Just back from a family holiday in Florida, John McAuley, owner of Revive! Worcester, is feeling content and chilled!
John set up his own business a year ago to escape the ‘corporate rat race’. Now, twelve months on, he’s achieved everything he wanted to achieve in his first year – and done it, as the famous song says, ‘his way’! He’s grown his team and hit his turnover target.
Before joining Revive! he had worked in his father’s company which was acquired by Cazoo. Finding corporate life very different and not for him, John took a sabbatical to think about his next career move.
He knew nothing about franchising until he was encouraged to look at the Revive! opportunity by a former colleague at Cazoo- Richard Graves who is now Revive! operations director and a main board member.
Said John: “Richard and I worked together at Cazoo. About two years ago he said to me ‘you should really check this out, mate’. And I was like, yeah, no, not for me, not at the moment. But it came back round, and in September time he said just have a look. So I did and thought, wow – that’s good isn’t it!”
Having been impressed by Revive!’s ambitious growth plans and the franchise’s ability to adapt the business to meet the rapidly changing needs of the automotive industry, he went through the recruitment process and launched Revive! Worcester in March 2024.
Throughout the year John has been impressed by the level of advice and support he has received from Revive!’s business growth team: “ It’s really made a difference, especially through some of the experiences we had over the first six months. They can help out when you need their help. It’s a coaching and a growth team – they’re not there to manage you because it’s your business, and you can do it how you want, but I can phone them when I need them, and that’s really important.”
After earlier recruitment challenges, John now has a ‘dream team’ of three technicians and one trainee. As a result his turnover saw significant growth during the last quarter. Taking advice from the Revive! business growth team, two one of his technicians have been ‘home grown’ taken on from outside the motor trade and trained at Revive!’s own industry leading training academy.
“My management style is relaxed. I know what it’s like to work in a bodyshop environment where the management can be quite assertive. I’m trying to build somewhere where people want to work and enjoy working. It’s not necessarily about ‘I work for John because I make the most money’, it’s, ‘I like working for Revive! Worcester, because it’s a good team and a good place to work’.
“Each member of my team is different and a formal approach doesn’t suit everybody, so my approach so far, has been to keep each person informed about what’s going on, talk to them about how they’re doing, how they’re doing it, how they need to improve. It’s not a sitting down formalised one to one process, but everyone knows what they need to do and why.”
At Revive! franchisees all take part in an accelerated growth programme where business owners are grouped according to current and expected turnover. Each group has its own leaderboard, and John was delighted to top the table just as his first year drew to a close. “Being top in March was nice – especially as I’m one of the newer franchisees. But my aspirations go further than that – I want to do more, grow more and won’t be satisfied until I get there.”
Looking ahead, John plans to grow the business to seven or eight technicians by the end of year two and take on a sales administrator to maximise the territory’s retail potential. “Once the team has stabilised and we’re at a good level with these four I’m not going to stand still.
“My whole approach has always been to get the team and get the workplace right and focus on just being the best there is in the area. If customers are happy and the team are happy, everything else will come.”
Keep an eye on the latest news from Revive! Worcester on their socials here: www.facebook.com/reviveworcester1
For more information about franchise opportunities in your area please get in touch with our team here: revivefranchise.com/contact-us/
