Hunt Groups 101: How to Manage Incoming Calls Like a Pro

What if prospects could reach sales reps in seconds?

Thanks to cloud-based phone systems, you can shorten, if not eliminate, the obstacles to reaching live sales or customer service reps. Faster call distribution can be a reality with a special business phone system feature: hunt groups.

Why should you use a hunt group, and how should you approach setting one up? Follow along as we explain everything you need to know about managing incoming calls with hunt groups.

What Is a Hunt Group?

Wonder how much your callers hate waiting? A Call Centre Helper survey indicates that more than 21% of callers hang up if asked to wait between 60 and 119 seconds. Meanwhile, another 22% of respondents said they would abandon the call if hold times lasted for 120 to 239 seconds.

Hunt groups — a type of call group — solve this problem by sharing incoming calls among a team so that someone always answers. When a caller dials your business’s main telephone number, your phone system’s hunt group feature evenly distributes calls using the following components:

Group formation. Hunt groups let you organize your call-takers into teams. Your business phone system will then route calls to the phone groups or individual lines identified as part of the hunt group.

Call distribution rules. Hunt groups operate based on rules that specify the most relevant person or team to respond to an inquiry, taking into account the issue, the day or business hour, and other relevant conditions. You can configure how your platform hunts for the next available customer care agent to answer the call, with options including skills-based routing, longest idle, and round-robin. The call is transferred for forwarding with no intervention from a human receptionist or agent.

This means hunt groups can reduce, if not eliminate, hold times and prevent agents from becoming exhausted with back-to-back calls, leading to more streamlined call handling.

A hunt group can work in the following ways for specific scenarios:

• Customer service: Human agents pick up the phone. Callers feel relief because they would typically endure hearing an endless series of rings, listening to hold music as they’re placed in a queue, or being transferred to voicemail.
• Technical support: Customers receive immediate assistance from the next available or most skilled technician, facilitating real-time troubleshooting without escalation.
• Sales teams: With a hunt group, your business can capture and nurture every lead. Calls are routed to the appropriate agent based on the caller’s stage in the buying journey or the product/service they need.
• Field service dispatch: Customer care reps can connect customers to field or emergency responders to schedule urgent maintenance requests on the spot.
• IT help desks: Hunt group members can triage calls so the help desk line isn’t clogged with service tickets and backlogs.

Why Use Hunt Groups?

The automated hunt group feature makes your customer service team more efficient in the following ways:

Reduces missed calls

When you activate your business phone system’s hunt group facility, incoming calls are automatically sent to available lines. This approach minimizes the number of missed calls your agents must handle.

Improves call distribution

Routing methods such as round robin or longest idle ensure that workloads are evenly distributed among hunt group members. This way, agents serving multiple departments don’t get overwhelmed or burned out, even during periods with high call volumes.

Maximizes agent efficiency

You can implement contact center best practices for any team size by providing members with effective processes and tools to streamline call management. The hunt group setting contributes to workflow efficiency because it doesn’t require any manual call forwarding.

The sequence of call answering becomes automated once you select and set your preferred call routing option. This results in greater customer focus and first call resolution among agents.

Enhances professionalism

Hunt group settings allow entire teams, regardless of their size, to consistently answer phone calls promptly. Such responsive call handling can polish your professional image, even for small businesses.

Case study: The former IP system used by Faro Logistics ran on local servers. Internet outages at the main location would disrupt communications throughout its network, putting operations at risk, especially at newly established warehouses.

By switching to Nextiva’s cloud VoIP platform, the company could redirect conversations to employees’ smartphones if the HQ’s internet connectivity faltered. Nextiva’s call/hunt groups and routing feature allowed staff to route calls to managers across their facilities. This availability gave customers immediate access to information, improving the client experience.

How Hunt Groups Work

After forming your hunt group, you can choose from the following options for how your calls should be routed.

Longest idle

When a call comes in, your business phone system checks which agent is available or hasn’t received any calls for the longest time. It then routes the call to that agent’s phone line. This setting — also called uniform call routing — ensures the even distribution of calls by prioritizing agents who have received fewer calls or have a high idle time.

Round robin

Members of a hunt group receive calls in sequential order, with the first agent on the list getting the first call. The system moves to the next available agent if that line or extension becomes unavailable. When your phone system reaches the end of the list, it will return to the top and start over. This routing method is also known as circular hunting.

Fixed order

Fixed order — also called regular or sequential call — routes calls based on a predefined, linear sequence. Your phone system tries each extension until it finds an available or free agent.

Skills-based routing

Managers can assign weights or ratings to each agent based on their experience or expertise. The most seasoned agents receive the highest rating, which allows them to take priority in the call-taking sequence.

