Placing and answering calls in Lead Center

One of Lead Center's primary functions is serving as a telephone system that agents can use to place and answer phone calls over the internet using their computer's microphone. This article will show you how to place outbound calls and answer inbound calls using Lead Center on a desktop computer.

Getting started

You can use Lead Center to receive inbound calls and place outbound calls from U.S and Canadian numbers only.

How to place phone calls

Placing calls from the interaction panel

The telephone dialer and texting interface are both located in the Interaction panel. You can toggle between the two using the icons in the top right corner of the panel. 

The interaction panel also houses other elements of Lead Center. When you accept an incoming call, for instance, the interaction panel will display current interaction details instead of the dialer. However, you can always access the dialer at any time using the icons at the top of the interaction panel. 

1. To place an outbound call, open the dialer and input the phone number you want to call in the Recipient box.
    
2. Choose a tracking number from the dropdown menu. This is the number that will show up on the recipient's caller ID when you call.
   
   Note: Lead Center remembers the outbound caller ID you choose, so once you select a tracking number, that number will stay as your caller ID until you pick a different one. However, if you are calling a number you have called in the past, the caller ID will automatically switch to the tracking number you used the last time you called that number.
   
   
3. Click the check box that says Record call if you want to record the call. Laws on call recording vary from place to place, so make sure one-party recording is legal in your area. An administrator can also set your account to record all outbound calls by default.
   
   
4. Click Place Call. 

Placing calls from the Reviewed section

Calls can also be placed from the interaction panel when a lead is selected from the Reviewed section. The Reviewed section is anchored to the bottom of the inbox. You can click on the Active and Reviewed headers to quickly switch sections.

1. Select the lead from the Reviewed section.
   
   
2. Click the phone icon in the top right corner of the interaction panel. This will open the dialer and auto-populate it with the phone number of the lead.
   
   
   
   
3. The tracking number that served as your outbound caller ID during your most recent conversation with the person will populate automatically. If you want to use a different number as your caller ID you can change it in the dropdown menu.
   
   
4. Click Place Call.

How to answer incoming calls

When someone calls one of your tracking numbers and gets sent to Lead Center, they will appear at the top of the Active section of the inbox. All of the agents who are active and associated with the call flow that routed the call will see the lead in their inbox. The agent that has been idle the longest will see the call first; if they do not answer, it will ring in the inbox of the next agent in the queue.

1. Click the Answer button below the name of the lead to immediately connect with the caller.
   
   
2. Click the Decline button to decline the call. You will no longer see the call in the Active section of your inbox, but other agents may continue to see it, depending on how your call flow is configured.
   
   
3. You can also click the name of the lead, above the Answer and Decline buttons. Information about the caller will populate in the interaction panel, including caller id, the name of the tracking number that was called, and real-time attribution information. You can then answer the call using the buttons in the inbox or the icons at the top of the interaction panel.
   
   
4. To hang up, click the hang up icon in the top right of the interaction panel.
   
   

Placing calls using Quick Actions from the inbox

Quick Actions allows you to quickly place a follow-up call to someone from the Reviewed section in your inbox. The Reviewed section is a list of people who have recently interacted with your business, including inbound and outbound calls and texts. 

1. Find the lead you want to call in the Reviewed section and click on the menu icon next to the lead. You'll see two Quick Action icons: a phone icon and a text messaging icon. 
   
   
2. Click the phone icon to auto-populate the dialer with the lead's phone number.
   
   
   
   
3. Choose a tracking number from the dropdown menu to serve as your outbound caller ID.
   
   
4. Click Place Call.

FAQs

Why aren't my outbound calls recording?
Outbound call recording has to be turned on at the account level. Use this article to learn how to enable outbound call recording.