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My successes.

In June 2009, Stephanie and Benjamin Morrison teamed up to start Morr Interiors, a now award-winning interior design firm specializing in comprehensive design services to the home building industry and individual residential clients throughout New England. The company focuses on model home merchandising, commercial spaces, residential design, and staging.

Stephanie and Benjamin first met with SCORE in October 2010 right after their primary target market, the home construction industry, had just experienced the throes of the latest recession. No one was selling or buying much. Morr Interiors made it their mission to convince builders that investing in design services to showcase existing inventory would help them break this cycle and SCORE mentor Tim Cook showed them how to do it through pricing strategy and a clear roadmap of how their business should proceed.

Two keys to Morr Interiors’ success have been specialized product packaging and pricing strategy. Stephanie was presented with the 2010 Rookie of the Year Award by the Builder’s Association of Greater Boston in April 2011. Two of their innovative product packages include Turnkey Decorating Packages and Moving 101, both resulting from an analysis of the needs of her customers' customers, the buyers of new homes. Stephanie noticed that buyers of seasonal New England cottages often wanted to have their new summer homes ready to enjoy when they arrived rather than taking time away from vacation to decorate. Her solution was to offer a range of Turnkey Decorating Packages, ranging from basic furnishings to a complete home environment.

Stephanie's Moving 101 package includes consultation with homebuyers in their old home to discuss what furniture will be moving, assistance with selections, and supervision of furniture placement on moving day.

In late 2011, Morr Interiors won two gold medals from the Builders Association of Greater Boston (BAGB) Sales and Marketing Council for “Best Logo” and “Best Clubhouse – Community.” The business has also been nominated as Small Business Success Story of 2011 by the Seacoast chapter of SCORE.

What's great about my mentor?

SCORE mentor Tim Cook aided the team in developing standardized pricing packages for their existing and new target markets. Using a SCORE cash flow template and with Tim’s guidance, Stephanie and Benjamin were able to finally take charge of their cash flow planning. He also helped to define and delineate the roles of each principal – a crucial part of the success for any small business.