From restaurant onboarding to inside sales, Meltem’s story

Wolt launched in Berlin in 2020 and helped merchant partners, courier partners, and customers get through the beginning of the pandemic. In 2021, Wolt expanded to six more cities: Cologne, Hamburg, Munich, Hanover, and Dusseldorf. In 2024, Wolt operates soon in more than 60 cities in Germany and in 500+ cities in 27 countries worldwide.

Among the pioneers of Wolt Germany is Meltem Karloschka. Over the years at Wolt, Meltem has risen to become the team lead for the inside sales team in Germany. Wolt’s sales teams, led by individuals like Meltem, are instrumental in helping local businesses thrive and attracting more customers to order through Wolt. Now, let's delve into Meltem's inspiring story to get a glimpse of her experiences and the lessons she’s learned along the way.

Helping restaurant partners get onboarded with Wolt

Meltem's journey at Wolt has been a thrilling adventure filled with exciting discoveries. In 2020, as Wolt was making its mark in the German market, she was contacted by a former colleague to join the team. Intrigued, she delved into research and was captivated by Wolt's collaborative approach with courier- and merchant partners. The start-up atmosphere and the global nature of Wolt’s business were equally inspiring, so she decided to apply and joined the team in September 2020.

Her first role was as a restaurant specialist in the restaurant onboarding team. The team is responsible for everything that happens after sales, like helping the new merchant partners to get set up with Wolt's tools, account management, and training on how to set up their business on the platform, to mention a few of the responsibilities. The role was wide-ranging, and working in an international environment felt inspiring and empowering:

"We have team members from all around the world, and that’s what I love here.

Nobody has asked about my name my whole time here, even though it’s not German – it doesn’t matter where you come from. Overall, we are here together with common targets and goals, which really matters.”, Meltem says.

Building up the team and being there for others 💙

After two years in the restaurant onboarding team, Meltem got hungry for something new. The opportunity to join the inside sales team came across, and her focus from onboarding shifted to sales once she became the team lead for the inside sales team. Together with another team lead in Germany, they have built up and hired a fantastic team of 25 sales associates. “Over the years, we have built and trained the team, and it feels meaningful to see what we have accomplished; we are able to support the growth of others in their career. Alongside building my team, I also participate in field and expansion sales hiring, which offers variety to my weeks and keeps my horizon wider," Meltem explains.

Meltem's palette is quite broad as a team lead, but she is always there for the team: "A big part of my job is to check on how people are doing, and if they need help. When you have a team of twelve people, you have twelve one-to-one chats weekly" she continues.

The spirit of the inside sales team

Today, customers want almost anything from restaurant food and groceries to electronics to arrive at their doorstep within minutes of placing an order. This is a huge opportunity for local businesses to reach more customers doing more online shopping, yet doing so locally. Our inside sales team at Wolt works mostly at Wolt’s office or home office, contacting local restaurants on the phone. They manage the sales funnel, from establishing first contact with potential partners, through to negotiation and closing both inbound and outbound clients so they can reach more customers and boost their sales by partnering with Wolt.

Talking about the impact of Meltem's work on the inside sales team makes her smile. "The inside sales team is the only sales team in Wolt Germany that hires people without prior exposure to sales. It's all about learning by doing. Once someone has an optimistic attitude, is good on the phone, and is willing to grow, this is a great place to start building their career. This is a place where one’s career can truly take off. Often people from our inside sales team have moved to field or expansion sales or taken on other roles in the organization. There are lots of great career growth opportunities", Meltem says. To coach people in their first jobs after university and the opportunity to guide, support, and advise them feels meaningful to her.

At Wolt, Meltem loves the youthful company culture and the fact that people are eager to grow and build something extraordinary together as a team. With Wolt’s great customer satisfaction ratings (4.8/5 on the App Store and 4.6/5 on Google Play), Meltem feels it is easy to believe in the products and solutions they are selling to customers. "The product we sell is good, and actually, what we are doing here is to build partnerships with restaurants. That's valuable, especially in sales. You can feel a strong sense of belonging and proudly stand behind the product you are selling, knowing that you are making a difference in people's lives," she says.

Meltem is keen to highlight the diversity within her team. While the initial perception of salespeople may be that they are all outgoing and extroverted, this is far from the truth.

"The people from our team come from all walks of life and have wonderful, unique personalities.

It's a welcoming environment for extroverts, introverts, and everyone in between. There's no one-size-fits-all salesperson here. Our willingness to help and support each other unites us all,” she says proudly.

Got curious? 👀 Check out our job openings in sales here.