Every phone call matters. Give your customers a great first impression by how they reach you - getting to the right person, the first time. This self-serve virtual receptionist greets callers via a voice-based menu system, allowing callers to bypass a traditional phone system operator or receptionist. Auto attendants are available for each of your office phone numbers being used.

The Auto Attendant consists of a main menu and up to eight distinct Keypress menu options. This can be used to direct the inbound call traffic from your main telephone number (such as press 1 for the Directory, press 2 for Sales, press 3 for Customer Service). You can then simply point the option to go to the specific extension.

Before you can set up the menu options, you will need to first ensure that all of your extensions are set up for call handling as desired. For example, if you want one of your menu options to point to a virtual extension used for a basic queue or a call (ring) group, ensure this has already been set up.

1.  In your NEWTCF PBX Instance, navigate to the TN Tab. In this screen, navigate to the Telephone Number line item you want to use for the main menu set up (typically this is the main phone number used when customers first call in to your company). Note that you can set up auto attendants for one or more of the telephone numbers on your PBX.

2. Clicking on the Pencil Icon  at the end of the line item will guide you into the details screen of that Telephone Number. The call flow tab is where you will complete your menu set up.

   

Auto Attendant Options

1. To enable the auto-attendant, select the appropriate scheduling option from the drop-down menu.

   Always Enabled: This enables the Automated Attendant to be on 24/7.

   Enabled on… : This enables the Automated Attendant on a scheduled basis. Additional scheduling options (day and times) will appear once this is selected, allowing the operator to answer phones live during some times/days, and not others (when calls will then default forward to your chosen extension). *Ensure you also set the default forward so that the calls are directed to go somewhere outside of the scheduled hours.

2. The Greeting Language will default to English with an option for customers to press 9 for French.

3. The Operator Extension can be set to whichever extension you'd like. If a customer presses 0 or times out, this is the extension the call will go to.

4. Inside the Attendant Menu, set the following options:

   Timeout - This is the amount of time, in seconds, that the Auto Attendant will wait for the caller to choose a menu item selection before proceeding to the Timeout Option.

   Timeout Option - The default selection if the user fails to make a menu item choice within the allotted Timeout period. This may be set to ring an Operator for instance.

   Access Exts - If this is toggled on, the caller may dial an extension from within the Auto Attendant to reach a specific Extension (i.e., “If you know your party’s extension, please enter it now”). If you do not want callers to be able to bypass menu options to call an extension, this should not be selected.

   

Setting the Menu Options:

1. Navigate to the Keypress Options section. For Digit 1 (caller presses 1) select the option to send the call to (either a virtual extension previously set up for the basic queue or a ring group, or to the directory, or to a conference bridge, or a single user’s extension etc.).

2. For options you are creating that will have a submenu, leave the digit # option blank for now – skip it to reserve it (see below submenu set up).

3.  Continue adding Keypress Options for the main menu as desired. Once done, please hit the save button before continuing.

   

Submenu’s

If you are adding submenu’s (for instance, the caller presses 1 for sales and is then asked to press 1 for residential sales or 2 for commercial sales), follow the below steps:

1. Navigate to the Menu item called Submenu 1. Add a description (such as “sales”) and then toggle on the “enabled” button. The system will now ask you to update – please hit the SAVE button before continuing.

2. Then navigate to the Keypress Options section of this submenu and select the extensions for each keypress option – please hit the SAVE button before continuing.

3. Then navigate back to the Main Menu line item. In the Keypress options there – you can now select the submenu you just created; in the keypress option you left blank earlier.

   

Once your menu set up is complete, ensure you save and update the PBX. Then proceed to set up your greetings.

Greeting Prompts

Now it’s time to set up the greeting for the menu, to instruct the caller what option to press, to get to where they want to go.

To record the instructions, select the language record button you want, and then select the extension of the phone you want to use for recording, under the Recording Extension Section.

1. Click on Call Extension.

2. Pick up the receiver and follow the attendant’s prompts to record the company greeting. You may want to have a script ready to welcome the caller and instruct them to “press 1 for sales, press 2 for the company directory” etc…based on the menu you have set up above.

3. Once recorded, stay on the phone for further instructions on how to listen to the greeting again and how to save it.

4. Repeat this process for each submenu.

Alternatively, if you already have a professionally recorded sound file, choose your sound file and click upload (please be sure the recorded instructions to the caller, match the menu keypress options you set up).