Selling properties or helping your buyers find a property is all about showings. After all, real estate isn't generally something people buy sight-unseen. The logistics of scheduling these appointments is tedious and can significantly siphon away time that could be spent on other important tasks in buying or selling a home. One of the solutions available to help simplify and improve this process is eShowings. I sat down with Jay Lantz, National Sales Director, to learn more about the tools available from eShowings, particularly Show It Now – a tool that is free to MLSs and agents.

A Trusted Partner

In an industry where technology is often a "flash in the pan," eShowings has been in business for 14 years. They have established relationships with MLSs in 38 states, but serve real estate professionals in all 50 states. This experience and the relationships they have formed give them an edge in supporting the real estate community.

How Does eShowings Help Agents?

Basically, eShowings helps with appointment scheduling. Their goal is to improve the process for both the listing agent and the buyer's agent. They accomplish this through:

• Call centers
• Software

With eShowings, an appointment can be made online or over the phone. The call centers are what you want and expect – professionally-staffed, available 365 days a year. The software is where things get more interesting from our perspective. Let's look at one example: Show It Now.

Show It Now

Show It Now is a free solution provided by MLSs to their members. When your MLS chooses to offer Show It Now as a member benefit, the tool becomes integrated into the MLS system. This means that agents can request an appointment right from the search results page or the listing detail page, which improves usability and agent adoption.

The process for requesting an appointment through Show It Now is simple, with three basic steps. After clicking on the appointment icon next to a property, the requesting agent will:

1. Verify contact information.
2. Choose an appointment date and time.
3. Receive confirmation immediately OR receive a notification that confirmation is pending. If the appointment is confirmed, complete showing instructions will be included. If not, showing instructions will be sent to the requesting agent after the appointment has been confirmed.

The requesting agent will also receive an email confirmation with links to allow them to cancel or reschedule their showing appointment.

Contact your MLS to find out if Show It Now is available in your area.

Feature-Rich Agent Dashboard

For the listing agent, a variety of tools in the eShowings Agent Dashboard allow you to control and enrich the showing process.

Of course, there is the essential functionality to change showing instructions, availability, contact information, alerts, etc. There are also additional options for feedback, reporting, and more. For example, functionality includes:

• Viewing a complete history of all showings with dates, times, buyer's agent contact information, and any feedback.
• Sending an email to anyone who has shown the property – an excellent option for price reductions or an open house.
• Capturing feedback on three important questions: How did the property show? How did you think it was priced? Did your client have any interest? This feedback can be shared with the seller in a variety of ways. The response rate over all eShowings clients is over 70%.
• Tracking and sharing additional marketing activities with sellers. For instance, share reports with them that detail when you put up a sign, post an ad in the newspaper, etc.
• Creating a variety of reports. A few examples of eShowings reports include: projected appointments to settlement, feedback success, neighborhood showings, agents that have shown your listings, and showings by price.

eShowings is Mobile

For many agents, any technology loses value unless they can use it on-the-go. eShowings has developed a mobile site to serve these busy agents. We took a quick look at the mobile site and saw that it offers the functionality you'd need on your smartphone or tablet. You can view recent activity, manage your listings, track upcoming showings, and make appointments. And, because it is a mobile website, rather than a native app, you can use it no matter which mobile device you prefer.