Main business greeting: a call-flow template

When this flow fits

For the first greeting on your business number during normal opening hours. Choose the shortest menu that gives callers a useful route.

Keep each route tied to a caller need. With Auto Attendant each option does one thing: it rings up to three phones one after another (never together), takes a voicemail, or plays a message and hangs up; a line can also skip the menu entirely. A forwarded call shows your business number as caller ID, and the team returns calls from its own mobiles.

Why this flow is built this way

The main greeting is the one callers hear most, so every second in it is multiplied by every call. Its job is narrow: say who they have reached, list the few reasons people usually call, and let each caller choose. Menus of this kind are called interactive voice response, and the keypad tones callers press are DTMF signals 12. Nothing about the technology requires a long menu; the length is a design choice.

The order of options matters more than the wording. Put the most common reason first, because callers who hear their reason early stop listening and press, and everyone benefits. Say the reason before the number (“for a new enquiry, press 1”) so a caller is already listening for their own need when the key arrives. Offering to repeat the options once, by staying on the line, saves callers who looked away at the wrong moment.

Flow and keypresses

The diagram shows what the caller hears and where each choice leads. The count is the number of keypad selections from the first menu to that destination; a submenu adds another press.

Original script wording

Replace the shaded fields with details your callers need. Do not read them aloud as written. Word count and duration are calculated from each script; spoken time is estimated at 150 words per minute, so pauses and keypad instructions may make the spoken greeting longer. Auto Attendant reads your wording in a text-to-speech voice; you type the words rather than recording them.

Shaded text is a fill-in field: replace it with your own.

A worked example

Illustration: a physiotherapy practice starts with the four-option script. After a month of listening to voicemail, the manager notices that “anything else” collects mostly billing questions. She changes option 4 to “billing and invoices”, which now rings the practice manager, and folds the genuinely miscellaneous calls into option 1, which rings the front desk. The greeting stays at four options and calls land with someone who can answer them.

The seven-option script is the opposite case: it exists in the template because an Auto Attendant menu holds up to seven options, not because seven is a good idea. A business with seven distinct call types each owned by a different person can use it; most small businesses should end up with two to four.

Timing, options and common mistakes

A common starting suggestion is to let each phone ring for about 20 seconds before the caller reaches voicemail. Adjust after listening to real calls; this is general practice, not a product setting.

Two options: new enquiries and existing customers. Four options: add appointments and a general route. Seven options: the most an Auto Attendant menu holds; use it only when callers genuinely need the extra distinctions.

• Do not read a department label callers will not recognise.
• Seven options use the full menu allowance and are harder to remember; merge or drop the least-used choices first.
• Do not promise a callback time unless the team can meet it.

Say the option before its key, put the most frequent caller need first, and repeat the key choices at the end. A practical starting point is no more than about four top-level options: callers must listen, remember the choices and select one. Use a submenu for a less common branch rather than making every caller hear every detail.

For a full routing walkthrough, see call routing and menu design. An Auto Attendant menu has up to seven options; each rings up to three phones in turn, takes a voicemail or plays a message. The menu can be in English, French or Spanish. Voicemails are emailed in the business’s chosen language with the MP3 attached, followed by a transcript in the language of the message.

Standards and rules behind it

Phone menus must work for callers who cannot use a keypad quickly or at all. The ADA’s effective-communication principle applies to businesses open to the public and mentions text telephones among the tools for people who are deaf or hard of hearing 3. Relay services connect those callers through an operator who relays the conversation 4; the Federal Communications Commission’s standards require operators on certain relay calls to stay with the call for a minimum of ten minutes 5, so a relay user may take noticeably longer to reach a choice. Give the menu a generous pause and repeat the options rather than hanging up on silence.

A published email address on the website is the simplest alternative route for customers who cannot comfortably use the phone menu.

This is general information, not legal advice. Rules differ by state and change; confirm anything that affects your business with the source or an adviser.

Test it before you publish it

• Time the greeting aloud, including pauses, and aim for under about 25 seconds.
• Press every key and confirm each rings the right phone.
• Listen to a week of voicemail and rename any option that collects the wrong calls.
• Call from a withheld number and from a mobile with poor reception.
• Ask someone who has never called the business to follow the menu without help.

Related templates and guides

• Service versus sales submenu: call-flow template
• Bilingual English and Spanish menu: call-flow template
• Appointment-based business: call-flow template
• Overflow when nobody answers: call-flow template
• Medical clinic: phone menu guide
• Law firm: phone menu guide
• HVAC business: phone menu guide
• Call routing and menu design
• What is an auto attendant?
• Business phone glossary