Meet Pearson Timmons: From CS to Sales at Volie

Hello, everyone. Welcome back to another Volley rally. Today we're going to take an opportunity to introduce you to one of our awesome team members here at Volley, Pearson Timmons. Pearson, thanks for joining me today.

Yeah, thanks for having me.

So Pearson is in a unique position where he has transitioned from the CS team, where some of you may be like, oh yeah, I know Pearson. He was my CS rep and he's transitioned to the sales team. So before we dive into that transition, what did your prior role look like when you were on the CS team?

Yeah, I was a customer success manager. Not unlike many of our managers today, had quite a few accounts. I think at some point it was around the 35 to 37 mark. I'd be lying to you if I told you I remember the exact number. But a lot of day to day in Volley operations. And what are BDCs doing? How can I help them out? What campaigns are performing well, reviewing reports with managers, things of that nature.

So then what inspired your move to sales? You know, it sounds like you were pretty established and CS had a lot of accounts, so why the change?

Yeah, I wanted to expand my, my horizons a bit. I guess you could say, for lack of a better term there. I wanted to get out and do something a little bit different. The goal is obviously to be with Volley for a very long time, if not forever. But you know, if at some point or for whatever reason I do end up somewhere else, I think not only the skills that I did learn in my years in cs, but now the skills I'm learning in sales. I have a good, good head on my shoulders there to lead me in the right direction.

And so with that said, then what are some of those skills in CS that you didn't really think of it like this, but what have you been able to lean on heading into sales?

Yeah, I think a lot of it is speaking to the BDC themselves while speaking to a stakeholder or someone kind of further up the chain. I spent quite a few years again in CS working with BDC agents, BDC managers, service managers even. And a lot of times now I do have conversations with whether it be a general manager, whether it be a fixed ops director, or someone at a corporate location. So I can speak to the pains and struggles that I've seen down on the ground, where the work is happening, where the Bali is implemented at a level that maybe those people haven't been able to really think about before. So I think, I think that's something I never would have really put two and two together that would have been super beneficial, but it has been so far, I feel.

Was there anything specific that you encountered in CS that you ran into a scenario in the sales process then that you were like, oh yeah, that makes sense to me now. Or here's how that applies.

I don't know if I can recall back to anything in particular or any one kind of aha moment. But, but I guess just a lot of when, when a question comes up or a, a brush off of why they don't need it comes up. I can, I can speak to something I've seen. You know, I can tell it back to a story of I understand that you might not be like this, this may not be what happens in your dealership, but we do have, and we have seen other dealers that have done X, Y and Z and this really helped them there. And when you kind of frame it in that way so it's not just me trying to push something on you. I'm, I'm just talking to you like a friend, letting you know what, what I've seen elsewhere, you know, it becomes a lot easier to trust me that I'm, I'm trying to help you and that's what I'm really trying to do.

What has been the most challenging thing for you to I guess, handle with the transition? Is there anything in, in changing your mindset that that's been tougher than, than anything else?

For sure, Yeah. I think the biggest thing for me, and I'll be the first one to admit it, if I'm doing a demo or I'm doing a call and someone asks me a question, I'm very quick to give you, not just the bullet point of this is what it is, but rather try to go down a 10 minute rabbit hole of the different campaigns we can set up in Volley or the different use cases I've seen here or there or what report I would use with this export and this other thing that a prospect or someone I'm just meeting, they don't care about that, they have no idea what I'm talking about. They just ask a general question. And I'm stuck in that kind of CS world of, you know, Volley. You know exactly what I'm talking about. Here's what I would do if I were you.

Yeah, well, on the flip side though, there's no doubt that knowing Volley helps you in the sales process in other ways that it wouldn't if you hadn't prior been with the CS team. I mean, there's no doubt, you know, we've, we've Heard we talk about this in Volley, but Pearson knows Volley. He's probably like the fourth best or third best, most knowledgeable person about the inner workings of Volley and the company behind Sadie and behind, you know, Sam, who, you know, kind of built, you know, the head architect. So, you know, what are some of the things that, that have helped you on the sales side?

Yeah, I think even going down as simple as, as being able to navigate through Volley while talking about it or while talking ahead of what I'm doing, you know, I don't need to be in a spot to talk about it or I don't need to stop talking to get to certain places. I'm so comfortable moving through any screen in the system that I can talk to you about it without being there or I can talk to you about it as I'm clicking through things to keep that conversation going and, and to, you know, ask questions back to a prospect. As they're asking me questions, you know, I feel like I'm never going to, at least I haven't yet run into a situation where I get asked a question on a cold call or on a demo that I can't answer. Use case wise in Volley, I just flat out don't know it. It's not something I've come up with or I hear frequently. I just don't know the answer. That's not happened yet. It might at some point, but for now, even when you try to throw me a really hard or really tough in depth question, for the most part, if it's about using the app or people that have used the app, I can give you an answer.

What, what advice would you have for someone else who's in a CS role at a different company who wants to make that transition or wants to grow within their own company?

Yeah, I mean, I think first and foremost go for it. If it's a thought that you've had and it's a feeling you feel like you want to go with, do it. In doing it, there's a few things that I did that I think made the transition not only smooth but successful. You know, top thing I'll say there is is doing some sales training. Right. So we use, we use Sandler for that, obviously. But doing a sales training, I, I prior to this role had not done anything sales. I've never sold anything. I didn't take sales courses in college, never really thought about it. So I did a, a sales crash course training session, got really comfortable with kind of the essentials and the basics. It's still kind of ongoing. And that's been huge. I love every session. I love every monthly session we do with our instructor there as well. I think those are insanely helpful. The next thing I think is in being in cs, I really was able to develop a love for the product and for the industry that I probably wouldn't have had otherwise coming out of college. Definitely didn't think that automotive or automotive software was something I cared about. If I had just started in sales, I don't know that I would have really put that much depth into it. But in the years of being in it every single day and meeting all these lovely people and helping them out and seeing what we can actually do to help these people, you know, you build this passion that you just really love the product and you believe in it and you love the industry, you believe in it and you'll do anything to see these people be successful.

Well, it's certainly, certainly an awesome perspective. And shout out to Pearson. Shout out to the CS and the sales teams for, for doing a great job with our customers. And you know, we know that Pearson here is universally loved, so no doubt that he does a great job. Pearson, what is a. Your final takeaway that you'd want to folks tuning in to. To remember.

I guess to. To kind of piggyback on my last point there of, of developing that love and the passion that I. That I had. And if you were thinking of doing the same thing, it makes it really easy to. To be a salesperson if you truly, truly believe in the product that you're selling. I don't feel like I'm asking people to. To just give me money for something I don't know about. I feel like I'm. I'm coming to you as a friend because I have something that can really help you out. So key takeaway there is if you can actually believe in it. It's really easy to. To put yourself in that position.

That's awesome. Well, Pearson, thanks so much for taking the time with us and I hope that everyone tuning in has enjoyed this look at someone who's gone through this awesome. This interesting personal change here and thanks for tuning in. We hope you all have a fantastic day.

To put yourself in that position.

That's awesome. Well, Pearson, thanks so much for taking the time with us and I hope that everyone tuning in has enjoyed this look at someone who's gone through this awesome. This interesting personal change here and thanks for tuning in. We hope you all have a fantastic day.