Revive! Auto Innovations Franchise News Feed Husband and wife led team named finalists for Manchester Small Business of the Year - 28-June-2022 A husband and wife led team specialising in mobile vehicle bodywork repairs have been shortlisted for Small Business of the Year in Greater Manchester. Dan and Natalie Normanton and their team at SMART vehicle repair specialists, Revive! Trafford, are up for honours at the prestigious Greater Manchester Business Awards in the hotly contested category of Small Business of the Year, for businesses with 5-10 employees. The awards ceremony, which takes place at the Hotel Brooklyn in Manchester on Friday 2 September, will celebrate the achievements of businesses in the Greater Manchester area who have demonstrated excellence in the past year. Impressively, Revive! Trafford enjoyed a record financial year in 2021, achieving a 44% surge in turnover from 2020 figures, and even a 31% increase from pre-pandemic revenue in 2019. Revwner, Dan Normanton, commented: “We are delighted to have been shortlisted for such a coveted award alongside other forward-thinking businesses in the Manchester area. Our nomination is testament to the hard work our team have put in over the past year to deliver the very best for our customers.” Dan and Natalie launched Revive! Trafford in 2007, with Dan being the only technician during the early stages of the business. Since then, the couple have grown the business from strength to strength, so much so that they now employ six technicians. But Natalie has no intention of stopping here, with ambitious plans to grow the business even further: “By the end of 2023, we hope to add four new technicians to our team, which will grow our fleet to eleven vans. As we expand, perhaps we’ll soon be shortlisted not for small business of the year, but for even larger honours!”, she remarked. 20,000 reasons to choose Revive - 28-June-2022 Rugby based SMART repair specialists Revive! have surpassed 20,000 reviews on Trustpilot. This milestone coincides with Revive! celebrating its best ever sales in March 2022 and comes shortly after the company announced plans to recruit 200 SMART repair technicians over the next five years, while also increasing network sales to £40M and growing their repair network to more than 100 franchises. Revive! joined Trustpilot in September 2018, less than four years later they have over 20,000 reviews with a 4.9 rating and 98% of customers rating their experience as Excellent or Great. Revive! managing director (sales and marketing) Mark Llewellyn, commented: “It’s clear that Revive! are growing; this latest achievement is further proof of our commitment to building the UK’s biggest and best SMART repair organisation. “Delivering outstanding levels of customer service has always been essential to our success, so it’s no surprise that Revive! have maintained such a high Trustpilot rating on our way to 20,000 reviews. “Thank you to all our skilled technicians, diligent staff and happy customers who helped us reach this incredible milestone. On to 30,000!” UK operations director Andy Hupfield, added: “Reaching this Trustpilot milestone is another step towards our goal of growing our network to 100 franchises and 400 technicians by 2028. We encourage any talented and ambitious SMART repairers to contact us via careers@revive-uk.com.” SMART vehicle franchise network celebrates record year of financial growth - 24-June-2022 Revive! reports 41% growth in turnover in 2020/2021 £15.3m turnover up from £10.8m represents a record year of financial growth for the network The firm’s agile business model and increased marketing efforts have brought more sales enquiries to its 50 franchisees The network is on track to meet five-year growth plan to recruit 200 technicians and achieve £40m annual turnover SMART vehicle repair specialists, Revive! Auto Innovations has announced a record year of financial growth in 2021/2022, putting the company on course to reach its five-year growth plan announced last month. The Rugby-based company which provides high-quality mobile SMART repairs through its 50-strong franchisees, oversaw an impressive network turnover of £15.3 million in the last financial year, representing a 41% increase from the 2020/2021 figure of £10.8 million and even a 21% increase from pre-pandemic turnover of £12.7 million. Remarkably, Revive! also generated record turnover in all three of its revenue streams, with the firm’s retail, dealership and national accounts enjoying substantial growth of 41%, 43% and 38%, respectively. This comes after the network’s recently announced plan to recruit 200 technicians and grow annual sales to £40m. Revive! managing director of sales and marketing, Mark Llewellyn, commented: “We are thrilled to announce our impressive financial accounts for 2021/2022. Our excellent financial performance is testament to the fantastic work of our employees and franchisees alike, who all work incredibly hard to deliver the very best for our customers. “Significantly, we also outperformed our turnover in 2019/2020, meaning not only have we navigated the economic shock of the COVID-19 pandemic and all the challenges that came with it, but actually successfully adapted to the new marketplace to come back stronger and better than ever before. “And if 2022’s accounts thus far are anything to go by, it is clear our employees are up to the challenge of surpassing last year’s figures. No doubt, we will be watching our progress closely to ensure we set yet another record year and grow with our franchisees.” Revive! Auto Innovations announces 200 technician recruitment drive as part of significant business expansion - 29-March-2022 A five-year expansion plan to include the recruitment of over 200 technicians has been announced by SMART repair specialists, Revive! Auto Innovations. The recruitment drive is anticipated to more than double their workforce as