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Phone Number Types: Overview and Use Cases

Kristen Fiddes Updated by Kristen Fiddes

Read Time: 4 mins

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Phone number types are used to identify the various phone numbers that can be added to a contact within your Sonar instance. By default, three phone number types are preloaded into your instance: Home, Mobile, and Work, but additional types can be added as needed. Phone number types can be beneficial when deciding upon the best method to communicate with the contact; for example, in scenarios that involve sales, you may wish to avoid calling a customer's work number and instead focus your efforts on contacting them at their home number. Without that distinction between numbers, you could run the risk of creating a negative experience for the customer.

The Global Search tool allows you to search for phone numbers existing in your instance, regardless of what type it has been added under. With this feature, you can easily identify whether an inbound caller may be attached to an account. This can also be particularly helpful for situations where a voicemail has been left without enough identifying information, which would otherwise prevent you from locating an existing account.

Creating a Phone Number Type

To create a Phone Number Type:

  1. Navigate to Settings → Communication Tools → Phone Number Types and click on “Create Phone Number Type”.
  2. Input a name that will be used to identify the type of number stored in this field, and add a checkmark if the number is SMS Capable.
  3. Click “Create”, the phone number type will now display in the table and can be edited or deleted by the “Edit” button or by clicking the downward arrow, both of which can be found to the right of the name.
Changes made to a Phone Number Type, such as removing the “SMS Capable” option, will not affect phone numbers currently added to customer contacts. If an SMS-capable phone number is opted in to SMS, removing SMS Capable will prevent you from modifying or reassigning the SMS opt in.

For more information on SMS opt in and Outbound SMS, read the Using Outbound SMS article.

How to Use Phone Number Types

Adding a Phone Number to a New Account

Creating an account is divided into four pages; the second page houses the personal contact information for the primary contact:

To add a phone number for the contact, locate the Phone Numbers section at the bottom of the modal and click on the “+” button. Doing so will populate a new line where you can input the phone number along with distinguishing its type, country, whether there's an extension to reference, and selecting whether to opt in for SMS messages.

When a new number line has been populated, you must either input information in the required number field or remove the line altogether before you can create a new account. To remove a phone number input in error, click on the “-” button alongside the respective line.

Adding a Phone Number to an Existing Account

  1. Navigate to Contacts, and alongside the corresponding contact name, click on the “Edit” button, to open the “Edit Contact” modal.
  2. In this modal, you can add additional phone numbers by clicking “Add Row”. A new row will appear where you will select the dropdown beneath “Type” to select from the existing phone number types in your instance, select the applicable country from the dropdown, and add in a phone number (extension if necessary). Then, if the type is applicable, you have the option to check the SMS Opt In box.
    SMS Opt In is only available with one phone number per contact on the account.
  3. When you are finished adding a new number or editing an existing one, click “Save”. A notification will display in the upper-left corner indicating the row was saved. Once all changes are saved, you can close out of the modal.

Example Use Case

Tech in the Field

Bob has arrived at the Residential Installation job scheduled on his calendar, but no one appears to be at the property. As a part of the installation would include running cable to the interior of the home, Bob requires someone present to provide him access. Bob uses the Sonar Field Tech App to populate the account and identifies that there are two possible contact numbers on file; as Bob is at the residence, he concludes that calling the home number likely wouldn't reach the customer. However, the other number is listed as a mobile type. Bob calls this number and can reach Peter and confirm that Peter will be there momentarily.

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