The skill-based routing method — or weighted hunt group — is beneficial when you want the call distribution to prioritize specific agents, especially the most qualified. It can also help train new agents by preventing them from being overwhelmed with calls early in their training. This approach is effective in support and technical departments, where certain individuals are designated to address specific caller needs.

Simultaneous ring

All the phones in a hunt group will ring simultaneously when someone calls. The first person to answer takes the call.

This setting resembles a ring group and is ideal for time-sensitive responses. It’s also beneficial when you want to cut or eliminate the gap between when a caller dials your number and when the first available agent picks up.

Hunt Groups vs. Ring Groups

Hunt groups and ring groups are two call group types that describe distinct strategies for managing incoming calls and call routing. They aim to distribute calls among agents but differ in function and implementation.

Feature	Hunt Group	Ring Group
Call distribution	Various approaches (fixed/sequential, round-robin, longest idle, or skills-based)	All lines in the call group ring concurrently, with the call answered by the first agent who responds
Use case	Structured, rule-based	Speed-focused
Customization	High (routing rules and agent availability); can allow the most qualified person to handle the call	Low; can guarantee an immediate response
Best for	Specialized teams and fair call distribution	Quick response and a small team

How to Manage Hunt Groups

When using a call routing software, such as Nextiva, the typical steps involved in setting up a hunt group are the following:

Step 1: Create a group

Give your hunt group a name and assign a phone number to it. This number is what customers will dial to reach that team or department.

On the main Nextiva dashboard, you can create a hunt group by selecting “Call groups” under the “Advanced routing” box or option.

Step 2: Add members

Select the members of the hunt group, which would typically be your sales or customer support teams. On Nextiva, you can click the button with a plus sign beside the agent’s name to include them in the hunt group. Alternatively, click the “All” button if you want everyone listed to be part of this hunt group.

Step 3: Set call routing preferences

Specify your preferred routing method: circular, regular, simultaneous, uniform, or weighted. Nextiva refers to this as the call distribution policy. Your phone system will typically route calls, and the phones will ring based on the order of the agents listed as users on your dashboard.

You will also have to set the number of rings before your system routes the call to the next agent, voicemail, or an external number.

Step 4: Set business hours and time zones

Specify the time window in which calls can be routed to the hunt group. Then select your preferred call-taking option when agents are no longer available: backup/external line, voicemail, or auto-attendant.

Step 5: Monitor and optimize

Monitoring your call activity, such as calls per user and missed calls, and viewing your analytics, including trend analysis and performance comparisons between periods, will help you assess whether your routing strategy and hunt group composition are achieving your target results.

Benefits of Using Hunt Groups for Businesses

Using the hunt group strategy for taking calls can improve the responsiveness, reputation, and ROI of your start-up or small business. Let’s break down the business advantages.

Avoid missed calls from leads or vendors

Hunt groups capture every call, grabbing every opportunity to establish engagement that can lead to a sale, partnership, or positive customer review.

Automatically route incoming calls to available staff

Once you’ve selected your preferred settings, your private branch exchange or cloud-based call center solution (such as Voice over Internet Protocol phone system) connects callers to members of your hunt group instantly. Customers get help faster, even during peak hours.

Eliminate the need for manual call forwarding

Your staff can focus on resolving issues instead of manually searching for a teammate who is available or the most competent to handle a call. This way, smart routing boosts the efficiency and scalability of your first line of communication.

Present a polished and organized caller ID experience

When a call gets through, automated call routing systems via Nextiva or other providers display the call source or the number a customer dialed to reach you, whether it’s your sales or IT support hotline. Your agent immediately gets a general context of the call, allowing them to provide an enterprise-grade experience.

Improve response times without needing extra staff

When you have limited resources but well-trained staff, intelligent call routing and hunt group settings enable your callers to get prompt assistance. You can get more done without scaling your headcount.

The Nextiva Advantage: Why Use Nextiva to Manage Call Routing

When you need a robust business phone system for your workspace that allows you to adjust call routing options at any time, Nextiva is your best option. Here’s why:

✅ Enhanced platform power

You get access to enterprise-level call-handling tools from an integrated dashboard, enabling your team to offer big-business performance even if you’re a small business.

✅ Simplified hunt group management

Nextiva’s user-friendly drag-and-drop interface and visual workflows make customizing and managing hunt groups easy. You can activate your preferred routing in minutes, not hours. Moreover, AI-powered analytics helps you understand how your teams perform in real time.

✅ Call routing without the lag

Every business caller receives prompt and professional assistance, whether calls are routed to different departments or across multiple time zones.

Ready to streamline your call management through hunt groups? Book a demo today to learn more about Nextiva’s intelligent call routing system.

2023 Call Centre Helper Survey – https://www.callcentrehelper.com/2023-survey-abandon-time-227844.htm