How to be the only agent a seller calls, and win the listing before anyone else gets an interview

You can price sharper and market harder than any agent in town, paying for the photos and the staging yourself, and still hear about a past client’s listing the day the sign goes up. Between 62% and 80% of US sellers contacted a single agent before they listed (Zillow and NAR, 2025), so for most listings the decision is made before the phone rings.

How many agents do home sellers contact before they list?

Most US sellers contact one agent and hire them.In NAR’s 2025 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, 80% of recent sellers contacted a single agent, a share that has held between 75% and 82% every year since 2019. In Zillow’s 2025 survey, 62% of sellers who used an agent contacted one.

People who have bought before go straight to one agent more often than first-timers: 54% of repeat buyers hired the first agent they contacted, against 46% of first-time buyers (Zillow, 2025). Your past clients are in the first group the next time they move.

What should an agent send so a past client calls them first?

Send what their home and their street are worth when it changes, with your reasoning, and keep up with the life changes that come before a move.Then yours is the name they already have the day they decide, and there is no interview to win.

1. When a house on their street sells. “The house at 14 Birch sold for $612,000 on Friday. It’s about the size of yours, so if you’re curious what that means for your place, I’m happy to walk you through it.”
2. Once a year, their home’s value with your reasoning. A short note on what their house would list for today and the two or three sales behind the number shows them the pricing work they would hire you for, years before they need it.
3. When their life changes in a way that comes before a move. A second baby, the last child leaving for university, a new job across town or a parent moving in all come before a sale. Ask about it by name: “Is your mom still thinking about moving closer to you?”
4. The same day, when they ask what it would sell for. A past client who asks “what do you think we’d get for it?” is often already deciding. Answer within the day with a number and the sales behind it, before they think to ask anyone else.

Why does a value update work when “thinking of selling?” does not?

A value update gives a past client something useful and asks for nothing, so they read it and remember who sent it.“Thinking of selling?” asks them to put their hand up before they are ready, and most people are not ready on the day it arrives.

The third one depends on remembering what each client told you about their plans, sometimes years earlier, and it is the one that puts you in front of the move before the seller has said it out loud.

If you have not taken it yet, see how you compare with the typical US agent and with agents of 16+ years, on the same NAR numbers the report uses.