the company embarks on an ambitious expansion plan to increase network sales to £40m. Revive! currently employs the UK’s largest accredited network with more than 200 IMI certified repairers and expects to grow the number of Revive! franchises to over 100 within the next five years. Revive! UK operations director, Andy Hupfield, commented: “We are tremendously excited about the opportunities ahead after announcing our expansion plans at our recent national conference, and we now need to recruit the right people to help achieve this. I would encourage any talented and ambitious SMART repair and bodywork technicians to contact us via careers@revive-uk.com. “Opportunities in the used car market are booming and Revive! has clearly benefited from this as we recently celebrated our best sales year ever with multiple franchises exceeding £1m in annual turnover. We have more than 50 franchise owners who see the same opportunities we do and are motivated more than ever to expand their teams and grow their businesses.” The announcement comes after Revive! Auto Innovations recently celebrated its best sales year at its 18th annual conference. Over 150 delegates attended the event, where Revive! managing directors Mark Llewellyn and Terry Mullen laid out plans to double the size of the company’s repair network within the next five years. Hupfield added: “Revive! has made huge strides over the last two years with investments in IT efficiencies and digital marketing. With the opening of our bespoke IMI accredited training centre in 2020, we have the facilities and expertise to grow our team of over 200 fully trained repairers to more than 400 over the next five years. We are growing and so we are hiring. As we continue to grow, we will continue to hire.” The purpose-built training academy in Rugby, Warwickshire allows Revive! to accredit ATAs, develop internal training and fast track novices who want to become SMART repair technicians with no previous experience. Revive! celebrate "Marvellous" Annual Conference - 15-March-2022 It’s been two years since Revive! Auto Innovations franchisees and head office staff have been able to get together face to face. The joy of being able to re-unite at the Jury’s Inn Hinkley Island Hotel added even more energy to the conference’s packed schedule of presentations and guest speakers which was rounded off by a gala dinner awards evening. Revive! managing director operations and finance, Terry Mullen opened the 2022 Revive! annual conference with a feisty speech about the power of franchising. She said: “A few months ago TV Dragon Peter Jones caused outrage in the franchising industry by saying ‘Franchises never make any money’. He was giving advice to a firm that wanted to grow their brand and felt franchising would be their best option. It’s not the first time one of the Dragons has made comments like this and although I tip my hat to his vast knowledge of business, Peter Jones really needs to look again. “There are thousands of businesses right across the UK operating under a franchise banner and some massive success stories such as McDonalds, Subway and several Home Care brands. Although Revive! hasn’t yet reached the turnover of the likes of McDonalds we do find ourselves mentioned in the same circles when franchisors are recognised in industry awards. “Franchising is very much the right model for fast growing and ambitious companies and provides leverage that stand alone businesses can sometimes struggle with. I believe that we have got the right mix of a relatively small network of multi-unit franchise owners supported by a successful and fast-growing company owned operation. Franchising very much works for us.” Over 100 franchisees and their teams attended the event to hear how Revive! rose to the numerous challenges presented by the pandemic and to celebrate both the network’s on-going collaborative success and the individual achievements of star performers within it. The conference also gave franchisees the opportunity to network with each other and head office staff as well as meet key suppliers. By tradition, managing director sales and marketing Mark Lewellyn shares a trailer from a new superhero movie at the start of the directors welcome address, and 2022 was no exception. Marvel was the choice this year, perhaps fittingly, as despite everything, Revive! has had a marvellous year. He said: “ As each year goes by, I never fail to be amazed by the dedication and commitment of the group of people I am proud to call the Revive! family. Because that’s what we are. Like any family we look out for each other, show acts of kindness and want to build a better future for the next generations. As our network grows and we welcome new franchisees to Revive! the family just gets bigger, but the core values that bind us together of of Integrity, Outstanding Customer Service, Technical Excellence and Unity together remain the same. There’s some big challenges ahead of us, but also some tremendous opportunities as we continue to demonstrate the power of team work here at Revive!” Delegates heard that over 30% of the network achieved their best ever sales year in 2021 with Revive! Surrey and Revive! East Anglia exceeding £1mn turnover. A total of 16 franchisees reported record sales months and special mention was given to Revive! owners in Shropshire, York, West Lincs and Bromley for their long service, together totaling 50 years! As lockdown changed the car market out of all recognition, Revive!’s in house IT team was able to rapidly develop and launch bespoke online booking portals and a repair gateway to enable dealerships and insurance policy holders to access SMART repair and alloy wheel services. New partnerships were forged with relative newcomers including car ‘supermarkets’ and direct sales platforms who wanted to access Revive!’s mobile repairer network. Franchise director Cathryn Hayes asked the conference