4 Ways Realtors Can Use Scheduling Software to Drive Sales

The real estate business moves quickly, and any one sale involves many stakeholders—a real estate agent, buyer, seller, appraiser, lawyer, home inspector, property manager, and more. Between the home viewing, the cleaning, the staging, the appraisal, and the closing processes, realtors have to manage several different steps in the process according to both the sellers’ and buyers’ timelines. 

Like many deskless workers real estate agents value their independence and like to set their own schedules, which can increase complexity that large real estate agencies need to manage. It’s essential that they leverage powerful tools to help drive efficiency, productivity, and, ultimately, sales. 

The Benefits of Effective Scheduling in Real Estate

The scheduling process for realtors doesn’t have to be a headache or hindrance. In fact, getting it right can result in some key benefits for both the agency and realtors alike:

• Be the first to new listings – The easier it is for prospective sellers to get in touch with you, the more listings you will earn. With a modern scheduling tool, agencies can capture high-level listing information (like property location, sale date, the number of bedrooms and bathrooms, availability for valuation, etc.) directly on their website, then send a meeting invite request to a pool of relevant agents. These agents can easily view and accept bookings without having to dig through dozens of email leads. 

Realtors are thus responsible for their own time allocation and bookings, so they’ll never miss a listing opportunity, and back-office workers can focus on obtaining more leads through outreach, rather than collecting basic information from motivated sellers. 

• Save time and money – Because robust scheduling tools can integrate with a company’s website, fewer administrative steps are required to get agents booked and ready to go. Without this technology, agencies are burdened with the time- and resource-intensive process of sifting through booking requests sent to a central mailbox, then forwarding them to realtors.

Scheduling software offers self-service booking and requires prospective buyers to answer pre-qualifying questions, which means less time spent on tedious administrative tasks or unqualified leads. This frees up your resources to book more appointments, sell more listings, and boost your bottom line. 

• Increase efficiency with a proactive approach – The right real estate scheduling software ensures that realtors don’t have to rely on outdated, reactive processes that could negatively impact sales. Real estate agents are empowered to book their own appointments based on their preferred locations, time slots, experience, and other key details. 

Instead of waiting around for leads to be emailed to them, realtors can use the platform to confirm appointments on their own, increasing overall efficiency and productivity. They’re also incentivized to self-schedule, as the tool enables them to select and confirm the most desirable listings rather than relying on already overburdened back-office employees. Customers feel the love, too, as they get appointments scheduled faster with well-prepared agents who already know they’re qualified. 

• Reduce travel spend – Strong scheduling software includes location-based job recommendations, so realtors can view and book appointments within a reasonable distance. What’s more, the right technology even offers route optimization to help realtors determine the quickest path to a job without having to navigate away from their scheduling app, saving fuel, mileage, and time. 
• Reduce scheduling time to ensure more tour bookings – The more bookings an agent is able to accept, the more opportunities for selling. When scheduling is made easy through self-service booking features, location-based suggestions, and the ability to customize pre-qualifying questions for prospects, agents are free to focus on booking more tours and, of course, selling more properties. 

The 4 Ways Realtors Can Boost Sales with Scheduling Software 

Because the process of manual appointment booking is so cumbersome, many real estate agencies have already implemented some type of tool to streamline scheduling and appointment booking. But it’s important to note that not all solutions offer the necessary features to help drive real estate sales. Here are some of the key ways realtors can increase sales through scheduling software:

1. Schedule appointments more effective to get more done each day

Scheduling realtors throughout any given day should be a breeze. But that’s not always the case, as differing schedules, locations, preferences, and more threaten each realtor’s ability to be as productive as possible. 

When evaluating scheduling solutions, look for tools that enable realtors to self-schedule all of their appointments, including:

• Cleanings, which need to happen before any staging or photographs, and may need to be redone every so often depending on how long it takes for a property to sell
• Stagings, which are scheduled with a service or a or a specific contractor, and need to happen ASAP after the cleaning, as showings often depend on a properly staged and photographed property
• Showings, scheduled with the real estate agent, the potential buyer, and—quite often—the seller, who may need to leave the property during the time of the appointment
• 3D Scannings, which require prior cleaning and staging, and are scheduled with a third-party service. 

Agents should be able to use one centralized platform to accept, confirm, reschedule, and cancel their day’s appointments, saving precious time that might otherwise be spent digging through emails, text messages, and voicemails to address a single booking. Bonus points if the technology streamlines scheduling for virtual appointments, too.  

2. Find the best route to every showing

A huge part of most realtors’ days is spent traveling from one listing location to another, and getting from point A to point B can be stressful, time-consuming, and distracting. It’s inefficient (and even unsafe!) for Deskless workers to toggle between multiple apps to view and edit their schedules, communicate with coworkers and customers, and find the fastest route to their next destination. 

Your realtor scheduling software should automatically find and update the optimal route, with capabilities that take into account a variety of factors (like traffic, weather, construction, and more). This can save precious time when scheduling viewings at multiple properties in the same day, and helps realtors arrive on time and leave a great first impression.

3. Find the right real estate agent for the listing, fast

Not every realtor is right for every job. Prior experience with the customer, a specialty in certain property types, job preference, and location are all potential factors that can determine whether or not an agent is the best fit for a listing. 

When looking for appointment scheduling software, be sure to pick a solution that gives you the ability to add tags for each mobile worker, which the tool can use to create accurate, optimized schedules based on predetermined qualifications. That way, you’ll never need to reschedule a booking with the right realtor or have an under-prepared or under-qualified agent show up for a job. 

4. Sell anytime, anywhere, with photos and key details handy

Real estate agents must be able to access and record key details in the field, and do so in a secure manner. This might include listing notes, customer forms, or property photographs. Capturing and storing such information on a cell phone or camera roll, then later transferring them to another digital platform is both time-consuming and risky.

The right realtor scheduling software should offer photo and digital information capturing in one secure, succinct place to eliminate duplicative efforts and ensure customer, job, and employee information is kept safe. All of these details are automatically synced to other existing systems, too, so realtors and administrators don’t need to spend superfluous time updating each. 

Enhance the Realtor Scheduling Process

The right technology can take your real estate operations to the next level, with tools to streamline scheduling, optimize routing, and match agents to appropriate listings. 

Skedulo’s intelligent scheduling software eliminates time-consuming, manual realtor scheduling processes of the past and ensures a more efficient, productive mobile workforce. Learn more about the must-have features of real estate scheduling software.