Branch Closure or Delayed Branch Opening

Occasionally, the Retail team at a member bank may decide to close or delay opening the branches due to inclement weather or other circumstances.  Retail/bank leadership may request that IT update the greeting for the bank's main number(s) so that customers are aware of the office closure or delayed opening.

As of 2026, we continue to use Speechify to create a customized professional greeting from text for free: https://speechify.com/text-to-speech-online  (Note: You are only permitted two previews of your message, so limit your playbacks if possible, otherwise you will need to open a different browser or Incognito Mode to play it back more than twice if tweaks are needed.)

You have two options for a script:

• Option A: Only create a basic recording announcing the branch closure or delayed opening with no other details.  Still start with "Thank you for calling [bank name]."
• Option B: Create a combined recording announcing both the branch closure/delayed opening, as well as the details in the bank's normal greeting.  (Consult the bank's IVR in AT&T to determine what pressing each button will do.)  This may be the cleaner route to go so you can avoid the next step under Option A.

Once that recording is downloaded:

• Option A: Download the bank's regular main greeting from the AT&T Office@Hand admin portal (Phone System --> Auto Receptionist --> Prompts Library).  For First Federal Lakewood, it is titled FFL_Day_AA.wav.  Once both the FFL_Day_AA and inclement weather notice recordings have been downloaded, you can use Clideo to join/merge the two audio files (i.e. put the special notice first before playing the regular main greeting): https://clideo.com/merge-audio  Download the combined audio file and upload to the Prompts Library in AT&T.
• Option B: No extra steps involved - simply proceed to the below.

When the time comes to enable/disable the special message, follow the steps below:

1. Log into the AT&T admin portal, click Phone System --> Auto Receptionist --> IVR Menus.
2. Select the IVR menu that is tied to the bank's main number(s).  If it is an option, use the bank's "Night" IVR instead of the main/daytime one. Example for FFL: 
3. On the left, click Prompt.
4. Click the Select button, change to the special message you created (or back to the regular message if reverting after the closure/delayed opening), then click the Select and Save buttons.  Example:
5. Call the bank's main number* to verify it is working properly.

*For all NON-FFL member banks: These branches' main numbers are tied to individual branch call queues, NOT to an IVR.  To make the recording active during the closure, you must set up a custom rule to route call queue calls to the IVR on which you set the special recording.  Go to each branch office's call queue --> Call Handling --> Custom Rule and set up for the date/time of the closing to forward calls to an extension, and select the appropriate IVR where the recording is set.

After the closure: The custom rule you set up will automatically expire, so no further action is needed at the call queue level.  Simply return to the IVR whose prompt you edited and revert it to the original/normal recording.