Directing inbound calls to an agent without a queue

There are several reasons that you may want to direct a call to an agent rather than a queue. This might be as simple as only having one agent, or wanting to provide your caller with a menu option to connect to a manager or other specific individual. This article discusses two of the ways to do so in LeadDesk.

Route the call directly to the agent

If you only have one agent, and you don't want or need queues to handle incoming calls, you can direct the call straight to an agent. When the caller calls:

• If the agent is available, the caller will be put straight through.
• If the agent is on another call, the caller will hear a busy tone and will need to try again later.
• If the agent is not logged in, you can optionally record a voicemail (see this article).

To use this set up, you will need to create an inbound route that routes the call to the agent.

In your Admin account:

1. Go to the Inbound page.
2. Go to the Inbound routes subpage.
3. Click the Create button.

In the Destination settings dialog:

Click the Type drop-down list and select Call. Click the Phone number drop-down list and select the inbound number. Click the Destination type drop-down list and select Agent. Click the Select destination drop-down list and select the agent to direct calls to.

Directing calls to an agent via flows

In this case, you will need to create a flow and connect the inbound route to it, this article discusses the applets that help direct calls to agents, for more general information see the articles on inbound routes and creating inbound flows.

In your Admin account:

1. Go to the Inbound page.
2. Go to the Flows subpage.
3. Click the New Flow button.
4. Type a name for the flow.
5. Click the OK button.

Create the flow that best suits your needs. There are several reasons you might want to direct calls to an agent in your flow, some examples include:

• Using the Menu applet to create a menu for the caller to use. One or more of the options might direct the call to a specific person, for example a manager, or an agent with specific knowledge.
• Using the Timing applet to check if the call is arriving in opening hours, and if not directing to an agent with a voice mail set up.
• Using the Queue applet, as an option for what to do if the queue is currently closed, again, potentially directing a call to an agent with voice mail set up.

This example follows the first scenario above. As part of your flow, you have included the Menu applet. The caller will have three options: Press one and be put through to the queue for customer service. This uses the Queue applet. Press two to be put through to the queue for Accounts, again, using the Queue applet. Press three to speak to a manager. This uses the Agent applet.
In the agent applet: Click the Select the agent to dial drop-down list and select the agent. In case the agent does not answer: Type a number of seconds for Timeout for no answer Drag an applet for the next action - perhaps you want to return the call to a queue, or just hang up! Note that if the agent has been set up with voicemail, the request should not normally timeout.

Once the rest of your flow is complete:

1. Click the Save button.
2. If you have not already done so, create the Inbound route and direct it to the flow (see this document for more).