to give a warm welcome to new owners recruited in 2021. She said: “After the challenging times in 2020 it was great to be able to get ten new Revive! franchisees launching their businesses in 2021, adding to the fleet of Revive! vans all over the UK, in Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and England.” She went on to outline some of the franchise’s major achievements over the past 12 months. “For the fifth year in a row, we have been ranked in the top 25 of the Elite Franchise Top 100 franchises, a league table in which we’ve had a constant presence. “Last year we entered the Brilliant Business Awards, a nationwide awards programme open to all businesses not just the franchise sector. This is the first time we have entered so were delighted to win Silver in the Customer Service category, a reflection of our Outstanding Customer Service values. “We were reaccredited for our full membership status of the British Franchise Association during the year, with a full review of our achievements and processes and passed with flying colours. “Our very own joint MD Terry was a finalist in the Bodyshop Excellence Awards as well as being named as one of the top Bodyshop industry influencers by the ABP Club, great recognition for Terry’s work in our sector. “And we were delighted to be awarded the Workbuzz 5 Star Franchisee Satisfaction award on our first attempt. This is an independent survey of our franchisees, asking a number of questions before scoring us on 5 key areas, Training and Support, the Franchise System, Culture and Relationships, Leadership and Overall Satisfaction and whether you would recommend Revive! “We achieved an overall score of 85% which is fantastic, putting us straight into the top tier.” After the coffee break, Revive! Sponsored racing car driver and reigning Mini Miglia champion Andrew Jordan took part in a question and answer session and updated delegates on his plans for the 2022/3 season. Keynote speaker Olympic gold medallist Iwan Thomas rounded off the day. In a moving and inspirational presentation, he spoke about the challenges he faced taking part in the gruelling Centurion Track 100-mile event to raise awareness of the need for women to take a test to see if they are carrying Group B Streptococcus infection (more commonly known as Strep B). A cause close to heart after his newborn son Teddy became desperately ill from the bacteria. In the evening, the gala awards dinner recognised the standout franchisees of 2021. Jay Belam, owner of Revive! Surrey was named Franchisee of the Year, with Iain Wallis of Northampton taking silver and Scott Gosbell of Stoke on Trent awarded bronze. Jay also scooped the Retail Award with silver going to Steve Thatcher of Portsmouth and bronze to Mike Haselden owner of Revive! Chester. Technician of the Year was presented to Steve Fry from Revive! Swindon. Customer Service of the Year Award was presented to Byron Lindsay, owner of Revive! High Wycombe with silver being taken by Mike Morgan of Revive! Preston. Tom Giles, still in his first year of business as owner of Revive! Aberdeen achieved the bronze award in this category. Graham Lindsay from Revive! Surrey received a special commendation for his contribution to Revive! Surrey’s growth in retail sales. Newcomer of the Year Award was won by Jai and Reena Patel, owners of Revive! Gloucester, whilst newcomers Mark Pronger from Northern Ireland and Hicham Bouissa from Uxbridge won Facebook Marketeer of the Year and Instagram Marketeer of the Year respectively. Each year the network itself votes for the Players Player of the Year Award which recognises the ongoing support given by an individual franchisee to his network colleagues. This year the award went to Paul Morris owner of Revive! Birmingham North. No Revive! conference awards dinner would be complete without the traditional fundraising charity game. To date Revive! has raised almost £7,700 for the Motor Neurone Disease Association in memory of Terry Mullens’ brother who sadly lost his life to the disease. Proceeds from the 2022 annual conference will also be shared with British Red Cross Ukrainian Crisis Appeal. Join Revive! and five other leading franchisors to learn more about running your own business! - 02-March-2022 Revive! Auto Innovations UK is delighted to be joining five fellow franchisors for this year’s ‘Franchise Discovery Day’. The educational webinar provides an insight into the lives of those who have built a diverse range of successful businesses. This event is a perfect opportunity for those looking to start their own business, but who may not be aware of the many opportunities available through franchising. It’s also a great opportunity for those who are aware of the franchise sector, but who want to know more about real life experiences of franchisees. The event, beginning at 6pm on Thursday 31st March 2022, will be hosted by BBC News Correspondent, Ben Thompson and welcomes franchisees and representatives from Revive! and five other leading UK franchises: Driver Hire FAST SIGNS Home Instead Puddle Ducks X-Press Legal Services Revive! UK will be joined at the event by Emily Price, COO of the British Franchise Association, and by HSBC, who will be discussing the franchise sector more widely, as well as talking about funding information and opportunities. As well as hearing from Revive!’s franchise director, Cathryn Hayes, franchisee Steve Thatcher, owner of Revive! Portsmouth will be joining to discuss his journey with Revive! and his experience in growing a strong, sizeable business through franchising. Steve Thatcher is among Revive! UK’s group of top-performing franchisees. Spurred on by his father to set up and run his own business, he bought Revive! Portsmouth 17 years ago and now operates five vans, employing a team of technicians. Cathryn Hayes of Revive! comments: “This event is a great chance for people to learn more about how