If your sales team is scattered across cities, countries, or just working from home, good call routing isn’t a “nice-to-have”—it’s the backbone of your operation. Nobody wants leads dumped in a black hole, or customers stuck listening to the same hold music on loop. This guide is for anyone who needs to set up or clean up call routing in Aloware, whether you’re a sales manager, an ops lead, or the company’s resident “tech person.”
Let’s get your distributed team answering more calls, missing fewer deals, and not losing their minds in the process.
Step 1: Get Your Basics in Order
Before you start fiddling with settings, get clear on what you actually need. Here’s what to nail down first:
- Where is your team? List who’s working where (time zones matter).
- Who handles what? Are reps specialized (by product, region, language)?
- When should calls ring? Think coverage hours and after-hours policy.
- What’s the fallback? Decide who should get calls if nobody picks up.
Pro tip: Don’t try to “automate everything” on day one. Start simple, then add complexity only if calls are falling through the cracks.
Step 2: Create and Organize Your Teams and Users
Aloware (aloware.html) uses “users” (the individual reps) and “rings” or “teams” (groups of users). Set these up before you mess with call flows.
- Add all reps as users. Make sure each person’s contact info, time zone, and working hours are accurate.
- Group reps logically.
- By region (East Coast, West Coast, EMEA, etc.)
- By product line or segment
- By language
- Double-check time zones. Distributed teams live or die by this. If someone’s set to Pacific but lives in London, you’re going to have a bad time.
What to skip: Don’t bother micromanaging every lunch break. Set expected hours, but trust your reps to update their status if they’re away.
Step 3: Map Out Your Call Flows
This is where most teams overcomplicate things. Sketch out (on paper, whiteboard, or napkin) how you want calls to move:
- What number(s) are customers dialing?
- Should calls go to a main line, or direct to reps?
- Do you need a phone tree (“Press 1 for Sales, 2 for Support”)?
- What happens if nobody answers? (Voicemail, backup team, round-robin?)
Pro tip: Start with one main flow. If you serve multiple countries or languages, add branches only as needed.
Step 4: Set Up Call Queues and Ring Strategies
Queues are the backbone of routing in Aloware. Here’s how to keep it sane:
- Create a call queue for each main team.
- E.g., “US Sales,” “EMEA Sales,” “French Speakers”
- Pick a ring strategy:
- Round Robin: Good for fairness. Each rep gets the next call.
- Simultaneous: All reps’ phones ring at once. Fastest response, but can get noisy.
- Weighted: Assign more calls to your heavy hitters (but watch for burnout).
What actually works: Round Robin is a safe default. Simultaneous can work for small teams or “hot leads,” but gets messy with big groups.
- Set queue hours and overflow rules.
- Decide when queues are active.
- Set up overflow—if nobody picks up, where does the call go? (Voicemail, backup queue, manager, etc.)
Step 5: Configure Smart Routing Rules
Now for the magic: rules that send calls to the right people, based on logic (not luck).
- Time-based routing: Route calls based on rep availability or local time. Crucial for global teams, but can break if time zones are wrong.
- Skill-based routing: Direct calls by language, product, or expertise. Only use if you actually need it—otherwise, it’s more work than it’s worth.
- VIP/priority routing: Tag important leads so they skip the line or go to top reps.
Where teams go wrong: Overdoing it. If you set 20 routing rules, nobody will know how calls are actually moving. Stick to the basics. Add rules based on real needs, not “just in case.”
Step 6: Set Up Voicemail, Callback, and Notifications
No matter how slick your routing, some calls will be missed. Here’s how to avoid dropped balls:
- Voicemail: Make sure each queue/team has a custom greeting. Don’t use the default—nothing says “we don’t care” like a robot voice.
- Callback requests: Enable if your team actually uses them. If not, skip to avoid false promises.
- Notifications: Set up alerts (SMS, email, or app) for missed calls, voicemails, and callbacks. But don’t over-notify—one ping per event is enough.
Real talk: Some reps will still ignore notifications. Make it someone’s job to check the queue at the start and end of each day.
Step 7: Test Like a Customer (Not an Admin)
Once your flows are live, test every scenario:
- Call in after hours—do you get routed properly?
- Call in during business hours—how fast is pickup?
- Try from different countries or numbers.
- Leave a voicemail—how fast does someone respond?
Don’t trust the dashboard. Actually dial in from your own cell. You’ll be surprised at what doesn’t work as expected.
Step 8: Train Your Team and Set Expectations
Even the best routing won’t save you if reps don’t know the drill.
- Walk through the call flow with your team.
- Show them how to set their status (available, away, on break).
- Make it clear who covers which hours.
- Remind everyone to check for missed calls and voicemails.
Pro tip: Write down your call routing rules somewhere public (Google Doc, wiki). That way, new hires and forgetful veterans have a reference.
Step 9: Monitor, Adjust, and Keep It Simple
You’re not done after setup. Check your call logs and reports weekly:
- Are calls getting answered fast?
- Are certain reps overloaded while others twiddle their thumbs?
- Are customers abandoning calls or getting stuck in loops?
If you see issues, tweak the setup. Don’t be afraid to cut complexity. If nobody uses a certain queue or rule, get rid of it.
What to ignore: Don’t obsess over “optimizing” every edge case. As long as leads are talking to humans quickly, you’re winning.
Wrapping Up: Keep It Simple, Iterate Often
Distributed sales teams live and die by clear, reliable call routing. Set up the basics, test like a real customer, and train your team. Most importantly, resist the urge to over-engineer. Start simple. Iterate only when the data (or your team’s complaints) say it’s needed.
Remember: every extra rule is another thing that can break. Keep it lean, and you’ll spend less time troubleshooting—and more time closing deals.