Hunt Group - creating mobile office workers

It wasn't until I joined TTNC that I really knew anything about call forwarding. My only experience of call forwarding was the settings on my mobile phone; which, to be honest, I'd never really used except to set up voicemail.

As with any industry you have to learn to learn the "lingo" that goes with the services you provide. I think call forwarding is pretty commonly known, but 'Hunt Group' I don't think is.

What does 'Hunt Group' actually describe?

Taking my mobile phone experience as an example, that is essentially a Hunt Group:

• You receive a call to your mobile - call this destination 1;
• If you're unavailable, it forwards the call to your voicemail - call this destination 2.

A Hunt Group is made up of a sequence of destinations (destination 1, destination 2, destination 3 etc.) that a call will work through until it is answered.

How does this work with virtual telephone numbers?

If we take a Local Number that we've got from TTNC as an example, say 01223 902 035. We can set this up so that the calls we receive through that number try a landline, mobile and voicemail. It would look something like this:

• Someone in Cambridge calls 01223 902 035. The first number the call is forwarded to is the office landline - this is destination 1;
• In this example, there's no one in the office, so the landline rings for 20 seconds;
• After 20 seconds, my mobile starts ringing - this is destination 2;
• Unfortunately in this example, I'm on a train, there's bad reception so I can’t take the call. Also, I haven't set up voicemail on my mobile.
• But, I have set up voicemail with TTNC, so when the call can't reach me on the mobile, it automatically forwards the TTNC voicemail service - this is destination 3.

This sort of set up is something that can be applied to any virtual number from TTNC at no extra cost; the facility comes by default with any number.

If you needed more than 3 destinations you can get that with Hunt Group Pro.

Where’s the benefit?

Really, the calls you have coming in for your business, you want to answer all of them. Sometimes that's just not physically possible. Setting up a Hunt Group hopefully increases the chances of you answering them.

It's also something you can set up and forget about. So you don't have to think about what's going to happen if you miss calls when you pop out to the shop. The calls are going to follow you from your office to your mobile.

This all builds into a better customer experience for your callers. They've taken the time to call you, they want to talk to someone; a Hunt Group will hopefully make more likely to happen.