you can become your own boss and start a business through franchising. It has been a challenging few years with the pandemic and many people have seen major changes in the way they work. This has led to huge interest in running a business as people are looking for more control over their futures. Franchising offers many opportunities across a wide range of industry sectors, there really is something for everyone.” “At Revive! we have been able to help our franchisees to achieve their dreams. They’ve been able to build their own business, have flexibility over their own work, all whilst doing something they are passionate about. We love to share the experiences of our franchisees and hope their stories inspire others.” Revive! Achieves 5 Star Franchisee Satisfaction Status - 05-July-2021 If you want to know what a franchise is really like, ask the franchisees. And that’s exactly what Revive! did by commissioning independent franchise consultancy WorkBuzz to survey its owners. As a result, the UK’s leading SMART repair management franchise, Revive! has been awarded 5 Star Franchisee Satisfaction status, after outperforming the survey’s benchmark* figure in almost every category. The voluntary online survey invited Revive! franchisees to comment on six key dimensions: training and support, leadership, the franchise system, value and reward, culture and relationships and general satisfaction. Revive! achieved an overall satisfaction percentage of 85%, with leadership (89%), training and support (88%) and general satisfaction (86%) achieving the highest scores. The highest score of 100% was achieved in the areas of ‘going the extra mile’ and initial training received. Scores of over 90% were recorded on questions about business pride, trust, marketing support, product confidence, peer support, recommending the brand to others and delivering the opportunity to expand their business. Commenting on the survey results, Revive! franchise director Cathryn Hayes said: “We’re absolutely delighted to be awarded a five-star satisfaction score in this industry recognised WorkBuzz survey. At every stage of our franchise journey, we have worked hard to communicate our vision and set out clear goals for the business and it is great to see that our franchisees clearly buy in to this. We understand that to grow and develop their businesses franchisees need ongoing support and training, and again this survey underlines the high level of satisfaction amongst our franchisees for all the top-quality services and support we provide. “There’s a tremendous sense of ‘family’ at Revive! Directors, head office staff and franchisees are all part of one big team, proud of our brand and working together to deliver a five-star service to our customers.” Pandemic Drives Revive! Annual Conference Online - 19-April-2021 In past years, Revive! franchisees have battled through snow , floods and gale force winds to get to the SMART repairer’s annual conference – but for 2021 all they had to do was find a comfortable seat to join the recent online virtual Revive! conference. Delegates heard that despite the challenges presented by the pandemic, almost 50% of the network manged to achieve their best ever sales month during 2020 as the UK’s leading SMART repairer quickly switched its emphasis to retail work following lockdown restrictions. Said Revive! joint managing director sales and marketing Mark Llewellyn: “The past year has been like no other. The pandemic has had a devastating effect on the whole world and we extend our deepest sympathy to those who have lost loved ones. “Like so many other businesses we had to make some tough decisions, but our whole ethos is built around meeting challenges head on, working as one big team to keep moving forward. Once we began to see what was happening we quickly went into planning mode – looking at ways to sustain our business and support our franchisees from day one. At the same time, we adapted our working practices to meet social distancing requirements to get our technicians back on the road safely as soon as possible. We’ve all faced tough times but the team has remained strong and I want to say a huge thank you to everyone for the part they have played this year.” The conference was spread over a whole week with a live Zoom session on the final evening to celebrate achievements of individual franchisees and their technicians. Content for each day was pre-recorded and uploaded onto the Revive! intranet for franchisees to watch on demand. All the aspects of the traditional annual conference were covered from a review of the past year’s business to looking at latest industry trends and hosting a supplier showcase. Every delegate ‘attending’ the 2021 online event received a conference hamper containing nibbles, cheese and biscuits, chocolates and a drinks selection sponsored by the Perry Appleton Group and LKQ Coatings. Said Revive! joint managing director operations and finance Terry Mullen: ‘The Revive! annual conference is always a real highlight on our agenda, for franchisees as well as the head office support team. It was sad that we didn’t get the chance to all get together in person but the virtual event was the next best option and we threw ourselves into making it successful. Our franchisees got behind it and joined our star-studded award ceremony on zoom where the atmosphere was relaxed and unified with franchisees supporting each other. A fitting way to end a year of challenge and celebrate success through adversity’. Olympic sprinter Iwan Thomas was the celebrity host for the virtual gala awards evening. Franchisee of the Year (north) was presented to Dan and Natalie Normanton at Revive! Trafford, with Franchisee of the Year (south) going to Jay Belam at Revive! Surrey. Jay also scooped the Retail Award for a business with five or more technicians. Commenting on his awards ‘double’ Jay Belam said: “Winning these awards