FrontlineIQ raises $3.3M to bring AI coaching to retail sales floors
A serial retail tech entrepreneur is back on the sales floor with a practical tool for in-person teams. Montréal-based FrontlineIQ, led by CEO and founder Ben Rodier, has raised $3.3 million in seed financing via SAFEs from Québec investors AQC Capital and retail-savvy angels. The round closed last month. The company did not disclose its valuation.
Rodier has been here before. He co-founded Adsplash (acquired by Yellow Pages Group) and Salesfloor, a retail sales platform used by brands like Holt Renfrew and Bloomingdale's. Now he's betting that AI can coach frontline reps like a top-performing manager would-consistently, objectively, and without the awkward talk about metrics.
What the product does
FrontlineIQ's app gives in-person sales reps and managers a simple loop: record, review, improve. With consent from all parties, the app can capture audio from customer interactions, then its AI assistant-nicknamed Theo-analyzes performance over time.
- Checks adherence to brand talking points and promotions
- Flags missed opportunities to ask discovery questions or upsell
- Surfaces patterns like talk-to-listen ratio and follow-up quality
- Gamifies progress with clear targets and visible wins across teams
- Provides managers with coaching insights without manual call reviews
Rodier puts it plainly: "Tech can solve not having a good manager." The intent isn't to replace coaching, but to make it consistent and less subjective, so conversations become constructive instead of uncomfortable.
Why sales leaders should care
Most AI tools were built for digital funnels. Store teams-often on commission-got left behind. FrontlineIQ closes that gap by giving floor teams real feedback and a path to better numbers without adding reporting overhead.
Retail execs know the clock is ticking on AI adoption. The opportunity is to boost conversion, AOV, and attachment rates by improving the fundamentals: discovery, objection handling, and value framing. That starts with clean, repeatable coaching loops.
Who's using it
FrontlineIQ is working with Ashley Furniture, SleepCountry, Dormez-Vous, Dufresne Furniture & Appliances, and auto showrooms for brands like Porsche and Hyundai. The company says it's on track to cross seven figures in revenue by 2026.
How it fits your sales org
- Pilot small: Start with one region or store. Pick 2-3 KPIs (conversion rate, AOV, warranty attach) and baseline them.
- Coach weekly: Use Theo's insights for short, focused coaching sessions. One behavior at a time.
- Pre-shift briefs: Share one insight per day-e.g., "Ask two discovery questions before presenting options."
- Reward behaviors, not just outcomes: Tie spiffs to leading indicators (e.g., demo rate) to build habits.
- Train on consent and privacy: Make sure reps understand how recordings are used and stored.
- Integrate lightly: Start with POS/CRM exports for targets and results; automate later.
Pricing, funding, and what's next
The business model is straightforward SaaS on an enterprise subscription. The new funding will accelerate product development and grow sales, engineering, marketing, and customer success to expand across North America.
AQC Capital sees the core problem clearly: coaching and motivating large, distributed teams at scale. The bet is that structured feedback-delivered daily-moves the needle faster than sporadic ride-alongs.
The jobs question
AI is already reshaping retail operations. Some roles are changing, and that creates understandable concern. FrontlineIQ positions its product as augmentation-giving reps and managers better visibility into performance so teams can sell more, not do less.
The practical stance for sales leaders: use AI to improve skill, consistency, and confidence. Keep humans in the loop for context, empathy, and judgment.
Quick takeaways for sales managers
- Make one behavior measurable each week (e.g., discovery depth). Track it for 30 days.
- Coach with clips, not opinions. Share a 30-60 second snippet and one improvement.
- Publish a simple scoreboard: targets, behaviors, wins. Visibility drives action.
- Protect the floor: no long forms, no manual tagging. Keep reps selling.
- Tie AI insights to comp only after reps see it actually helps them close.
Bottom line: If you run brick-and-mortar sales, consistent coaching is your unfair advantage. Tools that turn every interaction into feedback will beat quarterly retraining-every time.
If you're building an AI-first coaching culture and want to upskill your team, explore practical training for sales roles here: AI courses by job.
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