Identifying Our Core Clients, by Courtney Egner

The old adage goes: “If you build it, they will come.” Unfortunately, in a space as crowded as the internet, this saying isn’t always true. Sometimes, “They can’t come to what they do not know exists.”
Just because your business lives at a physical address and online doesn’t guarantee your consumers will be able to find it. This is the purpose of marketing – to expose brands’ products and services in all their life-changing glory for all to see.
In this same vein of thought, this is what drives Seafoam’s Client Development Manager, Courtney Egner, to profess the many benefits of our agency to the brands who need us most. To get a better understanding of how Seafoam finds the best core clients to add to our growing roster of marketing partners, we hung out with Courtney for a chat. Here’s what she had to say...

Q&A with Courtney Egner

What is your job role at Seafoam Media?

I am the Client Development Manager here at Seafoam Media. I meet with all prospective clients, and go out to seek businesses that would be ideal clients for Seafoam to partner with.

Why is client development important to Seafoam’s structure, as well as the marketing industry as a whole?

Without what I do, there would be no structured way for Seafoam to actively prospect businesses; I go out, find brands based on criteria that we’ve set and try to partner with them. Whether or not they want to partner with us is usually based on their current marketing plan, the abilities of their staff and what we can offer to them.

I think that a lot of my job is just marketing Seafoam to the right people. When I go and meet with a prospective client, I’m not selling a product; I’m selling Seafoam, our team and the services we have to offer.

What do you do to personally ensure that Seafoam’s team and our prospective clients are a good fit before these groups partner together?

We have a set of traits that we use to classify what would be an “ideal client.” Out of that list of traits, we have four core traits that all of our prospective clients have to meet in order to be considered an “ideal client,” or the best fit for us. Ultimately, my goal is to find businesses that meet these core four traits and bring them into a partnership with Seafoam.

Has your role evolved since you’ve been with Seafoam Media? If so, how?

When I started at Seafoam, I knew that I was going to be building business relationships and bringing clients on board with us. Since then, I’ve been able to build our new sales process, prospect a more specified set of brands and really define the extent of my role; it’s been awesome! I have the freedom to do my job my way.

Are there any unique qualities about your role as it pertains to Seafoam's marketing strategy that you'd like to share?

As the Client Development Manager, I am basically the face of Seafoam. I’m expected to attend any sort of events that Seafoam can be at, such as client events, Chamber events – anywhere that I can represent our agency and use it as a marketing opportunity for us, I’m there.

Are there any lessons you learned so far that will make you better at your job as time goes on?

Seafoam isn’t going to be the perfect fit for every business; that’s why we have a very specific list of core traits that we look for in our partnerships. Coming from a position where money was the major driving factor in my job, Seafoam has taught me that the people behind each business, as well as our company, are the most important factors, not just cash.

Having a good team behind you to offer support, and having a good team to sell to our prospects is really what makes the sale, itself. Having clients that are open to our processes and expertise are what makes our partnerships perfect.