Care homes providing the very best customer experience will have thought carefully about incoming phone calls and who the best person is to take each call. Nobody wants to experience long hold times or to be passed between departments. Here’s a simple guide to achieving a better call flow for your phone system.
Professional Automated Attendant*
An Automated Attendant is a phone system feature that allows callers to be transferred to a phone extension or group of phones without the intervention of the receptionist. The caller can select their preferred answering point by listening to a recorded message, then select from the presented options, e.g., Press 1 for the Nurse Station.
GHM Care can assist with professional voice greetings, recorded by voiceover artists if required, then upload the greeting on to your telephone system, with the appropriate extension/group programmed under each menu option.
Call Flow
A call flow is the hidden ‘road map’ programmed by GHM Care, having established how your home would like incoming calls handled. For example, if the auto attendant says to press 1 for the Home Manager, we can automatically route the caller to another staff member, with varying routes for when the Home Manager is engaged on a call or away from their desk.
What is an IVR, and why would I need it? *
IVR (Interactive Voice Response) is the umbrella term for automated call handling. With the automated attendant feature enabled, callers listen to a pre-recorded message, then depending on what the caller ‘inputs’ the phone system routes the call to an appropriate recipient.
It’s perfect for homes and communities with centralised marketing/enquiry departments, as efficient call routing will lead to better customer service.
*Only applies to customers using SIP or Cloud Hosted Systems.
How to deal with Out-of-Hours Calls
Care homes and communities operate 24/7 and the likelihood is the call flow in daytime won’t be suitable for night-time callers. It is recommended therefore to programme the system to route calls differently depending on the time of day. This helps ensure staff, relatives and residents benefit from efficient call handling, anytime of the day.
Do staff have Voicemail set up?
Some non-care roles, such as administration and managerial, may benefit from a voicemail box with a personal voicemail greeting. This allows callers to leave a message, without needing to take up time for other staff members passing on details of missed calls or messages.
To see what other features our telephone systems for care homes include click here.
