Tips:
Getting more from your phone
Using special mailboxes
Virtual Mailbox Key
- The Virtual Mailbox Key feature lets you create a programmable key that monitors any mailbox in the system: the boss’s mailbox, a guest mailbox, Q & A mailboxes, etc. A secretary could have a key that indicates when the boss has messages and could easily access them (if so authorized).
- Coverage for guest mailboxes, cascade paging or Q & A mailboxes lets you know when a new message exists and allows you to pick it up by simply pressing the Virtual Mailbox Key.
- If you have outside reps who are not in the office but get phone messages there, give each a guest mailbox so that callers can be transferred to leave them a message. Create Virtual Mailbox Keys on the receptionist’s Console so that when the reps call in to conduct other business and check messages, the receptionist can see at a glance whether they have messages.
- If you have several people in the Shipping Department who don’t have phones, give each a guest mailbox for spouses or others to use to leave them messages. Place a phone in an area that they all can see regularly. Program a Virtual Mailbox Key for each person with his name above it. Each can see if his mailbox has a new message by noting whether his key is blinking. If so, all he has to do is press the key to go directly to his messages.
- A sales department may create a department mailbox for all calls to sales that go unanswered. Create a Virtual Mailbox Key on the sales manager’s phone so he/she can retrieve the messages and move them to the appropriate rep.
- It’s a good practice to set up a general delivery mailbox for callers to reach at night. Create a Virtual Mailbox Key on the operator’s phone; this will show at a glance if messages have been left. If so, the operator can then press the key and use the move feature to move the messages to the appropriate people.
Guest mailboxes
- Guest mailboxes are usually used for personnel who don’t have a phone assigned to them, such as outside reps, shipping personnel, or any other employees who don’t require phones.
- Assign guest mailboxes to such employees, and they can appear to outside callers just like any other employee. You can list them in the auto attendant directory. They can have their “extension” number printed on their business cards, or have spouses dial their mailbox number at the auto attendant. A station key can also be created for them by programming their mailbox number as a station key; then, it is easy to transfer someone to their mailbox. Also, you can create a Virtual Mailbox Keys to monitor and easily retrieve their messages.
- Guest mailboxes can be created to allow you to have two mailboxes with instructions in your personal greeting for a caller to leave a message at the tone or dial 3 0 7 (your additional guest mailbox) to leave a message regarding a special responsibility such as emergency calls. You can then program that mailbox to call you at home when these types of messages are taken. (See “Urgent messages” and “Retrieving messages from an off-premises location.”)
Group mailboxes
- Group mailboxes allow for messages to be placed in the mailboxes for all members of the group. If you have several sales reps, place them in a group mailbox, so that you can easily leave the same message for all. You can even create a programmable key for the Sales Group Mailbox.
- Remember to use Quick Groups for messages to select mailboxes.
- A group mailbox actually creates messages in its members’ mailboxes so that each can handle his copy of the message individually. Another option would be to create a guest mailbox and create a Virtual Mailbox Key on the sales reps’ phones so that only one of them would end up with the message (when a rep retrieves the message in the guest mailbox by pressing the Virtual Mailbox Key, all the other reps’ Virtual Mailbox Key lamps would go out).
Cascade paging mailboxes
- Use cascade paging mailboxes if you want to be assured that important after-hour messages — such as emergency service calls for techs on duty — are returned. For example, if your Service Department is closed at night but you want to provide emergency service, have the Service Department’s calls forwarded to a cascade paging mailbox. A sample greeting might be: “You have reached the Service mailbox. If this is an emergency, dial 4 4 4 now or leave a detailed message at the tone and you’ll be called first thing in the morning.” Then, set up cascade paging mailbox 444 with a personal greeting such as: “This is the emergency service number. Leave a message at the tone and a tech will be paged to call you back. If this is not an emergency dial 2 0 6 now to return to the Service mailbox.” The cascade paging mailbox is then set up to page the tech who is “on-call.” But, as the name of the mailbox implies, you can have the system page additional techs if the emergency message isn’t answered within the response time you desire. You can have the paging escalate to three different pagers.
- A similar scenario can be used for sales after-hours, or for a department of reps on the road. The system can be set to notify the manager’s pager if a message isn’t answered within a certain time period. You can also create a Virtual Mailbox Key to allow the manager to monitor the mailbox in the morning, to assure that no messages have gone unanswered.
Q & A mailboxes
(ESI Communications Servers, IVX X-Class, and IVX E-Class only.)
- Q & A mailboxes let you record a series of questions for a caller to answer, allowing you to collect information that might otherwise take a great deal of time.
- Use this mailbox for people who are responding to an employment ad by having them answer questions that provide name, phone number, degree, last job held, how long worked there, etc. Use Q & A mailboxes for employee satisfaction polls or a suggestion box.
- Use Q & A for surveys, such as having customers rate how they were treated by your sales staff: name, phone number, nature of help, who helped them, rate satisfaction 1–10, complaints, etc.
- Use it for prospects who want additional information. Have employees transfer callers who are interested in a particular service or product to a Q & A mailbox to get more info.
- In the personal greeting for Q & A mailboxes, be sure to include instructions as to how to record answers: for example, “. . . After each question, you’ll hear a beep to begin recording. Press 1 after each answer to advance to the next question. Please state your name at the tone.” Be sure the caller is informed during the last question that it is the final question, and whether the call will then be transferred or disconnected.
- Need more than 10 questions? Set forwarding for the mailbox to another Q & A mailbox and use its 10 questions to serve as questions 11–20.
