Answering the phones for several sites: shared number, local numbers and site-specific information

A shared number gives a unified image and simplifies communication: a single line on the website, the business cards and the letters. In return, someone has to work out which site the caller is phoning about, then direct them, and that is the moment when calls can get lost or the caller has to repeat their request.

Local numbers, by contrast, bring the caller closer to the team they know and put the call in the right place with no intermediary. But be careful about what an area code means today: the Arcep, the French telecoms regulator, states that the geographical constraint on numbers starting 01 to 05 (France’s regional landline prefixes) disappeared on 1 January 2023, and that these numbers can be assigned to customers established anywhere in mainland France (or in the overseas territory concerned). A regional prefix remains a familiar landmark for callers looking for someone local, but it no longer proves a presence in the area: it is the site’s address and team that make it local.

Whatever the number, the information a caller needs varies from one site to another: address and access, opening hours and exceptional closures, the people or departments present, appointment arrangements, documents to bring. Gather them in one document per site, dated and assigned to a person responsible for keeping it up to date. A poorly informed reception may owe less to technology than to information that has not been updated.

Also decide what is shared: the general offer, public prices if they are uniform, the callback policy, the tone of the greeting. Distinguishing what is shared from what is local avoids both contradictions between sites and answers that are too generic.

A transfer from one site to another works well when the destination is reachable, informed and able to pick up the request without asking the same questions again. It works badly when the recipient is absent, the line rings unanswered or the caller is passed on twice. If you centralise, set out in black and white who answers for each site, at what times, and what happens when the person is not available.

A simple principle: every transfer should have a single destination and a plan B (taking a message with a callback). A short rule that everyone applies is better than a complex matrix that nobody keeps up to date.

We need to be honest about the limits of the tools. A voice agent that handles only one transfer number does not route between several departments or between several sites: it cannot choose between three branches on the caller’s behalf. For an organisation where each site receives its own calls on its own number, a per-site configuration is more natural: each line has its own information, its own hours and its own transfer number.

Conversely, if your callers have to be directed according to town, department or person, you need a genuine routing system, which neither message-taking nor an agent with a single transfer number can replace. In both cases, check that the system you choose matches how your callers actually present themselves.

If you move from a shared number to local numbers (or the reverse), think about number portability. The Arcep reminds us that you can keep your landline or mobile number when you change operator, that the new operator handles the process, that it relies on the operator identity statement (relevé d’identité opérateur, RIO) and that no direct charge is applied to the end user. This right applies when you change operator, within a single territory (mainland France, or a given overseas territory). If a site moves, the Arcep specifies that, since 1 January 2023, you can ask to keep a number starting 01 to 05 within the same territory, but that the operator remains free to accept or not: ask them before you sign.

Finally, plan how you will tell your customers: update the website, each establishment’s Google listing and email signatures before you switch, and keep the old number active for a while, forwarding to the new one.

Ask yourself: who is calling, and for which site? What information changes from one site to another? Who can take a transfer, and at what times? And what happens when nobody is available? If the sites have little in common, favour local numbers; if they share the same offer and the same team, a shared number is workable.

Alyas answers 24 hours a day from the information you give it. It does not route between sites or between departments and transfers to a single number, when the caller asks: it suits a line whose information and transfer concern a single site. It announces that it is an AI and that the call is recorded, captures the caller’s details, places the transcript and summary in your workspace and, if it does not know, says so and offers to pass the request on. Free 10-day trial, with no credit card required.