The Agent and Non-Agent User Guide for the CRM Smart Dialer Follow

What is the CRM Smart Dialer?

The CRM Smart Dialer is a built-in softphone that uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to always prioritize the most important calls that could have the greatest financial benefit to your firm. By default, the Smart Dialer is configured as a simple and turnkey system for your firm to hit the ground running. As a proven system to increase lead conversion and ensure that calls are being made, the Smart Dialer is ready to help fuel your firm’s growth trajectory!  🚀

 

Guide to the CRM Smart Dialer

💡 ☎️ This guide is designed for agents and non-agents to use and become familiar with their individual user settings and the features of the CRM Smart Dialer. If you are an administrative user and would like to learn more about setting up the CRM Smart Dialer, then please review The Administrator’s Guide to the CRM Smart Dialer.

If your Smart Dialer call box does not pop up when you sign into Legal CRM, or you have an audio issue with people hearing you, then please visit our support article for Troubleshooting the Smart Dialer.

⚠️ Please note, your headset must be a USB headset, no other type of headset is authorized to work with the CRM dialer, and not having the right kind of headset can increase the likelihood of audio and mic issues. In addition, your dialer must be loaded as a separate pop-up and window and not be accessed directly via your browser. Accessing the dialer via your browser may cause potential service impacts. 

 

Minimum/Recommended System Requirements

It is strongly recommended to update your system to have the following minimum or recommended requirements to avoid potential service impacts:

Windows Platform

Component	Minimum Version	Recommended
Processor	Intel Core i5-4440, CPU 2.10 GHz	Intel Core i7-4770, CPU 3.40 GH
Memory	8 GB	16 GB

Apple Mac Platform

Component	Minimum Version	Recommended
Processor	Intel Core i5, CPU 1.7 GHz	Intel Core i7, CPU 2.3 GHz
Memory	8 GB	16 GB

 

Table of Contents

What is a Non-Agent?

Setting the Default Dialer Status for Non-Agents

What is an Agent?

Setting the Default Dialer Status for Agents

Setting Up Pre-recorded Voicemails to Drop on Different Occasions

Setting Up Your Desktop for The Smart Dialer

The Smart Dialer Feature Overview

Answering Inbound Calls in the Smart Dialer

Breaktime Queue Protection!

Making Outbound Calls in the Smart Dialer and Click-to-Call Features

What If I Can't Find My Dialer?

 

What is a Non-Agent?

Sometimes you will have users at your firm that need to use the dialer to make outbound calls or be available for transferred calls. However, these users should not be able to see any incoming calls or queued outbound calls. This type of user is considered a non-agent. Non-agents should not be granted the "Call Center Agent" user permission.

 

Setting the Default Dialer Status for Non-Agents

Non-agents only have one of two options regarding their dialer status. They can either accept call transfers or not accept call transfers. This setting can be set directly inside the dialer window:

Defaults for this setting can be set by clicking your user initials bubble in the upper-right corner of the screen and navigating to "User Settings".

Next, scroll down to the section labeled "Default Call Center Statuses". Here you can set your default login status and default status after wrapping up. You can choose to either "Accept Incoming Calls" or "Do Not Accept Incoming Calls".

 

What is an Agent?

An agent is a user who can make outbound calls, receive inbound calls, receive transfers, and be prompted to make queued outbound calls. Agents have additional dialer statuses available to them, and those different statuses can be reported on. 

 

Setting the Default Dialer Status for Agents

To get started, click your user initials bubble in the upper-right corner of the screen, and then go to "User Settings".

Next, scroll down to the section labeled "Default Call Center Statuses".

In a call center environment or for any firm with active marketing/advertising campaigns, we strongly recommend that each agent sets both default status settings to “Available”.

This is so that agents are ready to take/make calls as soon as they log in to the CRM and also right after they wrap up a call. If an agent needs to go on break, they can change their dialer status at any time to “Busy” or “Offline” and then back to “Available” when the break is over.

⚠️ Important: An agent will not receive any inbound or outbound call requests if their dialer is not on “Available” status. If the firm does not do a lot of marketing/advertising and is looking for more of a click-to-call experience, then we suggest that you configure the default status to “Busy” so then the agent may put themselves on “Available” manually, as needed, in the Smart Dialer. 

However, it is important to recognize that if your firm does not have any agents on “Available” status and an inbound call rings in the Smart Dialer, it will ring several times and then bounce to the call forwarding number after it times out based on the current Call Center Settings. If you are an administrative user and would like to learn more, please review the Administrator’s Guide to the CRM Smart Dialer.

⏰ Break-Time Smart Dialer Queue Protection for Agents

Forgot to change the dialer status before a break or at the end of the day? Inside the Smart Dialer, if an incoming or outbound call request is not answered/made within the configured amount of time in Call Center Settings or the agent has no activity for an extended period of time, then the Smart Dialer will automatically set your agent status on "Busy" status to prevent more calls from being missed. If this happens, don't forget to put yourself back on "Available" status.

What is the default system timeout that will cause the Smart Dialer to put an agent on "Busy" or "Offline" status?

