When Frank Greiser went looking for new sales partners for wattline, he faced a tricky question. The energy buying group is scaling fast – with a mobile sales force operating across Germany and Austria. How do you bring hundreds of self-employed partners up to a consistently high standard without criss-crossing Germany to do it? At wattline, the answer quickly got a name: Freddy. What the new AI coach has achieved in just a few months comes down to a handful of numbers.

The challenge

New sales partners need to do more than sell a product. They need to understand what a bakery, a car repair shop or a metalworking company actually struggles with. wattline has always developed that instinct through in-person training and one-to-one coaching at the highest level. But even the best formats are expensive, logistically demanding, and rarely available when a partner actually needs them.

The solution: Freddy

Freddy is an AI sparring partner that never clocks off. He practises every type of conversation – from the cold call right through to closing – playing the sceptical master baker one moment and the tough purchasing manager the next, without ever losing patience. That way, a new partner gets to know the full range of businesses before their first real conversation.

“With Freddy, we can keep raising the quality of our customer conversations. Our partners answer customer questions with confidence, make statements they can stand behind, and improve their advice in a targeted way. Freddy has now become an integral part of our training initiatives and the wattline Academy.”

– Frank Greiser (Regional Sales Manager, wattline)

From role play to daily business

But it didn’t stop at practice. Attention turned to those already active in day-to-day sales – because that is where customers get lost every day: at the appointment stage, in the needs analysis, at the proposal, at the close. It quickly became clear: the email, the conversation, the moment when something is really at stake – Freddy should be there too, as a partner at their side.

So Freddy kept learning. Contracts and specialist knowledge were fed in so that he finds the right answer to every question. That turned the coach into a built-in quality assurance – helping partners find the right words and make the right decision.

“For me, the biggest advantage is how close it is to reality. In training, our partners experience exactly the questions, objections and situations they will later face with customers. Combined with good preparation, that creates more confidence in the conversation – and ultimately a better experience for our customers.”

– Frank Greiser (Regional Sales Manager, wattline)

A rollout that actually landed

To enable a tool is easy. Getting it actually used is the real work. That is why Fioro supported the wattline team closely throughout the rollout, making three questions tangible for every partner: What do I use Freddy for? How do I use him? And what do I get out of it? Regular webinars helped with mutual learning, power users shared their own use cases and inspired others, and a prize raffle gave the whole thing a playful boost.

Deeply embedded in sales

The numbers show that Freddy really is being used. Those who start often don’t stop: the top users have clocked up 50 to 70 hours of net training time. Real, repeated practice that builds confidence in conversations and makes handling objections second nature.

The everyday support is bearing fruit too. For every customer won, Freddy supports wattline’s sales partners in the following ways:

• 4.3 coaching conversations per customer won

• 1.3 jointly drafted emails per customer won

• 2.0 prepared meetings per customer won

Partners who firmly integrate Freddy into their work are among those whose close rates are improving. This correlation was measurable in the data and clear enough that wattline, after a positive evaluation, expanded its collaboration with Fioro by 50%. Bottom line: every euro invested in Fioro has already paid for itself four times over.

“At the end of the day, success is not decided in training but in the customer conversation. That is exactly where Freddy helps our partners – to prepare better, argue more confidently, and make the right decisions.”

– Philip Gutschke (Authorized Signatory & Managing Director of Corporate Development and Energy Procurement, wattline)