When to audit the phone menu
- Before buying more leads: paid calls, Google Local Services Ads, Angi/Thumbtack/Yelp leads, and referral partners can all expose routing gaps.
- After missed-call complaints: customers say they left messages, selected the wrong option, or never heard back.
- After staffing or service changes: a dispatcher, office manager, technician, or after-hours vendor changes ownership.
- Human review rule: do not publish or automate a routing promise until the owner confirms who monitors each option and what happens after hours.
Copy/paste phone-menu routing map
Menu option: [Press 1 for new service / press 2 for existing jobs / press 3 for billing / press 4 for emergencies]
Caller intent: [new lead / urgent safety issue / quote question / scheduling / warranty / billing / vendor / tenant / property manager]
Business-hours owner: [person, team, or call center that answers or returns the call]
After-hours owner: [monitored line, voicemail box, on-call team, next-business-day callback, or no after-hours coverage]
Fallback if unanswered: [voicemail script, text-back trigger, email alert, CRM task, escalation owner]
CRM label: [new-lead-phone-menu / emergency-review / quote-question / billing-not-lead / warranty-callback]
Stop rule: [what should not be promised without owner approval: ETA, emergency dispatch, price, diagnosis, warranty, refund, discount]
Next review date: [monthly / seasonal / after staffing change / after lead-source change]
Routing checks that prevent missed leads
- New-lead path: make sure quote and booking callers do not land in a general voicemail nobody owns.
- Urgency path: define what counts as urgent and what callers should do for safety risks the business cannot handle immediately.
- Existing-customer path: separate warranty, scheduling, and billing so sales leads are not buried behind account questions.
- After-hours path: say whether the line is monitored, next-business-day, or emergency-only; do not imply 24/7 dispatch unless true.
- Text-back path: decide which missed calls get a text, who reviews replies, and how SMS consent/opt-out rules are handled.
- CRM handoff: record menu option, call time, caller intent, owner, next action, and close reason when the lead is not booked.
Safe voicemail fallback script
Thanks for calling [BUSINESS]. If you are calling about [SERVICE / NEW REQUEST], please leave your name, phone number, service address, and one sentence about what you need. If this is a safety emergency, call the appropriate emergency service first. We review messages [REVIEW WINDOW] and will respond through [CALL/TEXT/EMAIL] as soon as the right team member is available.
Review: replace the review window with a true staffing window. Do not say “as soon as possible,” “24/7,” or “same day” unless operations can support it.
AI audit prompt
You are helping a local service business audit its phone menu and missed-call routing. Use only the menu transcript, voicemail scripts, business hours, staffing notes, lead sources, and CRM fields provided. Do not invent emergency coverage, dispatch availability, prices, diagnoses, warranty terms, refund policies, SMS consent, or response-time promises. Return a table with: menu option, caller intent, owner during business hours, after-hours owner, fallback message, CRM label, risk if unanswered, and NEEDS OWNER REVIEW items.
Where this fits in the lead-response system
Pair this checklist with the Lead Routing Checklist, Voicemail Follow-Up Scripts, Wrong Number and Do-Not-Contact Cleanup Checklist, free AI Lead Response Quickstart, and Local Lead Rescue System.