was completely unexpected and a big surprise. As for the Franchisee of the Year award I’m really proud and grateful to those that chose to register their vote for me within the Revive! UK team. “The retail award is an evolution of everything that is going on behind the scenes both here at Revive! Surrey and also at Revive! UK. I really enjoy my job, it is constantly evolving and as the business grows it’s sometimes hard to step back and appreciate where I started from all those years ago when I left the Army. In the odd moment of reflection I allow a little time to enjoy it with a glass of gin with my wife and kids but then it’s straight onto the next challenge.” Steve Thatcher owner of Revive! Portsmouth picked up the Retail Award in the 1-4 technicians category and Michal Lepiarz and Irmina Kowalska from Revive! Basingstoke were also highly commended for their retail performance. Ken Allison from Revive! Waltham Abbey won the Customer Service Award with John Miles from Revive! Bromley being highly commended. Ben Allen from Revive! Bishop’s Stortford was chosen by his peers to receive the Players Player of the Year Award in recognition of the work he does to mentor and support colleagues within the Revive! network. Dave Elliott, a technician with ten years’ service at Revive! Luton was named the Technician of the Year Gold winner, with Darren Cheshire from Revive! Trafford taking Silver and Darren Taggerty at Revive! Glasgow the Bronze award. It's a Silver Bauble for Revive! Just in Time for Christmas - 08-December-2020 The UK’s leading SMART vehicle repair network, Revive! is proud to announce that it has won the prestigious Silver Franchisor of the Year Award at the 2020 bfa HSBC Franchise Awards, held virtually on 30 November. From its inception 16 years ago, Revive! has striven to drive up standards in the SMART repair industry and deliver a robust management franchise opportunity to men and women wanting to build their own businesses. Today Revive! has 55 franchisees employing 186 technicians operating from 171 specialist repair vans across the network. Said Revive’s! managing director, sales and marketing, Mark Llewellyn: “This year has been a challenging time for everyone, so the award is very welcome good news. Whilst we’re obviously delighted to be named as a Franchisor of the Year, for us it’s not about winning awards, it’s about setting goals and working together as one big team to make sure our franchisees have everything they need to stay at the top of their game. “The award is tangible recognition of this hard work and the continual investment we make in people, technology and systems to ensure our customers receive the highest quality of both work and service.” Added Terry Mullen, managing director, finance and operations at Revive!:” We’re collecting a great array of awards bearing the name of precious metals! This Silver Franchise of the Year Award follows on from our Investors in People Gold Accreditation last year. These accolades serve to shine a light on the incredible team we have here at Revive! The old adage ‘a business is only as good as the people within it’ couldn’t be more apt for us and we couldn’t be prouder.” The awards are the flagship event in the franchising calendar, with nominees and winners, proving the business works ethically and in the best interests of franchisees and staff. This year the awards were postponed and held virtually, as the safety of everyone involved was of very high importance. Pip Wilkins, CEO of the British Franchise Association, stated: “There are more franchise systems than ever before, showing that businesses are choosing franchising as an ideal model for them. The fact Revive! Auto Innovations managed to win this accolade, when so many new companies are entering into franchising, is a testament to the company’s values and culture. “It’s been a difficult year for all businesses, so we are pleased to see members of the franchise community thriving, having adapted to operate successfully despite the difficulties thrown their way.” Andy Brattesani, UK Head of Franchising at HSBC, said: “It was fantastic to hear from the Franchisor of the Year finalists and learn about their journey into franchising. Revive! Auto Innovations impressed the judges with tireless efforts to support the network and invest in operations, training and mentoring to set the franchise network up to succeed.” Revive! Auto Innovations won the Silver award, whilst Home Instead Senior Care took Gold and Snap-on Tools took the Bronze award. Learn more about franchise opportunties with Revive! Auto Innovations by clicking here. Launching a business in the time of Covid - 06-November-2020 Choosing the right franchise isn’t something that can be rushed. Ian Scott, owner of Revive! Glasgow took eight months to look carefully at all of the franchise opportunities of interest to him before deciding that Revive! was THE one. He said: “ From initial conversations and dialogue with Revive! I got a feel for the culture, ethos and values within the business and that really attracted me. There’s a real team there with openness, trust and transparency, and that’s what drove my decision to join the franchise.” After a career in the food and beverage industry, Ian has spent the past ten years as business development manager for a training company. A desire to set up on his own but lacking the technical knowledge necessary to take such a big step, led him to look at a management franchise and he hasn’t looked back since. He was impressed with comprehensive training provided by Revive! at the company’s own training academy. “It’s been full on, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Obviously due to my background I have better knowledge of some areas than others and can pick them up very quickly. The biggest thing was the technical side of it – quite a lot of jargon there to get my head around, - but the training