Benchmark's Best: Nikki Picklesimer, Senior Account Executive

​All of the salespeople at Benchmark produce great work while creating and sustaining great relationships with customers and vendors alike. But our Benchmark's Best for February, Nikki Picklesimer, Senior Account Executive deserves a spotlight of her own. Nikki has spent over a decade with Benchmark and has always been a great example and a ray of sunshine. For those with whom she works, her incredible work ethic and relationship building skills signify her excellence. Her dedication and loyalty have had a huge impact on Benchmark's success. Nikki has a special ability to provide in-depth solutions for your needs but also makes the entire process easy and fun. We are so proud to have Nikki as an integral part of our team, and if you are lucky, you might get to chat with her about how she can help your bank or credit union. 

What do you do in your job?
With her advanced listening skills and a genuine interest in other people, Nikki manages relationships between Benchmark and our awesome clients. Her knowledge of financial devices is impressive and is essential when she matches clients with the best financial devices to meet their needs. But knowledge isn't all she brings to the table. Not only can she talk shop with financial hardware, but she knows her way around software and solutions as well. Her experience in optimizing cash environments and branch transformation projects makes her helpful to any bank or credit union that want real solutions to real problems. She is a genuine people person. One of her favorite parts of her role is learning about clients and hearing what they do on a weekend or in their free time. Her love of people directly aligns with Benchmark's prioritization of the customer experience. She adds:

"I feel lucky that I get to know people all over the country!"
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How long has Nikki worked for Benchmark?
Luckily, Nikki has found a home at Benchmark. She has spent over 15 years with Benchmark! We are lucky to have held on to such a friendly and bright person. Nikki is definitely hungry to find the best solutions, hardware, and services for our clients, but she sure makes it look like fun. Nikki is also a unique find for Benchmark because we were her first job out of college. She graduated with a Marketing degree from the University of North Georgia. She dove right into her role here at Benchmark and thrived. Her successful tenure at Benchmark is far from over. She continues to provide fantastic support to her clients and is always open to finding new financial institutions that she can help.
 
Success Story
Diligent is a perfect word to describe Nikki. Her dedication to one deal has been exemplary. She first approached these clients in 2017. After years of navigation and collaboration, her client will be rolling out thousands of devices to their branches. She attributes her success to a team effort. She even details that there was no way she could have accomplished this without the amazing support she received from departments ranging from marketing to customer service to tech support. Benchmark is proud of Nikki and all of our great people on the team, and to quote Nikki: 

"We really do have the best folks around!"
 
Hobbies outside of work?
With Nikki's high energy and positivity, it's easy to believe she is a youth cheerleading coach. She coaches a squad that lines up on the sidelines and cheers the team on. 10 to 11-year-olds make up most of her 25-person strong squad. Talk about squad goals! She also enjoys watching her daughter cheer and play softball. She enjoys these activities with her husband of almost 14 years. She says he is amazing, and they are still very much in love after 14 years.

Favorite Food?
Hard to mess with a classic, and Nikki doesn't intend to. Her favorite food is pizza! Her favorite toppings include pepperoni and veggies. Benchmark tends to stay away from controversial topics, but she wants to add that New York-style pizza is the best. A direct quote from Nikki on her love for pizza:

"Pizza! Who doesn't love pizza?"

What are you watching these days?
Flashback Friday alert! Nikki has been streaming a new Netflix original series with a twist from the past. She has been enjoying karate battles, high school karate masters, and the Karate Kid himself with the comedy-drama series Cobra Kai. She loves the original Karate Kid and thinks the series is a lot of fun.