Definition
A Consult Call in Salesforce Service Cloud Voice is a feature that allows an agent to place a secondary call to another agent, supervisor, or external number to consult about an active customer call. During a consult call, the customer is placed on hold while the agent discusses the issue. The agent can then return to the customer, merge both calls into a conference, or transfer the customer.
Real-World Example
When a support manager at QuickAssist needs to streamline operations, they turn to Consult Call to improve response times and customer satisfaction scores. After implementing Consult Call, agents have the tools and context they need to resolve issues on the first contact. Average handle time decreases by 20% and CSAT scores climb to an all-time high of 94%.
Why Consult Call Matters
A Consult Call is a Service Cloud Voice feature that lets an agent place a secondary call to another agent, supervisor, or external party while keeping the customer on the original call. The customer is placed on hold during the consult, and the agent can discuss the issue privately with the consultant. After the consultation, the agent has options: end the consult and return to the customer alone, merge the consult into a conference call so all three parties are connected, or complete a warm transfer to hand the customer over to the consultant.
Consult Calls are essential for handling complex cases where an agent needs subject matter expertise without disconnecting the customer or requiring a cold transfer. The 'warm transfer' pattern in particular is much better for customer experience than a cold transfer because the consultant gets context from the agent before taking over, so the customer doesn't have to repeat their problem. Service Cloud Voice exposes consult call controls in the agent interface, integrated with Omni-Channel and the Service Console for a seamless experience.
How Organizations Use Consult Call
- •QuickAssist — Trains tier 1 agents to use Consult Calls for technical questions they can't answer alone. Agents reach out to a tier 2 specialist while the customer is on hold, get the answer, then either return to the customer or warm-transfer if needed.
- •ShieldGuard Security — Uses Consult Calls for supervisor escalations. When a customer requests a manager, the agent consults with the supervisor first to brief them, then merges the supervisor into the call so the conversation continues without restarting.
- •CloudNine Solutions — Built training around the warm transfer pattern using Consult Calls. The training emphasized briefing the consultant fully before bringing the customer back into the conversation, which significantly improved CSAT on transferred calls.