was really detailed and far surpassed my expectations.” Cathryn Hayes, Revive!’s franchise director commented: “We’re delighted to welcome Ian to the Revive! family. I was impressed by his ambition and work ethic from day one and applaud the thorough way in which he did his research before making his final decision. Choosing the right franchise is so important – the fit has to be right for both the franchisor and franchisee – and this just can’t be rushed. I am sure Ian will be a great asset to our network and we wish him every success.” Ian opened Revive! Glasgow with two vans and a team of two experienced technicians. His original plan was to set up as a family business with his son as the first technician, but with the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic he chose to hit the ground running with an experienced workforce. “With the quieter time of year approaching and the difficulties presented by Covid I made the choice to get started as soon as possible with two fully qualified technicians behind me. I am still planning to build a family business handing over to my son when the time is right but for now my aim is to have five vans on the road within three years.” But in the meantime, Ian is going to focus on building the business. “I’m going to get out there and drive the business led by two main drivers, complete quality and customer service.” Revive! has worked hard to devise safe ways for franchisees to work during Covid with strict social distancing and strict adherence to hygiene. As a result, Ian’s technicians are being kept very busy, gathering five-star Trustpilot reviews from delighted customers along the way. “ It’s early days yet, but I’m delighted by the volume of quotations we are being asked for already,” said Ian. Revive! Auto Innovations are seeking franchisee partners across the UK. Click here to learn more... Revive! up for Highest Industry Award - 22-July-2020 After months of having to ‘sit’ on the exciting news that the UK’s leading SMART repair network had been shortlisted for the bfa HSBC Franchisor of the Year award, Revive! is delighted to announce that it is one of just six brands singled out to take the top accolade in this year’s British Franchise Awards. Although Revive! directors heard they had made the list of finalists earlier this year, the shortlisted candidate interviews and awards dinner had to be postponed following the outbreak of Covid-19. Judging will soon be underway and the winner will be announced at the re-scheduled gala event in November. Over the past twelve months Revive! has gone from strength to strength, evolving its business model from the traditional ‘man in a van’ to a become a management franchise opportunity. Offering unrivalled support, a healthy pipeline of national account work and a clear path to growth, Revive! attracted unprecedented interest from candidates. During 2019 the franchise signed up two new franchisees each starting their businesses with two vans and completed its largest resale to date, bringing in a new franchisee to take on the thriving 10-van business. It is this continuing desire to strive for even higher standards in everything it does that led to the award shortlisting. This news gives the Rugby headquartered franchise even more to celebrate. Now staff are able to return to work they have been welcomed back into Revive!’s brand new offices, re-uniting teams previously working across two different buildings in the town. Said Cathryn Hayes QFP, franchise director of Revive!: “ We are of course delighted to be shortlisted for what is generally regarded to be the premier award in the UK franchising industry. We’ve always worked hard to provide the best possible support and mentoring for our franchisees and this year we have ramped it up even more. Our new management franchise opportunity offers an enhanced business growth programme and the latest version of the Revive! ap which allows franchisees to manage their entire sales process from quotation through to job scheduling and then invoicing, all from a hand held tablet, designed and developed by our in-house IT department. “The new business model has proved to be very attractive, its success measured by the vey high calibre franchisees we have recently recruited. “Despite the unexpected Covid pandemic we are in a good place to reach our ambitious target of achieving a £40m turnover by the year 2025 and are already seeing our franchisees setting new sales records. We have supported franchises through the lockdown, providing advice on available government financial help schemes as well as making the necessary arrangements to help them furlough their staff. “Achieving such recognition from the franchise industry is a real testament to our network and the head office team who work so hard to support them. It’s been a tough time for us all during the lockdown so it’s great to have something to celebrate as we gradually begin to get back to work. “As our business expanded we outgrew our original premises and have been renting additional space whilst we looked to acquire land and build our new offices which are a joy! There’s room for everyone with appropriate social distancing and as people return to work they are really enjoying being back together as one big team again.” In congratulating Revive! Pip Wilkins QFP, CEO of the British Franchising Association said: “Transferring the franchise model from the traditional ‘man in a van’ type franchise to a management franchise has seen Revive! gain a significant rise in network turnover, and it also bucks the trend of the car industry being predominantly male, with a number of high performing franchisees being female.” Andrew Brattesani, Head of Franchising, HSBC added: “As well as the shift in franchisee profile over time, Revive! also works tirelessly to support the network and invest in operations, training and mentoring to set the franchise