Phone tree builder: draft your call routing in 5 minutes
Name the reasons people call and what each key should do. You get the menu script, a drawn tree, the after-hours branch and the time it takes to read out.
Main menu script
Thank you for calling Summit Heating and Air. For repairs and tune-ups, press 1. For new system quotes, press 2. For billing, press 3. For hours and service area, press 4. For anything else, press 0 to reach the front desk. To hear these options again, press star.
49 words, about 20 seconds out loud
The tree
Summit Heating and Air main line ├─ 1 Repairs and tune-ups → Books a time in the service calendar ├─ 2 New system quotes → Rings the sales desk ├─ 3 Billing → Takes a message for the office manager ├─ 4 Hours and service area → Plays your recorded answer, then the menu again └─ 0 Anything else → Rings the front desk After hours → 1 rings the on-call technician; the rest leave a message
After-hours script
Thank you for calling Summit Heating and Air. We're closed right now. Our hours are Monday to Saturday, 7am to 6pm. If this is an emergency, press 1 to reach the on-call technician. For anything else, leave your name, number and what you need after the tone.
The same routing, with no keypad
- A caller who wants repairs and tune-ups: book the time in the service calendar.
- A caller who wants new system quotes: transfer to the sales desk.
- A caller who wants billing: take the name, number and reason for the office manager.
- A caller who asks about hours and service area: answer from your trained notes.
- A caller who wants a person: transfer to the front desk.
What the builder hands you
- A menu script that puts each caller's need before the key, ready to record or paste.
- The tree drawn out key by key, with 0 kept for a person and star to repeat.
- A read-out time at 150 words a minute, and a warning past 30 seconds.
- The same routing as plain-language rules for an AI receptionist, with no keypad.
How the builder lays out the keys
Your options go on keys 1 to 8 in the order you list them, so put the most common reason first. Key 0 goes to a person when you switch it on, and star repeats the menu. Key 9 stays free, which leaves room for one more option later without renumbering anything.
Each key does one of four things. It rings a person or a team, books a time in a calendar, takes a message for someone, or plays a recorded answer and returns to the menu. Pick the action, name who or which calendar, and the tree labels the branch.
Blank options are dropped, and two options with the same name get flagged. A caller can't pick between two identical choices, and neither can you when you read the call log.
The example tree, drawn out
Summit Heating and Air is a made-up heating and cooling company. This is exactly what the builder opens with.
| Key | Caller wants | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Repairs and tune-ups | Books a time in the service calendar |
| 2 | New system quotes | Rings the sales desk |
| 3 | Billing | Takes a message for the office manager |
| 4 | Hours and service area | Plays your recorded answer, then the menu again |
| 0 | Anything else | Rings the front desk |
Menu script: 49 words, about 20 seconds out loud.
The menu reads: "Thank you for calling Summit Heating and Air. For repairs and tune-ups, press 1. For new system quotes, press 2. For billing, press 3. For hours and service area, press 4. For anything else, press 0 to reach the front desk. To hear these options again, press star."
After hours, callers hear: "Thank you for calling Summit Heating and Air. We're closed right now. Our hours are Monday to Saturday, 7am to 6pm. If this is an emergency, press 1 to reach the on-call technician. For anything else, leave your name, number and what you need after the tone."
Five rules the menu script follows
The same tree, with no keypad
A keypad menu asks the caller to translate their problem into a number. An AI receptionist skips that step. GreetKeeper answers, asks what the caller needs, and routes by the answer, using rules like the ones the builder writes under "The same routing, with no keypad".
For the example tree, that's "A caller who wants repairs and tune-ups: book the time in the service calendar." and "A caller who wants new system quotes: transfer to the sales desk." GreetKeeper transfers to your team when a caller asks, tries a second number you nominate if the first doesn't answer, and sends every call as a transcript and a short summary.
Booking, routing and transfers are included on every plan. Professional is $149 a month for 750 calls; see all tiers on the pricing page or how call routing works in the product.
Phone tree questions
How do I make a phone tree for a small business?
List the three or four reasons people call, give each one a key, and decide what happens on that key: ring someone, book a time, take a message or play an answer. Keep 0 for a person, then write the after-hours branch. The builder does the wording and the timing.
How many options should a phone tree have?
As few as your callers need. The builder allows up to 8 and times the menu at 150 words a minute, then warns you once it runs past 30 seconds, because a caller waiting for the last option hears every other one first.
Should it say "press 1 for sales" or "for sales, press 1"?
Put the need first: "For billing, press 3." The caller hears the reason, recognizes theirs, then hears the key. With the key first they have to hold a number in mind before they know if it's theirs.
What is the difference between a phone tree and an auto attendant?
They're the same idea under two names. An auto attendant is the phone-system feature that plays the menu and routes the keypress. The phone tree is the map of options behind it, which is what this tool drafts.
Can callers skip the menu and just say what they need?
With an AI receptionist, yes. GreetKeeper routes by what the caller needs, so the builder's plain-language rules become your routing and nobody presses a key.
Turn the tree into a conversation
Give GreetKeeper your routing rules and let callers say what they need.