• If an agent gets a scheduled outbound call and misses it:
  > The system puts them on "Busy" in 1 minute
• If an agent receives an inbound call and misses it:
  > The system puts them on "Busy" in 30 seconds
• If an agent does not make or receive calls:
  > The system times them out & puts them "Offline" in 2 hours

 

Setting Up Pre-recorded Voicemails to Drop on Different Occasions

Imagine not having to repeat the same voicemail message 50 times a day when some of the clients that you call do not answer the phone. That will not happen anymore with the CRM Smart Dialer! 😂

⏱️ Save your time and your voice for when clients answer the phone! 

⏺️ Drop pre-recorded voicemails when clients do not answer.

The CRM Smart Dialer allows each agent to upload their own pre-recorded MP3 voicemails for different occasions. It is recommended that each agent records at least two different voicemails, one for first-time callers, and another for follow-up purposes. You can record these with any recording app on a mobile phone or a free desktop MP3 recording app.

After you have your MP3 recordings ready, you will upload them into the CRM from inside the “User Settings” page, and label them for each occasion that they will be used.

To do this, scroll down to the “Pre-Recorded Voicemails for Outbound Calls” section. Click the “Choose File” button, and select the MP3 recording file to upload. Then, press the “Save” button.

After you have successfully uploaded your first pre-recorded voicemail, you will be able to use the “Set as Default” option to set it as a standard voicemail to drop. This is strongly recommended for a follow-up occasion recording. If your role is primarily calling and welcoming new callers, then you may want to consider setting up a different default recording.

If you would like to relabel any recordings, click the “Edit Label” option. A label editor box will appear for you to enter a friendly name that is different from the filename that was uploaded. Make any changes there, and then press the “Save” button to the right of the editor box.

To deactivate a recording and stop using it on calls, click the “Deactivate” option. 

Alright, that is it for the agent set up in the User Settings page, Let’s move on to the more exciting part, the features!

 

Setting Up Your Desktop for The Smart Dialer

The Smart Dialer will live in a separate, sidebar window in your Chrome browser. It is recommended if you have the screen space, that you shrink the main CRM window so there is room for the Smart Dialer next to it. This will prevent you from having to keep clicking back and forth between the main CRM window and the dialer window. Due to changes in the Chrome browser, the CRM is no longer allowed to focus the Smart Dialer to always stay as the front window on your computer, so resizing the windows when you first sign in is recommended.

Here is an example of what it looks like if you have your desktop set up for both windows without having to click back and forth or have the Smart Dialer get hidden in the background.

 

The Smart Dialer Feature Overview

Now, onto the good stuff! 

At the top of the Smart Dialer is the "Status" dropdown. This is where you will set your availability, if you are available to take/make calls, or if you are busy or offline. Toward the bottom of the Smart Dialer, you will see a snapshot of both the Inbound and Outbound call queue and the number of agents currently signed into the Smart Dialer. 

👍 As a rule of thumb, if you see very few or no agents signed in and available, and calls are in the queue, then it is suggested to change your dialer status to “Available” to help your teammates.

Below the “Status” dropdown, the Smart Dialer has a bar of five buttons when a call is loaded but not in progress. However, during a live call, there is a sixth button for call transfer that will appear.

These six buttons are as follows from left to right:

• Call – press this button to make the phone call. We don’t believe in robo-dialing. The Smart Dialer will present the calls for you, but a person is needed to start dialing.
• Send a Text Message – press this button to send a text message. This is very helpful. Many firms have automated text messaging set up before phone automation, but if not, feel free to let the caller know that you are about to call them back. When they see a call from the same number that texted them, they are more likely to answer your call!
• Add a Note – press this button to add a note to the lead/client’s record. This is a time saver if you would like to notate something important that you heard during the call.
• Schedule a Callback – press this button to schedule a callback at a specified date/time in your time zone. For example, the caller answers and asks for a callback tomorrow at 12 PM during their lunch break. You would want to set a manual call back for something that specific.
• Drop Voicemail – press this button during a live call to drop a voicemail. Since we do not believe in robot dialing, you will have to press this button yourself if the caller does not answer. As soon as you select the pre-recorded voicemail to drop, the call ends for you, but the Smart Dialer will playback your voicemail recording as if you said it live.
• Transfer Call – press this button during a live call to transfer the call. You will have the option to transfer the call to another available agent or use the keypad to dial a number. There are two types of call transfers available: warm transfer and blind transfer. A warm transfer allows the agent to explain who is on the line to the person that is receiving the call. A blind transfer is a call dump where you are just transferring the caller with no explanation to the recipient. 
  • Warm Transfers of Calls - this new and improved feature will now make it easier for your agents to create conference calls and to do an unlimited number of warm transfer attempts to connect a call. For example, if agent 1 tries to do a warm transfer to recipient 1 but they do not answer, agent 1 can then try transferring another recipient, rinse and repeat as many times as needed, or even try to connect to the same recipient multiple times. However, after the call has been transferred to a different agent, no more forwarding is available since the conference call loop has been closed.

