One toll free or multiple toll free numbers?

[NitramTELEBOY]

Hi,
Does your company have one TFN for all incoming calls or do you have a customer service number, main number, and maybe sales toll free?

I am looking for some pros and cons for both. Personally I like the idea of seperate toll free for customer support and another for everything else.

ALso what impact do you think it would have on your call center reporting. Especially CentreVU.

Thanks in advance!

 

[dialtonebtch]

Our company uses separate TF numbers. Main number, Sales, main customer service, and customer service for dedicated groups.

In my opinion, no one likes to hear a ton of choices. Separate numbers allow the announcements to be customized for those callers. Also, we don't offer some things like dial by name for our customer service line, but do for sales and main line.

Billing and reporting can be easier with separate numbers as well. It is much easier to report on separate lines and can use reports from the carrier as well.

As for cons, well...the more numbers and the more customized set-ups is more to manage. There can also be a minimal extra cost for having multiple TF numbers, depending on your carrier.

 

[mikeydidit]

This boils down to the "all your eggs in one basket" things. The one number, for whatever reason goes down and your out. With multiple numbers the odds sway more in your favor of not being completely down. Like dialtonebtch also mentioned, it also narrows down the amount of time to transfer out to where the call really needs to go to as well.

"You don't stop playing because you get old. You get old because you stopped playing."

For the best response to a question, read FAQ222-2244.

 

[dmthames]

CMS reporting won't really be impacted either way. The main way to measure TF traffic for call center purposes would be through terminating vdn's. Whether or not you have one TF number or several, you would still use vdn's (in tandem with skills) as distinct reporting points to report on traffic related to specific actions or numbers.

TFs could be terminated directly on a hunt group extension, but it's probably best practice to use a vdn/vector for greater flexibility.