ChipsAway Celebrate at National Conference and Awards Ceremony
ChipsAway specialists from all over the UK, congregated at the Heritage Motor Museum for their annual conference last weekend, celebrating 20 years as the UK’s leading minor car body paintwork repair brand.
Our CEO, Tim Harris, kicked off the day’s presentations, highlighting the Franchisor’s key areas for growth and development going forward. Specialists from Universal McCann Birmingham – part of the world’s largest advertising and communications network then took to the stage, detailing some hugely exciting plans for the year ahead and sharing results from the recent record-breaking TV and online marketing campaigns, which have generated no less than £10m worth of work in the space of just 3 months! Two franchisees also spoke about their experiences growing and developing their businesses – helping inspire the crowd and eliciting lots of positive questions and discussion.
Delegates then got to speak to key industry suppliers during a comprehensive vendor exhibition where there was also an opportunity to try out new products first hand. And to add to the fun atmosphere, a giant Scalextric track, race simulator and pit-stop challenge were set up – bringing out the competitive side of the ChipsAway network!
The evening celebrations were held at the stunning Coombe Abbey where the much-anticipated awards ceremony took place, with top performers from the our network recognised and rewarded in front of their peers.
The highly coveted award for ‘Franchisee of the Year’ went to Andy Darby, who with the support of his ‘fantastic’ team of employees, has worked hard to build an impressive ChipsAway business. Not one for an easy life though, he is always keen to help other franchisees where possible for the good of the network as a whole.
“Andy is an extremely valued member of the ChipsAway network and very worthy winner of this title,” comments Tim Harris. “In his 12 years with ChipsAway, he’s managed to not only expand into a CarCare Centre with a team of employees, but he also finds the time to help newcomers with the launch of their businesses and has been a great sounding board for us at Head Office.”
Other high achievers included ‘Newcomer of the Year’ Neil Dobson, who was awarded for his rapid growth from single man-in-a-van to CarCare Centre with 3 employees in less than 12 months! ‘Marketeer of the Year’ went to Ross McKenzie, who is going from strength to strength having recently expanded and taken on an AlloyRescue franchise, launching an integrated marketing campaign to capture the synergies between the brands. Last, but by no means least, ‘Business Mentor of the Year’ went to Andy Cornell for his contribution to supporting other ChipsAway businesses within the nationwide network in achieving the very highest standards of customer service.
To complete the evening, a raffle raising a fantastic £1,500 for Help for Heroes was held and guests danced the night away!
“I always look forward to the annual ChipsAway conference,” concludes attendee Ryan Lythe, Franchisee and previous ‘Newcomer of the Year 2012’ award winner. “It never fails to get me inspired and motivated for the year ahead, I enjoy chatting to other guys in the network, hearing about all the opportunities Head Office are looking into and leave raring to go with big plans for the future!”
