Who is calling, and what do they need?
Prospective customers request an estimate, booked customers ask about timing, and a crew may need dispatch help on moving day. Those groups should not all ring the same person.
Keep the top-level menu in the caller’s language. In Auto Attendant each option does one thing: it rings up to three phones one after another (each for 10 to 60 seconds, never together), takes a voicemail, or plays a message and hangs up. Point each option at the person, or the shared phone, that actually handles this call, and add a backup only where a missed call costs you.
How moving company calls actually go
Moving calls are quote calls first and operations calls second. A prospective customer wants a price and a date; a customer in the middle of a move wants to know where the truck is. The two should never share a line, because the second is urgent and emotional and the first is a sales conversation that suffers when interrupted.
Crew leaders are driving or loading when the phone rings, so dispatch should take existing-move calls. For quotes, a voicemail that asks for origin, destination, move date and size of home gives the estimator what they need to make an informed callback.
Recommended menu
| Caller’s choice | Role to ring | What it does | Why this route |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Plan a move or request an estimate | estimator | Rings one phone | One estimator starts the estimate process. |
| 2. Booked move or schedule | move coordinator | Rings one phone | A named coordinator owns confirmed-job details. |
| 3. Crew or moving-day issue | dispatch contact, then crew lead | Rings up to 3 phones in turn, then voicemail | Dispatch rings first and the crew lead next during moving-day hours; a missed call goes to voicemail. |
Scroll the table sideways to see every column.
Shaded text is a fill-in field: replace it with your own.
This example uses 3 menu options. Auto Attendant allows up to seven; add an option only when it sends a distinct kind of caller to a meaningfully different destination. A call that rings every phone you listed without an answer goes to voicemail. The menu can be in English, French or Spanish, and a line can also skip the menu and go straight to one action.
Greeting script
Business name. For a move estimate, press 1. If your move is already booked, press 2. For a crew or moving-day issue, press 3.
Shaded text is a fill-in field: replace it with your own.
24 words, about 10 seconds spoken at 150 words per minute. The estimate is calculated from the script above; allow extra time for pauses and clear delivery.
Read each reason before its key, as in “For a new enquiry, press 1”. Replace the shaded fields and any role or service wording before you type the greeting into the menu; a text-to-speech voice reads it to callers.
A worked example
Illustration: a regional mover offers 1 for a quote, 2 for a move already booked or under way, and 3 for claims and billing. Option 2 rings the dispatcher. The voicemail for option 1 asks for the pick-up and delivery addresses, the preferred date and the size of the home.
The recurring error is routing the day-of-move call to the salesperson who booked the job. They are probably at another quote. Dispatch knows the truck’s position, and it is the number customers should have been given.
After hours, weekends, and holidays
Use a moving-day route only during the hours a dispatcher is monitoring it. For future estimates, take a voicemail and state when the office returns calls.
Moving schedules often include weekends, but that does not guarantee the office line is staffed. State the actual dispatch coverage and next office opening.
Outside the hours you set, Auto Attendant plays your closed message and then takes a voicemail or ends the call; it does not forward calls after hours, and holidays are closed all day. Where the advice above mentions an on-call route, either keep that person’s option within your set hours or give the arrangement in the closed message.
Check the greeting after every schedule change. A voicemail arrives by email with the recording attached and a transcript when one is produced, but it does not make the call live or guarantee a response time.
Rules and standards worth knowing
Interstate household-goods movers are subject to federal consumer-protection rules in 49 CFR Part 375, including requirements on estimates, which are written as binding and non-binding estimates 1. When giving a written estimate to a prospective individual shipper, a mover must also provide specified documents, among them a summary of its customer complaint and inquiry handling procedures that includes the mover’s main telephone number 2. That makes the published number part of a regulated process; test it regularly and keep it answered or routed to a monitored voicemail.
Local and intrastate moves are regulated by states, and the SBA’s guide to licences and permits is a good place to find the relevant office 3.
Crews work physically demanding days and sometimes long ones; the Department of Labor’s on-call rule is relevant when dispatch uses an on-call phone after hours 4.
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.
Common menu mistakes
- Routing a new estimate to a crew in transit.
- Leaving a moving-day option active when dispatch has finished.
- Pointing the moving-day option at someone who is not on dispatch that day.
Keep the greeting short, use the same names callers see elsewhere, and make sure every route has a sensible end when nobody picks up.
Check the menu before you publish it
- Give day-of-move calls their own key, answered by dispatch.
- Ask quote callers for both addresses, date and size of home.
- Confirm the published main number is monitored if you handle interstate moves.
- Write a busy-season message for the end of the month and the summer.
- Check that claims and billing go to someone who can look up the job.
Related guides and templates
- Cleaning service: phone menu guide
- Real estate brokerage: phone menu guide
- Property management company: phone menu guide
- Auto repair shop: phone menu guide
- Field crew dispatch: call-flow template
- Seasonal peak greeting: call-flow template
- Overflow when nobody answers: call-flow template
- Weekend greeting: call-flow template
- Call routing and menu design
- Missed calls and what they cost
Further reading
Longer research pieces on this topic, each with its own source list and a downloadable PDF.
Articles on this topic
Topics Small business phone Auto attendant Call forwarding Voicemail All topics
Sources
Every regulatory and pricing claim on this page links to the primary source it came from. Figures were checked on the date shown at the top of the page; rules and prices change, so verify before relying on one.
- 49 CFR Part 375, Transportation of Household Goods in Interstate Commerce: Consumer Protection Regulations. Retrieved 14 Oct 2026
https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-49/subtitle-B/chapter-III/subchapter-B/part-375 - 49 CFR § 375.213, What information must I provide to a prospective individual shipper? (interstate household goods movers). Retrieved 14 Oct 2026
https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/49/375.213 - US Small Business Administration, Apply for licenses and permits. Retrieved 14 Oct 2026
https://www.sba.gov/business-guide/launch-your-business/apply-licenses-permits - 29 CFR § 785.17, On-call time (US Department of Labor hours-worked rules). Retrieved 14 Oct 2026
https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/29/785.17