The Administrator's Guide to the Law Ruler Smart Dialer (Law Ruler Contact Center) Follow
What is the Law Ruler Smart Dialer?
The Law Ruler "Smart Dialer" 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! 🚀
If you would like to read the Agent's Guide to the Law Ruler Smart Dialer, then please review that article.
Table of Contents
Smart Dialer Hardware and Software Requirements
Configuring your Smart Dialer Administrative Settings
Custom Greetings and Hold Music for the Call Queue
Configuring Each Agent’s Permissions by Lead Source and Case Type
Setting Up Outbound Call Campaign Automation
Smart Dialer Hardware and Software Requirements
⚠️ Please note, your headset must be a USB headset, no other type of headset is authorized to work with Law Ruler, and not having the right kind of headset can increase the likelihood of audio and mic issues.
You will need Google Chrome and a wired or wireless headset for each agent to get started.
The Smart Dialer is only compatible with desktop and laptop devices, some tablets with a full OS version, but not mobile phones. Currently, there is not any compatibility with mobile operating systems (OS) due to a limitation with the underlying VOIP framework from Twilio, the world’s largest internet phone company. Thus, a Microsoft Surface that has a full Microsoft OS version will work, but an Android tablet, phone, or iPhone will not.
To get started, first, you will need to verify that you have an Elite license for each agent since Boutique and other Law Ruler plans do not include the Smart Dialer feature.
Also, if your agents have any issues making the Smart Dialer pop-up appear in their Chrome browser, then review this Smart Dialer Troubleshooting article.
Law Ruler also strongly recommends updating 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 GHz |
| 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 |
Configuring your Smart Dialer Administrative Settings
The Smart Dialer administrative settings should be reviewed and tested before using the Smart Dialer in a live agent environment. On the left-side blue menu, click on “Setup” and then “Contact Center and Call Outcomes” as shown below.
You must be a user with admin access, or you will not be able to see these menu options. Please ask your firm administrator or IT department if you need these changes made.
First, we will review the Smart Dialer timeout settings that govern how long a call will stay in the agent queue before forwarding to an external phone number. Many firms will have an external answering service or call center set up for "live answer" of overflow or after-hours calls to provide a better user experience for new and existing clients. A voicemail feature does not exist in the Smart Dialer so it is strongly recommended to have an external call center for any inbound calls that cannot be answered.
The “Maximum Time for Incoming Calls to Stay in a Queue” is set to “30 Seconds” by default. Based on industry statistics, this is enough time for about 4 rings and is a standard. However, if you would like to make it longer then you may select another option from the timeout dropdown. Longer than 30 seconds will increase the risk of callers disconnecting and abandoning their call due to increased hold times.
⚠️ Important: It is strongly recommended that before you go live with the Smart Dialer that you make test calls into your firm’s main Law Ruler number that was provided to you at sign-up. Try it without any agents available, and with 1 or more agents available to make sure it works as expected and that everyone is properly set up and ready to go. It is much easier to provide training and correct issues before your marketing campaigns go live.
Custom Greetings and Hold Music for the Call Queue
The Smart Dialer comes equipped with a ringing sound mp3 file as the default hold music when calls enter the call queue. Callers are more likely to stay on hold if they hear a ringing sound because it provides the image of a phone ringing and thus, they are not actually on hold. By default, the ringing sound is set to 30 seconds.
Some firms have custom needs, e.g. playing a popular song or playing a custom greeting message that advises greets callers and advises them if calls will be recorded (if call recording is activated). You could even set it up to first play a quality assurance greeting messaging, then play the ringing sound, and finally, have a popular song as hold music. Regardless of your needs, Law Ruler's Smart Dialer comes equipped with the ability to customize the greeting and hold music for your firm.
To set up custom hold music, go to Setup > Contact Center and Call Outcomes
Then, you may upload any custom hold music or greeting messages as shown below. After you are finished making changes, a blue "Apply changes" button will appear. Press the button to apply changes.
Managing How Calls Route
Most call centers/firms prefer a round-robin workflow, meaning that for both outbound and inbound calls, those calls are given to one agent after another, to ensure the calls are evenly distributed.
However, some call centers/firms only want that to happen for new inquiries, and once an agent has spoken to the client, they want all future conversations to be with that agent only.
To accomplish this, Law Ruler will allow you to activate the "Only allow callbacks for assignees" setting. This setting will route all outbound and inbound calls to the Lead Assignee on file for a specific lead/case.
Managing Call Forwarding
The focus of this article is set up of the Smart Dialer, but a related topic of importance is managing call forwarding, after the “Maximum Time for Incoming Calls to Stay in a Queue” is exceeded and times out. If you need to review how to manage call forwarding settings, then please review this article.
It is important to verify that everything is working properly and verify the correct forwarding number is set up for your Smart Dialer number, especially if you make changes or set up a new external call center or answering service. To access your call forwarding settings for each lead/marketing source, click on the “Setup” button on the left-side blue menu, then click on “Manage Lead/Marketing Sources”
Inside of each system will be a lead/marketing source labeled as “Main SMS Number” and that is where you will want to make sure that these settings are as they should be. You may need to also configure call forwarding settings for additional call tracking numbers that your firm may be using.
