Call Forwarding: Making Sure Every Call Gets Answered
by Jared, Co-founder
One of the challenges that almost every business faces is managing incoming calls. As your company grows, the calls increase. That’s a sign of success! Whether you are a solo operator, a small business, or a medium size business, however, continuing to grow your business depends on answering those calls. Let’s be honest: callers tend to be impatient and don’t like busy signals or a voicemail. As a result, missed calls often mean missed opportunities.
Fortunately, businesses can now field an unlimited number of calls at a relatively low cost. The solution is an AI receptionist who is available 24/7 and trained on your specific business. This allows your current and future customers to have their calls answered even when your team is not available or overrun with calls. This is one of the services that Automata Partners provides.
You may be thinking, this sounds great but how do I actually route calls to the AI receptionist? You have essentially three options:
- Activate “conditional” call forwarding.
With "conditional" call forwarding, you define when the calls are forwarded to the AI receptionist. If you want to make sure all calls are answered and keep your current business number, this may be the best option. Almost all telephone providers give customers an option to set specific conditions for having incoming calls forwarded. To redirect calls to your AI receptionist, you just need to assign the phone number and set the conditions. Depending on your service provider, you may be able to customize the call forwarding for many types of conditions, such as a busy line, two unanswered rings, a network outage, airplane travel, etc. You may even be able to schedule the forwarding based on business hours, weekends, holidays, or other specific times/dates. This option has the advantage of flexibility because you can turn this on/off whenever you would like and customize the “conditions.” The disadvantage is you may forget to (re)activate this feature some times and miss a call by accident.
- Activate “unconditional” call forwarding.
The “unconditional” forwarding means your telephone provider immediately redirects all incoming calls to the AI receptionist. If you want to keep your current business number for continuity of operations, but also want to ensure every call is answered quickly, this may be the optimal solution. As with "conditional" forwarding, you can turn this on/off whenever you would like. And many businesses start with “conditional” forwarding but then transition to “unconditional” after they realize how effectively the AI receptionists is managing incoming calls for your business.
- Make the AI receptionist number your official business number.
Every AI receptionist is given a unique telephone number, which you can make your official line. Unlike the “conditional” and “unconditional” forwarding, this is a relatively permanent solution to directing calls to the AI receptionist. Although this isn’t the most popular option, it has the advantage of directing all incoming calls directly to the AI agent for handling without a telephone provider as the intermediary. The downside is that your current number is probably already on a lot of your marketing material, including the company website, third-party sites, business cards, brochures, etc. And it can be a hassle to make all of those updates.
What do the “conditional” and “unconditional” call forwarding options have in common?
- Low cost: Most phone providers bundle a basic call forwarding service at no extra cost as part of your existing plan. If you want more advanced forwarding features, like time- or geography- based conditions, they may charge additional fees.
- Seamless: Customers won’t even know their call was forwarded. On the contrary, they will just feel like your office quickly answered their call.
- All calls: Phone providers are generally able to transfer all incoming calls to another mobile, landline, or external service – such as an AI receptionist.
What if a caller wants to speak with a human?
The AI receptionist is intended to complement – not replace – your team. As every business owner knows, those personal connections matter a lot. One of the core features of AI receptionists is they can be trained to manage calls however you prefer, which means also talking to humans. Besides handling routine inquiries and scheduling appointments, the AI receptionist can also be trained to know when a customer urgently needs to speak with someone on your team and re-route the call to the number you designate.
So how do you activate the call forwarding?
Call forwarding has become relatively standardized and simplified, but each telephone provider has its own rules and procedures. Below is a summary of the steps you would need to follow for a few of the major providers. Please consult with your provider directly for the details and any technical questions.
AT&T
Summary of AT&T key call forwarding options:
All Call Forwarding
- ON: Press *72, enter a forwarding number, then press #
- OFF: Press *73#
Busy Call Forwarding
- ON: Press *90, enter a forwarding number, then press #
- OFF: Press *91#
No Answer Call Forwarding
- ON: Press *92, enter a forwarding number, then press #
- OFF: Press *93#
Verizon
Summary of Verizon call forwarding codes:
All calls
- Call *72 + new number
Only when busy/no answer
- Call *71 + new number
Turn off forwarding
- Call *73
T-Mobile
T-Mobile call forwarding allows you to forward your incoming calls to another number. You can set it up to forward all your calls immediately. Or, you can set it up to forward if you don't answer the call, if your phone is turned off, or if you're out of signal range.
Be aware of the following when using call forwarding:
- You can't forward calls to international numbers.
- You can only forward calls to 10-digit or 11-digit numbers.
- Forwarding while roaming depends on the host country's network capabilities.
For steps on call forwarding:
- Go to the Devices page.
- Search, filter, or select your device.
- Select Calling & Contacts in the How Tos section.
- Select Block and/or manage calls.
- Follow the instructions for setting up call forwarding for your device.