When all members of your staff are occupied, incoming calls will go the Inbound Call Queue.
Callers waiting in the queue will hear a recorded message until the next available agent is free to take their call.
How the Inbound Call Queue Works
Here are the rules which are used by the system for routing inbound calls either to the Inbound Call Queue or to the Voicemail.
- Calls will only go to the Inbound Call Queue if there are one or more Dialer-enabled Group Members logged in. If there are no Group members logged in, then the call will go to the Group Voicemail.
- If all Group members are on other calls, away from their desk, or too busy with other duties to accept an incoming call, the call will go to the Inbound Call Queue.
- Calls that are declined by any logged in Group member, will go to the Group voicemail instead of to Inbound Call Queue.
Setting Up The Inbound Call Queue
To configure your Inbound Call Queue, go to Manage > Administration > Dialer > Dialer Extensions and click the wrench icon on any user:
In the Edit User Settings dialog box which opens up, click the Manage Groups button:
In the Manage Employee Groups dialog box which opens next, click on the wrench icon for the Group that you would like to set up the Inbound Call Queue for (e.g. Sales):
The Edit Employee Group dialog will now open which you can use for uploading an audio file (in WAV or MP3 format) which will be played to the caller while they are waiting in the queue.
To upload the file, click Select File and select the audio file from your PC:
Once you have selected the file, its name will be shown in the dialog and you can now click the Upload button in order to save this as the message for your Group's Caller queue:
Once the file is uploaded, you will see a confirmation message stating 'File uploaded successfully'. You can then click the Save button and close and save all of the other open dialog boxes.
Note that the recording you upload will play in a loop until the call is answered by an agent.
Answering a Call from the Inbound Caller Queue
When a call goes to the Inbound Call Queue, the Group members will see number indicator inside a red circle on the Queue tab:
This indicator will appear for all Group members who are currently logged in and have the Dialer open.
If additional calls are added to the Queue, the indicator will update with the number of calls currently waiting. Calls are enqueued chronologically, with the callers that have been waiting for the longest amount of time shown at the top of the queue.
You have the option to answer these calls in the order that they came in or you can also select other calls in the queue.
To view the information on the waiting callers click the Queue tab in the Dialer:
If the incoming call is from a lead, then the lead's name will appear as a clickable link that opens the lead form.
The other information appearing on this tab includes the caller's phone number, the call date and time, and the amount of time the caller has been in the Queue (shown in minutes):
To answer the call, click the button with the phone icon to the right of the call data.
You will be connected to the caller immediately and that incoming call will then be removed from the Queue.