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 managed 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.

Prizes for the award winners were kindly donated by conference sponsors and Revive! suppliers LKQ Coatings, 3M, Devilbiss, Farecla, Mirka, Sikkens, Kings Fleet Services and the Perry Appleton Group