We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Benjamin Londa. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Benjamin below.
Benjamin, so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I was working as a project manager for a web and app development company, and my first day on the job started with a meeting with a new client who had an idea for a hotel in-room services tablet. I fell in love with the project and lead the management of the design, was quickly brought in full-time by the client and made Chief Operating Officer of the company.
I believe our customer relations are what has always set us apart from our competitors. We aren’t the biggest company, we don’t have all the funding rounds many others have, but we have always focused on the interpersonal relationships we have with our clients. It hit me early on that the clients we are serving are in hospitality, where the guest and their needs are first and foremost – and we should be an exact extension of that, where our clients and their needs are number one.
I am the president of the company, but there isn’t a sales call that I haven’t been a part of. I have spoken with every client we have and have met most of them in person. My goal, no matter the growth of our company, is to always have that personal connection with each and every one of them, from the tiniest of inns to the largest of casino resorts. When we onboard a new client, we always welcome them to our Volo family – and we sincerely mean it. Anyone can call me at any time and if I’m not on the other line, I’ll answer and speak with them as long as they need. Family is serious business over here!
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
The pandemic looked like a sudden death sentence for our industry, as it was for many industries. At one point every single one of our clients had closed their doors – some temporarily and some for good – thankfully most of them were paying their bills to their vendors, for which we were so grateful.
I knew in my right mind there was no way we could continue our regular routine of marketing and cold outreach to potential new clients in such a terrifying climate, but as a startup, we had to continue to generate new revenue otherwise we would be in serious trouble.
Thankfully our product is incredibly pivotable. At that point, April of 2020 I believe, we had only dipped our toes outside of the hospitality industry but now was the time to push elsewhere in the most delicate way we could. We were able to pivot our product in a way that our sole client in healthcare at the time could use Volo for their clients to communicate with their families, when otherwise they were unable to due to the lockdown that resulted from COVID-19. Our client called us a “godsend” and we were so thankful – we saw the opportunity to push hard into the healthcare industry, believing that we have a product that is built to truly help people. We never realized the magnitude of the kind of help we could offer, and of course hope we’re all never in a situation like that again – but it was wonderful and humbling to see that we could have a purpose greater than ourselves, and helping others will always be at the forefront of everything we do at Volo.
How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?
Our clients have always praised our customer support, which has always been our job one. It’s sincerely an honor to do this for them. They have always spoken highly to others in the industry about our product and service level, which goes a long way.
Hotel Tech Report has helped us as a vehicle for this exact message, providing a review-style platform for our clients to speak openly and honestly about their experiences with our product, both the pros and the cons. It’s hard to find even one single review of Volo on Hotel Tech Report that doesn’t mention our customer service. Every time I read a client review that mentions that aspect of what we do, it makes me extremely proud to be a part of this and lets me know our vision hasn’t lost focus. We became clients of Hotel Tech Report in 2018 and truly cannot thank them enough for all they do for our industry, technology vendors and hoteliers alike. I can’t speak highly enough about the platform they provide and the people that run their company. I don’t know if we would have the immediate level of trust and ease that we do when speaking with a new client were it not for Hotel Tech Report providing that opportunity.
Thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What’s something crazy or unexpected that’s happened to you or your business?
Early into the start of our company we were on the hunt for a Sales Director. Someone with a lot of experience and a strong, proven record. We also needed someone that wanted to work in a startup environment, knowing their compensation would be lower than average to start, but the payoff could be large. This also would include equity in the company. I had been the defacto salesperson up to this point and needed to focus my efforts elsewhere.
We interviewed countless candidates and eventually settled on the one we felt was perfect for our needs, and their experience matched our industry as well. It was stressful getting a new employee (literally employee #3 at that point!) up to speed on our company, product, and how we operate. I would meet with the new hire every day, training on our product and how we wanted to position ourselves in the market, in addition to core values we wanted our company to be known for. The dos and don’ts of sales, how to speak to potential clients while keeping our company culture at the forefront – transparency, honesty, integrity, kindness, and no fine print.
From day one I had a feeling that something was “off.” His LinkedIn profile looked like an independent sales consultant’s profile – selling himself, and no job history – when asked if he would update it to include Volo, his reasoning was that he doesn’t include any job history on LinkedIn because then his ex-wife would see it and come after him for money. I cautiously nodded, “ah, ok.” He would shift his eyes side to side frequently while speaking with me, he had many fantastical stories, and he was trying unusually hard to be my friend outside of work. I sensed he was becoming irritated with all the training and meetings, and he just wanted to run out to the open market and sell, sell, sell. While we understood, we simultaneously wanted him to exactly not that – I started to have a fear that he would hurt more potential relationships than help.
A couple months into his employment with us, everything unraveled in ways I would never have imagined. He called in sick on a Friday. The next day he emailed that he needed to make an emergency trip to be with his family as his father had suddenly become ill. He was to be gone for “a week or 2”. That feeling of something being “off” crept back in and I did some online searching. The more I searched, the more I would come up with companies he’d allegedly worked for that did not match the resume we had on file. When I came across another LinkedIn profile that was a mirror image of his content, I was stunned. I contacted our social media agency, as I guessed that he probably forgot that they follow him on Instagram – they sent me screenshots of him at a trade show in a different city, representing a different company, on the weekend he was supposed to be tending to his “ill father.” He was two-timing us, and the more research I did, the more I found he had probably been doing this his whole career.
We contacted the most recent 3 companies listed on the resume he had given us, and none had a record of him ever working there. We contacted the university he listed he graduated from (BA and MBA!) – no record of him ever attending the univeristy. We immediately terminated him and debated pursuing legal action or chalking it up to a lot of lessons learned.
Fast forward 6 months and I received a voicemail on my office line. It was a man calling to discuss an applicant, our previous employee, for a job at another company. I called the number back and received a recording that the line was no longer in service. I got in touch with the president of that company who said there wouldn’t be a reason anyone would be calling me at this point, as he was an employee that had been working there for at least 6 months…..
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.getvolo.
com - Instagram: https://www.
instagram.com/volosolutions - Facebook: https://www.
facebook.com/getvolo - Linkedin: https://www.
linkedin.com/company/volo- solutions-llc/ - Twitter: https://www.twitter.
com/getvolo - Youtube: https://www.youtube.
com/@volosolutions
Image Credits
Kip Sikora, Jennifer Londa, Benjamin Londa