Meet our new VP Account Management, Desislava Bennett

Desislava, or Desi for short, joins Volt to head our ever-growing Account Management team. She talks through her ambitions for the role, the importance of open mindedness, and why account managers need to wear many hats…

Desi, welcome to the team! What attracted you to Volt?

Aside from already knowing Jordan [our Co-founder and Chief Business Development Officer] and Andrew Martin [our Malta-based Business Development Director], it’s the fact that Volt is growing so fast. There’s a huge opportunity for me to step in and make an impact based on my payments experience.

Moving from a big corporate organisation to a new business ready to conquer the world was a no-brainer. I can’t wait to grow with Volt on a business and personal level.

Tell us a bit about your experience…

I’m very much commercial in the way I think, which is reflected in the way I address merchant behaviour – and how I go about solving their problems. Commercial discussions and revenue projections, alongside relationship management, are my strengths.

Over the years I’ve been involved in lots of conversations with C-levels. This has placed me firmly in a leadership role, and made me confident about driving important conversations.

How important is an effective account management team?

It’s usually the core of a payments company. It’s where everything happens, where the rubber meets the road. You really get to know merchants by analysing and deep diving into their business models, strategies, strengths and where they need help. To help them seize opportunities, you often need to know these better than they do.

While it’s a commercially orientated function, it’s also a combination of so many different skills – relationship management, technical prowess, empathy, compliance, marketing. You need to wear different hats to drive conversations forward and see results.

The account management team has a broad and challenging role. I believe it’s where the magic happens. It’s what can make or break a financial institution because it overlaps with all the other teams within a company.

What do you look out for from new personnel?

It’s crucial that people have a relevant background because online payment processing is unique. That fundamental understanding and experience can then be applied to different verticals.

One of the core traits needed is open mindedness, because open banking is such a dynamic environment. Things can change overnight. You need to be flexible. You also need to be ambitious, hungry to learn more, and of course to actually deliver.

Being commercially aware also helps. If an account is successful and brings revenue month on month, then you’re successfully doing your job. That’s how you’re measured.

What are merchants saying about Volt?

That they love the attention the account management team gives them. By educating them, we help them grow – whether by enabling new markets or helping them integrate new products. They value the support and the fact that we’re super approachable.

Positive feedback really feeds our motivation to do more and go the extra mile. And while we see that customers are happy with our service, we of course recognise that there’s work to be done. Right now, though, I don’t think we could be in a better place.

What are your immediate goals and aspirations for the role?

There’s so much to be done, so many products to be released, so much value we can add to merchants. I cannot wait to see the results. By the end of the year we should have at least one more member in the account management team. And, together with the sales team, I’d like us to increase merchant onboarding by 100%.

What do you make of Volt’s culture?

Voltologists are so approachable. There’s a young culture built around flexibility and the open mindedness I spoke about earlier. People share knowledge with one other. We’re growing. We’re aware we’re not perfect, but also that we’re moving in the right direction.

There’s also a humbleness that I think comes from the top. This is something that I love; I feel that I belong to this culture. It makes me happy.