Interview with an Account ExecutiveZahara Cookson

Where are you based?

I am based in the Muriwhenua region, which is the far north, there is far north and what I call far far north… I consider myself to be in the far far north. I also travel often around to different areas across the region.

How long have you been with New Era?

I have just been with New Era for 5 years now.

Can you tell us about your role as an Account Executive at New Era Technology?

I have a split role. As well as being an Account Executive, I am also a Senior Technician so, I also do technical things, like project work. As an Account Executive, I am responsible for meeting with my clients and trying to find the best ways that New Era can help them achieve their priorities. Something that gives me great satisfaction with this role is seeing when a client is so happy with a solution set we’ve put in place for them, that they talk about their new solution with other clients. I’m relatively new to Sales, so I’m really enjoying the challenges that this path brings!

What does a typical day look like for you?

First of all, I check my calendar to see where I am going that day. I have a few onsite visits that I look after, so I travel out to some very remote schools every now and then. If I don’t have an onsite visit that day, generally I will either have a project organised to do, client meetings, some sales opportunities to work on, or will be supporting my team with escalations. Each day brings something different!

How do you approach building and maintaining relationships with clients, particularly schools in New Zealand?

To maintain client relationships, I would always make sure to approach them in a warm manner. I like to ask them about how their world is going, so I can try and understand from their point of view how I can best assist them.

What are some challenges you face in your role, and how do you overcome them?

I used to find it quite a challenge being geographically separated from my team, but I’ve discovered the magic of using Microsoft Teams to reach out to my team. I check in with them to make sure if they need help, they are getting that help, and if I need help, or, if I learn something new, I am sharing it with my team. Even though we are physically far apart, we are always communicating so that makes me feel like a very welcome part of the team.

Do you do anything interesting in your free time?

I work part-time at The Parrot Place in Keri Keri. It’s a bird zoo/pet shop, so it is very different from my current role, which makes it a nice change. In the job, I meet all sorts of new people and can practice giving people spiels about certain birds. It also allows me to transfer those communication skills to this job.

In that job, we rely a lot on body language to tell how birds are feeling and whether they are going to bite you or not, so being able to see that body language, has made me recognise a lot of human body language. I find I have a better understanding of how people are feeling or thinking just by looking at them and how they are reacting.

What do you like the most about your job?

One thing I really enjoy is that I learn something new every day, no two days are the same, and I’m always going to have something new and interesting to learn. Another thing I really do love is my team, the support I get from my team is invaluable, and the culture in our team is awesome. We can all talk to each other, have a bit of fun, and joke around, but we also know that we can reach out to each other if we are having any issues - if it’s technical or just not feeling too good!

Why did you want to get into the technology industry?

My main drive to get into technology was not having much access to technology as a child. Having my parents being technophobes, I was never allowed any computers or gaming consoles growing up. Not having this access gave me the drive to want it more. So as I grew older, I started to gain access to technology at school and liked the feeling of being able to troubleshoot an issue. With technology growing fast and constantly evolving, I like that there is always something new and interesting to learn all the time.