How Do You Transfer a Call?

What it actually is

Transferring a call is one of the most basic actions in any phone system, and still one that many people get confused about. The situation is simple: a customer calls, reaches the wrong person, and needs to be passed to someone who can help — without the customer hanging up and dialing again.

The transfer happens inside the phone system. The customer isn't given a new number to dial, no new call goes out from their side, and they usually hear hold music or ringing until the call reaches its destination. From their point of view it's the same call, which simply moved to another person.

There are two main methods, and each has its place. The difference between them comes down to one question: do you speak with the person receiving the call before you transfer it?

Blind or attended

Blind transfer. Agent A receives a call, realizes it belongs to Agent B, and transfers it immediately. The customer hears ringing at Agent B, and Agent A is already free for the next call. It's fast, but there is a risk: if Agent B doesn't answer, the customer reaches whatever is set for that extension — voicemail or a forward — and doesn't return to Agent A.

Attended transfer (sometimes called a warm transfer). Agent A puts the customer on hold, calls Agent B and explains: "I have a customer on the line from Rabbi Akiva Street, about yesterday's order. Can you take it?" Only when Agent B agrees do they connect. If Agent B isn't available, Agent A goes back to the customer and tells them so — instead of the customer finding out alone.

How to transfer in practice — three ways

From the desk phone. Most IP phones have a "Transfer" key. For a blind transfer: press the key, dial the extension, and press again or hang up — depending on the model. For an attended transfer: press the key, dial, wait for the other person to answer, talk with them, and only then press again to connect. On phones with BLF keys you can see in advance whether your colleague is free or on a call, and you can transfer by pressing their key.

From an app. In a softphone on a mobile phone or computer there is a transfer button. The principle is the same: choose a destination, and decide whether to connect immediately or to speak first.

From the control panel. Anyone who sees the active calls on the screen — a secretary, a shift manager, a dispatcher — can transfer a call without touching the phone at all: drag the call to the extension you want. This is especially useful when the agent who answered gets stuck, or when a manager sees a customer waiting with someone who can't help them.

Good to know: the exact key combination varies between models. Every new employee should practice twice on the colleague next to them before doing it with a real customer.

Where you can transfer to

• To an extension — The usual case: a colleague, a department, a manager.
• To a queue — When it doesn't matter who answers, only that it's someone from the right team. The customer enters the queue and waits like any other caller.
• To a hunt group — Rings several people at once, and the first to answer takes the call.
• To voicemail — When the colleague is not available and the customer prefers to leave a detailed message.
• To an external number — To the mobile phone of an employee in the field, or to a party outside the organization, if the system and the extension allow such dialing.

Transferring to a queue or a group is often better than transferring to a specific person. If the agent you transferred to went on a break, the call doesn't get stuck — someone else on the team answers.

Real-life examples

A secretary in a business. A customer calls and asks about an invoice. The secretary knows accounting is free — she sees it on the BLF key — and makes a blind transfer. Two seconds.

Service center. A customer with a complex problem who has already spoken with three agents. The agent doesn't transfer blindly: he calls the shift supervisor, explains the whole story, and only then connects. The customer doesn't have to start over.

Yeshiva. A parent calls the office and asks to speak with the mashgiach. The secretary first calls the mashgiach, checks that he isn't in the middle of a shiur, and only then connects. If he is, she goes back to the parent and offers to leave a message in voicemail.

Common mistakes and tips

• A blind transfer to an empty extension — The customer reaches the voicemail of someone on vacation. Before transferring, check that the destination is free — on a BLF key or in the control panel.
• Not telling the customer what's happening — "Just a moment..." and silence. One sentence makes a difference: "I'm transferring you to Avi in accounting, he'll be able to help."
• A customer who is transferred three times — A sign that the route in the menu is inaccurate, or that the agents don't know who handles what. It's worth checking the call flow.
• Forgetting to connect — In an attended transfer, the agent spoke with the colleague and forgot to press "Transfer" at the end. The customer keeps waiting. Practice.
• Not leaving context — Even in a blind transfer, you can tell the customer who they are being transferred to and why, so they know what to say.

A tip for the organization: write the list of important extensions next to each phone, or set them up as BLF keys. A quick transfer starts with knowing whom to transfer to.

Script for an attended transfer — word for word

A good attended transfer sounds the same every time. That's no accident: it has a fixed script of four sentences, and a new employee can learn it in ten minutes. Here is how it sounds in the office of a fictional insurance company:

1. To the customer, before the hold: "I see this is a claims matter. I'm transferring you to Ronit in that department, she handles exactly this. Stay with me on the line for a moment." — Who, why, and how long. Three things the customer wants to know before hearing music.

2. To the colleague, when she answers: "Ronit, I have a customer on the line with a car policy, about a claim filed yesterday. He already gave me the policy number, it's 4471. Can you take it?" — Name, subject, and the information already collected, so the customer doesn't repeat it.

3. If the colleague agrees: "Transferring." And you connect. The customer hears Ronit open with "Hello, I heard from Yossi about yesterday's claim" — and that is the difference between a transfer and "Who is this?"

4. If the colleague can't: Go back to the customer: "Ronit is in the middle of a long call. I can note for her to call you back within an hour, or connect you to her voicemail. What works for you?" — The customer chooses, and doesn't fall into voicemail without agreeing.

The one sentence you must not skip is the first. Most complaints about transfers aren't about the transfer itself but about the silence before it.

Transferring to a mobile phone and to a queue — what to know

Transferring to an employee's mobile in the field. In many systems you can transfer a call to an external number as well, as with a menu that forwards to a mobile. Three things change compared with a transfer to an extension: the call goes out as an outgoing call and may cost money depending on the plan; if the mobile is off, the mobile carrier's voicemail "answers" and the customer gets stuck there; and the caller number the employee sees may be the office's and not the customer's. If the employee has a SIM extension or an app, the transfer stays inside the phone system and all three problems disappear.

Transferring to a queue. When the customer needs "someone from service" and not a specific person, transfer to a queue and not to an extension. The customer enters at the end of the queue, hears the music and position like any caller, and gets the first agent who becomes free. What to avoid: transferring to a queue a customer who has already waited five minutes in another queue. In that case, an attended transfer to a specific agent, with an explanation, is better.

Transferring directly to voicemail. When the customer says "Just tell him to call me back," you can transfer them straight to the colleague's voicemail, without the extension ringing. In most systems this is done with a prefix before the extension number. The message reaches the colleague's email with the caller's number.

The control panel. Transferring by dragging from the active calls screen to the extension is the way that doesn't require remembering key combinations. A shift manager who sees a stuck call transfers it himself.

More mistakes seen in the field

• Transferring to get rid of the call. The agent doesn't know the answer and transfers to someone who doesn't know either. The customer goes around between extensions. Better: "I'll find out and get back to you."
• Pressing "Transfer" before telling the customer. The customer is in the middle of a sentence and suddenly there is music.
• Leaving the customer on hold without coming back. In an attended transfer, if the colleague doesn't answer within 20 seconds, go back to the customer and say something, even if you don't yet know what.
• Passing a customer number by voice. "His policy is 4471" sounds to the colleague like 4471 or 4417? Write it down and pass it on in writing, if you have a shared system.
• Hanging up instead of transferring. On some models the transfer key and the hang-up key are close together. Practicing twice on the colleague next to you saves you from a customer who disappears.
• Not knowing how to read the call log. In the log, a transferred call appears as one route with two stops — it's worth knowing how to read this when you search for "who spoke with the customer."