Mastering Call Routing: How to Streamline Inbound Sales Calls and Boost Customer Satisfaction

Call routing isn’t just for call centers. But it’s not for every sales team, either. 

The truth is, when executed properly and with the right system, call routing reduces frustrations for your sales team while elevating the customer experience. 

And since, on average, 49 percent of customers have left a brand in the past 12 months because of a poor customer experience—we’d say that’s pretty important.

So, today, we’ll explore call routing: what it is, why you may (or may not) need it, and how to make it work for you. (And bonus: we’ve also found some top software options for you.)

What is Call Routing?

Callers don’t like to wait, right? And they don’t like to talk with the wrong person, either. Intelligent routing avoids both—and the chaos of internal call transfers.

Call routing employs Interactive Voice Response (IVR) and Automatic Call Distribution (ACD) technology to qualify and queue calls—and distribute them to your team. This gets the right salesperson to the right caller at the right time. 

Now, let’s take a look at the main types of call routing.

The 7 Main Types of Call Routing

There are many types of call routing, and the best approach for your team is likely a variation or combination of those types. Why? Your needs—and your customers’ needs—are unique. And they change.

Check out the seven main routing types to find your ideal combo.

• Skill-based routing: This routing type directs calls based on skill, expertise, or knowledge level, matching customer information to the ideal person on your team.
• Time-based routing: Time-based routing works off time zones and business hours, making it useful for geographically diverse customer bases. 
• List-based routing: This type follows a fixed list—or prioritized salespeople—to direct calls. It’s helpful if you require specific expertise or during training, but it’s not objectively “fair” otherwise.  
• Round-robin routing: This routing type evenly distributes calls among salespeople via a uniform loop. So, A, B, C, D—repeat.  
• Priority-based routing: AKA VIP routing, this type is used with specific top or high-value customers, letting them bypass the queue and reach a salesperson (or a specific salesperson) without delay.
• Predictive behavior routing: This intelligent call routing approach enlists AI to recommend the best available salesperson for the caller—or best possible call route—using live and past call data. 
• Least occupied routing: AKA idle routing, this routing type connects inbound calls with the “least occupied” salesperson—the one with the lowest talk times or fewest calls. If you’re worried about burnout, this approach balances the call workload.

Here’s an example: The phone-ringing-off-the-hook small-ish business operating in the midwest market will likely find “time-based” routing superfluous, while “round robin” or “least occupied” routing offers real support. 

That is until that small-ish business grows to encompass the entire U.S. market—and time zones come into play. That’s why keeping tabs on your team and how things shift is important.

Call routing provides different options to efficiently direct incoming calls in a way that is tailored to your team’s needs. The right tools and CRM routing features—like those found in Close—will streamline the process, too.

But not every team needs call routing. So, does yours?

Does Your Sales Team Need to Set Up Call Routing?

Call routing is only necessary if your team gets many inbound calls. 

If, instead, they trickle in—or your sales strategy targets outbound outreach—implementing a call routing system probably won’t help. 

But, beyond “we do get loads of inbound calls,” it’s important to consider the type of inbound calls you receive—and how that impacts your team—and customers.

So, do you need call routing? Ask yourself:

• Does our inbound call volume get overwhelming? Call routing helps distribute calls efficiently so your team can tackle high call volumes.
• Do our customers have specialized inquiries? Call routing connects the appropriate salesperson who can provide that specialized expertise. 
• Are our salespeople wrestling with uneven workloads? Call routing can direct calls to less busy salespeople, balancing the workload and reducing the risk of burnout. 
• Do customers face long wait times (e.g., any complaints)? Call routing reduces wait times—and minimizes missed calls—to boost customer satisfaction.
• Does our “customer structure” include VIPs? Call routing helps prioritize high-value existing or potential customers that require first-in-line support. 
• Is our customer base spread out geographically? Call routing can direct calls to the nearest or most appropriate location, considering time zones or business hours. 

Call routing might be the next step toward better sales efficiency if you answered “heck yes” to one or more of these questions. Here’s how it works. 👇

How Call Routing Works: A Deep Dive

Call routing identifies caller intent, sends callers to the appropriate queues, and connects them with the best-fit salesperson (or agent). 

It includes three key stages: qualifying, queuing, and distribution.

Call Qualifying

First, you have to determine caller intent. Why are they calling you, anyway? You’ll need to collect and analyze this data to get them in the right queue—and to the right person.

