Have you met Erik Neilssen yet? He's DataBlend's Account Executive and he just celebrated two years with DataBlend! To celebrate this milestone with Erik, we wanted to do a short introduction, as well as recap a few moments from the past two years.
However, before we dive into Erik's Q&A, here are a three fun facts about Erik:
He's a BIG NY Mets fan! Jerry Seinfeld might just be the only fan bigger than Erik.
He loves a good graphic tee!
He knows everyone's birthday, so don't be surprised if he asks you when you were born!
Where are you from?
I am from Queens, NY, born and raised . Growing up in NYC gives you a special perspective of the world. Coming from Queens naturally makes me a NY Mets fan, which builds character, “Ya’ Gotta Believe!”
What’s your background?
I have a diverse background in Sales and Service. I graduated from Hunter College with a BA degree, Majoring in Theatre and Minoring in English. Out of college I worked as an Associate Account Executive for a freight forwarder, where I supported the Account Executives in capturing and maintaining new business. Craving something different, I transitioned to something with more customer interaction and worked as a franchise manager for a chain of local restaurants for about 7 years. After that, I was a professional Window Cleaner in NYC, washing windows over Times Square for over 13 years (as a theatre major in college, this felt very “Full Circle” for me). Two years ago, during the height of the Pandemic I was forced to evolve. I was lucky to find an opportunity as a Business Development Representative working for a small but promising company, DataBlend. Only nine months after I started, I was promoted to Account Executive.
Tell me about your role.
Early on in my career I discovered that working as an Account Executive is hard work! It requires determination, a thick skin, and an ability to listen. What I love the most about my role is that I am a person who can help people make their processes more efficient and productive, I am NOT a sleezy car salesperson. I get to be a problem solver. As an Account Executive, I spend most of my day speaking with prospective customers about their challenges and discussing the exciting and innovative solution DataBlend has to offer. I wouldn’t be able to work for a company that isn’t able to offer a strong value to its customers. When it comes to data and integrations, people often think of it as an amorphous subject that is difficult to comprehend and even more difficult to solve. My experience over that past two years has shown me, time and time again, how DataBlend can help empower finance professionals understand the value of automated integrations and elevate the value they get out of the best-in-class applications they are using today.
What’s your favorite moment of the last two years?
There are so many great moments over the past two years, it’s hard to choose just one. I have to say my favorite moments, are similar to one I had recently, where a prospect wasn’t particularly eager to take my meeting (who has the time for one more sales meeting, am I right?), but was willing to meet all the same. The moment came when I presented a slide of our deck that speaks to the number of different applications we connect to. The prospect, who thought they were getting on a call to hear about integrating Sage with Stripe, realized that with DataBlend, they could be empowered to bring valuable data over from several other applications they were already using. Better yet, we could pull data from their home-grown hosted systems, and even provide cleaner data for reporting. I call it the “Light Bulb Moment”, when a customer understands the FULL value DataBlend has to offer. It happens often, but I will never be tired of experiencing customers’ light bulbs lighting up, realizing the hours, dollars, and frustration saved by DataBlend’s “Full Value”.
How do you empower finance and accounting?
Connect with Erik!
If you want to say hello, book an appointment, or talk about the NY Mets, their are multiple ways to connect with Erik!
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/erik-neilssen-915a9472/
Email: eneilssen@datablend.com
Book time with Erik: https://meetings.hubspot.com/eneilssen