How is your office currently handling showing requests? Do you employ a receptionist to handle request for each agent and each listing? Are agents handling requests themselves? Who manages feedback on showings? Do agents have floor duty to cover phones? Do some agents hire personal assistants?

There are as many ways to handle showings and feedback as there are ways to market your listings.

Regardless of your current practice, confirming appointments is a demanding task that requires a lot of phone calls and time – time that should be focused on higher-priority tasks such as prospecting, generating leads and marketing. Feeling busy doing all the work required to confirm appointments doesn’t mean that it’s the best use of your time.

There are many options when it comes to scheduling showings. The two most popular are hiring a receptionist or front desk staff, or outsourcing to a real estate appointment service or call center.

Which option is best for you? As with any buying decision, there are many factors to consider: goals, features, budget, etc. To help you get started, we’ve put together a very basic cost comparison on what it costs to schedule showings in-house versus outsourcing. We’re using an assumed average price, based on a broad range of known pricing from multiple vendors.

For this example, let’s consider a 15-agent office with 40 listings. Keep in mind the purpose of the comparison isn’t to provide actual pricing, but simply to help your real estate office think about costs to factor into the decision.PriceComparison*prices vary based on vendor, market, upgrades, promotions, etc.

So, what does it cost to schedule showings? How your office prefers to handle showing requests plays a big part in finding that answer. Some offices do not factor in the labor costs of front desk staff, or only use a percentage of that cost.

The bottom line: It’s important to factor in all costs accrued with each option so you’re making the best decision for your company.


Do you spend too much of your day scheduling and confirming showing appointments? Learn how the ShowingTime Appointment Center helps free up your time to focus on other tasks to grow your business.