neat caller id tips for users

[trey]

I just wanted to share some tips that I have found extremely useful:

One of our options when clients call our number is to press 9 for the emergency line. I have set up our system so that the emergency extension will dial multiple people simultaneously, with the option set to show our phone.com number as the caller id. All other extensions show the caller's caller id. Some cell phones (blackberry is one) have the option to have different ringer exceptions for particular numbers. So we all set up our phones to override the ringer settings when the call comes in from our own business line number. This way we can turn our ringers off when in a meeting or while sleeping at night, but if someone calls the emergency line, it will still ring on our phones.

In addition, turning on call screening enables you when you answer your phone, to immediately know if the caller called your phone number directly, or if they dialed in through your phone.com number. Some great things about this: if the conversation starts getting long and I know I was called through the phone.com number, I can ask the caller if I can call them back to save on my phone.com minutes usage, and I have the caller ID on my phone already. (I used to do this when I just started out, but now the nominal cost of minutes is not worth interrupting the conversation anymore.) Another way I use screening is: I have more than one extension forwarded to my phone. The screening prompt tells me how to answer the call. For example, if the screen prompt tells me the call came to me from the Operator extension, I could say, "Good morning, how can I help you?", but if they called my extension, I could say, "This is Trey, how can I help you?"

Another tip: If using screening, set the time on the phone.com system which forwards to a cell to at least 45 seconds. Otherwise if you aren't quick the call could be gone before you hear the entire screening info. I also frequently get voicemails on my cell that sound like this, "Press 1 to accept, 2 to ignore." Some people may find that annoying, and that's kind of a side effect of using the system as I described above. I actually like it, because it tells me that the call I missed came in through the business line, and not directly to my cell, and I can check the system to see which extension they dialed, if someone else answered it, if they left a message, etc. (Though I would know if they left a message because it would get emailed to my phone too!)

I just used the conference call feature last night for the first time. This is a GREAT FREE service for phone.com members. Here's a tip: you do not have to wait until prompted to type in your conference id number. You can just start entering it in before the (just long enough to be annoying) message prompts you to enter in your code.

Hope people out there find this helpful.

[ari]

Trey:

Thank you for your nice post. Comments like yours from users / customers is greatly appreciated and indeed I hope others also find it useful.

We will post this also under the Virtual Office section and will also blog about it.

Thanks again!

Ari