Your routing system can collect this data in three main ways:

First, and most obviously, your system will consider the number your caller dialed. Support? Sales? Or, an extension for Billy in sales?

Second, the Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system provides callers a phone menu to key in their calling purpose, as well as additional customer information.

Third, your CRM can match the caller ID and provide other relevant information on the inbound caller, such as their account history and recent interactions.

Close tackles the customer data part, with its eyes closed. (We are a CRM, duh.) 

But the system also offers a built-in Phone Menu using IVR to route callers and connect leads with the right person at the right time. You can program each option to pass through to a specific person or department, forward to an external number (if that’s your setup), send to voicemail—or repeat the options.

This is one of our Premium Phone Number add-on features, and the upgrade runs an extra $19 per line per month on top of your standard phone rental rates. 

Another neat feature? Custom IVR Greetings help you tailor the experience to the caller so you don’t lose that “hey, we know you’re a real human” vibe that standard phone menus leave out. (P.S. This is also a Premium feature.)

Seamless, personalized qualification and routing? Sign me up.

Call qualification forges the routing path—leading callers to the correct queue. 

Call Queuing

Once the caller has been identified, it’s time to get them in the right queue. This could be a department (like sales) or more specific (like enterprise sales or Billy from sales).

Call queuing involves an IVR-to-Automatic Call Distribution (ACD) data handoff. This is where the IVR responses are analyzed with Speech Recognition, Natural Language Processing, or Conversational AI. 

This data then passes to the ACD, which routes the calls toward specific queues based on pre-set routing rules and criteria. During this stage, the call sits on hold, waiting for the next available salesperson or to follow the next routing rules.

To help out, Close has a customized ring duration feature. This lets you specify a custom inbound ring duration for group members so that callers aren’t … waiting … forever … before reaching the fallback number. This comes standard with your basic phone rate in Close. ✌️

And now? Time to answer the call—via the queue.

Call Distribution

The final stage of call routing is distribution. This is where callers are connected with the relevant department or person who is best equipped to handle the query.

Like before, pre-set rules and routing “types” (and CRM info) direct distribution. Whether you’ve selected round-robin, skill-based, time-based—or one of the others—your routing system will funnel inbound calls from the queue, based on your settings, to available salespeople. 

So, be sure you analyze—and re-analyze—your needs over time and adjust accordingly.

Close has several features to streamline call distribution. The Phone Menu, as we mentioned earlier, plays a role here again. Also, the ring order feature establishes an “all at once” or “round robin” approach.

‎Our newest addition, lead-based call routing, automatically routes calls based on lead data when the number matches an existing lead. It can route based on lead status (like potential, engaged, trial, etc.) or to a user assigned in a particular Custom Field. 

This is where call routing—via your CRM—gives you the edge. The data is already there. (Come on, you know these people!) Lead-based routing streamlines the whole damn thing, reducing phone menu friction or the likelihood of callers misdirecting themselves. We think you’ll think it’s worth the Premium Phone Number upgrade of $19 per month.

So? Qualify, queue, and distribute. That’s what needs to happen for productive call routing, and you need the right system to do it.

Final Thoughts: Choosing a Call Routing System for Your Sales Team

So, you are drowning in inbound calls, and routing is calling your name. You understand how it works—and how to make it work for your team. Great!

However, a good call routing system only really works if it’s integrated with your CRM.

So, whether you use Close or not, examine how the system fits with your CRM—in addition to price, complexity, and myriad considerations—before you commit to a routing system. 

To start your search, here are some of the top software options currently available:

• Close: Close is the all-in-one CRM for startup and SMB sales teams. It also offers advanced calling features, such as call routing via ring order, an IVR-driven Phone Menu, and lead-based call routing. 
• Nextiva: Nextiva is an undeniable leader in VoIP phone services, offering both essential and advanced call routing features that are user-friendly and scalable.
• Dialpad: Dialpad’s Talk plans offer robust communication features—including call routing. Easily set up different types of call routing, routing rules, custom greetings, and fallback options. 
• Aircall: Aircall offers an intelligent call routing system for your sales team with multi-level IVRs and “smart routing” based on CRM data, such as customer segment or most recent touchpoint.

Yeah, we get it—choosing the right call-routing software can feel a bit overwhelming. 

That’s why, with Close, you can test out the software free for 14 days—no strings attached. We think we’ll be a great fit for your sales team’s needs but want to prove it to you first. 

Are you ready to utilize that CRM-based lead data and put it to work via call routing?