Quick answer: Salesforce Flow does not answer an ordinary mobile call or collect keypad digits from a caller by itself. A phone or contact-center provider handles the live call and the “press 1” prompt. In a Salesforce contact center, the provider hands the call to Salesforce Voice, where Omni-Channel can route it to an agent or queue. For a personal Mint Mobile number, a separate phone system can receive forwarded calls and ring its own mobile softphone app after the caller presses 1.
Caller dials your number → phone provider answers with “Press 1 to be connected” → caller presses 1 → your phone or agent endpoint rings → unanswered calls go to voicemail.
Start with the call architecture
“A call flow in Salesforce” can mean two different things. The first is the customer’s live phone path: greeting, keypad input, call recording, transfer, and voicemail. The second is Salesforce’s work assignment: identify the customer, create a Voice Call record, pick an available agent, show a screen pop, and fall back to a queue. A production contact center commonly uses both, but they are not the same flow.
- Carrier / phone provider: owns the phone number and transports the call.
- IVR: plays the greeting and reads DTMF input (the keypad press). “Press 1” is captured here.
- Salesforce Voice integration: connects the telephony provider to Salesforce and makes the call available as work.
- Omni-Channel Flow: decides which Salesforce queue or agent receives the call, with a fallback when routing fails.
The provider might be Amazon Connect or a Salesforce Voice telephony partner. Salesforce’s current docs call the product Salesforce Voice with Telephony Providers; many admins still know it as Service Cloud Voice. Salesforce documents unified, external, and blended routing strategies, and notes that the provider performs actual call routing in external or blended modes. Salesforce: Understanding Routing for Salesforce Voice ↗
What Salesforce Flow can—and cannot—do
An Omni-Channel Flow can apply Salesforce business logic after a voice call enters the supported Salesforce Voice path. It can route work to a queue or agent and use available call context to make a decision. It does not, on its own, take ownership of a mobile phone number, answer PSTN calls, or listen for keypad digits before the call connects.
For “press 1,” configure the IVR in the telephony service. If you need Salesforce to make a decision based on the digit, ask the provider integration whether it passes the digit or a confirmation value into Salesforce as call context. Then use that value in the supported voice-routing setup. Do not assume a standard record-triggered flow, a screen flow, or a custom field can intercept DTMF on a phone call.
Salesforce documents Omni-Channel Flow routing for supported Salesforce Voice contact centers. The flow is assigned to a phone channel and can have a fallback queue. See Route Calls with Omni-Channel Flows ↗ and Assign an Omni-Channel Flow to a Phone Channel ↗.
Salesforce setup: route the screened call to the right agent
This setup assumes your organization has Salesforce Voice with a supported telephony provider, the needed licenses, provider account, and an inbound phone channel. License names, permissions, and setup screens depend on the provider and Salesforce edition. Coordinate with your telephony administrator before changing a live number.
1. Confirm the provider and routing model
Choose whether Omni-Channel or the provider owns agent selection. With unified routing, Salesforce is the routing engine for supported voice work. With external routing, the telephony platform selects the agent. In a blended design, the provider and Omni-Channel route different work types. The supported choices vary by provider; verify feature support and call-context behavior with the provider before designing the Flow.
2. Prepare agent presence and a fallback queue
- In Setup, verify Omni-Channel is enabled and configure voice presence statuses such as Available – Calls, On Break, and Busy.
- Create or confirm the queue that should receive the call. Make sure the correct agents are queue members and have the appropriate voice permissions.
- Set a fallback queue for the phone channel so the call has a defined destination if the Omni-Channel Flow errors or cannot select an agent.
Use Salesforce’s provider-specific setup steps and queue mapping. Salesforce notes that in provider-routed models, Salesforce queues must map to the corresponding provider queues or calls can fail at runtime. Salesforce Voice and Your Telephony System ↗
3. Build the Omni-Channel Flow
- In Setup, open Flows and create a new flow from the Omni-Channel Flow template for voice calls.
- Use the template’s routing elements to send the call to the intended queue or agent. Add decision logic only for values the voice integration actually provides—for example, a verified “press-1” flag, language, account tier, or call reason.
- Set a fallback queue and fault handling. Save, test with a non-production voice channel, and activate the flow only after the provider mapping is ready.
Keep call context minimal and explicit. For example, a provider may pass a value like screening_result = accepted after the caller presses 1. Treat that as a call-routing signal, not proof of the caller’s identity. A keypad press does not authenticate someone.
4. Assign the flow to the voice phone channel
- In Setup, find the relevant Amazon Contact Center or Partner Telephony Contact Center.
- Open Contact Center Channels and add or edit the phone channel for the inbound number.
- Set the routing type to Omni-Channel Flow, select the active flow, and choose the fallback queue.
- Ask the provider to connect its IVR outcome to that Salesforce voice channel or provider queue, based on your routing model.
The phone provider still handles the live call leg and DTMF prompt. The Salesforce flow handles agent and queue selection within the supported integration. Salesforce’s route customization guide explains queue-based routing and Omni-Channel Flow routing for Voice. Customize Call Routing ↗
5. Map records, screen pops, and outcomes
Confirm how the provider maps the caller’s phone number to a Salesforce Contact, Lead, or Account; how Voice Call records are created; and what happens when there is no match. Decide whether missed or abandoned calls create a follow-up task or case. Keep the caller’s DTMF choice and any routing decision in the call context or supported Salesforce fields, and avoid storing unnecessary sensitive information.
Where Open CTI fits
Open CTI is an integration API for embedding a third-party softphone in Salesforce. It is not an IVR builder or a telephone carrier. Existing organizations may still use a provider’s Open CTI adapter for call control, screen pops, and activity logging, while the provider’s own system handles menus and transfers.
