Fortunately, those who use ShowingTime to manage showings are partnered with an ally who is dedicated to offering consistent enhancements to meet the rapidly changing environment. Continuing our existing efforts to help agents tackle this complex market, here are three new updates we released in the last few weeks we think you’ll appreciate.
Buffer Times for Exclusive Showings
Fierce buyer demand has led to a notable uptick in the average number of showings for listings around the country. This, of course, is a boon for sellers, who are more likely to get a higher price for their home. However, the demand can also create a stressful situation for listing agents and sellers who must balance accommodating all those requests with the need to ensure that the home is in a good enough state for additional upcoming showings.
To alleviate that stress, we introduced a buffer time setting. In markets in which it’s available, the buffer time setting allows listing agents to prevent showings from being scheduled back-to-back with a buffer time of 15-90 minutes. For buyer’s agents, the buffer time will appear as being unavailable for scheduling a showing.
With two clicks, you can set up a buffer time under the Appointment Restrictions section in the Listing Worksheet or from within your profile.
To set up a buffer time for your listing, navigate to the Appointment Restrictions section in the Listing Worksheet and in the Allow Scheduling Overlaps drop-down select No, Exclusive appointment requests only. Then, in the drop-down below, you can specify the length of time you’d like to set as your buffer time between scheduled showings.
The buffer time setting conveniently adds blocks of time of your choosing before and after a scheduled showing automatically.
For more information on specifying buffer times, click here.
A New Setting for Specifying the Maximum Number of Overlapping Showings
In today’s competitive market, flexibility is key for easing stress. For managing showings, that flexibility can often come in the form of allowing overlapping showings to maximize the number of prospective buyers who can view the listing in what can often be a limited amount of time available.
ShowingTime has allowed for listing agents to permit overlapping showings for some time, but previously the option was a binary choice between allowing or disallowing that configuration. Thanks to a recent update, listing agents now have a greater level of control over overlapping showings, allowing them to choose a maximum number of concurrent appointments when allowing overlapping showings on listings. This setting allows agents to permit anywhere from two to 10 appointments to take place at one time. This option can be set at the office level, agent level or profile level.
Listing agents now have greater flexibility when it comes to offering overlapping showings from within the Appointment Restrictions section of the Listing Worksheet.
For more details on setting a maximum number of overlapping showings, click here.
Specify a Minimum Appointment Length
With time at a premium for buyers and their agents, it’s not uncommon today to have buyer’s agents try to make the most of limited time allotted for showings by arriving to a showing early and leaving it past the time it was scheduled to have ended. Predictably, this scenario has a ripple effect as it either throws off the rest of the day’s schedule or forces overlapping showings even when they’re not desired.
With the new minimum appointment length option, listing agents have even more tools at their disposal to ensure a day of showings is orderly and in accordance with their schedule.
To reduce the likelihood of this unfortunately all-too-common situation from taking place, listing agents can now use their ShowingTime showing management service of choice to specify not only a maximum amount of length for a scheduled showing, but also a minimum length as well. To set a minimum appointment length, listing agents can select their desired time (from 15 minutes to two hours) in the Appointment Restrictions section of the Listing Worksheet.
The chosen minimum appointment length will compliment the maximum appointment length, and it will also take the previously mentioned buffer time and overlapping showings settings into account. When scheduling appointments on behalf of other agents, agents will also have the option to override the minimum or maximum appointment length for their own listings.
For more details on setting a minimum appointment length, click here.
Regardless of the market conditions, ShowingTime is committed to offering tools that help real estate professionals deftly navigate their day-to-day business. To stay current on the latest ShowingTime features, be sure to keep an eye on the ShowingTime UserVoice page for your ShowingTime product (linked to below).
ShowingTime Appointment Center
In today’s market, flexibility isn’t a “nice to have” – it’s essential. Fortunately, we hold ourselves to that same standard. To learn more about how ShowingTime’s evolving tools for showing management can help you overcome the challenges of today’s busy market, reach out to our Sales Team by clicking the button below.
