Using PhoneBurner to Improve Number Management for Teams

Summary:

Managing your phone numbers effectively is one of the easiest ways to improve outbound performance, protect caller ID reputation, and keep teams aligned. Separating your numbers into dedicated pools makes it easier to control routing, track usage, and maintain consistent calling patterns. PhoneBurner streamlines this entire process, from making it easy to buy new numbers to organizing them and creating routing strategies for inbound calls. Features like local presence dialing and ARMOR® number protection make it even more effective.

Using PhoneBurner to Improve Number Management for Teams

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Purchasing and organizing numbers efficiently are two of the biggest challenges for outbound teams. If you’ve been randomly buying numbers with different area codes and lumping them together in one giant list, your dialing practices and routing strategy probably need some work.

PhoneBurner makes it easy to strategically purchase numbers and separate them into different groups or “number pools” for better control and usage across different teams, clients, or call campaigns. This helps you understand how your numbers are being used, build trust by establishing more consistent calling patterns, and route inbound calls so they always reach the appropriate parties.

The better your numbers are organized, the easier it is to reach more contacts effectively. Let’s get started.

Why Separating Numbers Improves Your Outreach

You don’t want to put every number your organisation owns into one undifferentiated list. Instead, it’s best to keep separate groups of numbers for different reps, departments (sales, support, etc.), clients, or campaigns. In PhoneBurner, we refer to groups of numbers used for a specific purpose as “number pools”.

Here are the key benefits to this approach:

• Clearer analytics & oversight. When agents on a given team use numbers from a dedicated pool, you can easily see what numbers they’re using and track relevant performance metrics.
• Improved routing. Numbers in a pool share one inbound routing strategy, helping you make the most of callbacks from your outbound campaigns. So whether you’re calling on behalf of multiple clients or supporting both east and west coast teams, you can be confident those callbacks reach the right team.
• Consistent team calling patterns. Using the same numbers for multiple call purposes can negatively impact number reputation by creating inconsistent call patterns. Using number pools to keep numbers separate keeps each group’s dialing behavior distinct and consistent, which builds trust in your numbers and improves deliverability over time.

Using PhoneBurner to Manage Your Numbers More Effectively

PhoneBurner makes it significantly easier for teams to buy, organise, and route numbers. Here are some easy steps you can follow for each of these important processes:

Buying Numbers with PhoneBurner

Here’s how you purchase numbers inside the platform:

1. Log into your account.
2. Click your initials in the top‐right corner.
3. Select Numbers in the menu. This opens your Inventory page.
4. On the Inventory page, click the orange Get Numbers button.
5. Select the country and states you’ll be calling from.
6. Check the boxes next to the area code(s) where you want to purchase numbers.
7. Click Place your order. Your new numbers will be added to your PhoneBurner plan.

Here’s a YouTube video that breaks down these steps in additional detail:

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Creating Pools to Organize Your Numbers

Once you’ve bought numbers, PhoneBurner makes it easy to organise them into pools.

Pools each serve a specific purpose. They can be arranged by person or team (sales, support, AEs, SDRs, Jane Smith), by geography (California, Oregon), or by campaign type (hot leads, win-backs, closers). Essentially, number pools give you complete flexibility to match the right caller IDs to the right contacts.

Numbers within a pool will rotate intelligently as calls are made, helping distribute call volume evenly across multiple numbers within a group. This helps you avoid sudden spikes in volume and create more consistent calling patterns across your numbers, which helps reduce the risk of flags and maintain a positive number reputation.

Your Inventory page shows every number your organisation has purchased. From here, you can build, rename, expand, or reorganise pools depending on how your teams operate.

• To create a new pool: Click the white Add number pool button in the top-right corner and give the pool a name.
• To add numbers to an existing pool: Click the … next to the pool’s name on the Inventory page. You can purchase new numbers directly into that pool using the same steps from the previous section.
• To move numbers between pools: Click the name of any pool to expand its list of numbers. Then click the … next to the number you want to move. A menu will appear showing the other pools you’ve created—select the one you want, and PhoneBurner moves it instantly.

Here’s a video that shows you the process in action:

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Creating a Routing Strategy for Inbound Calls

PhoneBurner also makes it easy to control how inbound calls to each of your number pools are handled. The rules you set for how callbacks are handled are referred to as your routing strategy.

Here are the routing options you can set up quickly in PhoneBurner:

• Myself: Calls to any number in the pool route directly to you.
• Last Caller: Calls route to the last agent who called that contact.
• Call Flow: Presents the inbound caller with a keypress menu (e.g., press 1 for Suzie, 2 for Jeff) so they can direct their call more specifically.
• Call Group: Simultaneously rings two or more people, and the first available takes the call (a Call Group can be an option in a Call Flow, for example, press 1 for sales).
• External Number: Routes calls to a number outside of PhoneBurner.

Here’s a video that explains more about setting up an inbound call routing strategy for your PhoneBurner account:

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Go Further with PhoneBurner

Beyond number purchasing, pooling, and routing, PhoneBurner comes with several advanced features that can elevate your number-management strategy:

• Local Presence Dialing: This optional feature dynamically assigns numbers with local area codes corresponding to your contact’s region. It’s an effective way to improve answer rates for markets where your business has an operational presence. Local Presence is free, but requires approval.
• Advanced Pool Assignments: You can create pools for individual agents, teams, dialing sessions, folders, or even saved searches. This makes it easier to fine-tune which numbers you use in specific circumstances.
• ARMOR® Spam Protection: Protect your entire inventory of PhoneBurner numbers against spam flags. Our team monitors your numbers for flags, remediates with the carriers on your behalf, and delivers analytics and strategic recommendations to help optimize your number health and call answer rates.

If you want better control over your outbound numbers, optimal routing, and more live conversations with contacts, then establishing dedicated number pools in PhoneBurner makes a lot of sense.

Start your free trial of PhoneBurner today.