These instructions are for Office Administrative Staff for Office Account Set-up

Important Information for your Office Regarding BookAShowing Launch on NorthstarMLS.  Please Read.

You received this email because you are designated in your local Realtor Association’s membership database as the “Responsible Agent” for one or more offices.  You and any of your office staff with a NorthstarMLS login ID have been assigned to the BookAShowing administrative account for your office.  If someone else in your office manages showings appointments for your office, please forward this email to that person.

What is BookAShowing?
BookAShowing is an online showing scheduling and feedback system that is being incorporated into NorthstarMLS for all users.  It is included in your MLS fees at no additional charge for agents or office staff.  Showing agents can quickly request a showing by clicking the BookAShowing link on a listing and submitting a request form.  List agents and office administrators can quickly respond online to confirm appointments or have the system automatically confirm for vacant properties.  Includes a fully customizable showing feedback system and reports.  Manage showing schedules for the whole office or let agents handle their own.

What do I need to do?
The settings-only portion of BookAShowing is available now through NorthstarMLS Matrix.  The scheduling portion will be turned on in two weeks (Thursday, March 5).  During this two week set-up period, office administrators need to take a few moments to log in and set up how they want BookAShowing to work for their office.

To get started:

  1. Log in to NorthstarMLS Matrix.
  2. On the Home screen, click the “BookAShowing” link on the blue sub-menu bar just below the tabs.
  3. This will open a new window with BookAShowing and you will automatically be logged in.  Within BookAShowing, click “Settings” in the orange menu bar in the upper right portion of the screen.  This will bring you to the Account Settings screen where you can set all your preferences for the office.
  4. Before you start, we recommend that you watch a quick (less than 5 minutes) tutorial video by clicking here.  Other short helpful videos are available by clicking here.

Instructions for agents to complete their BookAShowing account set-up are on the News screen of NorthstarMLS Matrix.  Please direct your agents to this information at your next office meeting.

After this two-week set-up period, the scheduling portion of BookAShowing will be activated on Thursday, March 5.

We already use another showing product.  Can BookAShowing work with it?
We believe you will find BookAShowing to be a complete, full-featured online system that will eliminate the need for you to continue paying for another online solution.  However, if you want to keep your current system (especially if it has a call center), BookAShowing can work with most other vendors’ showing systems.  Selling agents request a showing on NorthstarMLS through the BookAShowing link.  BookAShowing then automatically sends that request to your existing showing product to be processed from there.  BookAShowing is currently set up to do this with Showing Solutions, Showing Time (ShowingDesk) and Edina Realty’s in-house showing scheduling system. 

We have a main office that manages showing appointments for other offices.  Can we access those other offices?
BookAShowing can set your office to access showing calendars for any additional offices under your broker that you manage.  To have this set up, contact BookAShowing at 1-800-826-7155 or info@BookAShowing.com.  Let them know your office number and the other office numbers under your broker that you need to access.

How do I assign this office administrator responsibility to others in my office?
If you want other assistants or agents in your office to have access to the office administrator account, click “Agents” from the main menu in the upper right portion of the BookAShowing screen.  This will bring up a list of all the individuals in your office who have an active NorthstarMLS ID.  Click the “Edit” icon  for the individual you want to grant administrative rights.  At the top of the screen under “Account Settings,” click to select “Office Staff.”  Be sure to click the blue “Save Settings” button at the bottom of the screen.

If you don’t think you are the appropriate person to be identified as the “Responsible Agent” for your office in your Realtor Association’s membership database, please contact your Association and ask them to change it.

Is training available for my office staff and agents?
If you would like help with setting up BookAShowing for your office, there will be two online Webinars available this week.  You may attend from your office or home with an Internet connected PC with audio (if you do not have PC audio, there will be a call-in phone number available for the audio portion, however it is not toll-free).

Available dates/times are:

Thursday, February 19, 2:00 - 3:30 p.m.
Click Here to Register.  After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar.

Friday, February 20, 10:00 - 11:30 a.m.
Click Here to Register.  After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar.

Webinars for agents on how to use BookAShowing will be offered the week of March 2nd. In the meantime, if you need help setting up your account, contact BookAShowing at 1-800-826-7155 or info@BookAShowing.com.

Our office does not want to use BookAShowing.  How do we opt out of it?
We strongly encourage you to at least try BookAShowing to see for yourself how much easier it will make managing showing schedules for your office.  As describe above, you can even continue to use your existing showing system by having BookAShowing plug into it.  However, if you decide at any point you no longer wish to use BookAShowing, click the “Settings” link from the BookAShowing Menu.  Under the “Office Settings” section, select “No” for “Receive Showings Online.”  Your agents will still be able to use BookAShowing to schedule appointments with other offices, but no one will be able to use it to schedule appointments with your office.  This setting is effective for the entire office.  You cannot turn off BookAShowing only for specific agents.

We are very excited about this new program and hope you find it to be a great benefit to your entire office.  We encourage you to provide us feedback on the product at any time to info@BookAShowing.com or mlshelp@northstarmls.com.