Miracle Method aims to grow with franchise owners

who want to build a business, not buy a job.

By Tim O’Connor

Until a few years ago, Gwyn O’Kane had never heard of refinishing. So when he remodeled his 1960s-era Florida home he ripped out the pink and green bathtubs and dated kitchen countertops to replace them with a more contemporary design. O’Kane didn’t realize there was another option that would have saved substantial time and money while still delivering a modern look: surface refinishing.

Now O’Kane is helping to spread the message and grow the market as the vice president of franchise development at Miracle Method, the leading refinishing franchisor. The company specializes in repairing and restoring tubs, ceramic tile and countertops, and can even make Formica laminate look more like engineered stone. However, unlike laminate or stone, if a surface restored by Miracle Method is chipped, cracked or burned by a hot pot, the company can repair it and make it look like new.

The process also costs 50 to 75 percent less than traditional replacement and takes only two to three days for most jobs. “That’s a very unique value proposition when you consider refinishing ,” O’Kane says.

The bulk of Miracle Method’s jobs are for residential customers looking to freshen up their bathrooms or kitchens, but the company also does work for commercial clients, hotels, hospitals, schools and military bases for example. The key to Miracle Method’s refinishing  process is its proprietary bonding agent, MM-4, which changes surfaces at the molecular level to create hard and durable hi-tech acrylic coating finishes.

In many cases, the surface being restored is not just out of style, but deteriorating and unsanitary. Miracle Method can cover grout lines to create a more seamless surface that’s easier to clean. “It’s not just about beautification; it’s also about cleanliness and being hygienic,” O’Kane says.

Entrepreneur Oriented

Miracle Method started 38 years ago as a classic man-and-a-van company. Owners worked in their business. If they wanted to take a week off from surface refinishing to go on vacation with their families it meant losing a week’s worth of revenue.

That began to change in 1996 when Chuck Pistor purchased the company and implemented a true business-oriented model where owners prioritized managing staff and growing their company. “The model is about creating a true business for franchise entrepreneurs,” O’Kane says. “The owners are focusing on working on the business, not in the business itself.”

Today, Miracle Method franchise owners are expected to grow and ultimately manage teams of about 12 to 15 people and fleets of a eight to 12 trucks. Some franchisees even operate multiple locations in different states. “This is for men and women who are looking start a team, take care of customers and grow a much more substantial small business,” O’Kane says.

Further differentiating itself from its man-and-a-van roots, most Miracle Method franchisees have a physical address with a showroom where customers can view refinished surfaces and color options in-person. “If you can give customers the ability to come into the showroom to see it and touch it, then they understand what they are being provided with,” O’Kane explains.

With a strong support system and team at the corporate level, Miracle Method aims to have the phone ringing before new franchisees even open their doors. That will help them become busy faster and achieve a positive cash flow sooner, laying a strong foundation for sustained growth, which is also complemented by being a mobile service business. There is no waiting for customers to come to a costly retail location, but instead, free in-home estimates drive business right out of the gate.

The company has 140 locations and 90 franchise owners. Only one office is corporate-owned. It is located in Colorado Springs and it primarily serves as a training ground for new franchisees. “Our focus is very much on supporting our franchise owners and not on operating corporate locations,” O’Kane says.

Although they do not perform the refinishing themselves, every owner must complete three weeks of training, covering every aspect of running the business from the technical work to marketing and hiring. Office managers and technicians must also participate in training courses either at Miracle Method’s headquarters in Colorado Springs or at its satellite training facilities in Texas and California. “It covers the whole gamut of running a Miracle Method business,” O’Kane says of the program.

Supporting Growth

After 38 years of steady expansion, Miracle Method is beginning to speed up its growth. The company’s goal is to add one or two franchises a month during the next year. To support that pace of growth, the company has spent the past year-and-a-half building up its infrastructure and investing in training, IT software, customer relationship management systems and adding people in its corporate office. “We’ve really been working heavily over the past couple of years with the introduction of new team members gearing up our marketing efforts,” O’Kane says.

The company targets residential and commercial customers through local and national marketing campaigns that touch websites, digital, traditional and social media. Because it utilizes both traditional and digital media, O’Kane says Miracle Method is able to reach a far broader audience than in the past, making it easier than ever for new franchisees to quickly build a customer base. “Through the power of social media and the web, we’re able to get in front of customers much easier,” O’Kane notes.

Marketing in the digital space can be a challenge for established companies, so Miracle Method has partnered with businesses that understand and can better navigate internet marketing. “As a franchise organization, our continued success relies on the continued success of our franchise owners,” O’Kane says. “We work continually on behalf of franchise owners to provide them access to the best support, best vendors and ongoing training to support their growth.

“An example of this is our relationship with Broadly, a reviews automation company,” O’Kane says. “Broadly has helped drive our customers’ positive reviews online. We know customers are happy with our services, so to be able to share this feedback digitally has been a big success. In this digital age, reviews impact bottom lines and it’s continued corporate initiatives with a focus on franchise level success that create a real win-win.“

With a strong support system and team at the corporate level, Miracle Method aims to have the phone ringing before new franchisees even open their doors. That will help them become busy faster and achieve a positive cash flow sooner, laying a strong foundation for sustained growth.

Strong demand from commercial clientele across the country makes expansion for Miracle Method critical. Many of those new franchisees will likely come from the Southeast, where Miracle Method’s presence is thin and it has ample room to grow. Branches are already opening in Savannah and Augusta, Ga., and in Birmingham, Ala. “The whole southeastern quadrant [of the country] is screaming for locations; however, we certainly still have a lot of great territories across the nation,” O’Kane says.

Building up the company’s national footprint will contribute to the company’s goal of adding one to two new franchise each month for the next year. But is must also ensure that those new franchisees fit the company’s culture.

Miracle Method appeals most to people who are interested in franchising but have figured out they don’t want to manage minimum wage employees or operate the long hours required by food and retail businesses, O’Kane explains. It’s for those who are excited about building a business, not buying a job. “We’re a franchise system where we’re going to train and support an entrepreneurial spirit how to run this business,” he says.