Three multiple listing services have integrated a showing management service into their platforms for their more than 9,000 collective members.
The service, Chicago-based ShowingTime, will allow the members of the Northwest Ohio Real Estate Information Service (NOREIS), the New Jersey MLS, and the Ann Arbor Area Board of Realtors MLS to schedule showings online at any time of day directly from the MLS on either a desktop or smartphone.
More than 60 MLSs representing more than 400,000 real estate professionals have rolled out ShowingTime for the MLS, formerly known as ShowingAssist, and use it to schedule 2 million showings per month.
Here’s how it works: Listing agents post showing instructions and enter available showing hours on an interactive calendar. Showing agents can request either specific showing times or a window of time when they want to show a listing, and an online notepad allows them to ask questions or add comments as they would over the phone.
When a showing agent submits a request, email notifications are sent instantly according to the listing agent’s preferences, which can be set up varying ways depending on whether the listing is occupied or vacant. This includes the option to instantly confirm a showing in order to save time.
“Our members are looking forward to online scheduling with ShowingTime,” said Sharon Hubbard, NOREIS’ MLS director, in a statement. “Streamlining the appointment request process with 24/7 availability, reducing phone calls, and saving time for our members has great value.”
MLS members will also have access to ShowingCart, which allows showing agents to store and organize their showings as a buyer tour; mapping; automated text-to-voice calls; and two-way text messaging so agents can confirm, decline or reschedule appointments from their smartphones when they can’t take a call.
ShowingTime also offers listing activity reports for sellers and an optional feedback tool system that emails showing agents a Web-based feedback form on the day of the showing.
For the hundreds of offices in these MLS markets also using ShowingDesk, ShowingTime’s Web-enabled front desk software, showing requests made via the MLS download into a task list to facilitate prompt follow-up by office staff, the company said.
Agents and offices also have the option of incorporating the ShowingTime Appointment Center, which works seamlessly with ShowingTime for the MLS, the company added. The appointment center includes staff to fully confirm showings on behalf of listing agents and offices. Phone calls made from the center are “branded” to the subscriber’s office.
ShowingTime’s products are used by more than 6,000 offices nationwide and integrated with more than 180 MLSs to manage 3 million showings every month, the company said.
In September, 4,000 Prudential Fox & Roach agents gained access to the ShowingTime Appointment Center. In July, Michael Lane, a ShowingTime co-founder, was promoted to president of the company after serving as its executive vice president of sales and marketing for five years.