We were lucky to catch up with Heather Morrisroe-sutton recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Heather thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. To kick things off, we’d love to hear about things you or your brand do that diverge from the industry standard

Its funny because I just came from a business training workshop in Miami and I was met with alot of shock and even resistance when I mentioned the amount of things we give our customers for free. STANDARD seems to be the standard. Personally, I prefer making our product high value without making it high price. We have focused on delivering an all-inclusive packing that doesnt break the bank.
As a brand, our policy is always to give the customers more than expected, more than necessary, and more than anyone else offers. We feel its the secret to sustaining satisfied, loyal customers.

Heather, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My name is Heather Morrisroe-Sutton. I have an arts and entertainment background. During my professional career as a dancer, one of my early jobs was dancing on a cruise ship, where I met my husband. That industry delivered such incredible variety of guest experiences on one vessel, with a focus on exceptional customer service, it became the blueprint for our boat rental business. After leaving entertainment, as I was raising our children, I had unexpected success in network marketing. That industry helped me develop sales and marketing skills, but more importantly, understand the value of cultivating lifestyle, connecting to customers, and understanding their needs in order to provide benefit. So in building our product, we dug deep to think of all the unique needs guests might have and providing the solution within our model. That core value allows us to expand our business with new avenues as we face more and more feedback, we find more and more opportunities to develop new products for our customers.

How did you build your audience on social media?

COLLABORATE. COLLABORATE. COLLABORATE.
Obviously building content is essential and posting it consistently.
You want content that is specific and that evokes an emotion or feeling. People buy benefits not features. Your online presence should have a personality and a clear point of view. But what has been most impactful for building our social media has been collaborating with other businesses. To get started, ask yourself – Who has a network of your ideal customers? Who is already serving your dream network? Look at what they are doing, what is working. And also figure out how can you collaborate in a way that benefits both your businesses. This is where leaning into creativity is important.. You are able to also leverage both your networks and access new potentiap customers.
Beyond that, ENGAGE. Engagement is also essential. Engage as much as possible. Social media can bring enormous exposure to your business and it gives you opportunity to promote multiple times a day to hundreds or thousands of potential customers FOR FREE. Dont underestimate the power of it.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

I definitely can! Actually, we almost never launched our business because of this situation. Just weeks before we were ready to launch our business, a competitor sabotaged our location and we suddenly had nowhere to operate. Timing in a seasonal business is crucial. To say it was devastating is an understatement. We were scrambling. With limited options, we considered shutting the whole business down and selling the inventory. Luckily, anger can be a powerful motivator. I grew up with two brothers, so Im feisty and stubborn when someone bigger tries to push me around. Rejection can remove you where you shouldnt be and place you on the path of where you are meant to be. We ended up securing a location more central, with more amenities, better access to open water, and flexible, collaborative partners who appreciated the value we brought. The lesson is – Dont be afraid for things to fall apart. Its usually an opportunity to put them together in a better way.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.stjohnspremierboatrentals.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stjohnspremierboatrentals?igsh=MXFzMnJmb2s4NHJscw%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
• Other: TIK TOK
  https://www.tiktok.com/@stjohnspremierboa?_t=8q2uyuBByn8&_r=1

Image Credits

Bridget Gabrielle Photography