Chadwick E. Heard

Scheduling Process Improvement

Auben Realty was a fast-growing startup that was struggling to keep up demands. Our portfolio of properties under management had grown tremendously. This growth created a problem. We only had one showing agent to show prospective tenants our properties that were on the market. The following was our solution to that dilemma.

Scheduling Process Improvement | 2014

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DILEMMA

Our showing agent’s appointment schedule was packed every week however only 30% of his appointment attendees showed up. This became demoralizing for the showing agent and a complete waste of time. 

OBJECTIVE

Discover a more efficient way to schedule appointments, improve the show-up rate, and increase the number of showings that we were able to accommodate in a week. As the number of showings at a property increases, the greater likelihood of the property getting leased increases. 

MY ROLE

My role was discover a solution to this operational dilemma. It required me to perform a user interview with the showing agent to understand his “life in the day.” Through this investigation, I learned the scheduling process, his pain points and challenges. 

  • Business Analyst

  • User Researcher

  • Strategist

PROCESS

The process initially started in the discovery phase by leadership. I was tasked with investigating the dilemma and discovering a way to make our operations more efficient. I started my investigations by performing a user interview with the showing agent. I was able to uncover the showing process, pain points, and challenges that the showing agent was facing.

Original Process

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SOLUTION

After discovering the pain points, challenges, and opportunities for process improvement, I spoke with other property management companies to discover how they overcame this dilemma. I also performed internet research and attended industry conferences.

We considered multiple options but we ultimately decided on a scheduling platform called ShowMojo. It was a SaaS platform that integrated with electronic lockboxes. The platform collected inquires, showing requests, and increased the amount of touch points on the prospective tenant. This allowed us to implement a more robust process that made our operations more efficient.

Optimized Process

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RESULTS

This platform expanded our listing syndication, increased our daily scheduled appointments by 75% and increased the appointment show-up rate by 55%. The platform also allowed us to track and analyze which listing services yielded the best quality leads.