call Paths

  • When you are ready to save a Call Path, click the Save button and leave the editor.
  • Alternatively, pressing Quick Save saves the current changes but keeps you in the editor- allowing you to continue to make changes.
  • Use the Save As function to clone a Call Path.
  • To discard all unsaved changes, click the Cancel button.

Call Path Terminators

In the event that an inbound call is not answered by a rep, the call must go somewhere. The Insidesales.com system is not designed to allow a call to remain in a Call Path indefinitely. Each branch within a Call Path must end in a terminator. A terminator is a routing object that causes the inbound call to leave the Insidesales.com system.

The following routing objects are considered terminators:

  • Disconnect
  • Forward
  • Path Bridge
Note: If a Call Path branch does not end in a terminator, the Insidesales system will automatically disconnect an inbound call when it reaches the end of the branch. As a best practice, we recommend always placing a terminator at the end of your branches.

Call Path Properties

  • Call Path Name: Uniquely identifies the Call Path for reporting purposes.
  • Inbound Number: All selected inbound numbers or Local Presence buckets are displayed in this field. To add a new inbound number, search for the number and select the number. Only numbers that are not assigned to other Call Paths or directly to reps are displayed in this field.

Deleting Call Paths

A Call Path can be deleted from the system by navigating to the Manage Call Paths page and clicking Delete next to the desired Call Path.

To Delete a Call Path

  1. Navigate to the InsideSales tab.
  2. Click Manage Call Paths.
  3. Click Delete next to a Call Path.
  4. Verify the delete action.
Note: When you delete a Call Path, all inbound numbers become unassigned from Call Paths. This means that if a prospect calls one of these numbers, the call won’t be routed to reps. We strongly recommend you immediately assign unassigned numbers when a Call Path is deleted or setup the Default Call Path, described below.

Default Call Path

If you have inbound numbers available and not assigned to a call path we recommend you setup a default call path. This path will handle any incoming calls to the system that don’t match the numbers assigned to your call paths. The “Default Path” button to the left of “Create New Call Path” will open the editor for the default call path.

Additional Salesforce Fields for Inbound Call Paths

You have the option of setting up additional inbound fields on the task object to track additional information about the calls. This can be helpful for reporting. Two useful fields for call paths are “Rep Queue Name” and “Inbound Number Dialed”.

Related Article: Adding Additional Inbound or Outbound Fields

Click this message to learn more about how you can set up additional Salesforce fields and monitor PowerDialer activity.

Inbound Call Path Best Practices

  • We recommend that the ‘Start Recording’ object is added at the beginning of the call path.
  • The ‘Stop Recording’ object is best used if callers are required to give out sensitive information such as credit cards at any point in the call path.
  • ‘Stop Recording’ should always be placed before a call forward if ‘Start Recording’ was used in the path.
  • If your call path has a ‘Start Recording’ object you should also have a compliance message in order to be in accordance with all state laws.
  • For ‘Rep Queue’ actions, we recommend enabling pop-screens for all objects (leads, contacts, and accounts). This will open the record associated with a phone number for the rep when a call comes in if it matches any records in the CRM.
  • We recommend enabling immediate failover in the advanced settings of the ‘Rep Queue’ action. This will skip the rep queue if no reps are available.
  • For ‘Rep Queue’ actions, it is recommended that your failover time is divisible by answer time so each rep has an equal amount of time to answer the call.
  • Place the ‘Route to Last Caller’ or ‘Route to Record Owner’ early in the call path so that known callers go directly to their last caller or assigned owner and can skip the other actions.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Why doesn’t ‘Route to Last Caller’ always find a correct match to the person calling?
A: Route to Last Caller will do a lookup in Salesforce for the phone number that is calling into the call path.  If the person calling is using a different caller ID or is calling from a number different from the number listed on their Salesforce record, InsideSales.com will not find a match.  Example: A rep calls John Doe at his office number listed on the Salesforce contact.  John Doe returns the call from his cell that is not listed on the Contact.  InsideSales.com will not be able to match the number, since the rep did not actually call the cell number.

Q: If a caller does not select a menu option where does the call go?
A: The call will continue through the “default branch”. You are able to select which option this would be with the “default option” checkbox.

Q: What is “pop-screen type”?
A: This is an option configured through the rep queue object that if a match is found it will pop open the record in a new tab for convenient referencing once the inbound call is accepted.

Q: What is round robin route type?
A: Round robin is a functionality of the rep queue object that attempts to distribute the calls as evenly as possible. Example: If rep A has received 10 inbound calls and rep B has received 8 inbound calls, the call will be routed to rep B in attempt to even the playing field. 

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