You've probably experienced the frustration of trying to reach a certain department or individual inside a large business. This is especially true if you have been forced to navigate through a succession of voice menus. Although these menu systems serve an important function in that they route folks with specific questions to the appropriate office, they also create unneeded obstacles for callers who already know who they need to speak with.
Realistically speaking, these menu systems are little more than a technique of connecting a caller with the appropriate extension number. In some cases, if you already know the extension number that you need to call, you can skip the entire process. Being able to dial an extension can save you a significant amount of time and energy.
In this article, it is our goal to tell you everything you can know about these systems and how to properly use them. So strap in and let Mightycall take you through this step by step.
What Is a Phone Extension?
An extension is a brief internal number of your business number that is issued to an employee, a project team, or a department of your company. It can be used by as many sub-divisions or employees in your organization as necessary.
If a client or any caller wants to contact your firm in order to speak with a specific employee or to obtain the services of a specific division, they can dial the extension and be automatically routed to the appropriate location.
Phone extensions enable businesses to connect callers to various departments and employees throughout the organization. There are numerous routes and shortcuts that have been built in order to save time for both you and your callers.
How Do Extensions Work?
Extensions are simply numbers that are added to the end of your company phone line. In general, four-digit numbers are used for extension designations. The number of digits in an extension can be any number between 2 and 942; so, if you want someone to have the extension 8, 76, or 619, that is a possibility.
Consider the following scenario: Ahmed and Paula are both workers at a company and have been assigned the extension numbers 243 and 765, respectively. To reach Paula, Ahmed only needs to dial 765, which is her extension number, and the call will be connected.
If Ahmed and Paula happen to work in different departments of the same company and have been assigned different extensions to each of these departments, the extensions assigned to each of these departments are taken into account while making the decision.
To illustrate, imagine that Ahmed is from the Sales department and has an extension of 10 and that Paula is from the Finance department and has an extension of 17. In order to contact Paula, Ahmed would have to dial something like 17-765.
Making a Straight Call
In order to make a direct call to an extension number that you are already familiar with, one of the simplest methods is to make use of the interactive voice menu system. The majority of the time, these gatekeepers will give you the option to enter the extension number you wish to contact before launching into their voice menu system.
This is a relatively basic technique to achieving your desired result. If you are seeking to find the extension number so that you can bypass these options at a later time, ask the individual or business you are calling for the correct extension number after you have been connected.
Calling the Extension Directly
Users of modern smartphones can dial an extension number directly from their phones. In order to do so, you must first input the primary telephone number that you wish to contact. As soon as you've completed this, press and hold the * key until the comma is displayed after the primary number you just entered.
Then enter the extension number that you wish to reach someone at. When you have completed the process by dialing the number series, you will be connected directly to the extension you choose.
It is necessary to use the period (.) when entering a phone number because it instructs your phone to dial the subsequent extension after it establishes a connection with the primary phone number. This straightforward form of automation can assist you in avoiding excessive wait periods, ensuring that your message reaches your intended audience as quickly as possible.
Practically every contemporary cell phone is capable of this. For obvious reasons, this method will not work if you are phoning from an older landline phone. It may not enable you to enter the entire number before pressing the dialing button before calling.
Calling an Extension From a Landline
Just because these phones are old doesn't mean you can't use them to get the job done in a different way. In this section, we'll show you how to call extensions directly from a landline. Firstly, you'll dial the number normally because you can't avail of any call pausing services.
As soon as the line begins to pick up, try entering the extension. Many menu systems allow you to begin inputting the extension as soon as the phone is picked up, which is convenient. Now is a good time to try entering your extension to check whether it works.
If your extension does not function properly, pay attention to the menu options. It is possible that you will be required to select an option before being permitted to input an extension.
To make your speed dial more useful, provide a pause and an extension. The Pause key is on some phones that have a speed dial feature; it can be used to stop the phone from dialing the number you have programmed into the speed dial function. The presence and location of this button vary from one model to the next, and it is not always visible.
Add two pauses after the base number before entering the extension number if you have the option to do so. Save the entire thing as a fast dial entry in your phone. This speed dial input will allow you to contact the extension directly if the phone number you're calling allows you to enter the extension number immediately.
Replace the last digits of the actual number with the extension to see if it works. If the extension is a four-digit number, you may be able to dial it directly by substituting the last four digits of the base number with the extension's four-digit number instead. To illustrate, if the company phone number is 1-800-555-2222 and the extension number is 1234, try dialing 1-800-555-1234 instead.
All of this might seem like overkill, but you will have to go the extra mile to get work done on a landline. At the end of the day, it is an efficient system and works regardless of the phone you have at hand.