An example of the Smart Dialer during a live call is displayed in the following image. 

To put yourself on mute, press the “Mute” button. Then, to take yourself off mute, press the “Muted” button.

To place a caller on hold, press the “Hold” button. Then, to take them off hold, press the “On Hold” button.

If you are finished with a call and would like to disconnect it, press the “End Call” button. This will hang up on the caller and end the call.

After a call is completed, you must select a “Call Outcome” from the dropdown in order to "wrap up" the call. You will not be able to take or make another call until you wrap up each call. Just remember, the “Wrap Up” button will not work until you select an option from the “Call Outcome” dropdown.

After wrapping up, the next call will pop up in your dialer, if any calls are available. 

 

Answering Inbound Calls in the Smart Dialer

When an inbound call comes in on any softphone-enabled CRM tracking number, the incoming call will ring to the first agent whose dialer status was set to "Available". This is called a First-In-First-Out (FIFO) queue. First in, first out. You will hear a ringing sound coming from your audio headset when an inbound call is ringing. Make sure that you answer it!

Press the green “Answer” button to answer the call. If you do not press it fast enough, the call will then ring to the next available agent, or forward out of the call queue, depending on your firm’s call forwarding settings. 

If you are not able to answer the call, then press the red “Decline” button, but be aware that declining a call is usually bad for business and is a logged call action that management can see.

Incoming calls are always presented based on your user permissions. For example, if you are only allowed access to personal injury cases, and a call comes in for another practice area and no one answers it, then even though you are available, you will not be able to receive those calls. If this happens, please tell your manager! These are settings that they can adjust at any time.  

 

Breaktime Queue Protection!

Forget to log out of the queue before a break?  Inside of the Smart Dialer, if an incoming or outbound call request is not made/answered within the configured amount of time, then the Smart Dialer will automatically put your agent status on “Busy” to prevent more calls from being missed. Don’t forget to put yourself back on “Available” after a break.

Once the agent changes their status back to "Available", then they will be available to proceed with more call requests.

If one agent misses a call request, then the call will be automatically routed to the next agent in the queue, if there is another agent available. However, if there are not any available agents in the queue, then the call will forward to the forwarding number that is saved within the tracking number's settings.

 

Making Outbound Calls in the Smart Dialer and Click-to-Call Features

The Smart Dialer works magic and will always prioritize the most important calls for the agents.  However, if there are no Smart Dialer calls available, or if an agent wants to manually dial someone, they may always use the click-to-call button to make a manual outgoing call to anyone. In the Smart Dialer, you can use the same number for outbound calls for all case types, or segment the caller ID by case type.

• Custom Phone Numbers by Case Type - You can set 1 or more phone numbers for each case type in the CRM Smart Dialer. This provides several benefits including:
  - Assigning numbers for each Case Type, and
  - Diversifying your outbound dialing numbers which lowers the chances that the wireless phone carriers could put spam traps on your firm's phone numbers. Based on new industrywide phone carrier intel, doing a large volume of calls from one number could make your firm more prone to be flagged. Diversifying your outbound dialer numbers is a good mitigation tactic.  

To use click-to-call, click on the phone number of any lead/case in the inbox screen to load the number into your dialer window.

Or click the phone icon in the Contact Information section inside a specific lead/client record.  

❓ Missing Caller? If an agent needs to make an outbound call to someone that is not in the system, then a new intake/contact will need to be created first. Click the “New Intake” option from the main navigation menu on the left-hand side of the screen.

The CRM offers call queues to create outbound call requests via automation. If a lead/case meets an automation’s criteria, the system will queue up an outbound call for that contact. These calls will be added to the outbound call queue.

As soon as the first agent that has user permissions for that call type goes on available, they will receive a call instantly to dial. Press the green “Accept” button to start dialing, as shown below.

If the queued call is not taken, the dialer will automatically put your status on “Busy” and log that you missed the call. The call will get added back to the outbound call queue for the next agent who is available to take it.

When a queued outbound call from a lead/case comes into the dialer, there is an option to recycle the call. To recycle a call, press the “Recycle” button.

Recycling the call simply means that you are not available to take the call. Once you press the recycle button, the calls get added back to the outbound dialer queue for the next available agent. Your agent status as well will automatically be put on "Busy".  

⚠️ However, please be aware, that if a call is recycled, it will come right back if there are no other calls available, so if you are not available to take the call, then it is recommended to go on “Busy”.

 

What If I Can't Find My Dialer?

For agents, if you close the dialer, the dialer window will automatically open anytime you refresh or access a new page in the CRM. This is to make sure that you never miss a call. If you are having a hard time finding your dialer window, check to make sure there are no other CRM windows open and running in the background. You should have a window open for the main CRM portal and a separate smaller window open for the dialer.

For non-agents, the dialer window will need to be manually opened by clicking the user initials bubble in the upper-right corner, and selecting the "Softphone" option.

However, for both agents and non-agents, if you need to reopen your dialer window, click your user initials bubble in the upper-right corner, and select the "Softphone" option.