IVR / Phone Tree
Press 1 for sales, 2 for support — but smarter.
A classic phone tree with two upgrades over old IVRs:
- Keypad routes are instant — press 1, get transferred in ~500 ms. No "you have selected 1, please hold."
- The fallback is an AI — anyone who says their request instead of pressing a key gets routed by the agent.
Goal
- Press 1 → Sales (transferred to +91-sales-number)
- Press 2 → Support (transferred to +91-support-number)
- Press 3 → Billing AI agent (mid-call swap)
- Speak naturally → AI routes based on what you said
Recommended preset
Fast — Groq llama-3.3-70b + Deepgram nova-3. Routing decisions are simple; lowest latency = best caller experience.
System prompt
You are the front-desk receptionist at TechCo.
Greet the caller and read this menu briefly:
"Welcome to TechCo. Press 1 for Sales, 2 for Support, 3 for Billing. Or just tell me how I can help."
If they speak instead of pressing:
- "I want to buy" / "pricing" / "demo" → use transfer_to_human with destination=Sales
- "broken" / "not working" / "issue with my X" → use transfer_to_human with destination=Support
- "invoice" / "refund" / "billing" / "payment" → use transfer_to_agent with agent_name="Billing"
If they're unclear, ask one clarifying question max, then route based on their answer.
If they keep being unclear after one question, just say "Let me get someone to help" and transfer to Sales (the catch-all human).
Be brief. One sentence per turn.Welcome message
Welcome to TechCo. Press 1 for Sales, 2 for Support, 3 for Billing. Or just tell me how I can help.Settings
| Setting | Value |
|---|---|
| Max call duration | 60 sec (this is a router, not a conversation) |
| Allow interruptions | On |
| Enable DTMF (keypad) | On |
| Enable end-call detection | Off (always transfers, never ends naturally) |
Tools — keypad routes (DTMF)
Configure → Advanced → Keypad (DTMF) → On
Add three routes:
| Key | Label | Type | Destination | Say before transfer |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sales | Phone | +91-sales-number | "Connecting you to Sales — please hold." |
| 2 | Support | Phone | +91-support-number | "Connecting you to Support — please hold." |
| 3 | Billing | Agent | Billing AI (workspace agent) | "Transferring you to billing — one moment." |
When the caller presses 1: the bot transfers in ~500 ms — no LLM involvement. When the caller presses 3: the call continues, but with a different AI agent (Billing).
Tools — Voice fallback (transfer_to_human)
For prospects who speak instead of press:
Configure → Actions → Call Transfer → Transfer to Human
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Enabled | ✓ |
| Destination | +91-sales-number (the catch-all) |
| Trigger description | "Transfer when the caller mentions buying, pricing, demos, sales, getting started, or wants to talk to sales." |
Configure → Actions → Call Transfer → Transfer to Other Agents
| Agent | Trigger |
|---|---|
| Support AI | "When caller mentions a broken product, error, can't login, technical issue, or anything that's not working." |
| Billing AI | "When caller mentions invoices, payments, refunds, subscription changes, or billing." |
Phone setup
Your inbound phone number → set inbound agent = this router agent.
How to test
| What you do | Expected behavior |
|---|---|
| Press 1 | ~500 ms transfer to Sales |
| Press 2 | ~500 ms transfer to Support |
| Press 3 | Bot speaks announce, then swaps to Billing AI |
| Say "I need help with my invoice" | Routes to Billing AI (via voice cue) |
| Say "my login is broken" | Routes to Support phone |
| Say "I'm confused" | Asks one clarifying question, then catches-all to Sales |
Typical cost
IVR calls are very short — ~10-30 seconds before transfer. Typical cost: ₹0.50 – ₹1 per call.
If you're at 1,000 calls/day routing through this, you're spending ₹500-1000 to save your team thousands of minutes of "press 1 if..." answering.
Common mistakes
| Mistake | Fix |
|---|---|
| DTMF doesn't work on Twilio numbers | Check trunk DTMF mode is RFC 2833 (default for Plivo, may need to enable on Twilio) |
| Voice routing is wrong | Make triggerDescription more specific. Use real caller phrases as examples in the prompt. |
| Bot says menu too slowly | Switch to Fast preset OR speed up TTS in Voice settings (1.1×) |
| Some callers press 0 expecting an operator | Add 0 as a route in DTMF settings → Sales destination |
| Bot answers too verbosely | Add to prompt: "Maximum 12 words per response." |
What's next
- DTMF guide — full keypad config reference
- Call transfer — warm handoff with conversation summary
- Pronunciation — if your brand name keeps getting mispronounced