If callers constantly reach your company’s voicemail, they may decide to take their business elsewhere. Halloo offers a solution that can reduce the number of calls that go to voicemail. Hunt groups allow a caller to automatically find an available team member. This is done without the customer knowing it’s happening.
The hunt group feature tries each extension until a “free” extension is reached. If a team member is currently on the phone or has their extension marked as “blocked”, their extension will be excluded from the hunt.
Hunt group searches can be set up in one of two ways – sequentially or round robin style. Sequential hunts start with the first extension on the list and work down, trying each of the other extensions in order until an available team member is located. A round robin hunt distributes the calls evenly amongst the members of the group by rotating the team member tried first and then working down the list in order. If no team members free to take calls, the caller will reach the mailbox of the extension designated in the “voicemail if no one is available” field. The voicemail that the customer reaches can also be the individual voicemail of a group member. Used in this way, the system will try the group members in the programmed order and then return the caller to the voicemail of the predetermined team member only if no one else is available during the hunt.
One of the benefits of having a group is that all of the members have access to the call history and notes in their timelines. Group members can see what groups they are logged into as well as their personal log in/log out status. If you are actively logged into a group, remember, you cannot have your calls directed straight to your personal voicemail box. This will cause the hunt to skip over you.
If you are the administrator setting up your account, remember to add your team members first. Then, add groups. Next, assign your team members to the appropriate group. Include the groups in your auto attendant and then rerecord your auto attendant messaging.
These tips and steps will help you smoothly use your hunt group features!
Want to know more? Check out our comprehensive guide to hunt groups.