Meet Tim, our Director of Federal Sales at Kion, who discusses product love at first sight, great pieces of advice, and sunset cruises on the Chesapeake Bay.
How long have you been at Kion, and how did you find the company?
I've been with Kion since February 2020. Three and a half years ago, I was the director of the federal division for a competitor. When I went looking for a change, I asked my recruiter to get me a meeting with Kion (cloudtamer.io at the time). I had seen a demo of Kion, and I loved the product from the first time I saw it. I felt it was the best cloud management platform I'd seen - and I've seen a lot! As fate would have it, I was working at Kion within a couple of weeks.
Tell us about your role at Kion, what you’re most passionate about in your role, and a bit about the tools and skills used in your role.
I lead our Federal Sales team, where I'm responsible for setting and meeting the revenue goals for sales across federal, state, and local government organizations. What I am most passionate about is the success of the folks on my team. I truly want to help them have life-changing success, and I know that Kion can do that for them. I had a lot of people help me along the way, and I want to pay that back.
I have a number of tools and resources available to me in order to be successful. For me, it all starts with Salesforce: every day starts and ends with tracking sales opportunities here, and we're lucky to have our instance administered by Chris, our amazing Sales Operations Manager. In addition, we use tools like LinkedIn Sales Navigator and Outreach, and Austin, our Sales Enablement Manager, has been great in supporting me and my team on how to best utilize these tools. These tools are great but, more importantly, are our people that really make us successful. When I’m recruiting folks to come to work for my team, the first thing I mention is, “You can’t find a better group of people.” You just can’t! I’ve been doing this for a long time, and our folks are the absolute best. Our Delivery & Support team are first-class professionals and they help us win new customers through trust: organizations believe they have landed in the best place with the most talented people. Our Marketing team consistently provides the event, content, messaging, and social media support critical to any success I have experienced. It would be impossible for me to meet my sales goals without these people.
The skills I use are mostly around my ability to identify the needs of customers and paint a picture of how we can make their lives easier while solving their problems. Once we have painted this picture (translation – they have interacted with our pre-sales team!), I then move into a skillset focused on walking them through the sales process. Obviously, people skills are key: at the end of the day, people buy from people they like and can relate to.
What are you currently working on that you’re excited about?
My focus right now is continuing to build a first-class public sector sales team and developing repeatable processes for sales generation and opportunity progress. When you have a great product that meets the requirements of a fast-growing market, it is incredibly exciting to put a team together to deliver that product to the market. I’m really looking forward to developing more true “Kioneers”!
What behavior or personality trait do you most attribute your success to and why?
Passion – it keeps me energized and full of ideas. I also think it can be contagious.
How do you prefer to start your day?
Cup of coffee and a long walk with the dogs.
What has your experience been with our company culture?
I have been working for a very long time, and I have never been a part of a company that puts more time and energy into the development of a great work atmosphere…and it shows. From the first day with HR for my onboarding to recently celebrating our 5-year anniversary, and everything in between, this company knows how to make every employee feel like they are part of a family.
Which benefits are your favorite and why?
Our health insurance– because I’m getting old!
What's your favorite Slack channel at Kion?
“DevOps” - JK – I have no idea what they are talking about on that channel or why I am even on it. I really like “Nobodycaresaboutyourkids” – apparently, I do.
What's the best advice you've ever received, and who was it from?
“Be a producer, not a consumer.” – my Dad.
“Don’t let your mouth write a check your a-- can’t cash.” – my older brother.
What’s your favorite way to unwind after a long week?
Sunset cruise on the Chesapeake Bay with the fam.
About the Author
Ashley Camara
Ashley is a People Operations Specialist at Kion.