For new designs, check the current Salesforce roadmap before choosing Open CTI: Salesforce’s developer documentation says Open CTI is in maintenance mode and scheduled for retirement in February 2028, and recommends Salesforce Voice for new development. Salesforce Developers: Open CTI ↗
Bonus: build the personal-phone flow outside Salesforce
For one person’s Mint Mobile number, Salesforce Voice is usually excessive. A small hosted PBX such as 3CX SMB Free can provide a visual digital receptionist / IVR and mobile softphone app for up to 10 users. The 3CX license is free, but you still need a SIP trunk provider that supplies the phone number and call service; that provider’s phone bill is not free. 3CX SMB Free features and setup ↗
Recommended topology for Mint + 3CX
- Set up a 3CX SMB Free system and choose a SIP trunk provider. Get a voice-enabled inbound number (DID) from the trunk provider.
- Install the 3CX mobile app and sign in with your extension. This app—not the Mint cellular voice line—is the destination that will ring after the caller presses 1.
- In the 3CX admin console, configure the inbound route for the trunk DID to a Digital Receptionist / IVR.
- Record or configure the greeting: “To be connected, press 1. If you are calling about voicemail, please leave a message after the tone.” Map digit 1 to your extension; map timeout or invalid input to a repeat, voicemail, or hang-up path.
- From your Mint phone, enable forwarding of all calls to the 3CX DID by dialing
**21*1[10-digit 3CX number]#, then press Call. Replace the bracketed placeholder with the real number; do not type the brackets. Mint documents##21#to disable all-call forwarding. - Test from another phone. Confirm the 3CX app rings only after the caller presses 1, test timeout and voicemail paths, then restore normal forwarding if you are not ready to keep the flow live.
Important: with all-call forwarding enabled, the native Mint dialer will not ring first. The call is forwarded to the PBX; the PBX then rings the 3CX app over Wi‑Fi or mobile data after the caller enters 1. That avoids a forwarding loop. If the PBX forwards back to the same Mint number while all-call forwarding is active, the call can loop back to the PBX. Keep the post‑1 destination as the softphone extension or another number that is not forwarded into the same IVR.
Mint’s own help page lists the forwarding codes for all calls, no answer, out of service, and busy/unreachable conditions. Use the all-call code only when you intend every incoming call to pass through the PBX; use the no-answer code only for a different design where the cellular phone rings first. Mint Mobile: Set up call forwarding ↗
Twilio Studio alternative
If you want a programmable flow builder, Twilio Studio can collect keypad input and branch on the digit. Build a flow with Voice Trigger → Gather Input on Call → Split Based On. Configure the Gather widget to say “Press 1 to be connected,” accept one DTMF digit, and set a short timeout. Route the 1 branch to a Twilio Client / SIP softphone endpoint or a separate line; route no input or an invalid key to one retry and then voicemail. Twilio’s Gather widget collects keypad digits, and its IVR tutorial shows the widget pattern. Gather Input on Call ↗ · Build an IVR with Twilio Studio ↗
Do not configure Mint to forward every call to Twilio and then have Twilio dial the same Mint number as the “press 1” destination: that destination is still subject to Mint’s all-call forwarding and can loop. Use a softphone endpoint, a second line, or a different routing design. Twilio Studio’s first 1,000 flow executions per month are free, but phone numbers and the incoming and outgoing call legs are billed separately. A US local Twilio number is listed at $1.15 per month, plus $0.0085 per inbound minute and $0.014 per outbound minute to US destinations; verify the current rate card before launch. Twilio Studio pricing ↗ · Twilio US Voice pricing ↗
Test the flow before putting your number on it
- Press 1: the expected softphone or agent rings and the caller is connected.
- No input: the prompt repeats once, then reaches the intended voicemail or fallback.
- Press another key: it does not accidentally connect to an unintended destination.
- Agent or app unavailable: the caller gets a clear voicemail or fallback message.
- Caller ID and contact matching: the intended caller details appear, and no sensitive values are exposed in the greeting.
- Forwarding loop: confirm the final destination is not the same number that forwards all calls back into the IVR.
- Cost and accessibility: keep prompts brief, provide a timeout path, and review per-minute charges for both call legs.
- Recovery: know the provider console setting and Mint’s
##21#code so you can restore normal calls quickly.
Which design should you choose?
Use Salesforce Voice + Omni-Channel Flow when the goal is contact-center routing to Salesforce agents, queues, cases, and service records, and your org has the required voice integration. Keep DTMF capture and the customer-facing menu in the telephony provider unless your supported integration explicitly supplies those controls.
Use a hosted PBX when you need a single person or small team to answer calls, screen callers, and leave voicemail. For a Mint number, forward calls to the PBX and answer through its softphone app. The phone system license may be free, but the trunk, phone number, and usage still cost money.
Use Twilio Studio when you need more custom programmable logic and are comfortable setting up a suitable SIP or Voice SDK endpoint. It is not a free phone line, and its outgoing destination must avoid the Mint forwarding loop.
The practical takeaway for admins is simple: map the whole call path before building the Flow. Decide which system owns the DID, IVR, DTMF result, agent selection, voicemail, and fallback. Once each responsibility is clear, Salesforce Flow becomes a focused routing step instead of an attempt to make the CRM behave like a carrier.
Reviewed November 6, 2026. Product plans, pricing, licensing, and carrier forwarding behavior can change. Confirm requirements with Salesforce, your phone provider, and Mint Mobile before changing a production number. SF Admin Guide is an independent resource and is not affiliated with Salesforce, Twilio, 3CX, or Mint Mobile.