Template: General Business Line
This template gives you a complete business call routing experience in one import: callers during business hours get a full menu of options, and callers after hours get a focused menu with voicemail and an urgent call path. It includes all 12 actions currently available in the Phound Flow editor.
It is the fastest way to make a single Phound number behave like a professionally staffed business line, day and night.
How the Flow Works
The first action is a Business Hours Check condition. Out of the box it is set to Monday through Friday, 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM, in the America/Los_Angeles timezone. Change this to your real schedule and timezone first.
During business hours
Callers hear a welcome greeting, then the main menu:
| Key | Option | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | New customer | Transfer message, then rings your new customer team all at once. Falls back to voicemail if nobody answers. |
| 2 | Existing customer | Transfer message, then rings your support team one person at a time. Falls back to voicemail. |
| 3 | Hours and directions | Reads your address and working hours, then returns to the menu. |
| 4 | Company directory | Lets the caller browse your team directory. |
| 5 | Join a meeting | Connects the caller to a meeting, with a voicemail fallback. |
| 6 | Information and updates | Opens a submenu for announcements, a requested text message, and an audio update. |
| 0 | Voicemail | Records a message to your main business voicemail. |
| * | Repeat | Repeats the menu options. |
Information and updates submenu
This submenu demonstrates Notification, Podcast, Wait, and Go To without crowding the main menu:
| Key | Option | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Latest updates | Plays an announcements message, then returns to the main menu. |
| 2 | Text contact information | Submits a caller-requested one-time text, waits one second, acknowledges the request, and returns to the main menu. Messaging charges may apply. |
| 3 | Latest audio update | Plays an RSS podcast feed, then returns to the main menu. Replace the demonstration feed before going live. |
| 0 | Main menu | Uses Go To to return to the main menu. |
| * | Repeat | Repeats the submenu options. |
After hours
Callers hear a closed greeting with your normal hours, then the after-hours menu:
| Key | Option | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Leave a voicemail | Records a message to your after-hours voicemail. |
| 2 | Hours and directions | Reads your address and working hours, then returns to the menu. |
| 3 | Urgent call | Tries to reach your on-call team, distributing the call across the group. Falls back to an urgent voicemail. |
| 4 | Latest updates | Plays an after-hours announcements message (holiday hours or urgent service notices). |
| 5 | Company directory | Lets the caller browse your team directory. |
| * | Repeat | Repeats the menu options. |
If a caller makes no selection after the configured attempts, the flow sends them to voicemail rather than leaving them stuck. The shipped Flow Settings use Phound's defaults: a 15-second menu timeout and up to 3 menu loops.
Flow Settings Included
Phound stores global caller-experience settings separately from the actions on the graph. This template intentionally uses the current defaults, so its normalized environment is empty and Phound supplies these values:
| Setting | Shipped value | What to know |
|---|---|---|
| Voice | Jane | Change this if another available voice better matches your business. |
| Dial timeout | Auto | The editor also offers 5, 10, 15, 30, 45, and 60 seconds. Individual Dial Someone actions can have their own timeout. |
| Max loops | 3 | After the final unsuccessful attempt, the menu follows its fallback destination. |
| Menu timeout | 15 seconds | How long a menu waits for a keypad selection. |
| Repeat key | * |
Keep this key out of the menu's numbered options. |
| No input prompt | Please make a selection | Played when no key is pressed. |
| Unsupported option prompt | Your input is invalid | Played for an unavailable key. |
| Max attempts prompt | Menu maximum loops reached | Played after the allowed attempts are exhausted. |
| Internal error prompt | Internal error has occurred | Played if the IVR service encounters an error. |
| Notification on hangup | Off | This global setting would send a message after every call. Configure it only for a deliberate recipient and approved message. |
| Admin PIN | Blank | A PIN permits telephone re-recording of Play Message actions and is stored in exported files. Set a unique PIN after import; never publish it in a shared template. |
The Business Hours Check, both Direction and Hours actions, their schedules, addresses, and timezones are graph settings. Update those three actions together so callers hear the same hours the Condition uses for routing.
