Phone
The call that goes unanswered goes to a competitor. A real local number, divert or port, transfers to a person, hours on the number's own clock, and five, ten or fifteen calls at once with no queue. The main channel.
More on the phoneChannels
The channel is just where the conversation happens.
A call, a text, a website chat, an email or a meeting in Microsoft Teams, Google Meet or Zoom reaches the same agent, with the same knowledge, and gets the same answer. Pick the doors a client needs; the conversation behind them does not change. Every agent starts with a phone number.
The phone first
Every agent starts with a number
Talkgate is a phone product underneath. Every agent comes with its own real local number in New Zealand or Australia, and the other channels hang off the agent that answers it.
The phone channel is where the agent does most of its work: a local number included with the agent, the business's advertised number diverted to it in a couple of minutes, or a number ported in and, if they ever leave, ported back out. Calls are answered on the first ring at any hour, put through to a person on the business's rules, and summarised by text and email within seconds. Everything the agents do, they do on the phone.
The other channels share the agent's knowledge base, so hours, services and the service area come back the same by text, on the website and by email as they do by voice. Change the opening hours once and every channel changes together. Call notifications can also be posted into Microsoft Teams or Slack as each call ends.
The channels
Five places the same conversation can happen
Text
Customers text the business number and nobody replies until tomorrow. The same agent texts back, one question at a time, reads the photo they sent, and hands over to a person when asked.
More on textMeetings
Nobody wants to be the one taking the notes. The agent joins meetings in Microsoft Teams, Google Meet and Zoom, takes the notes and sends the actions. Calls can post into a Teams or Slack channel too.
More on meetingsWebsite chat
Visitors leave without asking the one question that would have sold them. One line of code puts the agent on the site in the business's own colours, typing or talking.
More on website chatThe enquiries inbox is read on Friday afternoon, if at all. Forward it to the agent and every email is answered, booked, handed to a person, or set aside with the reason on screen.
More on emailStated plainly
What is not a channel
WhatsApp. The platform can send one-way messages WhatsApp-first with a text fallback, such as a booking link or a follow-up after a call. There is no WhatsApp agent, a customer cannot hold a conversation with the agent over WhatsApp, and Talkgate does not sell one. The detail is on the website chat page.
The texting agent does not book or look things up. Over text the agent answers from the knowledge base and hands over to a person. Calendar bookings and account lookups are phone, website chat and email jobs, and the texting agent offers a call rather than guessing.
Sold through partners
One agent to sell, five ways to reach it
A client buys an agent and chooses the doors into it. Most start with the phone and add website chat, because the knowledge base is already there. Sold through partners: you set the price, Talkgate runs the platform, the numbers and the hosting. The partner programme explains how a client is set up and supported.
Next step
Ask the same question three ways
A partner briefing shows one agent answering by phone, on a website and by text from one knowledge base, and shows the meeting notes and actions it sends.