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Centralized Showing Service facilitates sales while boosting Realtor professionalism
Increasing Functionality and Image

Centralized Showing Service facilitates sales while boosting Realtor professionalism

As president and CEO of the San Antonio Board of Realtors, Travis Kessler is always looking for innovative products and services to better meet the needs of his Realtor members. It was this desire that led him to Centralized Showing Service?a move he considers one of the best decisions he?s made as head of the board. According to Kessler, board focus groups consistently rank Centralized Showing Service (CSS) ?right up at the top.?

?This is the fourth year that we have used CSS board-wide,? he says. We are finding it aids the consumer as well as the Realtor. It just makes everyone?s life a whole lot easier.

A Lenexa, Kansas-based company, CSS is a national residential showing appointment service, scheduling more than 15 million showings each year for more than 70,000 Realtors in 30 markets across the country. Kessler says he first had the opportunity to work with CSS in the mid-1990s while based in Fort Worth, Texas. He quickly became a devotee of the system.

?It’s a very unique service,? Kessler says. Think of the efficiencies. If you are a real estate professional and you are in a car with a client and he or she points to a house with a ?For Sale? sign and says, ?I want to see that one,? all you have to do is call CSS and usually in an average of 17 seconds, CSS has that house all set up for you to take your customer in. It makes things amazingly easy for both the buyer and the seller.

Kessler says the decision to contract on a boardwide basis has saved San Antonio Realtors a significant amount of time and effort. In April alone, CSS handled the details for setting up 69,363 showings for the city?s Realtors. This efficiency, in addition to the service?s feedback collection component, FeedbackCentral, (which is provided at no cost to CSS Realtor members through an exclusive partnership with FeedbackCentral.com) is a major selling point for the program. By personalizing standard surveys or creating their own, CSS Realtor members can focus their feedback requests and get the feedback they want.

Another feature Kessler appreciates about CSS is the scheduling flexibility afforded by the company?s Web site. Realtors can go online any time of day or night to schedule showings, enter listings or request feedback on showings. In the past, Kessler says, agents rarely had time to provide feedback on houses. But because of the 24-hour availability of the company?s Web site, his members report that feedback has increased significantly?which is good for both the Realtor and the seller.

?A seller can go online and see for him or herself exactly what buyers said about the house,? Kessler explains. That means a lot to people?CSS provides a positive image for Realtors. It adds a level of professionalism and service and really is a first-class way for Realtors to communicate with sellers. It’s just a great marketing tool.?

?Lesley Geary

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