Where All 12 Actions Are Used
| Action | Purpose in this template |
|---|---|
| Menu | Main, information, and after-hours keypad choices |
| Go To | Returns callers to the appropriate menu |
| Dial Someone | New customer, existing customer, and urgent routing with simultaneous, sequence, and distribute strategies |
| Play Message | Greetings, transfer explanations, announcements, and text confirmation |
| Direction and Hours | Reads the address and weekly schedule |
| Company Directory | Connects callers by team member name |
| Record Voicemail | Main and fallback mailboxes |
| Connect to Meeting | Sends a caller to a configured Phound meeting |
| Condition | Separates business-hours and after-hours handling |
| Notification | Sends caller-requested contact information by text |
| Podcast | Plays a configured RSS audio feed |
| Wait | Adds a short pause after the text is sent |
Before You Go Live: The [Edit] Checklist
The template ships with placeholder destinations so the file imports correctly. Every action whose name starts with [Edit] points at a placeholder and must be updated with your own users, groups, meetings, and voicemail owners:
- [Edit] Dial New Customer Team: the group that answers new customer calls
- [Edit] Dial Existing Customer Support: the group that handles current customers
- [Edit] Main Business Voicemail: who owns the daytime voicemail box
- [Edit] After-Hours Voicemail: who owns the overnight voicemail box
- [Edit] Dial Urgent Contact: your on-call person or group for after-hours emergencies
- [Edit] Urgent Voicemail: fallback voicemail when the urgent contact does not pick up
- [Edit] Connect to Meeting: the meeting destination for option 5
- [Edit] Meeting Fallback Voicemail: voicemail when the meeting is unavailable
- [Edit] New Customer Voicemail and [Edit] Existing Customer Voicemail: fallbacks when those teams do not answer
- [Edit] Company Directory (both menus): the group whose members appear in the directory
- [Edit] Latest Audio Update Podcast: replace the demonstration RSS feed and episode filter with a feed your organization owns or is authorized to play
Also personalize the text:
- Replace [Business Name] in the business hours greeting, after-hours greeting, and both updates messages
- Replace [Business Address] in both Hours and Directions actions
- Update the working hours and timezone in the Business Hours Check condition and both Hours and Directions actions so they all match
- Rewrite the Latest Updates messages with your own announcements, or repurpose those paths entirely
- Replace [Business Phone] and [Time Zone] in Text Contact Information to Caller, review the full text, and confirm your account is ready to send the caller-requested message
- Confirm the Podcast feed is HTTPS, remains available, contains playable audio, and returns to the main menu when the caller exits
Do not go live with placeholders. Account resource IDs in the download exist only so the Flow imports. Every
[Edit]destination must be opened and replaced with a resource from your own account.
Activate the Flow
Importing the Flow does not make it live. To turn it on:
- Go to Account → Personas and select the Persona that owns your business number.
- Open Incoming Calls.
- Choose Custom Flow and select Template - General Business Line (or whatever you renamed it to).
Custom Flows only work with numbers purchased through Phound or ported into Phound. Linked numbers cannot be assigned a custom Flow. Flows requires a Business plan.
Test Every Path
Before sharing the number with customers, call it from a different phone and verify:
- The business hours greeting plays during open hours
- Every menu key (1 through 6, 0, and *) does what the table above says
- Information and updates keys 1, 2, 3, 0, and * follow the correct paths
- Calls to your teams actually ring the right people
- Simultaneous, one-by-one, and distribute dialing behave as expected when calls are answered, declined, busy, or unanswered
- Voicemails arrive in the right mailboxes
- No input, an unsupported key, and the maximum-attempt fallback play the expected prompts
- The requested text contains the correct public information, arrives at a mobile caller, and does not block the call when delivery fails
- The one-second Wait is audible but does not sound like the call disconnected
- The Podcast feed loads, its keypad playback controls work, and exiting returns to the main menu
- The Company Directory exposes only the team members you intend to make public
- The meeting connects correctly and uses the right fallback when unavailable
- The after-hours greeting and menu play outside open hours (temporarily narrow the schedule to test this during the day)
- The urgent path reaches your on-call contact and falls back to the correct urgent voicemail
More Templates
Browse the Flow Templates library for the available Law Firm, Restaurant, and Car & Truck Dealership setups. Medical-practice templates are planned next. New to Flows? Start with What Are Phound Flows?