network up to succeed.” The bfa HSBC awards dinner will be held at the Vox, Birmingham on 30 November. Revive! Women Recognised in top Franchise Industry Awards - 22-May-2020 The SMART repair industry may be predominantly a male domain, but two women from Revive! shortlisted for this year’s Encouraging Women into Franchising (EWIF) awards have proved that gender is not an issue in any workplace when it comes to leadership and efficiency. Joint managing director Terry Mullen has been named a finalist in the top Woman Franchisor of the Year Category, whilst accounts manager Louise Evans is shortlisted for the Woman Franchise Employee of the Year award. Both are no strangers to receiving accolades. Runner- up for the same EWIF award last year, Terry was recently recognised as one of the 40 women of influence in the body repair industry by the Autobody Professionals Blub (ABP Club) whilst Louise was named Employee of the Year at Revive!’s annual conference. In addition to managing the day to day finances and operations of Revive!, Former bank manager Terry has also been overseeing the purchase and refurbishment of the company’s new head office and training centre building. She is at the heart of Revive!’s Investors in People initiative, which achieved Gold Accreditation following the company’s recent IIP re- assessment. Only 16% of all companies holding IIP status achieve the coveted Gold status which puts Revive! in the top tier nationwide. Commenting on her EWIF shortlisting Terry Mullen said: “ Throughout my career in banking and now in SMART repair I may have been a ‘woman in a man’s world’ but have never really considered gender to have any influence on performance or achievement. I am obviously pleased to be a finalist once again in the prestigious EWIF awards and hope that my story may encourage more women to widen their horizons and consider stepping up to senior roles in franchising.” Louise Evans joined Revive! as a member of the bookkeeping team in 2014 and was encouraged by the company to gain more qualifications and subsequent responsibilities. She rose to the challenge going back to college and achieving consistently high marks in accountancy exams and has recently been promoted to accounts manager with four people reporting to her. She is also part of the business development team helping franchisees understand their financials in more depth and it was for this aspect of her work that she was nominated as Revive! Employee of the Year by her peers. Said Louise: “ At Revive! we are all team members and whether you are male or female makes no difference to the jobs we do or the respect we have for each other. One of Revive!’s core values is ‘unity’ and we are all working together to drive the business forward and achieve a turnover of £50m by 2025. I am proud to have been shortlisted for this EWIF award and to be the Revive! Employee of the Year but even prouder to be part of the Revive! team.” The final judging of the awards and the presentation ceremony have been postponed due to the social distancing measures imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic, but EWIF is keen to emphasise the achievements of the finalists will be fully recognised just as soon as restrictions are lifted. Revive! Annual Conference Celebrates Bumper Year - 19-March-2020 Revive! franchisees and technicians from all over the UK gathered once again at the home of England football, St James Park to attend the company’s 16th annual conference and celebrate a year which has placed the UK’s leading network of accredited SMART repairers well on track to meet its stated goal of achieving a £20m turnover by 2020. The theme of this year’s conference was ‘Mindset for Growth’. Board directors Mark Llewellyn, Terry Mullen, and Kelly Blackmore-Lee presented the highlights of the year which included a 10% growth in network sales, 40% rise in national account business, two new franchisees, the largest ever territory re-sale and outstanding customer feedback through Trustpilot. Over 98% of all Trustpilot reviewers gave Revive! a 5* or 4* rating. The business was also awarded a rare Gold rating after its 2019 IIP re-assessment. Only 20% of those assessed achieve this high standard. The conference also heard that franchise director Cathryn Hayes has been named as one of the most influential women in franchising for 2019 and joint managing director Terry Mullen was named by the Auto Body Professionals Club as one of their 40 Women of Influence, as well as being a finalist in the 2019 Encouraging Women in Franchising (EWIF) Awards. In announcing that the new company goal was to double turnover to £40m by 2025, managing director Mark Llewellyn said: I’m delighted to report another record year at Revive!, with multiple records smashed and the business continues to grow year on year at a significant rate. “I would like to congratulate also all those individual businesses that created new records and the accelerated growth group group that has tripled in size since its inception in 2018. “Growth has been a key focus for Revive! and even under challenging economic times I am delighted to have seen that the reputation of quality in both workmanship and customer service have enabled the Revive! network to experience another outstanding year in 2019.” The company now has 60 franchisees, with 190 technicians on the road, all supported by a 50-people strong Rugby based head office team. It’s a tradition at the Revive! annual conference to host industry leading and inspirational speakers to motivate delegates, and this year was no exception. The keynote speaker was Jason Todd from specialist training, motivational and development company Art of Brilliance who spoke on ‘be yourself’. Callum Wood, CitNow and Trevor Ferris from Eco repair Systems updated delegates on latest industry developments in video and repair techniques whilst Chris Cook and Mike Brocklebank