We strongly recommend all team members download the LeadSimple mobile app for texting & calling, available for iOS and Android.
To start, go to the phone tab in the lefthand navbar, the click on settings gear at the top right of the page. Or go to Settings → Phone Settings
Adding your number
The first step to using the LeadSimple phone is getting one or many phone numbers set up.
You have two options here;
You can either port in your existing phone number
Create a new number.
Here you can find steps on how to port in a number you own: Can I Use Other Phone Numbers I Own in LeadSimple?
To add a new number or begin the process for porting an existing number, from the phone/settings page, under Phone Numbers, click on "Add New Phone Number."
From here, you can either search for a new number by area code, or click "Add a number I already own" to initiate the number porting process.
Once you've selected a number, you'll be prompted to choose a few settings for it. These are:
Nickname - only your team members who are on LeadSimple will see the number nickname. It will not act as a caller ID. We recommend using short, descriptive names like "Leasing" or "Maintenance" or "Main Office".
Phone type - this one is what type of calls you want to receive, VoIP or routing. We strongly recommend VoIP. VoIP will allow you to use your number as a true VoIP number, and place calls directly from your phone or desktop. Routing numbers forward the call to your physical personal cell phone and have feature restrictions.
Pipeline - this feature allows you to automatically create a lead record for anyone who calls the phone number. This is a fantastic feature for numbers which are lead sources in a pipeline, for example the phone number on your zillow listing or "for rent" posting. If the number is a main office line, then we recommend selecting "no pipeline".
Connected Users - these are the users which have access to use the phone number. Please note, if the texts or calls are associated with properties, contacts, or lead records, the messages associated with this phone number will be visible to other users in those places.
Ring Group or IVR menu - You can choose between the inbound numbers on the line going through an IVR menu (also sometimes called a phone tree, or just extensions) or ringing users directly. If you choose to ring users directly, you have further options depending on your phone plan between ringing a group simultaneously where the first to answer gets connected to the call, round robin, or cascading, where each user gets notified of the inbound call for 20s in sequence. More on these options below!
Setting up your IVR Phone Menu
To enable the phone menu, select the number for which you'd like to go through a phone menu rather than directly calling users, then follow the steps below.
Click "IVR Menu"
Click "+ Extension"
Select whether you want to the number to connect to one or many users, and/or forward to another phone number (including other LeadSimple numbers)
Please note, if you add multiple users to an extension, you will have the option between how they are rung via the Ring Strategy dropdown.
Now that you have the phone menu enabled, it's time to add the Initial Greeting. The Initial Greeting is how your inbound callers will know which extensions they can choose from during business hours.
"Thank you for calling [Name of Business]. Please enter the extension you would like to reach. Please press (extension number from IVR menu) for (department or team member name). Press star to repeat this menu".
Ring Groups
Available on $59/user Phone & Inbox Pro plan
The "Ring strategy" dropdown allows you to select between the following options:
Single user
Simultaneous: All users listed receive the inbound call, the first to answer gets connected to the call.
Round Robin: Each listed team member receives a single inbound call, the team member receiving the call rotates.
Cascading: Each user gets notified of the inbound call for 20s in sequence. Frequently the final option is to a third party answering service (external phone number) or AI agent.
Audio Files to Upload
Initial Greeting: This is what customers hear when they are first connected with the line. If you have an IVR menu set up, it should verbally list your available extensions and who they connect to.
Ring / Wait Music: Optional, plays between the selection of an extension to when one of your teammates answers.
Voicemail: The message they hear if no team member was available to answer their call
Outside of Phone Hours Greeting: This replaces the Initial Greeting outside of your business hours. You can offer after-hours extensions here too, just make sure that phone hours are not enabled for that extension.
Choosing your business hours
Business hours can be customized in the "Phone Hours" section. Because you may want some phone lines, such as emergency maintenance lines, to be available at all hours, you must apply the business hours either at the number level (if no IVR menu) or at the individual extension level
Placing Your First Call
There are many ways to place a call in LeadSimple. The simplest is by clicking New → Call in the top right corner, which opens the call modal.
You can also click on Contacts or Leads Phone numbers, and it will open the call modal pre-populated with their information.
Note, if your number is set to route to cell, there will be an additional field which appears to select the physical phone you want to route the call to.
Transferring Active Calls
If you get connected with an inbound caller who has a query better suited to one of your teammates, you can transfer an active call to any team member.
An icon in the active call modal with an arrow pointing up and to the right will appear, clicking it will bring you to a list of team members. Selecting one will transfer the call to them!
Using Your Mobile Phone To Make & Receive Calls
The LeadSimple mobile app for texting & calling is available for iOS and Android.
You can place calls using your mobile phone by downloading our native mobile app.