Holidays & telephony: how to arrange your reachability in Freedom

December: the month of lights, treats, and… that one customer who wants something arranged at the last minute. Because while you’re putting the turkey in the oven or trying to get the last package delivered on time, your business phone is ringing cheerfully somewhere.

Now for the good news: with Voys Freedom, you can set your opening hours so that you and your colleagues can enjoy the holidays without interruption, without compromising customer contact. In this blog, you can read exactly how to arrange your availability before, during, and after the holidays.

Why you should set up your telephony properly now

Holidays are the same every year, but surprisingly often, business availability is adjusted at the last minute. Before you know it, it’s December again and you’re stuck with that one uncle at Christmas dinner.

By setting your opening hours correctly in advance, you can avoid misunderstandings, calls outside working hours, and frustration on both sides of the line. Especially if you have multiple locations, part-time employees, or flexible working hours, it’s nice when everything runs smoothly. That’s why we’ve put together the best tips for preparing your business telephony for the holidays.

How to set your opening hours in Freedom

Freedom offers three modules for managing your availability: Opening Hours | Basic, Opening Hours | Advanced, and Temporary Redirect. Which one you choose depends on the complexity of your situation and your specific needs.

Opening hours | Basic: set all holidays once

Do you have standard opening hours and are you always closed on public holidays? Then the basic module is often sufficient. You can easily set when you are available or unavailable for each day. Ideal: with Opening Hours | Basic, you only need to set all public holidays once and you are immediately ready for all subsequent years (unless you want to change something, of course). So, is your business also closed on Whit Monday or Liberation Day, for example? Then add them right away.

With the Opening Hours | Basic module, you are either open, closed, or it is a public holiday. Based on that, it is determined what should happen with your business calls.

Would you like to know how to set up Opening Hours | Basic so that your availability is in order during these holidays? We explain this in detail on our help page.

Opening hours | Advanced: when more options are needed

Most companies find Opening Hours | Basic sufficient. But sometimes more is needed. For example, at a doctor’s office, when different routing is required at different times of the day. Or when you are unavailable by phone for an extended period of time due to summer or winter holidays. With the Opening Hours | Advanced module, you can set exactly when what should happen with your business telephony. 

So, do you need more options than Opening Hours | Basic offers? Then the advanced module is your best friend.

Temporary redirect: all phone numbers to voicemail

Don’t feel like or don’t have time to adjust your call plan? Or did you forget to adjust your availability? Then Temporary Call Forwarding is your lifesaver. The name says it all: you temporarily redirect your phone number(s) (to voicemail). You can specify how long this redirection should last and which voicemail message should be played. When the specified date has passed, your regular call plan will become active again. 

What’s even more convenient is that you can also activate Temporary Call Forwarding via the Voys App or Voys Webphone, so you don’t have to log in to Freedom. If you want to set it up efficiently, activate Voicemail Transcription! All voicemails will then be neatly transcribed and emailed to you.

Tip: don’t forget your notification texts!

If your business is closed or has different opening hours, you naturally want to inform your callers accordingly. Therefore, add a clear message to your call plan or voicemail box.

For example:
“Thank you for your call! We are closed from December 25 through January 1. We will be back to help you on January 2. We wish you happy holidays!” Another nice feature is that you can add personalized messages to your voicemail.

📣 Pro tip: Use the Voys Text-to-Speech feature in Freedom to quickly record a personal message. Don’t have the option to record something yourself, or need inspiration? We’ve created standard messages for you to use for free. It’s also possible to have professional messages recorded for a fee.

Smart tips for even better reachability during the holidays

Here are four additional tips to ensure your customer contact runs smoothly during the holidays (or any other vacation, of course):

1. Check your call routes and call groups

Are you sure the right team is receiving the right calls? Check whether your call groups are still correct. Do you work with call forwarding? Check that too.

2. Set up a queue with a maximum number of callers

Are you available (to a limited extent)? Don’t keep customers waiting unnecessarily if you are understaffed. With a queue with a limit and clear notifications, you can keep expectations realistic. 

3. Enable a callback request

Unavailable? Offer customers the option to leave a callback request. Your colleagues can easily pick up on it as soon as possible. Tip: enable Voicemail transcription, and the recorded message will be transcribed in no time and emailed to you. 

4. Plan well in advance

Do yourself a favor and set your opening hours at least a week in advance. This gives you time to check internally, adjust your messages, and inform any customers in advance via email or social media. If all else fails, we always have a backup for you: Temporary Redirect.

The most important holidays to include in your calling plan

Now that you’re setting up your phone service for the holidays, take a look ahead. That way, you’ll have everything sorted out for the coming year.

Here’s an overview of days when you might want to set different hours:

• December 24 (Christmas Eve) – many businesses close early
• December 25 & 26 (Christmas Day and Boxing Day) – often closed
• December 31 (New Year’s Eve) – often reduced working hours
• January 1 (New Year’s Day) – almost always closed
• Ramadan
• Eid al-Fitr (Feast of Sacrifice)
• Good Friday
• Easter Sunday and Easter Monday
• King’s Day
• Liberation Day
• Ascension Day
• Whit Sunday
• Whit Monday
• Keti Koti

Would you also like to take other days off into account, such as a company outing or extra vacation days for your team? Then you can of course also schedule these into your schedule.

Check, check, double-check: test your settings

Once you have adjusted your opening hours and message texts, it is wise to:

• test your call plan (you can call yourself at the right time)
• ask your colleagues if their User Status is correct 
• listen to the message text
• check your voicemail or call-back options

This will help you avoid last-minute stress and ensure that everything is working as desired.

Happy holidays, to you and your customers!

Good reachability during the holidays is not about being on call 24/7. It’s about letting your customers know what they can expect, coming across as professional, and giving your team a little rest. With the tools in Freedom, you can easily set up your telephony: whether you’re working the morning shift on Christmas Eve, closed for two weeks, or only off on January 1.

Ready for the holidays?

Log in to Freedom now and set your opening hours.

👉 Go to Freedom

Need help? Check our help pages or call support at 050 – 700 99 20. We’re happy to help.