from franchise recruitment specialist Chantry underlined the importance of planning for business growth and devising an exit strategy. After lunch six long service awards and 19 best month awards were presented to the network and a question and answer session with Revive! sponsored BTCC racing driver Andrew Jordan brought the conference to a close. More outstanding individual and team achievements were recognised at the post-conference gala dinner and awards ceremony which also raised £1,300 for the Motor Neurone Disease Society. Anthony Wilcock from Revive! Sussex Coast was named Franchisee of the Year. Ken Allison from Revive! Waltham Abbey took the Customer Service award and was also runner up for Franchisee of the Year. Players Player of the Year, voted for by the network was Mike Haselden, owner of Revive! Chester. Two technicians from Revive! Surrey, Matt North and Chris Nunn shared the Technician of the Year award, and the UK Employee of the year award was jointly awarded to Rugby-based head office team members Catherine Territt and Louise Evans. In a brand-new award for 2019, the owner of Revive Edinburgh Jonny Pearson was Highly Commended for achieving outstanding business growth in a short period of time since taking on the territory. Prizes were donated by Revive! suppliers and conference sponsors AkzoNobel, Mirka, eco repair systems, Allianz, Farécla, Kings Fleet Services, Sealey and LKQ Coatings. Record Revive! Territory Resale - 04-February-2020 Leading SMART repair franchise Revive! has completed its largest resale to date. Underlining the desirability of this automotive sector management franchise, the deal has been five months in the making and sees Revive! Luton changing hands for a record sum, following the decision of the owner to achieve his long-standing ambition to go travelling with his family. Adam Smith purchased the franchise in 2009 growing it from just one man and a van to a business running a fleet of 11 vans, employing 13 people who will transfer to the new company. The new owner is quantity surveyor Viresh Dattani who was introduced to the seller by Franchise Resales. Following Revive!’s rigorous vetting process, Viresh has completed his training at the Revive! Academy in Rugby and will take over the helm at Revive! Luton immediately, working alongside Adam during the handover period. Revive! managing director Mark Llewellyn went to Luton to congratulate Adam and Viresh after the sale had been completed. Commenting on the sale, Revive! franchise director Cathryn Hayes said: “We are delighted to welcome Viresh to the Revive! family following our biggest re-sale to date. He has bought a thriving territory which has already delivered a profitable exit strategy for Adam and we look forward to helping Viresh take this exciting business to the next level.” Mr Dattani added: “I am delighted to join the Revive! team and excited about the opportunity to build the business further. I’ve got to know Adam well during the negotiations, he’s built a great team at Revive! Luton and I’m looking forward to getting to know the staff and customers over the coming months”. Adam commented: “I’m very proud of what we’ve achieved at Revive! Luton, after I started the franchise working from a single van. After ten years of hard work building it up, I’m looking forward to spending time travelling with my partner and our young daughter and the sale of the business has given us the freedom to take this step.” Estate Agency Boss Sold on Revive! - 07-November-2019 Former managing director of Bridgefords, Countrywide’s North of England chain of estate agencies, Mike Gowland, is the latest to sign up to a Revive! Auto Innovations management franchise. He’s opened Revive! Stafford hitting the ground running with a fleet of two SMART mobile repair vans and a team of trained technicians. A passion for good old-fashioned customer service and the desire use his management skills to build a business in a completely new field, led Mike to explore available management franchise opportunities. He explained: “I was ready for a new challenge. As I’ve always been a bit of a petrol head a franchise in the automotive sector appealed to me. “I don’t have time to spend another thirty years building up knowledge of an entirely different industry, so it made complete sense to go down the franchise route. The franchise model is one I am extremely familiar with, as many estate agencies are run along these lines. By taking on a franchise you benefit from the franchisor’s expertise – I don’t have to make my own mistakes and can leverage the power of a well-known, established brand. “I met up with the Revive! team and liked what I saw. “What most impressed me was that the people who started the business are still very much involved in it. The founding directors may have built Revive! from a very small business to the size it is today, but the company retains the culture, warmth and personal interaction that is more common in smaller organisations.” Revive! franchise director Cathryn Hayes is delighted with the calibre of recruits the Revive! management franchise opportunity continues to attract. Last month former head teacher Eifion Watkins opened Revive! Gogledd Cymru in North Wales. She said: “As the leading network of SMART repairers in the UK demand for our services from both the trade and retail sectors has increased dramatically over the past twelve months. “Experienced managers with proven business skills looking to take control of their own futures and build a solid business are drawn to Revive!’s unique management model, where some territories are turning over in excess of £1m a year. We’re delighted that Mike has decided to join us and wish him and his team every success for the future.” To learn more about franchise opportunties with Revive! Auto Innovations, click here! Revive! Auto Innovations Franchise News Feed Last updated: 28-June-2022
