Alan Mishkoff’s advice on growing your franchise business through rebranding

Welcome to the Roadmap, an ASBN all-exclusive resource designed to educate CEOs, entrepreneurs, and business leaders on the value of growing and monetizing their businesses. On today’s episode, host Ted Jenkin is joined by Alan Mishkoff, the founder and president of Granite Garage Floors, to discuss how he entered the flooring industry and franchised it. 

The name represents the company’s best-in-class garage floor coating system’s appearance, durability, and quality. They have remained tightly aligned with the largest coatings manufacturers throughout the years, offering customers the most recent industrial-grade coating technology & installation methods.

Due to this, they now have over ten million square feet installed and countless satisfied customers. Since garage floor coating systems are their only focus, they can devote all their attention to that area, giving customers the best possible service from the initial consultation to the last installation.

After 25 years working in the corporate sector, Mishkoff thought the time had come to try something new. His brother-in-law was employed at the time by a business that collaborated with Home Depot. As the company was set to shut down, his brother established his own flooring business in South Florida. As Mishkoff helped his brother and transitioned out of corporate, he then began his own flooring company in Atlanta. After starting his company, Mishkoff realized he needed to rebrand it if he ever intended to sell it.

Franchise Business 

At the time Mishkoff entered the flooring market, it was misunderstood. He uses the example of when his kitchen was redone; visitors would walk through his garage to witness the granite floors, resulting in his rebranding strategy. 

Mishkoff asserts, “By rebranding my business on a global scale, it helped to take the same strategy from both stores in Flordia and Atlanta and duplicate it nationally.” However, he discovered that franchising allowed his business to grow swiftly. But the most crucial aspect of franchising, according to Mishkoff, “Is identifying the appropriate individuals to hire who have the same essential background as you.” Because if you want to sell your business and get the highest multiple, the best thing to do is engage with M&A firms that know the industry you contract with, who will dive into your business, and then do what they can to help sell it. 

“When franchising out your business, take a play out of your playbook you’re providing your staff and consumers, then add to it.”