Reordering Call Priorities
As part of the Smart Dialer, Law Ruler includes preloaded call prioritization settings based on best practices. What this means is that the Smart Dialer will use artificial intelligence and machine learning to always prioritize the most important calls that could have the greatest financial benefit to your firm. This is provided in a turnkey way so that your firm should not have to spend time reinventing the wheel. This is set up this way by default to keep it simple since it is a proven system to increase lead conversion.
In the “Call Priorities” header, you will see that by default, inbound calls from new leads are the top priority and will always be presented to callers before any other inbound or outbound calls. Any inbound calls from other callers are prioritized second. Third, are outbound calls to new leads as the next priority. These would normally be new web form submissions and live chat inquiries.
It is not suggested that you modify these settings without first speaking to your Law Ruler account manager about the potential effects on your sales/marketing funnel.
Also, if your firm has any custom call priorities for custom statuses, then your account manager will be able to create a consulting proposal to implement any custom settings. If you would like to reorder the call priorities on your own, then use the up/down arrows to make any changes.
Managing Call Outcomes
Law Ruler has found that the most efficient way to manage call campaigns is to require a “Call Outcome” to be selected by agents after each call is completed. The purpose of the “Call Outcome” dropdown in the Smart Dialer pop-up is to save time. This is accomplished by allowing the agent to summarize what happened on each call with a call outcome without requiring an administrative user to read every note and happening on each client to see what happened.
Call outcomes do not change statuses or perform any actions in the Smart Dialer. For example, if you need to mark a client as rejected or opted-out, then you will need to do that inside of the client record, not in the Smart Dialer pop-up.
With that said, as an administrative user, you may modify, add, reorder, and deactivate call outcomes inside of this screen. You may also review this video.
If you add a new call outcome, then press the “Add Call Outcome” button. After adding a call outcome, you will need to use the up/down arrows to place it in the proper order. The order that you set up on this screen will be the same as shown to each agent in the Smart Dialer pop-up.
For modifying call outcomes, you may change or reword any existing call outcomes that you would like. After editing the call outcome, click on the “Update” button to save your changes, or “Cancel” if you do not want to save your changes.
For deactivating call outcomes, you would click the “Deactivate” button on the right side of each call outcome. However, call outcomes cannot be deleted if they are already in use on client records but deactivating them will prevent them from being reused in the future. If you deactivate a call outcome and want to reactivate it later, then look for it below in the red shaded area and press the “Reactivate” button to put it back in use.
Configuring Each Agent’s Permissions by Lead Source and Case Type
One of the features of the Smart Dialer is segmenting calls based on user permissions. One common occurrence that could occur from limiting access to campaigns by agent, is that a call comes in and no agents are available to answer it.
😱 Remember, if you take an agent’s access away from certain sources/case types, then they will not be included in the number of available agents for those specific types of calls, even if you see agents on available, so please be careful! Many successful firms start out with all agents having access to all case types, then evaluate the call flow, and then decide what to limit. It is not recommended to do this without a careful evaluation since you could miss live calls!
For example, if certain agents are needed to answer sensitive campaigns, then it is suggested that you do not give other users permission to those case types or lead sources. To make changes to user permissions, you must be an administrative user. Click on “Setup” in the left-blue menu and then “Manage Users and Groups” Then, click the appropriate box to give users permissions by case type or source, as shown below. If a user has access to “All Leads” then they will be able to answer calls for all campaigns.
Please review this video for more detailed instructions on Managing User Permissions.
Setting Up Outbound Call Campaign Automation
An outbound call campaign automation is a feature where you can automate outbound calls to your potential and existing clients based on the status of each record. For example, you could automate an outbound call to be loaded in the call queue for the status of New Lead. This is extremely useful so you do not have to wonder why your lead conversion % is down, or why new leads are just not called quick enough. Don’t leave it up to chance and human error.
💡 It is strongly recommended to set up the outbound call automation for your New Lead automation to ensure that each new lead, especially website form submissions, do not wait, or your potential clients will go elsewhere in the blink of an eye. This is critical to your success! 🚀
Inside of the Law Ruler automation screen, administrative users or any user with access to the “Command Center” user permission will be able to implement outbound call campaign automation. To get started, click on “Automations” the left-side blue menu. Then, click on “AI and Automation Campaigns” as shown below.
Next, you will want to activate the outbound call automation inside of a new or existing campaign. To create a new automation, click the blue “New Automation Campaign” button in the top-right corner of the automation screen. If you would like to edit an existing automation campaign, then click the green edit icon that looks like a pen and notepad on the right-side as shown below.
On the first screen, “Campaign Settings” you will see an option near the top for “Outbound Call On/Off” By default, this is in the red “Off” position. This should be toggled to the “On” position so that you can see the call automation settings for each campaign automation.
If you do not have an Elite license plan and the Smart Dialer is not activated in your Law Ruler system, then the “Outbound Call On/Off” option will not be visible in your system. Please contact Law Ruler Support to get this feature today!
After you toggle the “Outbound Call On/Off” option to the blue, “On” position, and press the “Save” button in the top-right corner, it is now activated.
If you would like to change the timing of the outbound call automation, then you may do that by changing the “Delivery Settings” as shown below. We suggest leaving it at 0 or 1 minute so that the new calls occur as quickly as you have an agent available.
Support/Assistance
If you need further assistance, then please contact Law Ruler Support to assist you further.
🤗 Thank you very much for choosing Law Ruler!