Call routing for small teams that actually works

The three patterns

• Simultaneous: everyone's phone rings at once, first to answer takes it
• Sequential: rings one person, then the next after a set number of seconds
• Time-based: different destinations depending on the day and hour

Example setups

Sole trader: ring the mobile for 20 seconds, then voicemail with an email alert. Two-person office: ring both simultaneously, then the mobile of whoever is out, then voicemail.

Small team on the road: ring the office first, roll to two mobiles simultaneously, then an out-of-hours message after 5pm. Anything more complicated than that usually creates more missed calls, not fewer.

Test it from outside

Ring your own number from a mobile that isn't on the system, at 9am and again at 7pm. It is the fastest way to find a rule that silently sends calls nowhere.