How Call Screening and Transfers Can Boost Your Business
Managing incoming calls can be overwhelming, especially when juggling customer inquiries, robocalls, and non-essential distractions. PATLive’s call screening and call transfer services help you focus on what matters most, ensuring that important calls reach the right person or department, while filtering out irrelevant ones. With real-time availability updates via PATLive’s app, you remain in control of how your calls are handled. Learn more about updating your availability status here and explore our screening & transfer services.
Read on to discover how these features can boost your business productivity and improve customer satisfaction!
What is Call Screening?
Call screening is a service designed to filter and prioritize incoming calls, ensuring that only the most important calls reach the right person. At PATLive, we take this process one step further by completely customizing the call-handling scripts to reflect your business’s unique needs and voice. This means every call is handled just as if a member of your own team were answering the phone.
When a call comes in, our highly trained receptionists ask tailored questions in order to determine the purpose of the call. Is it a sales pitch, a robocall, or an important client inquiry? Based on the caller’s answers and your current availability status, we either transfer the call, take a message, or politely decline the call if it’s not relevant. This ensures your valuable time is protected while critical calls are routed to the right person.
PATLive’s call screening goes beyond just filtering. Our service is integrated with your business’s unique workflows and protocols, making it feel like we’re an extension of your team. Whether it’s responding to customer inquiries, handling specific service requests, or routing calls based on priority, PATLive’s call screening allows your business to operate smoothly and efficiently.
How Call Transfers Work
Call transfers are essential for ensuring that important calls are directed to the right person or department. With PATLive’s customized call handling, calls are transferred based on specific criteria you provide, making the process smooth and efficient. Whether you’re available to take the call or need it routed to someone else, PATLive ensures that each transfer is handled seamlessly.
What sets PATLive apart is the real-time control over your availability. Using the mobile or web app, you can instantly update your status, directing calls based on your availability. For example, you can set your status to “Available” if you want calls transferred directly to you or to “Do Not Disturb” if you’re unavailable, ensuring that no calls slip through the cracks. We can set up completely customized call handling instructions based on any of the 6 possible availability statuses in the app.
Additionally, PATLive receptionists are trained to route calls based on the nature of the inquiry. If a customer calls with a billing question, for instance, our team can transfer them to your finance department. If a service request comes in, the call can be directed to the appropriate specialist. This not only saves time but also ensures customers are speaking to the right person, improving their overall experience.
PATLive offers two types of transfers:
- Warm Transfer: The PATLive Virtual Receptionist first reaches out to the transfer-to person, explains who’s calling and why, and confirms whether they can take the call. This ensures smooth handoffs and provides context before the call is transferred.
- Cold Transfer: In this case, the call is transferred directly to the transfer-to person without any prior explanation, making it faster but without the additional briefing.
By providing flexibility and control, PATLive’s call transfer services empower you to stay on top of business communications without being tied to your phone.
Benefits of Call Screening and Transfers
Integrating call screening and transfer services into your business offers multiple advantages, from enhancing productivity to improving customer experience.
- Increased Productivity: With call screening, your team can focus on high-priority tasks while irrelevant calls are filtered out. Only important calls are transferred, saving valuable time.
- Improved Customer Experience: By transferring calls directly to the right person or department, customers get faster, more efficient responses, minimizing wait times and frustration.
- Flexibility with Real-Time Status Updates: Using PATLive’s mobile or web app, you can instantly update your availability status, ensuring calls are managed based on your current needs. Whether you’re available or prefer to have calls directed elsewhere, PATLive adapts in real time.
With these benefits, PATLive helps your business stay efficient and customer-focused, all while reducing distractions.
How to Get Started
Getting started with PATLive’s call screening and transfer services is easy, and the onboarding process ensures you’re set up for success. Once you sign up, you’ll be paired with an Onboarding Specialist who will walk you through the process of customizing your call-handling scripts and configuring call transfers. These scripts are tailored to match your business needs and ensure that every interaction is seamless.
To make the most out of your onboarding experience, we recommend checking out our Help Center. You’ll find valuable resources on best practices for call-handling scripts, details about the onboarding process, and tips for updating your availability status in real-time.
During onboarding, you’ll also learn how to update your status using PATLive’s mobile or web app, allowing you to control how calls are routed based on your availability. This ensures that you’re always in control, whether you’re available to take calls or need them transferred to someone else.
With these tools and support, PATLive helps you streamline communication from day one. Ready to explore the benefits for yourself? Start with a 14-day free trial and see how PATLive can transform your business’s call handling.
