Katy, the department-routing piece works best when you map the decision to the caller's intent, not to a menu tree. Set up separate inbound queues for each department and have the AI secretary ask one qualifying question up front — something like "are you calling about scheduling, billing, or a service issue?" — then route to that queue's extension. Anything that doesn't match drops to a catch-all that leaves a detailed voicemail and fires a notification to your office inbox.
Two adjustments that kept it from turning into a robotic experience: shorten the greeting so callers hear a real name within the first two seconds, and let the AI confirm the right department before it transfers so the person on the other end isn't guessing. Review a handful of call recordings each week at first; you'll quickly spot which prompt is making people hang up and can tighten it.
