Mark Bentley has been selling successfully selling and letting property for over 25 years. Mark joined a leading firm of estate agents ( Quantrill Smith ) in Sutton Coldfield just after his 17th Birthday in 1976. At the young age of 20 he was managing an office in Erdington for another local firm ( Temple & Co) who had offices in Sutton Coldfield , Erdington and Birmingham City Centre . Temple & Co carried out monthly auctions and Mark gained some useful auctioneering experience.

Word of Marks success reached a company called Ward Turner (which had 8 offices in South Birmingham) and Marks was employed to promote their recently opened office in Yardley , which was struggling to get off the ground. Very quickly Mark improved the performance of the Yardley office and it went from 8th ( least successful office ) to joint top performing office. Local competitor, Estate Agent , Roy Harrison approached Mark and asked him to join his company. Mark took over the running of their Yardley Office and , as R.J Harrison & Co , expanded , he went on to manage their largest office in Stechford. Mark was promoted to associate partner . During Mark’s 6 years at the company they dominated the local market place often selling a hundred properties a month and delivering their own property paper to every home in the area. They also ran regular advertising campaigns on local radio, probably the first Estate Agents in Birmingham to use radio advertising. The Marketing skills and energy of Roy Harrison and Mark Bentley proved a powerful force. In 1987 Mark decided it was time to return to his home town ( Sutton Coldfield ) and he approached one of the best known and most respected Estate Agency Firms in the town (Slater Dann & Co). Mark was offered the position of Branch Manager at their prestigious Four Oaks Office and his midas touch was soon working again. In 1989 Mark was promoted to Branch Manager of their large multi- practice flagship office in Sutton Coldfield Town Centre. Around this time the company was acquired by General Accident Insurance Company, who like many similar insurance companies and building societies , felt Estate Agents would be a good outlet for their products, policies , mortgages etc. By the early 1990s Slater Dann had been rebranded to General Accident Property Services and Mark had been promoted to Area Sales Manager responsible for three , then four , then five local offices. Mark was then promoted to Area Sales Director responsible for twelve offices across North Birmingham, Staffordshire and Wolverhampton. Mark duties not only included managing the budgets and staffing for his twelve offices but also providing training for his own team and other staff in the Midlands area. Mark was sent on a programme of senior management training courses and was also put through a series of tests to prove his ability to hold senior management positions . Mark passed with flying colours. In 1996 Mark decided that it was time to leave General Accident Property Services and to run his own practice in Sutton Coldfield . He met up with Paul Carr , who was already successfully running his own group of offices in North Birmingham but had not yet moved into Sutton Coldfield. Mark and Paul decided to work together and use each others strengths and Mark Bentley & Co Ltd was formed to trade alongside the existing group of Paul Carr Offices. (See www.paulcarr-property.co.uk ) Paul Carr & Co inc Mark Bentley & Co is now well established in the Sutton Coldfield Area and has gone from strength to strength. Plans are in place to further expand the company in Sutton Coldfield. See “ About Mark Bentley & Co”. Mark Bentley joined the National Association of Estate Agents in 1981 as an associate member and in 1989 became a Fellow. Mark has been a longstanding member of the Birmingham Branch of the National Association of Estate Agents and has served as the Membership officer , Branch Secretary , Branch Chairman and Branch President. He has also served as a member of the decision making council of the National Association of Estate Agents.