Best in Britain, Built on Basics
How Sparks Ellison became EA Masters Overall Winner
and why the Relocation Agent Network was cheering with them
There is a moment at every awards ceremony when time seems to slow down. The shortlist goes up on the screen, the big national names appear, and the room of more than a thousand agents shifts in their seats. Everyone has done the work. Everyone has fought their market. Everyone has earned their place. And then the words you are absolutely not expecting land: Sparks Ellison. Overall Winner. EA Masters Agent of the Year.
For a single office in a small town to beat national networks with full departments for marketing, customer experience and training, that is not just a trophy. That is a statement about where real power in this industry still lives. It lives in the people, the basics and the networks you choose to stand in.
If you listen to Mark Ellison talk about the win, what strikes you most is what he does not claim. There is no masterplan, no secret AI stack, no proprietary twelve step formula. There is something much simpler at play. As he puts it, “There is no magic to this business. Just do it properly. If you do it properly and you are good, it works.” Sparks Ellison won Best Single Office and then the overall EA Masters title on the back of a discipline that sounds almost boring written down: meaningful morning meetings, daily review of every viewing and valuation, understanding each applicant, knowing each homeowner, and maintaining an obsessive grip on the detail. The kind of detail many agents only rediscover when they say they are getting back to basics. The difference here is that Sparks Ellison never left the basics behind in the first place.
Another pillar of the story is the team itself. For years the office was built around long standing, deeply experienced staff, many of whom have been with the business for over a decade, some for more than twenty years. Then, in a deliberate shift, Mark and his business partner brought in three young negotiators in their early twenties. Not because of a trend, but because they saw something in them. One was a lad Mark coached in football when he was eight. Another was someone he met at a 21st party. A third came via a recruiter who knew precisely what type of spark they look for. They were not hired for experience, they were hired for intent. One walked into his interview, looked Mark in the eye and simply said, “Hi Mark, I am Charlie.” That tiny human moment told them everything.
Tech plays a part, but not the starring role. Sparks Ellison are not anti tech. They use a solid CRM, professional photography suppliers, and even ChatGPT here and there. But the heart of their operation is the phone, the face to face conversation, the lived relationship. In a market obsessed with AI forecasts and automation hype, it is refreshing to hear a UK Agent of the Year say, in effect: use the technology that helps, ignore what distracts you, and spend most of your energy being very very good with real people. This is not a rejection of innovation. It is a commitment to balance.
Their Google reviews are a similar story. They are not engineered. They are the natural by product of dealing with people in a way that feels human and consistent. “The reviews we get are generally about the way we made them feel,” Mark says. “Not just the result.” When you have nice people who genuinely want to help, the review profile takes care of itself. And when you combine that with real market share dominance, the public message becomes clear: they deliver the business, and they look after you while doing it.
And then there is the role of community, specifically the Relocation Agent Network. Mark has been part of the RAN Advisory Council for years, and the warmth of the reaction to Sparks Ellison’s win tells its own story. Within 48 hours, Mark was getting calls and messages from members across the network. One of the first was from former council member and serial award winner Simon Bradbury. Not a text, not a comment on LinkedIn, but a phone call full of “wows” and colourful language, and genuine pride. “He did not need to phone me. But he did. That is a RAN thing.”
In an era where everything is supposedly more connected, real community is actually becoming rarer. RAN gives independents a room full of non competing peers where you can talk honestly about staffing challenges, systems, suppliers and strategy without worrying it will be used against you. As Mark puts it: “It can be lonely out there. But in RAN, if I want to know something, I can ask and I will get honest answers.” That is the quiet superpower of the network. Being part of something bigger that still feels small enough to care.
And now comes the real test: staying best in the UK. Mark’s answer is as grounded as everything else. There is no talk of radical reinvention. “We have already said to someone this morning, that is not best in the UK service. You need to remember you are the best in the UK. Is what you are doing the best in the UK? If not, change it.” The bar has risen, but the approach stays the same: same town, same office, same meetings, same culture built on detail and decency.
For every independent agent reading this, Sparks Ellison’s win should land as both encouragement and challenge. It proves that a single office in a small town can beat the giants. It reinforces that doing the basics brilliantly is still the most powerful differentiator. It shows that your people matter more than your tech stack. And it highlights that the right network, one built on trust, honesty and genuine community, can elevate you further than you might ever go alone.
When a RAN member walks onto the EA Masters stage to collect the biggest award in the industry, every other member feels a piece of that success. That is what community is supposed to feel like. And maybe that is the deeper lesson. In a market obsessed with scale, sometimes the strongest position you can take is to stay small enough to care, sharp enough to execute, and connected enough to never feel alone.
