Many real estate professionals remember the old way of scheduling showings. A buyer’s agent made a phone call to a seller’s agent requesting a showing appointment on their listing. In some cases, this call went to an office or an agent working “duty desk.” At this point, the office or listing agent would attempt to contact the seller to confirm availability. The results were relayed back, agent to agent. For the buyer’s agent, this routine would be repeated for each house he or she intended to show the interested buyer. Appointments for a showing tour meant multiple calls, callbacks, voicemails and rescheduling attempts. For a day’s worth of showings, the combined amount of time and effort spent by various agents just making connections between parties would have been mind-boggling, time-consuming and frustrating.
Agents have pressing concerns: meeting with new clients, conducting market research, attending to closing activities, continuous training, plus so much more. The minutia of scheduling showings can impede progress on other crucial duties. However, showing appointments are vitally important. Without showings, there is no closing. Playing phone tag with multiple listing agents or offices can be a very time-consuming process that may result in delayed or lost showings and missed sales opportunities.
Centralized Showing Service takes the essential task of scheduling showings off the listing agent’s hands and executes that very important task through its contact centers, website and mobile app.
For showing agents, using CSS saves time and effort. With one phone call, an entire day’s worth of appointments can be booked in moments with no phone tag or callbacks. CSS confirms showing times, leaving agents free to pursue other activities. This convenience makes CSS listings very attractive. Listing agents benefit from more showings on their listings. More showings support quicker sales. Because the appointment process is quick and easy, showing agents prefer calling CSS to schedule their showing tours.
There are multiple ways to schedule showings: a phone call to CSS, online at Showings.com and the CSS Mobile App. The ability to schedule showings online 24/7/365 offers agents flexibility and convenience. Agents can even schedule directly from the MLS, in some locations, with a CSS-integrated “Schedule a Showing” link from a listing page.
CSS is a one-stop shop to schedule a full day of showings, with seamless integration of personal service and user-friendly technology. CSS offers full-service contact centers as well as an abundance of tools, including online scheduling with Showings.com, customized feedback collection, detailed reporting and market statistics. The CSS Mobile App (proper name needed to search in app stores), available for Apple and Android, is a great digital tool for showing agents on tour and listings agents managing activity remotely.
CSS and Showings.com combined are an indispensable resource to enhance the professional presentation of all agents, allowing them to remain both informed and empowered. With Showings.com, listing agents utilize one central location to manage and share their showing activity, as well as the option to share feedback reports and statistical data with their sellers.
Sellers appreciate confirming showing requests via text messages sent by Showings.com. It’s a very fast and efficient way to approve home showings. The seller can simply text “Yes” to approve the showing time and date. All appointment activity is easily accessed and recorded in Showings.com.
Nancy Marcotte, broker/operating partner with Keller Williams Realty Acadiana, who has been using CSS for the past six years, says CSS saves her agents an abundance of time and effort. “It’s a great tool for them to share with their sellers and an easy way for agents to get feedback.” Marcotte also notes that the use of CSS enhances professionalism, as it reduces miscommunication and the chance of missed showings.
“When it comes to communicating with sellers, CSS has it nailed,” adds Marcotte. Sellers can conveniently approve showing times by text message, email or phone call, making it less likely for the agent to miss an opportunity to show the home. Listing agents can enable sellers to directly view showing activity on their own Showings.com pages.
Marcotte goes on to explain that her favorite CSS feature is the ability to seamlessly get feedback and reports on showings, plus the ease in which appointments can be made.
“With CSS, our agents can get appointments with smaller brokerage companies that might otherwise be hard to get a hold of when trying to show a house.”
What else can CSS offer a real estate firm? According to Marcotte, the answer is leverage. “Our front desk and duty agents are freed up to do other things instead of constantly following up on calls to make showing appointments. For Keller Williams Realty Acadiana in Lafayette, we have just under 250 agents, so that’s a lot of time saved.”
For more information, visit www.Showings.com.
