What is Call Parking? 5 Key Benefits and How to Use It Effectively

Call handling is an important facet of customer satisfaction. However, it’s not always an easy task to manage volume. Call parking, a popular integration in modern communication systems, offers a solution to handling significant call volumes. Understanding call parking, its key benefits, and how to use it to your advantage will help your business thrive in 2024.

Call parking basics

Call parking is associated with Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP technology. By using it, employees can place callers on hold. Any authorized user can access the call on their desk phone, making it convenient and easy for teams to collaborate. This technology makes both callers and your employees happier, as it’s a more efficient method of handling business calls.

What’s the difference between call parking, call forwarding, and on hold?

You might be inclined to think that call parking, call forwarding, and placing someone on hold are the same thing. However, they’re three distinct activities, each with a specific purpose in modern workplaces. Here, we break down each one and its relevance to your customer support teams.

When you forward a call it goes to another predetermined number, like voicemail or a co-worker’s line. Placing a call on hold puts the call on pause on your own line. You can choose to resume the call at any time. In contrast, call parking allocates a number of parking spaces available to authorized users. This feature means someone from your team can continue the parked call, so that the customer feels like there’s continuity in service.

While the benefits may be impressive, fortunately, the technology powering call parking isn’t too complex or hard to grasp. When call parking is activated, the call is transferred to a dedicated server within the VoIP system. This server captures the call information and allows authorized users to access it if they input the right credentials.

5 Key Benefits of Call Parking

Call parking can significantly improve your team’s communication and customer service. When you implement call parking as part of your operations, you can expect benefits like:

Improved Call Handling

A bulk of back-to-back calls can overwhelm your customer service teams. Call parking can help agents keep a manageable pace by temporarily parking calls to cater to more urgent issues without ending the original call. Call parking can help customer service teams respond to important inquiries faster, making customers feel seen and heard.

Enhanced Collaboration

Call parking encourages teamwork because it allows staff to access and handle incoming calls parked by others. It can be particularly helpful in the case of complex inquiries that might require multiple team members to come to a resolution.

Increased Customer Satisfaction

No one wants to wait on hold for a long time or speak with three people to get an answer. Call parking is a way to cut down on this noise. The result is an elevated customer experience and a culture of trust. You can’t discount the value of either.

Improved Sales Agent Productivity

Call parking gives agents the time and space to research buying history, prepare quotes, or handle other business while keeping the customer on the line. Your sales agents can work more strategically and cut down on lag time.

Added Flexibility for Mobile Workforces

Call parking can support remote teams and their goals. Customers are no longer left hanging on an active call because the original agent is unavailable. Any authorized team member can take over the call, so the customer is taken care of regardless of geographic location.

How to Use Call Parking Effectively

You can use call parking to bring efficiencies to your business operations. It just takes some time and attention to set it up. Follow these steps to get your team on the right track with call parking.

Setting Up Call Parking

Your VoIP service provider should be your first point of contact. They can help you configure call parking features and levels of access.

Parking Calls

Use the designated feature code on your business phone system provided by your VoIP system. This action will place the call in the virtual parking lot.

Retrieving Parked Calls

Authorized users can access and retrieve calls following the same protocol used to park calls.

Best Practices for Call Parking

Call parking requires a larger strategy to ensure success. Business leaders should keep the following in mind when setting up and using call parking in their operations.

Using Clear Communication Protocols

Communicate the reason for parking the call and when they might expect to speak with someone again.

Setting Time Limits for Retrieving Parked Calls

Your business must make internal decisions about how long calls can remain parked to keep customers happy.

Leveraging Visual or Auditory Alerts for Notifications

Make use of alerts to notify authorized users when calls are parked. This can help provide quicker service and ensure no one forgets about a parked call.

The goal of using call parking is to maximize its benefits and help both your team and your customer base get the most out of this phone system technology.

Turn Your Parked Calls into Revenue With Podium

Call parking can produce amazing results for businesses of all sizes, especially those with high call volumes or multiple phone lines.

Here’s why you should consider giving call parking a second look:

Reduced Missed Calls

Voicemail can feel impersonal and turn off prospects. Call parking lets you temporarily hold calls while you focus on others. Everyone wins.

Improved Customer Experience

Waiting on hold too long can make customers grumpy and dissatisfied. Call parking sends a message that you value their time and manage expectations.

Increased Efficiency

Speed matters in 2024. Call parking maintains call cadence, so your team doesn’t get bogged down by too many long calls.

Podium’s AI-powered VoIP system, Podium Phones, is far from ordinary call parking technology. Your business will be able to dive deeper with advanced features like call analytics, real-time call tracking, text messaging, and sentiment analysis. All of these integrations can transform parked calls into opportunities. Faster resolutions via text, fewer lost sales, and higher conversion rates can be your reality. No longer do customers have to wait on hold or get frustrated by a long wait time and choose your competitor. Watch a demo and discover how Podium Phones can help your business thrive!